Bite Me

It was easy to sneak around.

      All that Mason and I had to do was be aware of our surroundings. We only showed any sign that we were still together inside, away from windows. Our relationship was entirely behind closed doors, but that wasn't anything new.

      I'll admit, it was difficult for the first few days. I was anxious and jumpy, and Mason had to constantly reassure me that we were fine. I couldn't shake the feeling that we were making a mistake any more than I could shake the feeling that we were doing the right thing. I was constantly going back and forth, probably annoying the hell out of my friends, but I couldn't help it.

I got over it, though. By the time the next week rolled around, I'd lost the jitters. Three weeks later, I'd all but abandoned my fear. It was still there, persisting in the back of my mind, and I never truly stopped thinking about the grave possibilities. I knew how to hide it, though, and, for the most part, ignored it. Cedric thought that Mason and I were broken up, and knowing that allowed me to lean my head against Mason's shoulder during lunch, or hold his hand in the hallway.

"So, is anybody ever gonna tell me what's going on?" Maria asked randomly one day at lunch, taking the four of us—Marcella, Mason, Annabella, and I—by surprise.

Annabella glanced at her girlfriend, one dark eyebrow arched. "Um. . .babe?"

Maria huffed and rolled her eyes in obvious annoyance. "You know what I'm talking about. Don't even pretend."

Annabella turned to me across our lunch table with the same arched eyebrow, silently asking if I knew what Maria meant. In fact, I did, and judging by the knowing look Marcella was giving me, she did too.

Mason, however, was clueless. As usual. "What?"

Maria crossed her arms over her chest. "There's something the four of you aren't telling me. I'm not dumb, you know. I notice the way you whisper to each other, the way you always seem to know something that I don't. I want to know what it is."

Realization glinted in Annabella's green eyes. She reached up to fiddle with her nose ring, like she always did when she got nervous, but then she caught herself and instead ran her hand through her long black hair. "I think you're getting in your own head, Maria. There's nothing to hide." she lied smoothly.

     "What?" Mason demanded again, and I poorly suppressed a laugh. He glared at me, then glanced around at our friends. "What's so funny?"

     "I'm sorry," I said, though I clearly wasn't. "You're just so oblivious sometimes. It's adorable and hilarious."

     Mason pouted and grumbled something about not being adorable. Meanwhile, Marcella and Annabella were sending me matching glares. For a moment I stared back at them, confused. Then I repeated my words in my head, and realized that perhaps they weren't the most carefully chosen.

      Maria seemed to realize my mistake at the same time I did. "So there is something!"

     "Blake asked me out!" Marcella blurted.

       The table was silent for several seconds as everybody tried to process what Marcella had just said. The sentence just didn't seem right to me. Blake—football fuckboy Blake—had asked Marcella Gibson on a date. Not that Marcella wasn't a catch; she just wasn't the type a guy like Blake usual went for. She was too. . .lovely.