“I can’t believe she won’t speak to me. I made one stupid mistake. One! And I’m sorry about it every day.” Silvia kicked at the pool of water, splashing onto her blue shorts.

Lucita sat beside her, her legs dangling in the pool. It was another bright blue sunny day, but the wind blew, creating a pleasant chill in the air. “I don’t think it’s so much the dating that she’s upset about, dude. Anyway, I’m sure everything will work out. You, too, have been friends for way too long to be broken up over a dude.”

“I shouldn’t have dated him.”

“Oh, 100%. And you totally should have told her the truth a long ass time ago. I mean, come on, honesty is the best policy.”

Silvia glared at her. “Seriously?” shouted Silvia angrily.

“Chill. Look, you do see why you’re wrong, right? But, I repeat, she is more upset that you lied to her.” Lucita enunciated the last three words. Rolling her eyes, Silvia turned away.

“That’s because he’s scum.”

“OMG, give it a rest already! Yeah, he’s a creep, but obviously, he really liked you.”
Lucita pressed a finger to her temple. “My head’s starting to hurt. You have way too much drama.”

“Says the ex-stalker who likes like three guys.”

“Yo, at least they didn’t go all postal and fight over me creating a scene at a party!”

“Whatever.”

Lucita rolled her eyes. “Look, do you want my help or not? I’m pretty good at putting things back together.” Silvia glared at her. “Drop the attitude, dude. Again, do you want my help or not. Yes or no?”

Silvia at there and thought long and hard about it. Of course, she wanted her help, but Lucita’s slightly judgemental expression made her want to walk away. But she couldn’t think of a way to get Becca to talk to her again.

“Yes. I want your help.”

Lucita clapped her hands together obnoxiously. There was a ball of unease growing in the pit of her stomach. Something about this felt terrible. “Yay! Okay, so to help, I gotta know everything. So spill.”

She knew she had a bad feeling. “I’m not really sure how it happened, but it happened.” Silvia recounted the previous year. How she had run into him at the movies after being bailed on by Liz. So they had snuck into an R-rated movie and laughed their asses off watching the latest Seth Rogen disaster.

Afterward, he treated her to Wendy’s, and they were soon texting daily.

And then he had kissed her.

“I told him that I would tell Becca,” she finished, wringing her hands together on her striped green tank top.

“Which you never did.”

Now she looked at Luci. “I tried. I tried so hard, but it got caught in my throat every time I tried. So it always came out wrong. I just talked shit about him. We started fighting a lot after that. Like, I get it. I was basically saying awful things about my boyfriend. After that, he started to openly flirt with other girls—”

“As is his nature. He was probably lashing out because of how you talked about him; you know that, right.”

Silvia hated how right she was. “The thought crossed my mind. We talked about it, but he wouldn’t stop. So I started distrusting him. Then we argued more until he finally dumped me. Maybe it was my fault, but that was when I started hating him.”

“Huh.”

Silvia stared at her, shocked and confused. “Huh? That’s all you got? Huh?!”

“What, you want me to point out how obvious it is that you two still have feelings for each other ’cause I can totally do that.”

“You’re insane!” exclaimed Silvia without a second thought. She had no feelings for Blake, at least no good ones. Lucita didn’t know what she was talking about.

Lucita rolled her eyes playfully. “My family seems to think so.”

“Don’t act like it’s nothing!”

Lucita stood up, legs wet from the pool. Standing over her, hands on her hips, she made Silvia feel small. “I’m not; you are. If you keep acting or pretending like you have no feelings for Blake, you’re not gonna move on, and Becca’s gonna continue to ignore you. So you should probably talk to Blake and settle this.”

Silvia almost choked on the air she was breathing. “I’ll never speak to that asshole ever again!”

“Well, hate to burst your bubble, but he’s headed this way. I would rather just get it over with if I were you.”

“What?” Silvia spun around. “Oh god.”

As Blake approached them, Lucita picked up her book, flopping down on the pool chair. Of course, Lucita knew better than to think everything would get resolved right now.

“Hey bitch. Hey there, sexy.”

What a creep. “So staying out of this, Blake,” said Lucita keeping her eyes on the pages before her.

“Really?”

Silvia stood up, arms crossed. The water coating her legs intensified the slight chill in the air. “Blake, what the hell do you want?”

“Wanted to tell you that you’re a bitch, and you get whatever the hell you deserve.”

“Seriously? That’s all you got filho da puta!”

“Oh god,” muttered Lucita under her breath.

“Yeah, why did you want me to elaborate on everything else you are? I can do that. Becca doesn’t deserve a shitty person like you for a friend. You don’t fucking deserve any good shit, you—”

“Okay, enough,” interrupted Lucita shutting her book. “You two are a pair of idiots. Morons actually. How about you two actually act civil.” Blake and Silvia both stare at her like she was crazy. Lucita rolled her eyes. “Nevermind. Goodbye. So staying out of this.” Lucita grabbed her shoes and stormed from the pool, muttering that she wasn’t the one who was crazy. They were both nuts.

Silvia watched Lucita leave before returning her attention to Blake. He continued to watch Lucita go with those big puppy dog eyes.

“You’re pathetic.”

Blake directed his gaze back to her, and she fought the urge not to take a step back. The intensity in his eyes, the deep-seated hate she didn’t know he was capable of having, frightened her. He’d never been violent, but there was a first time for everything.

“Really, you’re calling me pathetic. The only thing I’m guilty of is being stupid. Stupid for dating you, stupid for trying to make it work. If anything, at least I’m honest about who I am and what I’m like. You aren’t. All you had to be was honest, Vee. I hope Becca never speaks to you again.”

He walked off, leaving Silvia to stare after him. Silvia bit at the skin around her nails, flopping back down to dip her legs in the warm pool.

She hated to admit that he was right. There was no changing the past. She couldn’t undo what she did to him. But after they broke up, it wasn’t like he was the nicest guy in the world. On the contrary, he was mean to her.

But she had been mean to him too. Silvia sighed and tried to fight all the thoughts swimming in her mind.

Maybe Lucita was right. Maybe they did have unresolved feelings for each other. Rolling her eyes, she laid back on the ground, kicking her legs in the water, watching the clouds blow by. She was just going to pretend for a moment that none of her problems with him existed.

Rebecca was both glad and sad that the weekend was over. On the one hand, she did not want to even think about everything that had happened over the weekend.

On the other hand, she didn’t want to be at school, where she was forced to sit in the same classroom as Blake. It was like this thing tugging at her. She wanted to look at him, but even thinking about him hurt. Why Silvia? Why had he dated Silvia instead? What was so wrong with her? Was she too desperate? Too ugly? Too needy?

 Rebecca pulled herself together and looked at the board, forcing herself to pay attention. She had no clue what was going on or what the teacher was talking about. Her phone vibrated, and she looked at it quickly. Once again, it was Silvia begging to speak to her. A note landed on her desk with the words “Please Read” scribbled on top in a chicken scratch handwriting she recognized.

Rebecca sighed, gingerly taking the letter in her hand. She would read it, but she wouldn’t look at him. She couldn’t.

Becca, I’m sorry.

Look, when Silvia and I dated last year, it was obviously a mistake. I liked her a lot and wanted her to be honest about us, but she kept playing like it was some big secret.

I knew you liked me, but to be quite honest, I never really looked at you that way, and I’m sorry that we hurt you. I hope you accept this apology.

Rebecca folded the note back up. A part of her wanted to smile. It wasn’t all on him. But then again, he could have said something to her too.

But it hurt, reading it on paper. Reading that, her feelings were known. Hearing it from him that he wasn’t interested. It felt like her heart was tightening. Finally, she looked up, meeting his gaze. He was smiling at her, a peace offering.

Despite herself, despite the heartbreak and anger, Becca could feel herself uncoiling. She wanted to stay mad at him. Becca knew she should. But seeing that smile made her smile, and she just couldn’t do it.

As the bell rang, Becca began to shove her stuff into her bag. She needed to get out, needed to breathe. Needed to cry. Her pen slipped off the edge of the desk, and before it could reach the ground, a hand expertly caught it, holding it out to her. Becca stared up at Blake, who was holding the pen like a peace offering.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Sorry again.”

“It’s okay, Blake,” she said, taking her pen back, careful not to touch him.

“No, not really. I’ll walk you to lunch.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know, but I want to.”

Rebecca smiled and nodded. Blake smiled back at her with his brilliant white smile. Rebecca could feel her face heat up, and she knew that she was blushing.

Lucita stood waiting for Silvia, hoping that Rebecca would show up too. Maybe today would be the day she could help fix things. Then, peeking above the throng of students, she caught sight of Silvia, offering her a small, timid smile.

“She won’t return my texts.”

“I remember when the saying used to be ‘she won’t return my call.’” Lucita laughed while Silvia scowled. “Oh, come on, I’m trying to lighten the mood here.”

“It’s not working.”

“At least chill out, please.”

“Easy for you too—oh my god.” Silvia couldn’t believe her eye, and Lucita followed her gaze. Blake and Rebecca were walking together, laughing.

“Whoa.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” exclaimed Silvia as she stormed off.

“Wait! Silvia! You can’t keep—! Oh, forget it,” muttered Lucita under her breath.

Lucita turned her head and looked back at the approaching pair. Rebecca and Blake both said hi. She looked at Blake and knew instantly that he knew what the hell he was doing.

“Hey, you two,” she said, feigning a smile.

“Hey, I see Silvia isn’t joining us. God, she’s so—ugh, whatever, I’m gonna go get lunch.”

“Yeah, okay.” Once Rebecca was gone, Lucita shot Blake an irritated glare.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Hanging out with a friend. Besides, I thought, and I quote, you were, ‘so staying out of this.’”

“Yeah, well, you’re making that a little hard.”

“That’s not the only thing that’s hard,” he winked.

“You’re disgusting.”

He sighed, moving his hands through his hair. “You don’t even know them.”

“I know them enough.”

“Not as long as I have.”

“As if that means anything. If you didn’t see this coming, you obviously don’t know them that well.”

“Who the hell could have seen this!”

“Anyone with a brain cell, duh.” Lucita laughed. “Look, Blake, I know you’ve got issues with Silvia, which are totally understandable, but you don’t really have the right to ruin a good friendship. You’re manipulating Becca.”

“Says you.”

“Blake, don’t screw with me because I will kick your ass.”

“Good luck with that,” he said, winking. “Tell Becca I said bye.” Lucita watched him leave, glaring into his back. This was going to be harder than she thought.