“Well, I just hope that if they figure it out, your principal does something.”
I drive, deciding on a Mitchell’s milkshake instead of coffee. Once the GPS puts us on a main road that’s basically a straight shot to the ice cream shop, I’m able to wrap my head around some things.
“So, I reached out to Maurice,” I say, turning down the radio. “He’s denying telling anyone that he saw us, and I think I believe him. I didn’t get to press him because it, like,justhappened before you got to my house.”
“Maurice didn’t tell anyone—or, at least, he didn’t tip off anyone at our school.”
I glance over and see Hannah fidgeting.
“Hannah…”
“I know who outed us.”
I gathered.I wait quietly for her to collect the words.
“You were right, and I’m so sorry,” she says, running her hands through her hair—her ultimate nervous tic.
“About what?”
“It was Rowena.”
“Field hockey Rowena? Yourbest friendRowena?”
You were right.I knew we couldn’t trust her.
“Yes,” Hannah says.
I roll to a stop at a red light, thankful for the thirty seconds that I can look at her.
“I’m sorry.”
“You’resorry?” Hannah’s head snaps up, a wry smile on her face even though I can see now that her eyes are red with the threat of tears.
“Wait, you know that this doesn’t change anything, right? I still love you, and I’m not mad at you. It might be a while before I go sharing any secrets in the same room as Rowena, but we are good… right?” I say.
“Yes, I just didn’t know if you would hate me or feel like you couldn’t trust me. I mean, you called it, you literally called it. You told me not to tell anyone but I did, and you were furious—so mad that you didn’t want to be in the same car as me and walked up a very steep hill.” She laughs a little, sniffling but holding back the tears.
The light changes; I refocus on the road and resist the urge to look over.
“I don’t hate you, I don’t think I could ever hate you,” I say. “I’m just sorry because she’s your best friend. Even though I was angry, you were so sure that she wouldn’t tell, you put full faith in her and she let you down.”
“I know, I still can’t believe she did that to us—tome.”
“How did she? Like, who did she tell? If it was just her, then whoever she might have told could lead us to who played that prank.”
“It won’t lead us anywhere, actually,” Hannah says, sighing. “She posted a picture of us at Valerie’s party on her X. She captioned itcutest coupleor something like that—I don’t know for sure,Idon’t have X—”
“Neither do I…” Which has to be why she did it there, because neither of us would see that it was her…
“Whatever she said, it outed us as a couple—and outedyou. Anybody could’ve seen it. She only told me the truth because she saw us going into the main office and thought it was her fault that we got in trouble… I really am sorry, Clarity.”
“It’s okay. You weren’t the one who did it.”
Trying to stay positive, I focus on the fact that Rowena outing me forced me to open up to my parents. But I don’t forgive her. Just because everything turned out all right doesn’t mean what she did was okay. When I left school, I could’ve driven home and gone into the house to face my worst fears coming true. And for what? Becauseshethought the secrecy was an overreaction. That wasn’t her call to make, nor was it her place to take that away from me.
I’m happy that I’m out and my parents accept me—and accept us. I don’t have to hide anymore.
“Don’t hate her, don’t stop being friends with her,” I say, glancing at Hannah. “Though very misguided, her heart was in the right place. It doesn’t seem like she was trying to hurt either of us.”