Chapter 16- Drop the Act
"I don't even know why you still bother going to this! Isn't it pretty awkward?" Anna asked.
I shrugged, "I have Evan" I said.
We were on our way to a newspaper meeting. I had missed a couple meetings recently and Mr.Fells had brought it to my attention after class one day that if I still was interested in being in the club, I needed to make more of an effort to be there. And despite the fact that Mia had been appointed Captain, I still wanted to be there. I needed more than anything some good extracurricular activities to put on my college applications, and newspaper committee was one of few things I actually did.
Anna smiled discretely and coughed lightly, "Are they accepting new members? My mom told me I needed to put more effort into school" Anna said.
I raised an eyebrow at her as we reached Mr.Fells room , "We all know you could care less about joining this club for academic purposes" I said, laughing , "But yes, they probably are accepting members, and I know Evan would love to have you there" I told her.
"You really think?" Anna asked giddily.
I looked at her questionably, a smirk on my face. She still hadn't outright told me she liked Evan, but over the past week, basically ever since my confrontation with Colton, she had been mentioning Evan's name left and right.
Anna looked at me and cocked her head, "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked innocently.
I shook my head at her, "it's ok if you like Evan. It's pretty obvious" I said reassuringly.
"Are you serious? Is it really that obvious?" Anna asked nervously.
I sat down toward the back of the classroom, as Anna sat down in the seat beside me. We were early, and the only people there were Mr.Fells and Mia.
I shrugged softly, "kind of, but guys are so oblivious that there is no way Evan could ever know without you telling him" I laughed slightly.
Anna sighed in relief, "good, because if he still has something for Mia, I don't want to make things awkward. He's one of my best friends, aside from you, and I really can't afford to lose any friends right now" she said.
I nodded and pretended to zip my lips, "My lips are sealed" I said, "As long as you don't pull any more 'Folton' stunts" I laughed.
Anna hung her head, "hey, I thought it would be a good idea- I'm sorry!" she said, throwing her hands up in the air.
The day after I had talked to Colton in the car, Anna had tried asking Colton about 'when he was going to break up with Becca' and 'when he was going to become my friend again'.
Again, like every other time Anna tried taking a step further in 'Operation Folton', I knew she was just trying to help, but right now it was something Colton needed to figure out. I had shed light on the situation and exposed Becca for who she really was- so now it was Colton's turn to make a decision on what he was going to take out of everything had had been exchanged during the car ride.
"But fine" Anna continued, "I guess I can tone it down a little" she said.
I smiled, "good, then Evan will never know until you're ready." I said.
As if on cue, Evan walked into the classroom and Anna looked over at me, "I love how he can pull off the cute geeky look" she said softly as Evan walked over.
I rolled my eyes, "hey Evan" I said as he sat down behind me.
"Hey Finn" he said, "hey Anna" he continued, a smile spreading across his face.
I watched as Anna and Evan sparked up a conversation. Honestly, right now I was more excited for 'Evanna' to happen than 'Folton'.
"Ok, I am hereby starting the newspaper committee!" Mia said, her voice echoing throughout the classroom. A couple other kids had arrived, but generally speaking, there wasn't a big turnout.
"So, we've produced a couple issues of the school newspaper, but none of them have been quite as big of a success as the first newspaper" she said.
The first newspaper, the one based on Colton and the football team, had been a booming success. The gossip columns on Colton had been the talk of the whole school for the entire week and the newspaper committee had sold all of their copies within the first two days of sales.
The other issues hadn't done as well. Apparently no one cared that the mashed potatoes in the cafeteria were actually made from GMOs.
"What I'm trying to say is, we need something really good to be the main focus of our next issue, or the newspaper is going to end up where we ended last year- in deep trouble" she said.
I thought for a second before responding to her, "Ok, so how about we do something more similar to the first issue." I said, "Maybe we can ask people about their homecoming experiences" I said.
Mia scrunched her face up slightly, "Homecoming was a good couple weeks ago, we really can't cover that after so much time" she said.
I gave her a shrug, "Ok, I'm just throwing out ideas" I said.
Mia turned her nose up at me before scanning the room, "anyone else?" she asked.
"How about we do a column on relationships? We can ask for people to share their stories on their friendships, dates, and stuff like that" Anna suggested.
I nodded and Evan mirrored my behavior, "That sounds good" he said.
"Are you even on the newspaper committee?" she asked Anna, placing her hands on her hips.
Anna gave her a small smile , "I don't think you should be too picky about who comes to your meetings, it seems from the look of it, that without me here there would be a whopping total of 5 people interested in your 'committee'" Anna said, putting air quotes around the word 'committee'.
Mr.Fells looked at Mia, "We are always welcoming new members, Mia." He said, "how about you consider her idea. It was a good one" he offered.
Mia gave a small huff before answering to Anna, "Fine. That's a good idea. Does anyone else have anything to add to Anna's idea?"
