Chapter Thirty: Awkward Crush:

It’s out in the open now. Heather knew how I felt. She didn’t seem to be disgusted. She hasn’t responded either. I can’t tell what she’s thinking. Honestly, I’m scared to find out. The worst is that she can reject me. I don’t think I can take any more bad news. Maybe she will let me down easily.

“Thank you for today,” Mrs. Washburn said.

“See you tomorrow,” I said. I turned and walked out of the library. I saw Heather up ahead of me. My stomach dropped. Oh… There was still that, wasn’t there.

“Hey!” I shouted. Heather stopped in her tracks. I hesitated at first. What was I going to say? What was there to say? I ran up to her. She didn’t turn around.

“Hey,” I said again. Heather turned to face me. My heart jumped into my throat. I opened my mouth, but no words came out. It was like I forgot how to speak. I put up my hand and tried again, but still no words came out. Heather tilted her head.

“Did you want something?” she asked. I lowered my hand and frowned. What was there to say? I was tempted to turn around and run.

“See you tomorrow,” I said at last.

“Okay,” Heather said. “Have a good night.”

“Yeah, you too,” I said. What the hell was this? Why weren’t we talking about what I told moments ago? So we’re going to pretend that it never happened? Was that how it was going to be? I cursed myself as Heather walked out the door. Still, I had the feeling that it wasn’t going to be the worst of it.

“Hey!” I heard behind me. I turned my head to Spoony running towards me. I rolled my eyes. And here we go? He caught up to me.

“Yeah?” I asked. Spoony narrowed his eyes at me.

“What’s the matter?” he asked. I sighed and shook my head.

“Nothing,” I said. I walked out of the library.

“Nate?” Spoony asked behind me. I just wanted to disappear into the ground forever. Still, this day was about to get worse.

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“I’m home,” I said as I walked into the living room. No sooner had I got inside, I found mom and my sisters sitting around on the couch, staring at me. All of them looked pale with grave looks on their faces. Mom clutched the remote tightly in her right hand. It looked like it was shaking. Mallory looked like she was ready to blurt something out. Kim had the stance of wanting to get up and run away. I looked at all of them confused.

“Uh… what’s going on?” I asked. “Did somebody die?”

“Come look at this,” mom said. She turned on the TV with the remote.

“What are you talking about? What’s going on?” I asked. I walked over and sat down on the couch. Kim scooted over as mom turned up the volume. My jaw dropped when I saw the screen. My former school was in the news—again. It was official: there was full-blown cheating scandal. It was in that moment, my phone started buzzing. I had three guesses as to who it was and the first two didn’t count. The icing on top? My mom’s phone started to ring as well.