Page 14 of Fall From Grace

Everyone was talking about “it”. The “it” I was referring to was the things that went on in the video I could never forget.

Sex.

Most of the girls in our grade were starting to get boobs, me included. I hadn’t started my period yet but Sara had already. It was getting awkward to be around Noah when we were alone anymore. All I could think about was the things everyone whispered about at school.

Why was everyone so curious about something like that?

Noah was at a weird stage himself. I kept remembering how we used to be the same height. Now, his inches were leaving mine behind. He often slipped into my room at night to shower and sleep on my floor the nights his parents held parties. He was becoming increasingly more self-conscious about the way he looked and smelled. I often teased him the same way he did me, but sometimes I remembered the moments he made me feel strange and I was at a loss for words.

I still didn’t want to kiss Noah.

I didn’t—

I didn’t want him to say yes to any of the girls that asked him out either.

Luckily, he always said no.

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“Here,” Dustin muttered, slapping a folded piece of paper on my desk. I jumped, and some giggled as he walked off. Sara whispered my name from across the room but I ignored her.

“All right, settle down you guys,” Mom told the class. A lot of the boys had a crush on her. It made me even more proud of her. I haven’t met a person that didn’t like my mom.

As she wrote on the chalkboard, I opened the paper.

Will you be my girlfriend?

Yes or No

Dustin liked me? That seemed impossible with how much he picked on me. I grabbed my pen and circled no, and gave it to him when the class was over. I hurried away because I didn’t want to see his face when he saw that I turned him down.

After lunch, everyone was talking about Dustin and me, saying we were a couple. I looked for him at recess because Tiffany and Sara said he was the one going around telling everyone I said yes.

He stood next to Noah and some other boys from class, leaning against the snack machine. He smirked when he saw me approaching. “There she is. Come to hold my hand?” he asked, and everyone laughed but Noah.

“Why are you telling people I’m your girlfriend?”

He tossed the paper in the air, I barely caught it in time. It was the same question, but the yes was circled instead of the no. “You said yes,” he lied.

“No, I didn’t,” I crumbled the paper up in my hand. “You obviously changed my answer. Why are you such a jerk, Dustin? Who would date someone so mean?”

Noah smiled then Mark jumped in and said, “So that’s how it is…”

“It’s okay, I know you’re embarrassed about it,” Dustin went on, clearly not wanting to give up his lie.

“Enough, Dustin,” Noah finally said before casting a somewhat devious look my way. “You know, Grace doesn’t like boys and things like kissing…”

Dustin rolled his eyes. “Give her a few years, I can change her mind.”

Noah looked unimpressed. “She said no, so leave it.”

“I knew you’d be this way,” Dustin hissed then laughed. “You always make sure to drop hints so that none of us will crush on Grace. She’s not your girlfriend. Stop acting like you’re any different than us just because you live close to her.”

I threw the paper in his face and he turned to me surprised. “Noah’s clearly different than the rest of you!” I screamed then looked at my surroundings. Everyone heard me. “He doesn’t worry about those kinds of things like the rest of you idiots!”

I stormed off but not without seeing the expression on Noah’s face and Dustin’s words, “If that’s what you think…”

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