A couple of the other kids threw out ideas and Mia jotted them down in her notebook. By the end of the meeting, it had been confirmed that all the members of the committee would try to find or write one good story on a relationship. We had also decided to get some polls from peers and add in some tips on relationships.
With Thanksgiving break coming up I didn't know how'd I'd be able to write an article and keep up with my schoolwork, but I wasn't going to give Mia the satisfaction of dropping the assignment.
"Are we walking home today or do you want to ask Colton for a ride?" Anna asked, once we got out of the meeting.
I groaned. I really didn't want to walk- I'd been walking for the last week and even though it didn't get too cold in Cali during the fall time, it was still too cold to walk in comfortably.
"I guess we can ask Colton" I said slowly.
Anna's face lit up, "Perfect, I'll call him" she said.
I internally moaned when she dialed Colton's number and put her cellphone up to her ear, "Hey Colton!" she said after a minute , "Finn and I were wondering if you could maybe give us a ride home today?" she asked.
Anna stayed silent for a moment before responding to whatever Colton said , "Ok, that's fine! We'll see you soon!" she said.
"So I have good news and bad news" she said once she had hung up.
"Yes?" I said impatiently.
"He can give us a ride but Becca will be in the car too" she said, drawling out Becca's name as if it was some foreign horrible sounding word.
I smacked my forehead in frustration before regaining my composure, "ok, well at least we get a ride home" I said optimistically.
While we waited I couldn't help but wonder if Colton had actually talked to Becca or not. It wasn't like Becca had gone on a rampage or Colton had broken up with her- so I was thinking more along the lines that Colton hadn't mentioned it to her.
"Oh here they are!" Anna said, as Colton pulled up.
I glanced briefly at the passenger's seat, confirming that Becca had taken my usual spot.
With Anna, I headed to the back and sat down, closing the door behind me, "Thanks for driving us, Colton" I said.
Colton just nodded and put the car back into drive.
I don't know why exactly, but I was waiting for Colton to say something to her. Honestly, a week should be enough time to process everything and tell Becca.
"Baby, my parents got us a reservation at that super nice place in the city" Becca said, glancing up from her phone.
Colton just nodded and kept his eyes on the road.
I could tell he was in deep thought, and I was actually really glad that I wasn't the only one he didn't talk to while driving.
"And they're going out of town for a week so I thought maybe you could come over a couple nights" she said, looking in the rearview mirror back at me, smirking.
Had they already done it? Like had they actually had sex already? I mean why else would she be offering for him to stay the night?
Colton slammed his foot on the break, causing some cars behind us to beep their horns loudly. He moved off to the side of the road before saying anything.
"Becca, I don't know why the hell you're bringing that up because we've already talked about not doing that." Colton said, his voice cold, "I know what you're doing. I know what you've been doing. This whole act? I know that you told Finnly I didn't care about her anymore and I know you lied about Finnly wanting nothing to do with me. So you can go ahead and drop it." He said
Becca sat back in her chair, her eyes wide in surprise.
"You know Finnly; I can't believe you went this far to try to get back at me for dating the guy you like. It's honestly really bitchy" she said.
I clamped my jaw down in anger before responding, "It's the truth, Becca. Own up to it" I said simply.
"Colton, aren't you going to believe me? I'm your girlfriend" Becca whined, looking over at him with pleading eyes.
"Becca, I don't believe you. Not this time. It makes sense and maybe you aren't like that person you were in eighth grade, but I know lying about Finnly was something you would've done to get a guy." He said his voice unwavering and harsh.
Becca pouted her lip, "I can't believe this is happening to me!" she cried, "We've dated for three years!" she said, "and now you're just going to let all that go?" she said.
I looked over at Anna, only to see her grinning from ear to ear. Yeah, it was kind of sad for Becca, but I didn't feel bad for her one bit, and apparently neither did Anna.
"Yeah" Colton said plainly, gripping the steering wheel tightly.
"You're going to dump me for Finnly?" Becca asked, raising her eyebrows questionably.
"No" Colton said, "I'm dumping you because it's the right thing to do"
Anna clapped her hands together, "Well that's it then" she said happily.
Becca snapped her eyes to Anna, "This is none of your business, so stay out of it, elf"
Anna just smiled , "I think I look more like Merida than an elf, but thanks" she said , "I guess not everyone gets blessed with a jingly spirit and small feet" she said, nodding towards Becca's rather large sandal-cladded feet.
I let out an abrupt laugh and Becca shot us one last glare before unbuckling her seatbelt and picking up her bag, "You know, Finnly. I really hope you're never truly happy with yourself, because some people just don't deserve it" she said.
I shrugged, giving her a one sided smirk, "I guess we'll see"
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Thank you SO SO SO very much to the people that have continued to stick with my sporadic updates, grammar mistakes, and frustrating characters!! It really means a lot and seeing you guys comment really is the reason why i like writing!
Song of the chap: Towards the sun by Rhianna
Later lovelies- A
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