CHAPTER NINE

GIVES YOU HELL — THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS
When you see my face
Hope it gives you hell

OLIVIA SPENT THE next few days in the company of her friends. As the Halloween dance crept closer and closer, they had increased the number of practices they had per week. The whole school was praying for their downfall on behalf of Harmony Lane and they needed to be perfect.

No dance had ever been approached with such a charged atmosphere. The tension in the hallways between Sunset Curve and the rest of the student population was at an uncomfortable high. Each of the band members handled it differently. Reggie was under the impression that any publicity was good publicity, Bobby was irritated by the harsh stares of his peers and occasionally snapped at a random stranger, Luke thrived on the attention, and Olivia and Alex were literal balls of anxiety.

As the dance drew near, Olivia could barely eat. The fact that in twenty-four hours, she'd be on a stage, expected to sing without throwing up, was becoming too real to process. She could practically feel the hundreds of people staring at her with judgement in their eyes, picking her apart in their minds. The thought of it made her nauseous.

The boys tried their best to reassure her, purposely planning more rehearsals so she'd feel at ease. They were very concerned about her, which was why she stood in the cafeteria line with a dollar Bobby had given her to buy an apple.

Olivia was minding her own business, waiting for her turn to check out, when Christ White came up to her. "Hey, Liv," she greeted in a polite tone. "What's up?"

The girl's friendly demeanour immediately raised suspicion and Olivia raised a brow. "Nothing?"

Christa looked around, pretending to busy herself by studying the nearby chocolate bars. "How's the whole band thing working out for you?"

"It's great," Olivia answered in confusion, taking a step closer to the check out. "Um, is there a reason you're talking to me? You don't usually..."

"Yeah, there is, actually." Christa nodded. She turned to face her. "Jason was looking for you."

The lunch lady called next in line and Olivia placed her apple and a dollar on the counter. "Oh, do you know where he is?"

"The bleachers by the football field." Christa waited for the lunch lady to give Olivia her change before taking a hold of her wrist and dragging her out the room. "I can take you."

"Oh— Okay, thanks?"

The two girls walked through the halls of Los Feliz High School, weaving through the crowds of people. Christa had never spoken to her without the intention of hurting her feelings, so Olivia wasn't sure what to think as she was led out onto the parking lot beside the bleachers.

"So," Christa started, trying to make small talk as Olivia ate her snack, "are you nervous for the dance tomorrow?"

Yes, Olivia thought to herself, but she wasn't about to admit that to Christa. "I think anyone would be nervous for their first performance, but..."

Her voice trailed off as they walked through the entrance to the football stands. Underneath the bleachers, there were two teenagers making out. The girl's hands were tangled in the boy's hair and his arm was wrapped around her waist. They didn't have to turn around for Olivia to know who they were.

The two teens separated and Megan's eyes fell onto to the two girls standing behind Jason. Her face dropped, causing Jason to grow in confusion. "What—" He turned around to see what she was looking at.

Olivia's heart fell to the pit of her stomach and she felt like she was going to be sick.

"Hey, Liv," Jason started weakly, "you know Megan, right?"

She took off running, wanting to get as far away from him as possible.

"Olivia, wait!"

Jason went to chase after her, but Christa stopped him. "Let her go, she's made her choice." She turned to face the direction Olivia ran off in with a smirk. "Hey, good luck at the dance tomorrow!"

FOR SOMEONE WHO didn't like crying, Olivia sure did it a lot.

She cried for the entirety of her walk home, forcing herself to stop as she travelled up her porch steps to avoid her mother's questions. She was able to hold herself together until her mom emerged from the kitchen. Sylvia's confused expression melted away once she saw Olivia's tear stained cheeks and she rushed forward. It wasn't like Olivia to skip school, so something bad must have happened.

The moment Sylvia asked what had happened, the younger girl lunged forward for a hug. Olivia's tears spilled onto her mom's shoulder, matched with the barely coherent explanation of the events that had taken place.

