Description: You are a pogue and you dated Rafe but as everything comes out people you used to call friends have started to turn their back on you.
Warnings: Swearing, Slut-shaming, bullying,
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"Hey, y/n do you mind running to Heywards for me? " I looked up from the piece of homework I had in front of me. My mom stood at the door, a piece of paper in her hand. "I promise it's only a few things. " She smiled, walking closer to the kitchen table.
"yeah sure, but don't complain if I don't have this completed by your class tomorrow. ," I started to stand, my pencil slowly rolling on the table.
"You better. I gave you guys a whole week to complete it. ," Her tone changed from mom to teacher.
"Who does homework a week in advance? Everyone knows you leave it for the night before. ," My mom frowned, shaking her head.
"Is that what JJ, Kie and Pope do?" My mom questioned, leaving off John B's name. I wish I could say yes, but over the summer the group had become distant. It started simple, but since the end of summer, since John B went missing and was accused of murder, they had stopped talking to me together. I had tried so hard for them to talk to me. I couldn't think of the reason why.
"Can I have the list?" I held my hand out for the piece of paper my mom was still holding onto. She smiled and handed me the piece of paper. I glanced down, seeing only four items. Usually, when my mom said a few things, that meant fifteen. I slipped the paper into my pocket as I said a quick goodbye and made my way to the front door, grabbing my car keys in the process.
I pulled up to Hayward's within five minutes. We didn't live far from them. I pulled up and quickly got out, making sure to lock my car before making my way to the entrance of the shop. Outside stood two kids from my class. I smiled, offering a smile and a quick hello. They didn't reply. Instead, they looked me up and down and started whispering to one another. I stopped looking at the pair, and again one of the pair looked me up and down.
"What?" I questioned, stepping towards the pair, but they quickly moved away and down towards the car park. I slightly shook my head as the pair disappeared. My eyebrows squished together. I turned back to the shop door and pushed it open.
The temperature inside Heyward's was a nice contrast to that outside. I stood for a few seconds, taking in the nice cold air. I pulled the paper out of my pocket and looked down, checking the items before making my way around the shop. Heyward's was filled with many things a person would need. It was good as it meant Pogues didn't have to drive far to get what we need. I made my way to the final item. A few teens were standing nearby. Again, one of them looked over at me and nudged their friend. The whole group turned to look at me, whispering as the pair before. I avoided their gaze as I walked over to the final item. Did I have something on my face? I wiped my face with my free hand. No. Was there something on my top? I looked down, checking out what I was wearing. No. I became more self-conscious with each passing second. The sound of their whispers got louder as I grabbed the final item on my mom's list.
"You've got some balls showing up here. " I turned, the group of teens now closer than before.
"What?" I said without giving it a second thought. The teen that had spoken just rolled his eyes. The others just shared looks. "Does someone want to fill me in? " I turned from the main to the surrounding others. The group shared another look just pissing me off further.
"Don't play dumb," the main teen spoke. I scoffed, looking the boy up and down. "Your boyfriend killed sheriff Peterkin and then blamed a pogue. How can you even bring yourself here? You are disgusting. ," The teen pulled a face. My eyes widened as he spoke, taken aback.
"What are you talking about?" My mouth fell open.
"He told you to stop playing dumb," One of the other teens spoke up, walking closer to the boy. I wish I was playing dumb, but I wasn't. "I always knew you were a slut. I mean, you'd sleep with anyone, even a psycho murderer like Rafe Cameron. " The girl looked me up and down. Part of me half expected her to spit at me. I knew I shouldn't let their words get to me, but I couldn't help it. I was so confused. I was no longer dating Rafe and hadn't for almost four months. I wanted to defend myself. Tell them Rafe and I broke up before anything even happened, but my voice failed me. I couldn't even bring myself to look at them.
"God, I feel sorry for Pope, Kie, John B and JJ. You were meant to be their friend." The guy walked forward, so he was now only a foot or so away from me. "You're pathetic. " The boy was a few centimetres from my face.
