Chapter 149 - Single
"Oh my God," Bianca said softly, like she had just figured out a secret in front of everyone. "You really are scared."
Roxie went still.
Angela’s hand pressed harder against her chest. "Bianca, walk away."
Bianca’s eyes stayed on Roxie. "I mean, if it is fake, why are you so mad?"
Karen lunged forward half a step.
Angela caught her sleeve. "Karen."
Karen pointed at Bianca. "Say that again. Please. I want to see if Coach Miller’s office has snacks."
Bianca laughed. "You’re always threatening people for her. That’s cute."
Karen smiled too wide. "And you’re always begging to get dragged. That’s sad."
Lily shifted behind Bianca. "Bianca, let’s go."
Bianca ignored her. "I’m just confused. First she faints. Then some random older guy signs her out. Now she’s shaking because someone asked a question."
Roxie’s face burned.
She could feel people listening.
She could feel the cafeteria holding its breath.
Bianca tilted her head. "Unless the question hit too close."
Roxie shoved against Karen’s hold.
"Roxie," Angela said, voice sharp now.
"Move."
"No."
Bianca’s smile brightened.
That smile did it.
Roxie stopped fighting Karen for half a second and looked Bianca straight in the face.
"You want close?" Roxie asked.
The cafeteria went quieter.
Bianca’s smile twitched.
Roxie took one slow step forward, enough that Angela had to move with her. "You’re standing here talking about me because the only time people remember you is when your mouth is open."
A few people made sounds around them.
Bianca’s face changed.
Good.
Roxie kept going, voice low and shaking from anger. "You want to talk about attention? Fine. You got dumped, got your hair pulled, and still came back for more like humiliation is an extracurricular."
Karen’s eyes lit up. "That was beautiful."
Angela hissed, "Karen."
Bianca’s cheeks flushed red. "At least people want me."
Roxie smiled.
It felt mean.
She was fine with that.
"Sure," Roxie said. "They like you. Aren’t they in triple digits by now?"
The cafeteria reacted louder this time.
Bianca stepped forward.
Angela shoved one hand into Karen’s chest when she moved forward and the other toward Roxie. "Both of you, stop."
"You heard her," Bianca snapped. "She started it."
"I said people were thinking it."
"No," Roxie said. "You were hoping they would."
Bianca opened her mouth.
Roxie cut her off. "Because you need people looking at someone else for once. Is Bianca bald too much now?"
Bianca’s eyes flashed.
For one second, Roxie thought Bianca might actually swing first.
Part of her wanted it.
That was the worst part.
If Bianca swung first, Roxie could hit back. She could stop thinking about State, scholarship, Coach Miller, and the office. She could stop being smart for once and just let her anger have a body.
Angela must have seen it on her face because her voice softened and sharpened at the same time.
"Roxie. Look at me."
Roxie’s jaw clenched.
"Roxie," Angela said again. "State."
The word landed like a hand around her throat.
State.
Coach Miller.
The routine.
The entrance.
Her scholarship.
The office record she could not afford to make worse.
Roxie hated that Angela was right.
"Bianca," Lily touched her arm harder. "Come on."
Bianca looked Roxie up and down one more time. "Whatever. Enjoy the attention."
She walked away with Lily behind her.
But the rumor stayed.
Roxie felt it before Bianca even reached the other side of the cafeteria.
The whispers started again, quieter this time, like people thought quiet made them innocent. A girl near the vending machine leaned into her friend’s ear. Two sophomores at the next table glanced at Roxie’s stomach, then looked down fast. A football player stopped talking when Roxie’s eyes landed on him.
Bianca had thrown the words once, and now people were checking if they fit.
Roxie’s whole body wanted to go after her.
Angela touched her arm. "Sit down."
Roxie pulled back. "I’m standing."
"You’re shaking."
"I’m angry."
Karen moved in front of her. "Great. Be angry sitting down. Coach Miller would appreciate that."
Roxie looked past Karen.
Bianca had already reached another table, smiling like she had simply delivered morning announcements.