The two women stood in the doorway for what felt like forever with nothing but the ticking clock and Olivia's sniffling sounding through the air. Once the young girl calmed down, she wordlessly moved up the stairs and locked herself in her bedroom.

Olivia was deeply hurt, but she didn't think she was heartbroken. She knew what that felt like. She's had her heart broken before in a way that mattered more to her than a high school relationship, and there was no comparison between what she felt then and what she felt now. Maybe it's because a part of her knew that she already begun falling out of love with Jason. Somewhere along the two years they had spent together, he had grown into someone she couldn't recognize anymore. He wasn't the same person she fell for, but she still stayed. She stayed because a part of her was in love with a romanticized version of him. Because she thought he loved her. He told her that he loved her.

Perhaps it was selfish of her to stay with him when she knew she didn't love him as strongly as she once did. Maybe he knew and that's why he cheated. Maybe he found her timid demeanour annoying or her anxiousness overdramatic. Maybe he found a flaw in the way she carried herself and everything he once loved about her became the root of all his disdain. She owed it to him to be honest in her fading feelings, but he owed it to her to be honest as well.

Despite all of her heavy thoughts and justifications, it still hurt. Getting cheated on was something she heard about quite often in books, movies, the media—she had even witnessed it first hand with her parents—but she never thought it would happen to her. She feared it, but she never thought the universe would be so cruel to have her experience it for herself. It hurt and it made her bury herself under her blankets and cry into her pillow.

Olivia was unaware of her mother leaving to pick her brother up from school, unaware of her mother filling him in on what happened and not to bother her, and unaware of how many hours that had passed. Time was nothing but an illusion in the confines of her bedroom.

After some time, there was tapping at her bedroom window. She ignored it, thinking it was a figment of her imagination.

On the other side of the curtain covered glass stood the boys of Sunset Curve, each holding their own pile of pebbles. Olivia never came back to their table at lunch and none of them had seen her throughout the remainder of the day. They worried that Christa, Josh, and Megan cornered her again, but ultimately didn't think much of it until she failed to show up for their band rehearsal. They waited and waited before they decided that something was wrong and that they should go find her.

After no response, the boys turned to each other, more concerned than when they first got to her house.

Five minutes later, Sylvia's voice rang out through the house. "Livy!"

Olivia's head raised from her pillow and she stared at the door.

"Olivia!"

The door opened and Mikey stuck his head into the room. "Mom's calling you," he said. "Your friends are at the door."

Olivia fell back onto her bed, shutting her eyes at the realization that she had completely forgotten their last practice before the dance tomorrow. "Okay." She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Can you tell them I'll be right there please?"

Mikey nodded, but stayed in the door way. His eyes studied her as she got out of bed and moved around her room in search for an outfit. "Livy," he called softly. He didn't like seeing her sad and he wanted to be there for her like she was for him.

She turned with a questioning stare. "Mhm?"

"You were too good for him anyways. He was stupid."

Olivia tossed the pair of socks she was holding on her bed and walked over. Her arms wrapped around the young boy and she rested her chin on his head. "Thanks, Mike."

When they pulled away, Mikey turned without a word and left to tell the boys that she'd be down in a few minutes.

Looking in the mirror that sat in the corner of her room, she wondered if the boys would be able to tell if something was wrong. With a heavy sigh, she turned on her heel and left her room before she could overthink it.

At the base of the stairs, Olivia could see each of the boys chewing on a cookie. They were talking to her mom and brother while Reggie and Luke were petting Solo with their free hand. When their gaze landed on her, their expressions melted into concern.

"Hey," Olivia echoed, trying to act like nothing was wrong.

Sylvia gave her daughter a small smile before turning to the boys and handing Luke a large paper bag. "Here, take this for the road."

"Thanks, Mrs. Mont—" Luke stopped when he saw the look the older woman was giving him. "Sylvia."

