Epilogue

It's not like I didn't plan to say hi to Bailey or smile in the hallway as I passed her or pretend she hadn't ignored my existence for the last two and a half years by joining in whatever conversation she dragged me into. The thing is she wasn't in school the first day back or the second or the third. That will make shit of any teenage boy's plan! By the time, I saw her on the fourth day I talked myself into believing she regretted what happened, that she didn't mean 'anytime', that she didn't really want me to treat her like an every day acquaintance.

So when I caught a flash of her hair out of the corner of my eye, I ran the other way.

Janet found me sitting in the stairway at the start of my lunch period. "Hey, dude. What are you doing in here? Don't you have lunch?"

"Don't you have class?" I grumbled.

"Sick teacher and no sub." She crouched in front of me. "Are you okay?"

"I really don't want to talk about it, Janet."

"That's some stupid shit to say to a girl, Mateo." She knelt down and sat on her heels. "What's up?"

Being my only friend, I didn't have much of a choice, even if I REALLY did not want to talk about it with a girl.

"I have a problem," I said. "I had sex with Bailey."

"Maybe you need to look up the word problem because sounds like you have it confused with 'I hit the lottery'," she said, giggling around the words.

I pressed my lips against my teeth.

"I'm sorry," she said, patting my knee. "You banged the hottest girl in school and now..."

"I have to say hi to her and be her friend," I said.

"Only if you want to her to blow and fuck you again," she said.

I sat up straight, "She told you?"

"I'm friends with both of you," Janet replied. "Except for Maggie, Bailey's friends don't get it since you're not hot or anything."

"Hey!"

"I'm lez, dude! Maybe Bailey sees something I don't," she said with a dismissive wave of a hand. "I also set the trap for you at my apartment so I was someone she could talk to."

She slapped my knee, "I don't get it, Mateo. She's hot! And she wants to bang you a lot. You can't think being a shithead is the better choice."

"I'm not a shithead!"

"You hate jocks. You don't like cheerleaders, probably because you want to fuck them but you can't. Wait! Doesn't the Captain of the Cheerleading Cult wants to fuck you very often? Which by itself makes you a shithead! You can't stand the popular kids who aren't jocks or cheerleaders. You're not the sharpest tool in the box so you resent the smart kids. You think the stoners are idiots." She ticked them off one by one on her hand. "Should I go on? I mean, is there anyone in school who doesn't know your opinion about the below-stupid kids?"

I sighed.

"You're a shithead," she concluded.

"Reggie is going to kick my ass," I pointed out.

"That fuckhead is going to kick your ass whether you're fucking Bailey or not," she told me. "Because you already fucked Bailey and if he doesn't know it, he thinks it."

"Her friends aren't going to like it."

"Bailey doesn't give a shit what other people think," Janet said. "She plays nice until someone gets in her face."

I looked down at the floor.

Janet leaned over to grab my face. She made me meet her eyes. "Mateo, you're going to fuck her. I bet she's already done some shit to you that ... You're going to do what she wants because she didn't ask for a lot compared to what she's going to give you. It's how Bailey Rose works!"

She slapped me lightly. "Get over yourself, bitch! Let Bailey dictate how your friendship is going to roll. You keep rolling her into a little fuck-me ball when the two of you are alone."

"Shit!" I groused. "I'm going to be one those douchebags who follows behind a popular girl's shit."

"Yeah, but you're going to fuck her," Janet said, slapping me again. "And she's quite adventurous in that area. Come on! She's probably waiting in the cafeteria for you to admit she's won."

"Fuck!" I said, grabbing my bag and standing up. "Wait! How do you know she's adventurous in that area?"

Janet might have gotten away with a lie about Bailey spilling things, except her face gave it away. Intense shivers flowed up and down my body. I grabbed Janet's arm and spun her around before she could get away.

"Tell me!" I insisted.

Janet looked around furtively before stepping close to me. "That's what Bailey wanted to smooth things over for me."

"What?"

"She'd make it clear to her friends I was off-limits if I..."

My mind blanked. Janet and Bailey!