Since Summers

thirteen : selective memory

AUTUMN

I planned to ignore him for the rest of the day. I was in a good mood when I was out with Frazier roaming New York City, yet as soon as I stepped into the apartment, the smile was gone. Everything he said came back and made me angry.

By the time I got out of the bathroom this morning, he was gone. I had to admit, I felt cold without him around. Even when we were fighting, or in this case me ignoring him, I still loved him. Sickening, wasn't it? But the two years we've spent, those memories we had, still lingered in my head and I could feel it deep in my heart.

I put sunscreen on my face, then topped it up with a little foundation and setting powder. I wasn't born blonde, although I had some blonde highlights in my hair, so my eyebrows and eyelashes were brown. I didn't have to use a brow pencil or mascara if I didn't want to. Frankly, today was one of those lazy days when I could care less about my makeup or how I looked.

In ten minutes, I was already on my way to Columbia. Today I only had one morning class, I was thinking of dropping by NYU right after. I still needed to clear things up with Jess. After what happened with Tyler, I needed my best friend.

"Oh, look who it is!" A familiar voice greeted me as I stepped into the BMGC class. I was five minutes early and the teacher was nowhere to be found. "The school's biggest slut."

I looked at where the voice came from and saw Freja giving me a mean smile. She was the one who yelled those words with Margo sitting beside her looking like a college Regina George.

I've never faced bullies before, partly because I was queen bee in Carlton High and no one in their right mind dared to throw shït at me, but I knew running away like a coward was never the right move. The best move was to stand up to your bullies and never let their words bring you down.

"Really?" I countered as I approached her with my head held high. "If I'm not wrong, you're the one who couldn't hold her urge and had a quickie in the toilet two nights ago." I knew it hit the right nail considering her eyes bulged and her cheeks reddened.

I bet no one dared to say that in her face, just like no one dared to call Frazier an ass in his face. These kids needed someone to tell them that they weren't as perfect as they thought they were and I had no problem being that person.

Margo put one hand on Freja's shoulder. "At least she did it with her boyfriend." The smile she was giving me was cunning and full of hatred. "Not her high school English teacher or the college admission board."

I knew I would never get this off my back. People would talk and once they talked, they wouldn't stop. The fact that I slept with Mr. Rodrigues back in high school sort of supported the lie about me sleeping with the admission board.

They would never understand what really happened and judging by the look everyone was giving me, I knew they didn't care about the truth. They wanted someone to be blamed for something. They wanted rumors and gossip. They wanted to throw shade at people to make them feel better about themselves. It was almost classic.

"Geez. You're like a plunger, you keep bringing up old shit." I shook my head. "I almost feel sorry that you're so desperate to be a mean girl. No one can beat Regina George." I leaned on her table and looked her straight in the eye as I said, "I did not sleep with the admission board. I got here by a partial scholarship. You should get your facts straight before you blabber around."