"Better." She nodded in approval and looked over at Olivia. "Have fun, mija."

Olivia's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but followed the boys out as they shouted their goodbyes to her mother and brother. The entire walk to Reggie's parents' BMW was filled with them praising her mom's baking and joking about how often they were going to come around now that they've had a taste.

As they approached the car, Olivia stopped walking. "Guys, I'm sorry for missing practice, I just—"

"It's fine, Liv." Luke opened the back door of the car for her. "We've played those songs dozens of times, I think we're good for tomorrow."

Everyone got settled into the car with Alex in the passenger seat, Bobby behind him, Olivia next to him, and Luke behind Reggie in the driver's seat.

Olivia's eyebrows furrowed as Luke handed her the bag her mom had given to him. Inside the brown paper bag was a wide variety of cookies, brownies, and pastries. "What is this?"

"An emergency breakup kit," Reggie said from the front seat. He twisted his body so he could face her fully.

Olivia threw her head back and shut her eyes. "Who told you? My mom?" Her eyes flew open and her turned to her friends urgently. "Or did someone from school tell you? Please don't tell me people are already talking about it."

Luke shook his head. "It was Mikey."

"What did he say?"

"Just that you and Jason broke up."

Olivia looked down at her lap. Her jaw clenched as she got a prickly feeling in the corners of her eyes. She didn't want to cry again.

Alex turned from his spot in the passenger seat and hesitantly asked, "What happened?"

She took a deep breath. Her hands fiddled with the hem of her shirt and she couldn't bring herself to look at them. Whether it was out of shame or embarrassment, she didn't know. Maybe it was both. "Christa came up to me at lunch and brought me to the bleachers. Jason, he, um... I caught him making out with Megan Hardy."

There was a beat of silence before chaos ensued.

"No!" Alex exclaimed, covering his mouth with his hand.

"Are you serious?"

"That fucking prick!"

"He's the biggest dumbass I've ever seen."

Alex gave his friends a warning look and nodded at Olivia who looked very sad. They hadn't noticed it before, but her eyes were puffy and tip of her nose was red. "Are you okay?"

Bobby rolled his eyes and smacked his arm. "Alex, she was cheated on, how do you think she's doing?"

"Well not good, I imagine," Alex said, rubbing where Bobby had hit. "But you know what I mean."

Olivia's arms wrapped around herself and she shrugged. "I spent half of the day crying so..."

"See?" Bobby pressed. "Does that sound like someone who's okay?"

"Bobby, you're not helping."

Luke gave them a look before turning to the girl beside him. His hard stare melted away once his gaze landed on her. "Liv?"

She shrugged again. "Maybe it's because I was already falling out of love with him or maybe I was never in love with him in the first place, but whatever it was, I'm not heartbroken about it," she confessed, feeling slightly bad about it. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still sad and pissed off, but I'm not— I'm not broken. I'm not— I don't know... It sucks, but it's not the end of the world, right? I mean, people leave all the time, it's no surprise..."

"Hey," Luke said softly, bumping her shoulder with his, "you'll always have us. Always."

"Yeah," Alex nodded, "we're not going anywhere."

"You're kind of stuck with us." Reggie's grin was the first thing Olivia saw when she looked up.

Finding it hard to keep a straight face when the boys were giving her identical grins, she shook her head. A slow smile grew on her face. "Lucky me."

Full blown smiles came over all of their faces and Luke turned to hit the back of Reggie's chair. "Step on it, Reg."

Reggie spun around and started the car. "Where we headed?"

"The store," Luke answered with a mischievous smirk.

The others gave him a look of suspicion. "Why?"

"To buy ice cream... and eggs... and toilet paper."

Bobby hit the back of Alex's car in excitement. "This is going to be so much fun."