Bitch.
"Roxie," Angela said again, softer this time.
Roxie hated the softness. It made her feel worse.
Angela lowered her voice. "We act normal. That is the best thing right now."
Roxie looked at her. "Normal?"
"Yes."
"People are looking at my stomach."
Angela’s face tightened, but she kept her voice steady. "Then we give them nothing else to look at."
Karen nodded too fast. "Exactly. We sit. We eat. We talk about boring things. I can be boring."
Roxie stared at her.
Karen lifted one hand. "For three minutes. Maybe four."
Angela pulled Roxie’s chair back. "Please."
Roxie sat because the whole cafeteria was watching, and sitting looked less like she was about to get escorted to the office.
The sandwich waited in front of her.
She hated it.
She hated Bianca. She hated the whispers. She hated that Zac’s ex girlfriend had managed to make Roxie feel dirty while she was eating a sandwich someone had packed because she fainted from hunger.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket.
Roxie already knew.
She pulled it out anyway.
Zac: You want me to handle it?
Roxie stared at the message.
Of course.
Of course that was what he sent.
He wanted to handle it?
Like him walking over to Bianca after that rumor would help. Like people would look away instead of harder. Like Bianca would not smile the second Zac gave her proof that Roxie mattered enough for him to react.
He was really starting to piss her off these past few days.
Roxie typed fast.
Roxie: Stay out of it.
Across the cafeteria, Zac stood near the football table with his phone in his hand. Mason was beside him, saying something Roxie could not hear. Zac ignored him.
The reply came back.
Zac: So I just let that go? Let her talk about my girlfriend like that?
Roxie’s jaw tightened.
Girlfriend.
The word should have made her feel something good.
Yesterday, it might have.
Now it read like a dare. Like he was reminding her of something he could only say through a screen while standing across a cafeteria full of people who thought he was single.
Roxie: Yes. Stay out of it, Zac.
The next reply took longer.
Zac: Fine.
One word.
Sharp enough to cut through the screen.
Roxie almost laughed.
He was pissed?
Fuck him.
Let him be pissed.
She was still mad. She was mad about Bianca, mad about the rumor, mad about the secret, mad about the fact that Zac was right yesterday and she still wanted to be angry anyway.
She shoved the phone back into her pocket.
Karen watched her. "Work?"
Roxie picked up the sandwich. "Everyone is obsessed with me today."
"That is sadly true," Karen said.
Angela looked from Roxie to the football table, then back again.
Roxie saw it.
Her anger snapped toward Angela too, unfair and fast.
"What?"
Angela blinked. "I didn’t say anything."
"You were thinking loudly."
Karen pointed her straw at Angela. "She does that."
Angela gave Karen a quick look, then focused on Roxie. "I was thinking Bianca is horrible."
"Good. Accurate thought."
Angela’s eyes stayed gentle, but she dropped it.
That made Roxie feel worse because Angela only dropped things when she was saving them for later.
Karen clapped once, too bright. "Okay. Normal conversation. Crisis control. Formal tickets go on sale after school."
Roxie stared at her. "That is your normal conversation?"
"Yes. Dresses. Music. Bad decorations. Punch that tastes like melted candy. Teen suffering with glitter."
Angela sat down beside Roxie. "Karen."
"What? We need something normal."
Roxie took a bite of the sandwich because people were still watching. Chewing felt like a performance now. Eating so nobody could say she was starving. Eating so nobody could say she was pregnant. Eating so Angela would stop looking at her like that.
Karen continued, determined. "We buy tickets after school. All three of us. Publicly. Calmly. Like citizens with no criminal records."
Roxie swallowed. "Speak for yourself."
Angela’s mouth twitched.
Good.
That was almost normal.
Across the cafeteria, Bianca laughed at something Lily said.
Roxie’s hand tightened around the sandwich.
Angela noticed and touched her wrist lightly. "Roxie."
"I’m okay."
Karen’s eyes narrowed. "Banned word."
"I’m eating, aren’t I?"
Karen leaned back. "Barely, but yes. The hostage has accepted bread."