"Is everything okay over here?" a voice spoke up over the boy. A voice that I was thankful to hear. A voice I had grown up with. There stood Mr Heyward. He looked from me to the group of teens.
"Yeah everything's okay" The teen smiled, looking at Mr Heyward. "We were just leaving. It was good to see you, Mr Heyward. " Again the teen smiled before looking at me, but the smile quickly disappeared. "Y/n" he almost snarled before walking past, shoving into me. The group followed close behind, doing the same. I gripped onto the items, careful not to drop them. The group disappeared out the door. I tried to keep it together.
"You okay, y/n?" Mr Heyward walked over, concern etched across his face. Again I tried to speak but failed. The tears started to build in my eyes. Is that what everyone was thinking? Why had this all just started? "Come here," Mr Heyward walked over, pulling me into a hug. Again, I tried to keep it together. I held the items closer to my chest. A few seconds later, he pulled away. "Let's get you checked out. " He nodded to the till. I just nodded and followed close behind. "Conner!" Mr Heyward called. The teen behind the counter turned to look over at him. The boy's smile faltered as he looked over at me, but quickly reappeared. "Will you get y/n sorted out? " Heyward started to take the things out of my arms and placed them in front of Connor.
"Yeah sure," He smiled and picked up the first item and started to check me out.
"Whatever's going on, just ignore them," Mr Heyward smiled at me before walking to the back of the store. Silence fell over Connor and me. Whatever was going on, I knew he knew.
"What is going on? Why has everyone suddenly turned on me? " Connor picked the final item, stopping as I spoke. He sighed, placing the item down.
"Do you really not know?" I quickly shook my head. Again Connor sighed. "Well, it started yesterday. JJ went on this huge rant at a pogue party, how John B didn't kill Peterkin, that Rafe Cameron did. ,"
"What does that have to do with me?" I quickly cut Connor off. The boy nodded, almost as if he agreed with me.
"The whole thing about you sleeping with the enemy." He picked up the item he put down up and scanned it, placing it in the bag.
"But I'm not," I stressed, taking in a deep breath. "We broke up at the start of summer. Before anything happened. I didn't know.," I pointed to myself. "I-I didn't know anything"
"I believe you, but you know how people are. They can't get to Rafe, so you're the next best thing." I rested against the counter slowly, handing the money over to Connor. He hadn't even told me the total yet.
"What do I do?" I don't know if I was saying it to myself or Connor. The boy's eyes carried sympathy for me, but I knew there was nothing that he could do. Even if he did, he would always be making himself an outsider.
"Maybe you should speak to Kie, JJ or Pope," the boy suggested as he pressed some buttons on the small screen, the till opening.
"I mean, would they even say anything? What if that's how they feel? I mean, if it's not how they feel, they surely would have said something by now. " Connor looked down, thinking about what I had said. I mean, they are the ones that stopped talking to me.
"You can only try. " Connor reached over, grabbing the bag and handing it to me. He was right. What other options did I have? I could try to talk to them, see if they'll do anything. If they say no or won't talk to me, I'll just be in the same boat I'm in now.
"Thank you. " I reached over, taking the bag from him.
"You really don't have to thank me. I wish there was something I could do to help you. " I could see the sadness on his face. He meant what he said, but was also scared of what the others would do if he even spoke to me nicely.
As soon as I reached home, I handed my mom the items she had asked me to get. She tried to have a conversation with me, but I didn't waste any time. I quickly walked back out of the house and towards my car, which I hadn't even bothered to take the keys out of.
I didn't even bother to check JJ's, Kie's or Pope's house. I knew where I would find them. I tapped my fingers against the steering wheel as I stared at John B's house. It looked the same as before he left. I don't know why I magically expected it to change. Maybe it's because he wasn't here. Outside, Kie's car was parked up, so she definitely was there. Okay, here we go. I took a deep breath and got out of the car and started the walk to the back of the house.
