The Thing About the Truth (27 page)

And since I want to keep things calm, I do.

•  •  •

“I just don’t understand why we had to run with her,” Kelsey says once gym class is over and we’re on our way through the halls, dodging the other kids as we make our way to second period. “It was weird, having her there during our warm-up.”

“Um, hello,” I say, “did you not hear the part about how she threatened me with creating some kind of scene tomorrow?”

“Isaac,” she says, “we can’t bow to that kind of thing! Do you want to be beholden to Marina Ruiz for the rest of your life?”

“I don’t think it’s going to be for the rest of my life,” I say. “It’s just going to be until tomorrow.”

“I just hate thinking that that girl is pulling one over on us,” she says.

“She’s not pulling one over on us,” I say. I put my arms around her waist and pull her close to me. I bury my face in
her neck, which makes her laugh. I love making her laugh. “And it’s just until tomorrow.”

“I don’t like thinking about her being there.”

“I know, but you’re not even going to be thinking about her,” I say. “You’re going to be having too much fun being famous.”

She laughs again, and I kiss her, and then we walk down the hall, together and happy.

Kelsey

On the morning of Face It Down Day the sky is overcast, and it looks like it’s going to rain. I’m not upset. In fact, it actually makes me happy because I feel like it’s fitting for what we’re about to do. I mean, we’re going to be dealing with some pretty heavy subjects, and so I feel like the weather should be heavy too. What would be really cool would be if later, when we were done, the clouds parted and the sun came out. Of course, that kind of stuff only happens in movies. But still. It’s cool to think about.

“Do I look okay?” I ask Isaac nervously. We’re standing outside the gym before second period. Everyone else is in class, so the hallways and the gym are empty. But the students
from both our school and Concordia Prep should be here in about twenty minutes.

“You look beautiful,” Isaac says, leaning down and giving me a kiss.

“You have to say that. You’re my boyfriend.”

“I would say it even if I wasn’t your boyfriend, because it’s true,” he says, looking at me. He pushes some hair back from my face. “Kelsey, you need to relax. Everything is going to be fine.”

I nod and smooth down the skirt I’m wearing. It’s white, knee length, with ruffle detail on the bottom. I’ve paired it with a flowing black-and-white blouse with a geometric pattern, black high heels, and big gold hoop earrings. My hair is pulled back in a bun. I’m hoping the outfit makes me look responsible, but with a touch of young and funky.

“Ohmigod,” I say, grabbing Isaac’s arm. “I just remembered something.”

“What?”

“White doesn’t look good on camera.” I feel the blood drain from my face. “It doesn’t show up. I saw it on one of those ‘behind the scenes of your favorite reality shows’ specials. There was that girl, Ally or whatever, who was on
In the House
, and she was talking about how they couldn’t wear white because—”

“Kelsey,” Isaac says. He reaches out and puts a finger over my lips. “Re. Lax. Deep breaths. You are going to look fine on camera. Everything’s going to be fine. Okay?”

“Okay.” I nod. “Right. You’re right.”

There’s the sound of a car outside, and I look down the hall and through the front doors to see the 7 News van pulling into the traffic circle. I open my mouth and look at Isaac so I can start freaking out again, but he gives me a look. “Okay,” I say, forcing my shoulders back and giving him a smile. “Let’s go out and meet them.”

•  •  •

The camera crew and the newswoman are actually really nice. Her name’s Brianna, and she instantly makes me feel at ease. The best part is that they’re not going to interview me and Isaac right away. They’re just going to observe and film some of the day, and then talk to us later.

They’re going to ask everyone to sign a release on their way in, to make sure every student is comfortable being filmed. They just want to sort of highlight the day and the purpose of the event, not embarrass anyone on television.

When the bell rings at the end of second period, the students from our school who have been chosen to participate start to file down to the gym. Chloe and Marshall are working the door and are in charge of checking everyone’s student ID against the master list.

As people start filing in I hand them the packet that Isaac and I put together, about what we’re hoping to accomplish and how they’re participating in something important and wonderful. Yes, it’s a little cheesy, but this whole thing is a little cheesy. Besides, sometimes a little cheese is okay.

Brianna and the camera crew are over by the door, filming
the kids as they come in. Which I thought might be a distraction, but really, all it’s doing is giving the air a sense of excitement. The kids are excited that they’re going to be on the news, and Brianna is even asking some of them if they’re excited about Face It Down Day, what they’re hoping to get out of it, etc.

Everything is going great until I hear a commotion from the table by the door where Chloe’s checking people in.

“You’re not on the list,” I hear her say, and then it sounds like there’s some kind of scuffle, and then someone says, “Hey, hey, hey!”

Isaac and I lock eyes across the gym and then both head for the door.

Marina is standing there, her cell phone out, her foot tapping against the floor. “This is ridiculous,” she says, waving her phone around. “I’m going to the media with this.”

“I’m sorry,” Chloe’s saying, shrugging, “but you’re not on the list.”

Brianna’s cameraman swings his camera over and starts to film the drama. Great, just great.

I give Isaac a nudge in the ribs. No, I don’t like the idea of another girl being obsessed with my boyfriend, but when it comes to defusing possible horrible situations, I’m not above using him.

“Hey,” Isaac says easily, walking up to the table. “What’s going on here?”

“Oh, Isaac,” Marina says, practically throwing herself at him in relief. “This girl”—she wrinkles up her nose in distaste
at Chloe—“said that I’m not on the list. And then I said that was impossible.”

“No, you didn’t,” Chloe says. “You said, ‘You skank whore, my name is on that list, and I’m going in no matter what you say.’”

Yikes.

“She’s in,” Isaac says.

