"I know she'll mess up her pride one day."
"She's always been a whore."
"Beautiful whore."
"Jeez...I saw those pictures. She was damn smiling."
"She's just a big pretender. Our brilliant girl likes those things too."
Jethro felt his head aching as those chatter and mocking laughter pierced through his ears. He had banged his fist on the table a hundred times and had wanted to hit at the gossip but Gavin had done well to restrain him.
"Let them talk. People will always do." Gavin's calm voice had advised and he could only clench his palm in suppressed anger.
"Do you still have those pictures?" He asked, not looking up from the table. His eyes were just steely on his plate of cold chicken rolls.
"No, I don't," Gavin mumbled, his head shaking along.
"Alright." Jethro breathed and wiped a palm over his face in hesitation. There was a question he wanted to ask Gavin but couldn't as a big pain withheld him from within. He knew what the answer would be and it hurts him to think of it. He wanted to ask if Ava was smiling in those pictures but they had both seen them in his dark room that night. His beloved Ava was grinning, naked, and cuddling some strange boy. Who was that boy? Was he also a student of Riverdale? Jethro's brows arched as he deepened in the awkward thought.
"Heyyy... " Gavin flapped a palm in front of him and he startled back to life, "What're you thinking so deep?" Gavin chuckled but then it was a short little laugh as Jethro was not smiling either. There was a burning question he wanted to ask.
"That boy with Ava," He started and paused, tossing with the fork on the rolls, "Is he also from Riverdale?" He asked softly, his head raising to lock eyes with his friend.
"No." Gavin replied and rested back on his chair, his palms clasping the base of his neck, "But he has some history with Ava."
"Really?" Jethro's eyes bulged with interest and then they shot a glare at a group of gossip where some girl had uttered a derogatory comment about Ava. Gavin traced his look and could only smile when he looked back at him.
"You seem not to know a lot about a girl you so much care for." Gavin continued to beam.
"I've always been admiring from afar, you know." Jethro shrugged, a stray smile coming to his face before it was immediately snuffed out, "So, you said the boy had some history with Ava?" He asked with a clear, keen edge. There was only one boy he had known with Ava and that was no other than the cute Finn Maxwell.
"Yes, the boy is from Neo city, Ava's former school. He was Ava's boy there before she relocated to Georgia." Gavin narrated and Jethro's eyes narrowed in subtle understanding.
"So you're saying what happened in those pictures wasn't coincidental?" Jethro said dreamily as those pictures seem to display in his sight again. Heck...he pushed them off his head.
"No way." Gavin affirmed, wagging his index finger "And you know one thing," He bent forward and lowered his voice for his next statement, "Finn is not to be trusted in all of these."
"Finn?" Jethro snorted in a mix of doubt and surprise.
"Yes. Finn Maxwell." Gavin nodded in a big assurance and Jethro's eyes squinted questioningly.
"Why Finn?" He asked and a wry smile cut across Gavin's face as he sipped at his coffee.
"Who was the favorite for the Gainesville scholarship before Ava joined the school?" Gavin asked back, his smile broadening.
"Oh..." Jethro suddenly exclaimed as the intent of Gavin's question hit him.
"Now you're getting it." Gavin winked.
"But can Finn do that to her?"
"Why can't he?" Gavin scoffed.
"Have you seen him today?" Jethro returned a question. He had seen Finn one time in the morning and the boy had looked devastated. He never looked like someone who would have done what Gavin was assuming. Maybe Gavin had not seen him in the state he had.
"Of course. He looked sad but that won't change my stance on him." Gavin insisted with a snort that showed he could not be convinced Finn had no hand in all that had happened. If the scholarship thing was to be considered, maybe he had a solid reason too.
Jethro took in a lungful of air and breathed an "Alright." before shutting his eyes firmly. Several dark images ran across his head as he did so, from the sobbing face of Ava, the abject look of Finn, and the hurt soul of Jessy...
Oh...Jessy. His eyes flew open as the name crossed his mind. He shifted on his chair and cast a curious stare around the cafeteria while Gavin wondered what had made him suddenly restless.
"Who are you looking for? Katie?" He teased and Jethro made a face as expected. Katie was the girl who had always looked for Jethro's attention while Jethro's heart was set on Ava, a girl who hardly knew he existed. Such was the funny twist.
"I'm looking for Jessy," Jethro muttered, ignoring the teasing question while his eyes still search for the girl.
"And you think you'll see her here?" Gavin smirked, "She'll be hiding her soul in some quiet place. Poor girl."
"Yeah, you're right." Jethro sighed as he slowly stopped the search. It would be easy to see Jessy if she were here. All eyes would be swarming around her, "Don't you think we should look for her?" He said with concern.
"We should look for Ava instead." Gavin objected and Jethro's face twitched at him at the sound of the name.
"Not after all the shit she did." Jethro argued back, "No way I'm looking for her." He grunted but Gavin rather gave a mocking, quiet laugh.
"You know I'll only take that seriously if it had come from your deep mind." Gavin beamed and his eyes did a double on Jethro's.
"Yes. It didn't come from my deep self." Jethro mouthed in defeat as his eyes faltered. He deeply wanted to see Ava. He wanted to know what state she was in at the moment. He wanted to console her and ask why she had taken all such blatant actions. He wished to do all this, but then in one wave of realization, he found it all stupid and hilarious. Why did he care so much about a girl who barely knew of his existence? Would he continue to sit in a dark corner and sulk at someone who never knew she had hurt him?
He gulped hard and then agreed internally that Gavin was right. It was time he left his shell and showed himself to Ava that he existed.
"Alright. We'll look for Ava." He finally conceded just as a couple of boys passed along their table.
"Look for Ava?" One of them had sniggered, attracting Jethro's blazing scowl.
"Has the whore run away?" The second boy cackled and that was the last straw that broke the camel's back as Jethro sprang up from his chair and confronted them.
"How dare you call her a whore?" He challenged the lanky boy who had made the whore statement.
"Who is he?" The boy chuckled to his partner and made to evade the confrontation but Jethro denied him.
"I said how dare you call her a whore." He spat again on the boy's reddened face. By now, all eyes were firmly fixed on them in anticipation while Gavin just stood helplessly looking at his wild friend.
"Will you let me go? I called her a whore and who are you to warn me not to." The boy argued back in a choking breath as Jethro's hand held tightly to his neck.
"You repeat that whore statement and I swear..."
"She's a whore. What the hell will you do?" The boy interrupted with a defiant laugh that further erupted the anger in Jethro.
"You crazy!" He howled and in one flash, crashed the boy to the floor. He heard simultaneous gasps as he did so but he instantly shut his ears against them. He sent a gaze around the tensely quiet cafeteria, hoping to see the disappointed Gavin but did not. He took off his jacket and slammed it across a shoulder as he walked between the tables.
"Why did he do that?"
"Who's he to fight for Ava?"
"Finn isn't even fighting."
He heard those critical statements as he stumped out and just as he fell into an adjacent hall, his eyes hit on someone who had been silently watching the dramatic scene he just made.
It was Jessy.