"I was thinking more like we following him from a distant, taking pictures..."JJ stood as Pope and Kie sat on the grass staring up at the boy.
"That's stalking JJ.," Pope rolled his eyes. "Which, if we get caught, is six months in jail," Pope leaned back.
"So we won't get caught" the blonde opened his arm, looking from Pope to Kie. Pope rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "Look it's an idea"
"Also the only one we have. " Kie looked over at Pope. Her eyes moved from Pope to me, her eyebrows scrunched as she looked me up and down. Pope was the next one to turn his gaze towards me, then finally JJ. I took a deep breath and started to make my way toward them.
"Hey" I finally spoke. Kie folded her arms, shaking her head. JJ wore a glare. Pope was the only one that didn't seem upset to see me.
"Hey" Pope responded before getting a shove from Kie. Pope looked back at Kie in disgust before standing up and taking a step toward me. Kie was quick to follow then JJ. "So what brings you here?" Pope asked as I took a few steps closer to the group. Kie still had her arms crossed.
"I came to ask for your help with something" Kie cut me off with a scoff but received a glare from Pope. "I was wondering if you could say something about Rafe and me-"
"Wow," Kie laughed, shaking her head. She uncrossed her arms. "You really want us to say something about you and your psycho boyfriend? " Kie took a step forward but not passed Pope.
"He's not my boyfriend," I stressed as I had earlier.
"So what? He dumped you and now you come crawling back to us because people see you as who you really are. " Kie looked me up and down. Her words hurt more than the teens from earlier. Kie and I had been the closest out of all of us.
"We broke up over four months. " I took another step closer, a mixture of anger and hurt in my voice. "When everything went down, we'd already broken up!" I glared at Kie. I couldn't help but allow the emotions to come through as I spoke. "I don't think I deserve to be called a slut, pathetic, disgusting, all because I liked a boy. " I looked away from kie to JJ. His glare was gone and was replaced with concern. Tears started to fill my eyes, but I refused to cry in front of them. "You know what? Forget this. It was a bad idea. " I quickly turned, not giving them time to say anything.
I didn't stop driving till I had let the cut. I couldn't be there right now. No matter where I went, I would run into someone that would think the same things as everyone else. After a few more minutes of driving, I finally reached the place I wanted to be. It was a small beach that was mainly isolated. The first time I had come here was with Rafe, but since then it had become my place to come and think. There was a silence here that you couldn't get anywhere else. I sat on the sand, pulling my knees into myself and resting my head on top of my knees. The only sound was that of the water. The occasional bird would fly over, but there wasn't much of anything else. I took a deep breath as I watched the water. I had no idea what I would do tomorrow. I would be at school and if this was how a few peers would treat me, how would the whole school think of me? Even if I told people that Rafe and I had broken up, they probably wouldn't believe me. They would think the same as Kie. What if my mom found out? God, what would happen? Would people treat my mom differently, all because I liked a boy? No, she's an adult, she's their teacher. Maybe everyone would get bored by Monday. Maybe they'll have found something else to obsess over by then. Who am I kidding?
"I knew I would find you here," a voice broke the silence. I pushed my legs out, the sand moving with it as the person sat next to me. I didn't need to look at them.
"How did you even know to look for me?" I stared out at the water, the sun slowly setting.
"Your mom called me. She said you seemed upset. She also said Heyward had contacted her." I sighed, laying back in the sand now staring up at the sky. The blonde boy looked down at me before joining me. "What's going on?" I could feel his gaze on me.
"Everything is derailing" silence followed as he waited for me to continue. "Within a span of two hours or so, I was called a slut, pathetic and disgusting, all because I liked you. " I turned to look at Rafe. He was already looking at me. His eyes softened. I turned away, staring back at the sky. Even though all this was happening because of him, part of me was glad he was here.
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I hope you guys liked it
Also I was so tempted to start a stranger things book
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