Alone on Cloud 9

Alone on Cloud 9 (11)

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. After her birthday party, Paige had earned a little time in the limelight, but not content with just fifteen minutes of fame, she'd been determined to steal the whole show. 

Suddenly she'd have to talk louder, laugh harder, as if everyone in the school was hanging on her every word. Every conversation required expressive gestures and even little annoyances had to be announced like a theatrical production of righteous indignation so the whole student body could benefit. Mandy found her amusing and had always attracted quite a bit of attention anyway having dated her way through most of the tenth grade boys, I mostly found it embarrassing. Either way, it explained why this piece of news was blown way out of proportion.

Mayfield was a small enough town that most people knew your business as it was, I preferred to keep what little things I could private rather than all but give a play by play of my day on the morning announcements. 

And much as I wanted to pretend I was above it, I hated the way other people looked at us. Some seemed intimidated, others bored or annoyed, some even seemed mildly interested or downright amused, either way I hated losing the ability to walk down a hallway without a few heads turning in my direction.

I must have gotten used to it over the days though, because the today’s scandal had all that embarrassment rushing back as everyone turned to look at one of Paige Summers best friends. Not anymore, I wanted to shout at them. And if I had it this bad I couldn't even image what Wes must be going through. 

Cheating was such a dirty thing, so low and inconsiderate, so unbelievable selfish. It was one of the things I would never understand.

"Hey, you're friends with Paige right? Why'd she do it?" A girl I hadn't seen around before was standing in front of me, and it was obvious by the other three girls huddled close pretending not to listen, that she'd been chosen to come over here to ask the question they were all dying to know the answer to.

"I don't know" I replied blandly and pushed past her. Apparently friendship didn't count for much since I was one of the last to know, but maybe she'd already guessed I wouldn't take her side. 

Even if I had known, I wouldn't have told these vultures. All I knew was that it had happened at the movies. I knew it had to have been Cinezone, it was the only theatre it town, which of course meant at any given time there were always at least a few people from school there. No wonder word had gotten around so fast. The gossip around here was like a game of telephone, who knows what even one innocent comment would turn into by the end of the day?

Still, even without my help everyone knew the truth of what had really happened, there had been plenty of eye witnesses, and despite trying to ignore it, by the time I made it to class I already knew that it all started unraveling when Paige made a big scene at the concessions counter about the kind of candy he'd got her.

Strike one.

 

The second bell rang just as I slid into my seat beside Mandy and she gave me a tense smile, confirming what I'd already guessed. Paige had already told her everything, probably even the guy she’d cheated with, which didn't surprise me since she'd always been closer to Mandy then me. I guess I'd never fully trusted her, which was obviously warranted.