Chapter 36: Clout.
"He is getting eaten alive out there." Chanel says and Christian smacks her hand.
"Don't say that about Ethan. He's trying his best." Christian chides.
"Well, he can do better. They're scouts here." Chanel says and I laugh as I watch the two of them go at it.
I wipe my sweaty palms on my light-washed jeans and stare at the basketball court.
Once it's halftime, I am going to do something that would probably make a lot of people hate my guts. I don't care though. I've been stalling for way too long now.
"Oh, shut up." Christian says, rolling his eyes at Chanel.
My phone vibrates in my pocket and I pull it out. I have a text message from Miles.
Miles: Hey, stranger.
I actually haven't had a conversation with Miles since the dinner and right now isn't the best time to have one, so I'm just gonna ignore him for now.
The halftime bell rings and my heart skips a beat in my chest. This is it.
It's showtime.
"I'm gonna go use the restroom." I tell Chanel and Christian who are still arguing with each other.
Standing up from my seat, I walk out of our row and head to the control room.
"Hey, Leah." I say as I walk in.
"Hey, are you ready?" She asks me and I nod.
"I know this is scary, but it's also really brave of you to do this." Leah tells me and I smile at her.
"I mean, I didn't want to leave high school and have people not knowing the truth. I don't want to be remembered as this perfect it-girl that had the perfect boyfriend and perfect life. My life was far from rosy and they're about to find out." I tell her.
"Atta girl." Leah tells me. "I'll turn off the lights right before you go on, so the girls can set up."
"Wish me luck." I say before I walk back to the basketball court. The room goes dark and people start murmuring. I feel someone take my hand and start walking. When the lights are turned back on, I am seated on a stool with a microphone in my hand. I am sitting below the basket and everyone on both sides of the court is staring straight at me.
"Hi." I start. "My name is Jasmine Prentice." I add.
"A lot of you may know me as Aaron Jackson's ex-girlfriend and Miles Prescott's alleged new girl. I just want to formally introduce myself." I say, rubbing my sweaty palms on my blue jeans.
"Um." I say, with a shaky breath.
"GET ON WITH IT!!!" Someone from the crowd yells and that reminds me why I'm here.
"To the entire student body, Aaron and I were hashtag couple goals. We were everyone's favorite couple on campus and we had it all. Or it looked like we did. Aaron Jackson is an abuser. He physically assaulted me more times than I can count." I say and everyone goes quiet. I feel like everyone is staring at me right now.
Well, that's no surprise since I just called the captain of the basketball team that we're all here to watch play, an abuser.
"Aaron is a violent human being. And he threatened to kill everyone I loved and get my mother deported if I ever told anyone that he was hitting me." Pictures of my bruised face and body appear on the screens in the basketball court.
"Principal Thomas tried to make me keep quiet about this when Aaron got drafted by the Celtics. He said that a scandal like this was going to ruin Aaron's career before it even began. And I felt bad. I really did. I didn't want to rock the boat and ruin his life even though he had ruined mine. Two weeks ago, Aaron attacked my friend, Miles and I, in the school parking lot." I reveal.
"And I finally decided that I wasn't going to keep taking his punches. I needed to do something, so here I am. Doing something. Some of you might think that I'm doing this for clout or attention or that I'm bitter because he is currently dating my best friend. And you couldn't be more wrong."
"I'm doing this right here, right now, to prove to myself that I can stand in the face of oppression and condemn it. And expose a boy who has had his parents pay their way out of his fuck ups." I tell them.
"And since we're on our way out of this place, I wanted to leave with a bang." I add and the crowd laughs.
"Thank you for listening. I'll let you shoot your balls now." I say, turning off the microphone. I place it gently on the leather seat and head for the door.
The crowd claps and cheers as I make my way through the exit. As soon as I leave, I start crying. But these aren't tears of pain, they are tears of joy.
I finally did it.
I beat Aaron at his own game..
"Jasmine." I hear Aaliyah call out for me and I turn around.
"Hi." I say, wiping my eyes.
She puts her hair behind her ear and I spot a bruise on her temple.
He's hitting her too.
"Aaron?" I ask her and she nods.
"Not that I owe you sympathy of any kind after what you did, but I am sorry he is doing this to you." I tell her.
"What you did in there was fucking iconic." She says and I shrug.
"I was just getting things off my chest." I tell her.
"I'm leaving him." Aaliyah tells me. "And I sincerely apologize for how things went down between us."
"You showed me you weren't ten toes down and I kept it moving. That's life for you. People will fold on you." I explian.
"I really am sorry. I just wanted you to know that." She says and I nod.
She walks back into the basketball court. As she walks in, Christian and Chanel walk out and stare at me.
"Girl, you are crazy." Christian says and I laugh.
"Thank you." I reply, curtseying.
"I mean, interrupting a whole basketball game is another level of iconic." Chanel chimes in.
"I needed a platform." I say, chuckling.
"You certainly used this one. You're trending on Grillo." Christian says, showing me his phone.
"I'm so proud of you best friend." Chanel says, hugging me. "You finally made it out." She whispers in my ear.
"I'm craving some Taco Bell right now." I say, interrupting the moment.
"What is wrong with you?" Chanel chuckles as she pulls away.
"Hunger." I reply. "Christian, where did you park?" I ask him.
"Out front." He says, taking his car keys from his pockets and handing them to me.
"I'm not going though. So, you drive. I have to watch my man Ethan play in the second half." He tells me and I nod.
He goes back into the basketball court and I stare at Chanel.
"Are you coming?" I ask her.
"Duh." She says, slinging her arm around me as we head for the school's front door.
***
"And you didn't think to talk to me first?" Aaron says in front of me and I laugh in his face.
"Why the fuck would I do that?" I ask him.
"I lost my fucking job and scholarship, Jaz. Do you know how big of a deal that is?" He tells and I shrug.
Leaning my head on the door frame, I stare at him.
"You need to leave. I only opened this door because I didn't know who was behind it." I tell him.
"You're so heartless." He spits.
"Coming from the boy who did my head in more than once. Rich." I say, smiling at him.
"You have to tell those people that you were lying." He tells me and I stare at him stunned.
"You really think you have all the power in this situation, don't you?" I say, smiling at him.
"Matter of fact I do. My father is very powerful and my family can make life very uncomfortable for you." He tells me and I laugh.
"Well then, do that." I say about to close the door.
"Do what?" He says, stopping the door from closing.
"Talk to your father." I tell him before I slam the door in his face.