Begging your dad to let you stay home from school should be a part of the Olympics because it is that difficult. The thing is, no matter how hard Dad tried, he couldn't understand what I was going through. Feeling sad and anxious and, dare I say it, a little depressed, wasn't a good enough reason to stay home from school. I screamed, I begged, and I threatened to just refuse to go, but nothing worked. I tried to tell him why I was upset, but he just kept reiterating that there was no excuse not to go to school.

The last thing I expected to walk into was a school of gossip. I mean, more gossip than usual. People were chatting everywhere, snickering and gasping as Dean was escorted out of the school in handcuffs. The police dragged him towards me as I moved to the side of the doorway, staring with my mouth open. He looked at me with pain in his eyes, and I didn't think he would say anything to me. Maybe he suspected that I blew the whistle, which I didn't. Maybe I should have because he kind of disgusted me, but I needed his help. And Janessa's. Where was Janessa, anyway?

Right as he passed me, Dean mouthed, 'Stacie. Bottom right drawer.'

It took me a moment to process as he was dragged into the parking lot. He didn't resist, but just kind of hung his head in defeat.

Janessa ran through the hallway, screaming. A few teachers hurried after her, and I knew they would grab her any minute with her short legs and less than athletic run. As she came closer, I could see tears running down her face, smudged mascara under her eyes.

"Hey! Leave him alone! She's lying! Hey!" She screamed. As she reached the door, people were laughing and recording her as two teachers grabbed her arms.

"Hey," I surprised myself by saying. "Let her be a minute."

I recognized one teacher as my English teacher and the other as a science teacher. Gently, I placed a hand on Janessa's arm. We weren't that close, but I knew she didn't really have anyone else.

"What happened" I whispered.

She launched into my arms and I hugged her.

I choked on the words 'It's gonna be okay' because I knew I couldn't promise that. Instead, I glared at the teachers over her shoulder. They kind of backed off, but they were still watching us like they didn't trust me. At this point, half the school probably hated me, including the teachers.

"SSSStacie," she sobbed into my jean jacket. "She gave us up. Bitch."

I awkwardly rubbed her back. I sucked at emotions and I knew it, but I also felt bad for her. Sure, her relationship was toxic and illegal, but she had become my friend, and I hated seeing her hurt like this. Anger burned within me. Hadn't Stacie done enough? I knew she didn't tell on them because it was the right thing to do. She wanted Janessa to hurt, and she wanted it to be very public.

Stealing a glance out the doors, I saw them shoving Dean into a police car in front of the school. I also realized his pants were sagging. Oh fuck. Stacie wanted to catch them in the act, fifteen minutes before school started, because she knew everyone would be there to witness their humiliation.

Suddenly, the tv monitor above us flickered to life. I prayed Janessa wouldn't look, but God wasn't answering my prayers because she looked in time to see herself bent over a desk. I grabbed her head and tucked it back into my shoulder as her body shuddered with a loud sob.

"Make it stop. Make it stop," she chanted over and over.

My heart broke for her as my anger peaked. The audio was even turned all the way up. Teachers yelled, but the students turned their cameras to the screen. I looked outside and saw the police car was gone, so I gently took Janessa outside where she couldn't look at the riot inside.

"Stay here a minute."

She sniffed and wiped at her eyes, smearing even more mascara. "What are you going to do?"

I walked back in, watching as everyone stared at the screen.

"HEY!" I screamed so loud several people jumped. "Why don't you all fuck off?"

Some little bitch had the audacity to laugh. I hated what Stacie had made me, but at least I knew more gossip than most of the school. I recognized her from a blackmail assignment. Whatever, it was better the public knew.

"Hey, Olissa, remember that time you fucked your brother?"

I have, to this day, never seen anyone look so horrified in my life. She shook her head as her friend shouted "I knew it!" She ran.

I cracked my knuckles. Nina's old boyfriend, the cheater whose jersey I burned the day I met Kalila and August, was laughing with his buddies.

"Hey, Nick, what's it like having two girlfriends at once?"

More people were paying attention to me than the screen. "Oh no, wasn't your record four at a time?" I made the last part up, but it didn't matter. A cheater was a cheater. The scowl on his face made me laugh.

"Shut up! Aren't you just Stacie's little pawn?" He shouted over the crowd, coming closer to me.

I shrugged. "Nina showed me your dick pic, and man I thought I was looking at a hemorrhoid or something. So small." That one was true.

"You little-"

"She's not lying!" Nina called out. "He's a jerk!"

Stacie fumed beside her, slapping her. She yelled and Nina cowered back from her. Was Stacie angry that she wasn't the one in control anymore?

"Yeah, Nina, but also you have a new man every second." I felt the anger in my bones at this point, begging to be let out. All of the anger. Not just from that day, but from the day I was born. "And everytime you get dumped like you know that you will, I have to commit crimes for you. Tragic. And I believe your record of boyfriends at the same time was five." Back when she really used to be a player, Nina would have many boyfriends at once. She didn't like to talk about it, and she liked to think she was the victim. I always felt bad for her, but now? She was still Stacie's pawn, and I didn't want to be.

I turned to Stacie, and I could see the hatred burning in her eyes. She never cared about me as a friend. "And you-"

"ENOUGH!"

The hallway fell silent as the principal stormed through the front doors. The screen was black again. I turned to face the principal and could see Janessa leaning against the doorway, smiling. It was all worth it if it made her feel better. And me.

Our principal stopped in the middle of the hallway, short hair frizzed and her usually perfect blazer amiss. She looked between Stacie and I, confused and anger written across her face. What had she just walked into, she probably wondered. The anger took over as her eyebrows drooped and her eyes shifted over to me.