“She’s
in
?” Chloe asks. The cameraman is moving the camera back and forth between the two of them like he’s capturing some big moment. Which, I guess, in a way he is.

“Yes,” I say, “of course she is.” I give Chloe a
“We’ll talk about this later”
look.

“Okay,” Chloe says. “But if you ask me, she’s not really in the spirit of the day with the kind of language she’s been—”

“Kelsey!” someone yells. I turn and see Rielle at the back of the sea of students who are now waiting to get into the gym. The students from Concordia Prep have arrived. Wow. There are a lot of them. My stomach flips nervously.

“Hey,” I say, waving back to her. Then I turn away and start to head back into the gym because I don’t want her to think that she can cut the line. But she obviously doesn’t get the message, because the next thing I know, she’s elbowing her way through the crowd toward me. Elbowing along with her are Anna and Michelle. Which is weird, since I specifically told Rielle not to bring them. Whatever. Can’t worry about that now, la la la. I paste a smile on my face for the cameras.

“You can’t cut the line,” Marina says all bitchy-like, once Rielle’s at the check-in table. Then she turns her attention back
to Chloe. “Can you please write my name on the list? I want it to be official that I was here.”

“Don’t worry,” Chloe tells her, giving her a fake-sweet smile. “It will be official.”

“Write. It. Down,” Marina says. She taps one manicured finger against the paper. “I’m not moving until you do.”

“Excuse me,” Rielle says, shaking her head like she can’t believe what’s happening. “But who are you?”

“Excuse
me
,” Marina says. “But who are
you
?”

Rielle looks shocked. Probably because there’s a girl standing in front of her in nondesigner shoes asking her who she is. Rielle’s definitely not used to that kind of treatment. “I’m Kelsey Romano’s best friend,” Rielle says. Which is kind of true and kind of not. “Which means I can cut the line if I want to.”

“
You’re
Kelsey’s best friend? Wow, you must be really proud of her for stealing my boyfriend.” Marina sneers. “I mean, with friends like that . . .”

Rielle’s eyes meet mine, confused. I never told her about Isaac kissing Marina. No way she needed to know that. She would have just gotten even weirder about him, and about how I wasn’t ready to start dating anyone.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rielle says, shifting her gaze back to Marina. “But I do know that I’ve decided to ignore you now.” She turns to Chloe. “I’m Rielle Marsh,” she says. “From Concordia Prep. Checking in.”

“You cut the line,” Chloe says apologetically. “We’re not really supposed to be letting people do that.”

“Are you going to write my name down on that list or not, Chloe?” Marina demands.

“Give it up,” Rielle says. “She’s busy.” She steps in front of Marina, and as she does she kind of elbows her in the side, muscling her out of the way. So then Marina pushes Rielle back even harder. It must take Rielle by surprise because she stumbles backward into Anna.

“Hey,” Anna says to Marina, stepping in front of Rielle. “Get your fucking hands off of her.”

Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod. This is definitely not good. This is definitely not good at all. I take a step toward the chaos, hoping I’ll be able to defuse it. But before I can say anything, Marina pushes Anna. “Don’t tell me to get my fucking hands off anyone,” she screams.

And then, in the blink of an eye, Michelle and Anna both descend on Marina, pushing her into the table. Chloe stands up, and all the name tags fall to the ground. A couple of girls I don’t recognize get involved, trying to pry everyone apart, but before they can, Marina grabs Michelle’s hair and pulls hard.

“Guys, guys, guys,” I say, stepping in front of the table. I put my arms around Marina and try to pull her back, but she struggles, and as she does her fist connects with Michelle’s shoulder.

“Don’t touch her,” Anna yells, then reaches out and slaps at Marina’s face.

“Get off me!” Marina screams. She leans backward, trying
to shake me off of her, and as she does her heels slip on the floor of the gym, and she falls on her butt. Hard. She sits up, looking a little dazed.

“Oh my God,” I say, kneeling down next to her. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” she says. “I feel a little faint.” And then she kind of swoons and falls back onto the gym floor.

Isaac rushes over and pulls her off to the side of the gym, and a couple of other kids from our school go over there to see if everything’s okay. “It’s all right,” I hear Isaac saying to Marina. “Just take a deep breath.” He’s going to have to get her to the nurse to make sure she’s okay. I mean, she hit her tailbone really hard, and you never know what could—

“Wow,” Rielle says, coming up behind me. “Who was that psycho bitch?” She shudders like she can’t believe how crazy Marina is, and then smooths back a strand of hair that’s escaped from her French braid.

“Rielle,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest, “what the
hell
are you
doing
?”

“Relax,” she says, rolling her eyes. She must have rescued her name tag from the floor, because she’s holding it in her hand. She peels the backing off and slaps it onto her shirt.

“I told you not to bring Michelle and Anna,” I say.

She shrugs. “It wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be to keep people out.”

“It wasn’t as easy as you thought it would be to keep people out?” I repeat incredulously. Is she kidding me? She knew how
important this was to me. She
knew
I really needed this day to go well.

But I don’t have a chance to question her further, because Anna and Michelle come over, asking her if she’s okay. Neither one of them says a word to me. Then the three of them head up the bleachers, where they sit down next to each other, chattering and giggling about what just happened.

I look over to the other side of the gym, where Marina’s being led out of the gym toward the nurse’s office, flanked by two girls I don’t recognize.

“Jesus,” Isaac says, walking up to me and shaking his head. “What the fuck was that?”

“I have no idea,” I say. I take a couple of deep breaths, trying to slow my heart rate down.

“That’s your best friend?” Isaac asks, sounding incredulous that anyone who could start as much drama as Rielle just did could be my friend.

“Yes,” I say. “Well, she used to be, at least. Now I’m not so—”

But then I stop talking.