Notes

Chapter 1

“Hey!” I looked up to see Jayden looking down at me. Alexis and I were eating outdoors under a large sycamore tree.
“Did you hear about Cindy?” I ignored him, but Alexis replied. “She’s raising money for charity again, right? How much is she raising this time? I heard last year she did ten thousand dollars.” I didn’t wait for Jayden to respond.
I stood up. “I’m heading off now.” Jayden turned to me, clearly wanting to say something, but Cindy came over and pulled him away. Although I hated her, I was also glad she’d come at this moment. I glanced down at Alexis. “I’ll be back in time for the 5th hour, okay?” Then I walked off before she could reply.
I knew I shouldn’t have walked off since she was my best friend, but I couldn’t stand her for a moment. She knew how much I couldn’t stand Cindy.
In December, Cindy had a huge crush on Jayden. And she still does. Then, Jayden had seemed interested in her. When it was Cindy’s birthday, she’d invited me to her Christmas party.
It turned out she'd planned to use the chance to get closer to Jayden and do it in front of everyone so she could “stake her claim”. But it hadn’t worked out that way. I think it was just a coincidence that her plan hadn’t worked, but she had taken it the wrong way. She’d thought he avoided her on purpose because of me. So she’d come up with a plan to make me seem bad.
One morning after 4th hour, she’d lured me to the north staircase, saying the teacher had asked her to check if the rooftop boxes were still on the roof.
I know that was a stupid excuse, but at the time, we’d been best friends! I never thought she would have done something like that. It turned out she’d told Kathy to lure Jayden to the stairs as well, using the same excuse.
We’d climbed up the stairs, and after opening the door, I’d been about to go out onto the rooftop when she’d gone back down one floor. I’d been oblivious, all the way up to then. She’d planned for them to arrive 5 minutes later than us, so she’d have time to carry out her plan. I hadn’t known this. I’d stared in confusion, wondering if she’d dropped something. But then she’d sat down, and had started wailing in pain.
I’d been so confused and was still at the top of the stairs when Jayden and Kathy had burst through the stair entrance.
Jayden had rushed to Cindy’s side, then he’d looked up at me. “Did you push her?” He’d said. “I-I don’t know why.” Cindy had whimpered. “We were walking up the stairs when she suddenly turned and pushed me.” “What?” I’d been so puzzled, and said, “I never pushed you! You walked down and got on the floor yourself!” Jayden had rolled his eyes. “Do you know how ridiculous you sound? If you’re going to lie, at least come up with something believable like she tripped.” I’d widened my eyes. “Y-you don’t believe me? You would believe her over me?!”
Cindy had shifted, and I’d caught the faintest gleam of scorn in her eyes. Then it disappeared. “I-I think maybe, maybe she was jealous.” Jayden had turned his head. “What?” He’d said. “I, I mean, I don’t blame her, I would probably do the same thing-” She’d gotten cut off as Jayden had glared and said, “that’s no excuse! You could've gotten seriously hurt! Besides, you would never do that!” Then, instead of confusion, my feelings had shifted to anger. “You believe her?!” Jayden had looked at me like I was a stranger. “I don’t know.”
I’d flinched. We’d had this secret code, with random words. It had been to show how mad we were at each other.
It’d been a simple code, with just 5 words. Randomly shouting out “dancing rainbows” had been the one to show that we weren’t mad. “Throwing up” had meant that we were mad, but would get over it.
Replying “I don’t know” had been the worst one. It had meant we would never forgive the other person. “Peeling bananas” had meant kinda mad, but it’s okay, and “cleaning up” had been mad, just leave me alone. It might seem funny or silly that we use a code like this, but it meant a lot to both of us
He’d turned to me. “We’ll clean up here. You go to class.”
Then, I’d suddenly had an idea. The one loop in her plan. She’d forgotten that the staircases had video security! “Fine.” I’d said, “if you don’t trust me, check the security cameras later. You’ll see who was telling the truth.”
Jayden had hesitated as if doubting whether I was lying or not. If I had pushed Cindy, I wouldn’t have been so willing to have him see the evidence. But then Cindy had whimpered in pain, and Jayden had said, “just go.” I’d left.
I don’t know exactly what happened between him and the teachers, but I knew the next day, everyone had been avoiding me and whispering about me. But the teachers must’ve checked the cameras after a few days, because Jayden had come apologizing to me, and he’d cleared my name with everyone. But I’d refused to forgive him. How could I? He’d believed Cindy over me! Nothing could undo that.
Everyone had been friendly with me after that, but I’d refused to talk to any of them. Before, if anyone had said something like, “Hey! How was your weekend? I had an amazing weekend, and check it out! My mom took me for a manicure and blah blah blah...” I’d have responded, “aww you’re so lucky! What color did you get? Rose pink? Baby blue? Blah blah blah blah…”
But after, I’d respond with a little smile and a nod, then look back down at whatever, a textbook, my phone, etc. I’d surrounded myself with a barrier, not letting anyone in.
After that, people had ignored Cindy and Kathy for a while, but as friendly as she was, eventually, everything went back to normal. And the fact that she had raised money for charity helped as well. Even if she’d only raised around 500 dollars, not 10000. Eventually, Jayden had forgiven her too. Enough to talk to her normally, but I don’t think he’s still interested in her.
Now, in January, I hadn’t forgiven Jayden. But eventually, Alexis had become my best friend. Naturally, we hadn’t had all the same classes, so when we had partners, I’d occasionally become the friendly girl I used to be to find a partner. But that was all I’d allow. I’d never trust anyone again. But Alexis had believed me when everyone else had turned on me.
“Brrring!!!” As the bell rang for 5th hour, I hurried towards my class.