"My office."

Stacie had the audacity to snicker.

"And you, Ms. Ramirez," she scowled at my basically ex friend. Then, she shifted her attention to Janessa behind me. "And you, Kovanak."

As the principal, Dr. Sanchez, walked towards her office, Janessa came beside me and grabbed my hand. It wasn't in a romantic way, but in a friend or sibling type of way that people do for comfort. I squeezed her hand to try to tell her that I was there for her, that I wasn't going to throw her under the bus. I couldn't lie that Dean was a predator, and as a friend I should've helped her out of that relationship. I was blinded by getting what I needed, that was true. I wasn't a saint, I wasn't a good friend, and I wasn't a good person.

This was the time to make up for it.

Stacie sauntered ahead of us, head held high as she entered the little office inside of the front office. I wasn't a stranger to this office, with the big wooden desk in the middle, and the little knick knacks on the shelf behind it. Dr. Sanchez sat in her swivelly chair and Stacie took the first of two basic black chairs in front of the desk. Janessa dropped my hand, but neither of us moved. We would stand together, literally and figuratively.

"Have a seat," Dr. Sanchez commanded.

"We'll stand, thanks," Janessa replied smoothly, trying to imitate her regular self.

The principal sighed, folding her arms on her desk. She had a calendar under clear glass adorning the surface. It had a little mermaid in the top left corner, blue scales contrasting vivid purple hair.

"Girls, I was called in this morning because, well everyone now knows about the ordeal. Janessa, I wanted to talk to you about this privately, but I wanted to know why you two girls were fighting," she said, directing the last statement to Stacie and I. "Kiley, that scene was highly inappropriate and I just caught the tail end. I don't know what's been going on with you and spectacles."

Stacie. That's what had been going on. But telling the principal didn't get me anywhere. That's the American school system for you.

"And Stacie, I don't know what you had to do with all of this."

"I didn't have anything to do with this. Kiley was just yelling at me like everyone else. I don't understand," Stacie bullshitted. "I'm sorry if I did anything to make you upset."

Dr. Sanchez huffed. "Well, I don't like being laughed at while I talk young lady."

Stacie sat upright, hands clasped in her lap, legs perfectly together like a lady should sit in an ideal world. Her short, wavy blonde hair shifted as her head tilted to the side. "I'm sorry."

"No, you're not," I said.

All eyes were on me as Stacie shifted in her seat to face me, green eyes blazing.

"Can we just have a civilized conversation?" The principal hissed. "This isn't elementary school."

"Then tell me why Stacie was harassing me." For a moment, I thought I let the words escape, but a voice foreign to my own continued, "And tell me why a spoiled brat is allowed to broadcast an intimate video of me to the whole school and then play the victim?"

I turned to look at my friend. Her arms were crossed, dark eyes blurry, a tear tracing the scar on her cheek.

"But it's true, you were taken advantage of by Mr. Henderson?" Dr. Sanchez had her thin lips pursed, looking like she couldn't believe this was actually happening. I couldn't either.

"We are in love, you bitch!" Janessa screamed. "And it's none of your business. Seventeen is the legal age of consent in this state, so suck my ass. It's not illegal."

In the moment, I could've sworn I'd never seen someone so angry.

"Watch your mouth," Dr. Sanchez snapped. "It is still against district policy, age of consent or not. We have reason to believe that these relations started before you were of the age of consent. A thorough investigation is in order,do you understand? At the very least, Mr. Henderson will lose his job. You need to cooperate with the police immediately. Your parents have been called."

Janessa's face paled. "They never cared about me, so they don't get to play parent now." Tears raced down her face at this point.

"They're your parents. They know what's best."

"They let me be abused for years. Why care about alleged abuse now?" She snapped. Her body was shaking uncontrollably. I made a move towards her, maybe to hug her, or just to comfort her in any way I could. She flinched away. "Stacie has blackmailed me and Kiley and others for so long. What does she get? Nothing because she's rich and popular. But I live in the ghetto and no one likes me but Dean and Kiley and Kalila, so everything I say is wrong."

"Bitch I never," Stacie snapped. Rage was painted across her face. The look in her eyes told me that if I told, so would she. I cared for Janessa as a friend, but I couldn't risk it. I couldn't tell the principal, not when she was already angry with me. I could go to jail, accident or not.

Dr. Sanchez watched me like she was waiting for me to confirm Janessa's outburst. I couldn't speak, I couldn't move. The air was being sucked out of my lungs. Was it selfish to choose myself? Yes, but that's just what I was: a screw up.

"Well? What's this blackmail about and what does it have to do with today?"

Janessa wasn't scared anymore because her secret was out. She had nothing left to lose. But in leaking her secret, her life had been broken in an unrepairable way. I couldn't do it. I wasn't strong enough.

"Nothing." My voice came out as a choked whisper.

"Did Ms. Ramirez blackmail you? Yes or no?" Dr. Sanchez snapped.

"No," I forced out.

"Kiley!" Janessa yelped.

Stacie smiled in approval

"Tell her the truth! I thought I was your friend! I thought we were in this together! You can't back out now! This is our chance!"

I just shook my heart and sent her a mental apology. My eyes welled up but I pushed the tears back, swallowing the lump in my throat. I couldn't speak or I would burst into tears.

"Stacie, Kiley, you are free to go. Just behave the rest of the day please. Janessa, take a seat."

I followed Stacie out of the office like the coward I was. 

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Look who finally updated! This broke my heart to write.

Are you angry at Kiley? Thoughts?

Who's still reading this? Please let me know, thank you!

-Sarah