i'm sorry | ethan dolan

vday plans

chapter forty four
——mackenzie's pov
february 7th, 2020

"i'm so bummed. this is the second year in a row i'm going to be dateless for valentine's day," faith lamented, spearing a bright red tomato in the center of her salad, her head held up by her free hand.
"remember when we used to do bsd? boys suck day?" veronica asked, not looking up from her laptop, where she was typing away.
"oh my gosh, yeah. that was so much fun."

i looked back and forth between the two of them and held my breath. veronica had been psyched to sit at our table with us, the better to spy on the cresties, but i hadn't actually, like... expected her to interact with anyone, and now this? were veronica and faith actually talking to each other and not sniping? unprecedented. at least in the last two years.

"what's boys suck day?" madeline asked.
veronica's head suddenly shot up. then faith's did the same. they looked at each other across the cafeteria table like they'd just realized where they were.

"oh, nothing," faith said, grabbing for her soda.
"it was stupid," veronica added. both of them were seriously blushing.
"does it involve hating on guys on valentine's day?" madeline asked. she glanced toward the far end of the table where hammond, grayson, lucas, giovanni, connor, and josh scarfed their double burgers. "because i'm in."

faith cleared her throat and looked down, rubbing her hands together under the table as she glanced around for a change of topic. her eyes finally fell on ethan, who sat at the end of the table, catty corner from her and me, scarfing his own double burger.

"what about you, ethan? what are you guys doing for v-day this weekend?" she asked.

ethan didn't answer. he was too busy glaring toward the food line, his latest bite of burger bulging inside his right cheek. i tilted my head and leaned out into the aisle to see what he was looking at and spotted kylie and tyler. my heart sunk. of course.

"i haven't even thought about valentine's day," i said, filling the awkward silence. "i just want to get through the game tonight."
"nervous 'cause your new coach is coming?" madeline said in an overly teasing voice. the rutgers coach had sent me an email letting me know she was going to be attending the game tonight with a couple of members of the team, kind of a cool way to support the new recruit. of course the added pressure felt anything but supportive, but if i wanted to play at rutgers, i was definitely going to have to get used to it. there were some pretty high expectations surrounding that team.

i glanced sideways at ethan. he was still glaring. get over it, dude.
"well, that and it is the valley game," i replied. "we must beat them down."
"i heard that," she said, slapping my hand.
"great. basketball. rah, rah, rah," faith said facetiously. "but no one has answered my question." everyone looked at ethan. there was no indication that he even knew any of us were there, let alone talking.

"eth-an!" faith sang. she reached out and snapped her thin fingers in front of his face.
"what?" a couple of sesame seeds flew out of his mouth and she grimaced.
"i said, what are you guys doing for valentine's day?" faith asked again.

i held my breath, curious to hear his answer. kylie and tyler started to make their way down the aisle. he held their shared tray with one hand and clutched her fingers with the other.

"oh, um—"
just that one second of hesitation made my stomach flip.
"we don't have a plan," i interjected, feeling super embarrassed.
"no. we do," he said, putting his burger down on his tray. he dusted his fingers and reached for his soda cup. "we have plans, you just don't know what they are."
"really?" i said, shocked. ethan hadn't mentioned valentine's day once, and i'd started to think that he was too wrapped up in his anti kylie obsession to plan anything. plus things hadn't been great between us lately, with his moodiness and my irritation over the way he'd been treating kylie. i figured maybe he wasn't interested. "you planned something?"
"of course i did," he said, leaning in to give me a kiss. "it's valentine's day."

a smile twitched its way to my lips, and i reached for his hand. it was the first time since he'd found out about kylie's lie that i felt even remotely close to him. but just when my fingers were about to brush his under the table, kylie and tyler were passing by.

"nice lunch, kylie," he said, his back to her. "i thought you were eating for two, not ten." the guys at the far end of the table cackled. faith and veronica froze. my hand immediately fell back into my lap.

"ethan...," madeline said in a disappointed, warning tone. tyler put the tray down on the end of the next table and turned toward ethan. "do you have a problem, man?"
ethan wiped his fingertips on his napkin and shook his head, avoiding eye contact. "not anymore, dude. it's your problem now."
kylie shook her head. "i'm going to the bathroom."

"you don't have to go," i said. but it was too late. she was already waddling away. faith got up to follow her, and ethan shot her this evil look, like he felt betrayed. in that moment his face looked entirely different. sharper. uglier, somehow. i barely even recognized him. the acne on his cheeks stood out, i could he hadn't shaved in over a week and his hair looked really...choppy.
i was going to be sick. i really was.

"why don't you try saying that to my face?" tyler said, taking a step closer to ethan.
instantly, the guys at the far end of the table stood up, their chairs scraping against the linoleum. will's neck veins started popping out and he gulped, clearly nervous, but he didn't look away from ethan. in fact, i couldn't understand why the heat of his glare wasn't boring a hole in ethan's skull.
"okay." ethan got up as well. he was taller than tyler, but only by a couple of inches. the two of them stared at each other, and i swear i could taste the flying testosterone.

"you guys, come on," i said nervously. people were starting to take notice, getting up from their chairs, straining to see what was about to go down. "you don't have to fight."
"oh, i actually think it's long overdue," tyler answered.
"don't talk to my girl," ethan spat.
"ethan." grayson warned him from behind.

i tried to shoot grayson a 'help him right now' look, but he definitely didn't get the memo.
tyler laughed under his breath. "now you're telling me who i can and can't talk to? who the hell do you think you are?"

from the corner of my eye i saw one of the history teachers, mr.edwark, making his way toward us. he was short, neckless, and seriously stocky, and people had been calling him trollie for years. the door to the teacher's lounge opened and the vice principal, dr.giles, walked out as well. it was like he had a sixth sense for when a student was out for blood.

"i'm the guy who's about to pummel your ass," ethan said, pointing at him. he grabbed the front of tyler's sweater and i yelped. at that moment, mr.edwark's beefy hands met ethan and tyler's chests and pried them apart. man was definitely a wrestler in his earlier life.

"no one will be pummeling anyone's anything, boys," he growled. ethan and tyler were both panting like bulls about to be released into a fighting ring. if mr.edwark lowered his arms, they would have cracked skulls. instead, the vp arrived and cleared his throat.

"dolan, glassn." he said, tugging on the cuffs of his shirtsleeves beneath his jacket. "my office. right now." neither one of them moved.
"ethan," i pleaded.
he glanced at me then, but his eyes were blank. then he reached down, grabbed his backpack, and stormed off, shoving open the cafeteria door with the heel of his hand.
"you too, mr.glassn," dr.giles said.

mr.edwark released him, and tyler seemed to deflate. "would you guys make sure kylie eats something?" he said, glancing over at their forgotten tray.
"we're on it," madeline said.
"thanks."

then he turned around and trudged out with dr.giles at his heels. the guys slowly lowered themselves back into their chairs, and gradually the noise level in the cafeteria returned to normal, maybe even louder than normal, as everyone started blabbing about what had just happened. i stared down at my untouched pasta, feeling somehow hot and frigid at the same time.

"you okay?" veronica asked me.
"sure." i picked up my water bottle. my hand was shaking. i managed to take a sip, then cleared my throat. "know how you guys were talking about boys suck day?" i said weakly.
"yeah," madeline and veronica said in unison.

"well, i think i'm in for that," i said grimly. "i think i'm most definitely in."

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teaser: consequences for ethan

but are you all really bffs if you've never had a boys suck party
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i love you all<3
[1576 words]
-m
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