Chapter Thirty
(Monday). It was safe to say Robin didn't feel sick anymore. She had been hanging out with River and the rest of her friends the whole day and fall was really in the air now. The school was advertising posters for the homecoming dance on October 12, which was only about a month away. Robin hadn't really paid attention to it since she didn't exactly plan on going in the first place. She'd been to homecoming before at her old school in Georgia and even though she went with Jesus, it was still not all glimmer and sparkles like it advertised to be, and since she didn't have friends at that school, it was actually pretty boring.
Robin stood stone-faced in front of a poster for homecoming. In big blue and green letters printed across a white layout, it read:
FENWAY HIGH HOMECOMING
SAVE THE DATE!
GAME: 6 PM FRIDAY OCTOBER 11
DANCE: 7:30 PM SATURDAY OCTOBER 12
VOTE YOUR HOMECOMING KING AND QUEEN!
She frowned in disdain at the flashy decorating done by the art students, and stood there with her arms folded as students walked past her in the background.
"It's a really good time, isn't it?" a voice asked from behind her.
Whoever it was put their hands on Robin's shoulders and smiled.
"Dennis..." Robin grumbled under her breath.
His hands traveled down her shoulders to either side of her body, until they rested on her sides. He dug his neck into her shoulder and swayed gently from side to side, mumbling in her ear,
"You left so soon."
Robin rolled her eyes, sighing to herself, and gripped onto one of Dennis' hands that was snaked around her waist.
"Did I?" she raised a brow, not enjoying how uncomfortably close he was to her.
"Yeah. Why?"
Robin scoffed and whipped around out of his grasp, leaving his hands floating by his sides in the air. He looked at her with an unhinged jaw and she grit her teeth.
"Dennis, please. You can't keep coming around. It's like, really annoying," she sucked her teeth.
He cocked his head to the side,
"What are you talking about? Hey, as far as I'm concerned, we made a deal."
"Yeah, and I went through with it. You can leave me alone now, you know," Robin retorted.
Dennis huffed and clenched his fists,
"So, what are you tryna say?"
Robin frowned and put a hand on Dennis' shoulder,
"I don't know how to put this, but we're breaking up. It's not you, it's me. Oh wait, it is you."
Dennis grumbled under his breath and rolled his eyes, folding his arms,
"Shut up, we were never together."
Robin chuckled and put a hand over her mouth as she giggled, amused,
"Really? Because you're acting like it."
"Look, I-"
He paused suddenly, and Robin looked up into his eyes, waiting for him to go on as she gave him a criticizing look.
"Yes?"
"I really liked you," he mumbled, looking down at the floor with dismay.
"Aw. Well, Stacey's single. Who knows, you might even make homecoming king and queen again!" Robin smiled graciously at him.
She began to walk away, and Dennis stood there awkwardly.
"Wait, Robin," Dennis called out.
She turned on her heels, face to face with Dennis again. He smiled down at her, taking her hands in his. He bent down and kissed her softly on the cheek.
"Is that all?" she asked, unsurprised at Dennis' boldness, and not breaking out into a cold sweat since the halls were clear for the most part and she figured he would try something like that again.
"Yeah," he laughed. He let go of her hands. "See ya around."
"See ya."
A wave rolled over her. That felt pretty refreshing, knowing it was over, and that it ended that easily. She figured Dennis was going to force her to get tangled in another mess in order for him to leave her alone. At least now she knew he wouldn't tell anybody about her and River, seeing as they had a deal. Dennis didn't seem like the kind of person to keep his word, but seeing as that whole ordeal went down so easily, she wasn't so worried anymore.
"Hey, what were you talking to Dennis for?" River asked, his soft voice getting louder as he approached her.
"Huh?" Robin asked, her hair twirling as she turned to face River. He put an arm around her shoulder and they started walking towards the cafeteria. She slid her arm around his waist. "Oh, nothing."
"He wasn't bothering you, was he?"
"Oh, no, not at all," Robin shook her head slowly, a dazed smile forming about her face.
"I hope not. I think I'm gonna start taking boxing lessons soon, so I can strengthen my punch. If you look at my arm, you can see-"
Robin scoffed playfully as she watched River flex the arm that was free, showing off a surprising amount of muscle. She pushed his arm down,
"You're annoying."
"Ooh, burn," he taunted.
"Since when were you ever sarcastic?" she asked, looking up at him as they walked through the double doors of the cafeteria.
"I can be humorous," River defended himself.
"Sure you can."
They sat down at their usual table and parted ways, River sitting on the side opposite Robin.
"Ah, hola mis amores!" Feldman exclaimed in a particularly bad accent.
"Ya callate," River shot back, the only one who actually took Spanish class serious enough to have a reputable accent.
"What does that mean?" Feldman asked, Heather, his nose digging into her short cut hair.
"Shut up already," she replied.
He made a face,
"You shut up already."
"You guys, I don't think I'm in love with Elizabeth," Corey blurted out of nowhere, hovering over his lunch tray.
"Why's that?" River asked, folding his arms as he leaned back and looked at Corey.
Robin pulled her lunch out of her backpack- salad with feta cheese on top.
"Well, she- I dunno, she's just so perfect," Corey sighed.
"Then what was Amandla?" Robin asked, raising her brows as she tossed her salad around, spreading the dressing over it.
"She was everything."
"Corey, my dear friend. You two just didn't click. Well, obviously you liked each other, but you were missing that certain something, that little part, that makes relationships last. Besides, you didn't see eye to eye. And, her parents weren't that fond of you if I'm not wrong," River chipped in his two cents.
"Hey, they liked me! They just thought I was jumpy, that's all," Corey defended himself measly.
Robin snickered and sneered,
"That's black parent for 'annoying.'"
The corner of River's lip turned up and he pointed his thumb at Robin,
"Take it from her, she should know."
Though the others looked uncomfortable and slightly offended, River and Robin were erupting in fits of laughter.
"Anyway, I just dunno what I should do. I don't know if I should go back to Amandla and break things off with Elizabeth, or just keep going with her," Corey sighed.
"Look, why can't you just be single for two seconds? You were with Amandla for three whole years, and you bounced right to Elizabeth like it was nothing," Heather groaned, rolling her eyes at Corey.
His mouth dropped. It was the first time anybody had ever said anything of the sort to him, and he had subconsciously been waiting to hear it. His nose twitched like a bunny rabbit, and by the look on his face, he looked as if something inside of him had just clicked. Though he knew in the back of his mind that this was in fact what he was doing, he didn't acknowledge it. Like the brain of a trauma survivor, though he wasn't traumatized, he just pushed it all to the back of his head.
"Heather!" Feldman hissed, glaring at her.
He knew it, she knew it. They all knew it. But they hadn't said a word about it to him or each other because they knew it wasn't their call and that Corey was just in denial. They all figured he'd come to his senses in a while, but they weren't anticipating it happening this way.
"It's true," Heather murmured, looking down at her lunch tray when she felt everyone's eyes burning into her.
"No no, you're right. You're so right. I've been in denial. I gotta apologize to Amandla," Corey sat up, looking like he was ready to get down to business.
"Where are you going?" Feldman called out after him.
"To Amandla's school," Corey said, no trace of humor on his face.
"Sit down, dipshit," Feldman scoffed.
guys i'm gonna post a "poll" after this so please pls vote on it when i post it next!!!!
love yaaa :)))