You're My Sol

Chapter 27

Marisol and I nodded, and Mr. Lenn went back to grading.

At least one adult cared.

Marisol and I walked down the near-empty hallway to the cafeteria. When we pushed those gian double doors open and walked into the room, it was like all conversations stopped. All eyes followed us as we walked to our lunch table. Once we sat down, conversation resumed.

"Hey guys," I said.

"Are you okay?!" Sarah burst out.

I nodded, looking to Marisol. "Yeah," she said.

"What even happened?" Kate asked.

I opened my mouth, then stopped. "What have you heard?"

Ashlynn laughed nervously. "I heard that you guys are like... uh... together? And you," she turned to Marisol, "cheated on Jake with Penelope. And then he got angry so you got some upperclassmen to beat him up?"

I laughed. It was sort of true, but so biased.

Jessica raised an eyebrow. "So I'm guessing that's not what happened?"

Marisol shook her head. "Well I guess I should start by saying Penny is my girlfriend."

"What?!" Sarah, Kate, and Ashlynn exclaimed. Jessica sat there with a smirk.

I looked quizically at Jessica. "You're not surprised?"

"You've made it pretty obvious," she said, laughing.

Marisol and I looked at each other then laughed. "So we weren't as sneaky as we thought."

Jessica shook her head.

"Well if you weren't sneaky, then we were just dumb," Sarah said.

We laughed. Then I began retelling the story of what really happened, starting with this weekend and ending with the principal's office. All of them paid rapt attention, and Marisol butted in when apropriate.

"Wow," Ashlynn said as soon as we were done. "He's such an asshole."

"Agreed," Kate said.

The rest of the girls nodded.

"So... I just want to make sure, are you guys okay with us dating?" I asked.

"Of course!" Ashylnn exclaimed. She paused for a moment, looking between me and Marisol. "Just don't forget to be friends with us, okay?"

Marisol and I nodded, laughing.

Suddenly things seemed a lot less scary, knowing that our friends had our backs.

* * *

"Go!" Coach Taryn yelled.

We launched ourselves from the starting line, running into a sprint. After we reached fifty meters, we slowed down to a jog.

It was nice. I wanted to forget about everything, to ignore the stares from our teammates and to just act like everything was normal.

"Today was crazy," Marisol said.

I could only nod in agreement.

"I'm glad your brother stood up for me, though. I didn't expect it, but it saved me." Her eyes shone. "It must be nice to have a brother who cares about you."

I knew family was a sore subject for her. "Hey, he cares about you, too. That's why he defended you."

Marisol's eyes widened. It was like she thought about that for the first time. "I guess he did. He's a really nice guy."

"Yeah," I laughed. "I'm lucky he's my brother."

After we finished the drills for the rest of the day, we packed up. The rest of the people on the team stared at us as we got our bags together.

"I wish they'd stop staring," I said, glancing behind me.

"Me too," Marisol said. "But we just have to ignore them."

She glanced over to me. "You ready?"

"Yep," I replied, pulling my bag onto my shoulder.

We took our usual route home, talking like we normally did.

As we got to Marisol's house, she sighed. "I hope they don't find out about this. Word travels fast, but I hope it doesn't travel to them."

I frowned. "Are they homophobic?"

"Hopefully not, but I'm pretty sure they are..."

I hugged her close.

"No matter what, I'll still be here for you," I said.

She hugged me back. "Thank you."

She pulled away and walked off to her house, shutting the door behind her.