Hidden Truths|✓

Chapter Ten

April 14th, 2017

That Night.

The crowd in the bleachers was a sea of blue and white, matching our team colors that I too had smeared on my face. We had a lot spirit here in Fairweather. What else was there to do in this small town?  

I was cheering, pom-poms shaking, when Wesley made the winning touchdown. The crowds around the field went wild, Fairweather was known for our "above average" teams. People credited Wesley, they thought he was the one who single-handedly led us out of our fifty-year rut. Wesley had a scholarship waiting for him to play football at a D1 college before the events of tonight. 

Not anymore.

I ran across the field as fast as my legs could carry me. My lanky legs, showing how young and innocent I should've been. I ran fast and carefree, hair coming loose from the braids, dodging people to throw myself into Wesley's arms. He grabbed me, picking me up by my legs and kissed me hard, people around us whistling at our display.

I was so happy I barely cared that he was drenched in sweat. We were carefree. Young and in love. At that moment, we were perfect. The stereotypical high school couple. Others around us were pushing and shoving, everyone wanted to talk to our "Golden Boy".

"Give me like ten minutes okay?" Wes yelled in my ear over the crowds around us. I looked up and nodded smiling.

"I was just coming to say congrats and that the girls and I are leaving to go change for the party, I'll be in my bikini." I winked.

"Tease," he whined, staring after me as I walked away.

I was so happy at that moment. This was my life and it was almost perfect. I was one of the most popular girls in school. Being popular wasn't everything obviously, but it does make life more interesting.

I hadn't really cared about popularity too much before becoming friends with Liv. I thought it would be nice to be the girl untouchable, the girl all the guys drooled over. I hadn't taken popularity seriously until I was popular. It was like a switch, suddenly I cared about making myself look perfect all the time. Lipgloss constantly reapplied, a sweep of mascara at all times, even at home so I looked decent for snapchat. I constantly checked with the girls for confirmation on everything. I needed to be considered perfect.

What would anyone say if I looked anything less? Liv didn't even have to try. Everyone wanted to be Liv. She was the most popular girl no matter how much I wished to outshine her just once. She was my best friend but God, I was jealous. I spent over an hour in the morning getting ready for school and she was ready in fifteen. I spent hours at the gym and Liv was tiny anyway. I was always behind when it came to Liv.

I raced across the field to the parking lot where all the cheerleaders were, we normally would be on the field celebrating with the boys but tonight was the biggest party of the year. Kids had gotten their college siblings to buy them liquor, we had piles and piles of liquor stored in Chases shed. It was the biggest party of the year, we were celebrating the  teams victorious season. It was one final send-off to the players and cheerleader seniors. Their final act.

Fitting that it was the final send off.

I climbed into Livs car reaching into the back seat to grab our bags. I pulled out my bikini and struggled put it on, not caring that I was flashing Liv.

"God Harls, the yellow bikini? I thought I told you to burn that thing," Liv groaned flicking her eyes over at me before focusing on the road again. I rolled my eyes before swiping on lipstick and passing it to Liv to borrow.