TRIPS TO THE grocery store with the boys of Sunset Curve would never get easier and Olivia was quickly learning that. They would argue that they were just as rowdy as they were the first time they went shopping, but Olivia would disagree. They broke a dozen eggs and put it back like they didn't, built two forts in the toilet paper aisle, and raced each other around the produce. She didn't give them too much grief about it though. She knew they were only trying to cheer her up.

Once they bought the eggs and toilet paper, they drove all the way to Harmony Lane and parked the car across the street from Jason Cummings' house.

"Okay, here's the plan." Luke opened the egg carton and passed it around. "Me, Liv, and Bobby are on egg duty. Alex, you and Reggie are in charge of throwing the toilet paper."

Alex watched in hesitation as Bobby took a handful of eggs and Reggie tore open the package of toilet paper. "Guys," he started, his fear of getting in trouble getting the better of him, "I don't know about this."

Olivia, who also feared getting in trouble, nodded in agreement. "Yeah, me neither."

"Alex," Reggie whined, "we're doing this for justice. For Olivia."

"And me," Luke added quickly. Everyone turned to him with questioning looks. "What? Look, this guy's been shitting on me since the ninth grade, I want revenge too... And justice for Olivia."

Alex rolled his eyes before turning back to Reggie. "Olivia just said she's not sure about this either!"

Olivia's eyes locked on the vintage car that sat in the driveway. She glared at it, remembering all the times Jason treated the vehicle better than her. "I take it back, let's do this."

"What?" Alex exclaimed. "You're changing your mind just like that?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm pissed. He blew me off for weeks and when I caught him cheating, he tried to introduce me to Megan like they weren't just swapping spit, so yeah, I'm changing my mind."

"Alright, the boss has spoken," Luke smirked.

Bobby bent down and grabbed a roll of toilet paper. He held it to Alex's chest and walked past him. "There ya go, buddy."

Alex followed his friends as they crossed the street. "Shouldn't we do this when it's dark?"

"Alex," the group groaned.

"Don't worry, we'll be quick," Olivia promised. "Wouldn't want the ice cream to melt."

The group of five stood side by side on the sidewalk in front of the Cummings residence and if anyone drove past, they would know that the teens were up to no good. They'd be wrong, of course. What the group was about to do was for the greater good. If egging and TP-ing a house would prevent someone from cheating on their next girlfriend, then the group would be doing a service to the world. And if it didn't, then it would make Olivia smile, which meant more to the group than they'd willingly admit.

Luke held an egg out for Olivia to take. "Would you like the honour of the first throw, m'lady?"

Olivia chuckled at his horrible attempt at a British accent and matched it with her own. "I would, thank you, kind sir." She took the egg from him, charged by the adrenaline of doing something she knew she shouldn't. Her eyes raked the house, wondering where she should throw first. Ultimately, she decided on his car.

The egg hit the rear window of the car with a satisfying 'smack' and the boys cheered, joining in by throwing their own eggs. They ran around the property, throwing toilet paper rolls over the roof and trees, and eggs at the brick and crystal clear windows.

When their carton of eggs were emptied and all the toilet paper rolls were gone, they met back at Reggie's car and admired their work. Luke put his hands out and Alex and Bobby each gave him a high five. Reggie placed himself next to Olivia and slung his arm over her shoulders.

"Feeling better?" he asked, looking down at her. Luke, Alex, and Bobby threw their arms over each other's shoulders and stood beside the pair so they were in one long line, side by side with Olivia in the middle.

Olivia's arms wrapped around Reggie's and Luke's lower backs, as they were the two standing next to her, and nodded. "Thank you," she said in sincerity. She didn't know how to convey the gratitude she had for their friendship other than saying thank you. She hoped that they understood how much they meant to her.

Luke looked down at her and grinned, "I guess this means we're playing Get Lost tomorrow?"

Olivia didn't get the chance to answer. The front door of the Cummings house opened and out walked Jason's mom.

"Oh, shit. Go, go, go!"

RAE SPEAKS !
The boys after Olivia tells them about Jason and Megan: