Golden Boy

T W E N T Y

"Good to know," I said patting them on the back. I grabbed my bag and made it to the back door without looking back. 

"You're welcome!" Jace yelled. 

I threw up my middle finger before slipping inside, hopefully bruising Jace's ego. The lights were off downstairs so I took this opportunity to sneak up to my room before they noticed I was home and wanted to ask me questions about my whereabouts. I wasn't too keen on lying to them because then they wouldn't trust me. 

I thought I was safe for the night until my mom came barging into my room five minutes after I had managed to softly close the door. "What's his name?" She asked, straight to the point.

I visibly choked. "What?"

"What's the boy's name? Answer me." She firmly stood, her arms crossed and her mouth drawn down In a frown. It was hard to take her seriously because of her pink flamingo pajamas and the green face mask drying on her face. 

"What boy—"

"The boy whose clothes you are currently wearing."

I looked down at the hoodie and sweatpants that had already caused me so much trouble and turmoil today and cursed. Of course, I was still wearing Jace's clothes when my mom came in. Of course, she would notice that they didn't belong to me because of their ill fit. "Uh. . . Dave's," I finally answered, hoping that she would drop the subject.

"Really? Why did I hear from Gloria that Dave dropped you off at the bakery and then that you got into an uber? Where did you go?"

I paused wondering how Gloria even knew Dave's name and that I called an uber. "Did she also tell you what I had for lunch, jeez?"

"So who is he?"

"A boy. . ."

"Does this boy have a name?"

"Perhaps," I diverted. "Can we not talk about it?"

"Are you using protection?"

"Gawww, I'm not sleeping with him."

"So why are you wearing his clothes? You don't have to admit it, just make sure to use protection," she said, making me feel extremely awkward about this whole conversation.

"Okay, thanks for that solid advice mom. I'm going to sleep now, so you can lecture me about this tomorrow," I said moving towards the door to hint my mom to exit my room. She finally relented and left, leaving me alone to process the most awkward conversation I've ever had with my mother. 

I quickly changed and went to take a shower to try and forgot ever having to wear Jace's clothes and the amount of trouble it's caused me in just one day. I thought being associated with Jace was bad enough but for everyone to suddenly believe a crazy rumor that we are dating, to the point that even my mom was now asking me questions, was a little over the top. 

I went to bed hoping that I could forget this all happened the next day and that the rest of the school would too. 

The next morning, Olivia complained about not getting to spend any time with me since she's been back, which I also felt guilty about but had no real explanation as to why that was the case. I didn't know how to handle that situation, so I ignored the topic when Olivia was driving me to school. I promised that I would spend time with her today so that she didn't think I wasn't happy to have her back. 

From the second I stepped foot onto school property, I could feel the stares and whispers resulting from yesterday's rumor. I had hoped that everyone forgot all about it, but no, they indeed hadn't.