Roxie took another angry bite.
The cafeteria kept whispering around her, but she forced herself to sit there anyway.
Normal.
Calm.
Boring.
No more show for Bianca.
No more reason for Zac to make it worse.
At least until after school.
By the time Winter Formal tickets opened, the rumor had already spread through the halls.
Roxie heard it in pieces near lockers, near the stairs, near the trophy case. Every time she looked over, mouths shut and eyes dropped.
Angela and Karen stayed beside her like they had silently agreed she was no longer allowed to walk alone.
Karen looked ready to bite someone.
Angela looked calm, which meant she was watching everything.
The Student Council ticket table was set up near the main entrance with silver snowflake decorations and a poster that said WINTER FORMAL TICKETS.
Single.
Couple.
Roxie stopped in front of it because Karen stopped.
"We are buying tickets," Karen said.
Roxie stared at her. "Today?"
"Yes. Today. Right now. Publicly. Like normal people with normal problems."
Roxie nearly swallowed hard, but she kept her face blank. "I don’t know. I’m not sure I’m going."
Because Winter Formal meant money.
A ticket.
A dress.
A night standing under lights while people looked at her and whispered about pregnancy rumors and older men signing her out of school.
The whole idea made her skin crawl.
Karen pointed at her. "Nuh-uh. You are coming."
Angela stepped closer to the table. "Hi. I need one."
The girl at the table looked up. "Single or couple?"
Karen answered first. "Single. Emotionally unavailable."
The girl blinked.
Angela paid next. "Single."
Then it was Roxie’s turn.
The girl smiled. "Single or couple?"
Roxie felt Angela look at her.
Felt Karen look too.
Felt the hallway noise around that stupid question.
She lifted her chin. "Single."
The word came out sharper than it needed to.
The girl wrote it down.
Roxie handed over the money and took the ticket. Her fingers closed around the silver border.
Karen’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Angela said nothing.
That was worse.
Then the noise near the doors shifted.
Zac arrived with Mason and Kyle.
Roxie’s mood dropped even lower.
Karen muttered, "Well, speak of the suspiciously single devil."
Roxie shot her a look. "Shut up."
Karen’s eyebrows lifted. "That was aggressive and uncalled for."
Angela’s gaze moved between Roxie and Zac.
Roxie hated how quiet she was.
Zac stepped up to the ticket table. Mason stood beside him, already pulling cash out of his wallet. Kyle leaned against the wall and looked bored, but his eyes moved like he was collecting evidence.
The ticket girl’s face brightened. "Hi, Zac. Are you bringing anyone?"
Roxie stared at her own ticket.
She refused to look at him.
Then she looked anyway.
Zac was looking at her.
Only for a second.
A second was enough.
His eyes moved to the ticket in her hand, then back to her face.
Zac looked away.
His jaw tightened. "Single."
The ticket girl wrote it down.
Mason glanced at Zac.
Kyle stopped pretending to be bored.
Roxie turned her ticket over in her hand and tried to act like the word had not landed between them.
Angela’s voice came from beside her, soft enough that only Roxie heard.
"You both said single like it hurt."
Roxie’s fingers froze around the ticket.
Anger rose first.
Then panic.
Does Angela know something?
No.
No, she didn’t.
She was guessing. Angela was always guessing things with that soft face and those observant eyes, like being nice gave her permission to notice too much.
Roxie forced herself to laugh.
It came out wrong.
"Wow," she said. "You faint once and suddenly everyone becomes a relationship expert."
Angela did not blink. "I didn’t say anything about a relationship."
Roxie’s stomach dropped.
Karen went quiet beside her.
Zac was still close enough to hear if he cared to listen.
Roxie lifted her ticket and gave Angela the sharpest smile she could manage.
"Then stop sounding like one."
Angela looked at her for another second.
Then her eyes moved past Roxie.
To Zac.
Back to Roxie.
And Roxie knew, with a cold little twist in her chest, that Angela had not caught her yet.
But she had started looking in the right direction.