Truth or Deal.

I looked at the caller ID on my phone and made sure I dialed the correct number. Although, I already knew I dialed the correct number be that voice that answered wasn’t an unfamiliar voice.
“Anne?” I asked. There was a muffled sound and suddenly I heard Marcus muffled in the background: “Babe, who are you…” The line went dead.
I stared at my phone for a few minutes taking in what just happened. I recounted it in the back of my mind.

I called Marcus.

Anne answered.

Marcus called Anne ‘babe’.

The line went dead.

I went over it and over it again trying to piece what I was missing because there had to be an explanation. There had to be because I knew my best friend and my boyfriend weren’t seeing each other behind my back. My heart began to quicken and I felt really anxious and hurt. I felt betrayed, but I knew something like this was going to happen, right? Marcus and Anne were always flirting, so who knew how long exactly this was going on?

I don’t know how long I sat on my bed thinking about Anne and Marcus, when my phone rang. It was Marcus.

I stared at it for a moment before answering it. “Hello?”

“Hey baby girl,” Marcus greeted me. His voice sounded completely normal. “How was your day?”

I rolled my eyes, anger suddenly filling me. “Cut the crap, Marcus. What are you doing with Anne?”

“Evelyn we’ve been through this. She’s my friend, just because you moved away doesn’t mean I’m going to stop hanging out with everyone I’d be hanging out with if you were here.”

“You’re not just hanging out with her, Marcus. I’m not stupid! I heard you call her babe! She’s my best friend, Marcus!” I exclaimed. My voice began to crack and my eyes began to fill with tears.

“Your best friend?” Marcus laughed, “You haven’t even talked to her since you’ve been gone. She was feeling lonely. Her and Whitney got into a fight, and she came over and it just kind of happened.”

“I’ve only been gone for a few days and you slept with her?” I cried.

Marcus sighed, “Evelyn, I love you but a man has his needs and you weren’t giving them to me.”

I cried into the phone, “How long?”

“What?”

“How long?” I yelled. “How long have you been sleeping with her?”

“Just tell her, baby.” I heard Anne say in the background.

My tears instantly stopped. My blood ran cold and all I could focus on was the pounding of my own heart. I was sure it was going to break free from my body any moment now. “She’s there.” It was meant as a question but came out as a statement.

“Yeah, she’s here.”

My mind was traveling in one hundred different directions all at once. I couldn’t breathe. My heart was in so much pain I was sure I was I was about to die of an actual heart break. I closed my eyes, memories of Anne and Marcus flowed through my mind. I clenched my fist and wanted to hit something.

I finally found my voice. “Go to hell.” I ended the call and collapsed on the floor. My anger turned to tears but I still wasn’t sure if they were angry tears or heartbroken tears or both. I cried for hours, the tears would stop long enough for me to catch my breath and then begin again. I loved Marcus with my whole heart and now he was gone.

I deserved better than him. I thought about Aaron and how he had kissed me only hours before. Was this karma? I cried into my floor. I pushed Aaron away! I didn’t do anything wrong!

Suddenly the tears stopped and didn’t start again. I took this opportunity to take a shower and get ready for bed. This was going to be a new beginning for me, and I had to make the best of it.
The next few weeks were not the best of my new beginning though.

I missed Marcus but not as much as I thought I would. Aaron kept trying to get me to go out with him once it got out that I was single. Toni was annoyed with me because of Aaron, but she knew how much of a flirt he was and knew there wasn’t that much I could do about it. I felt bad for her. She seemed to really like Aaron and he overlooked her, I didn’t understand it. She was really pretty.

Classes here were a lot harder to pass than the ones in New York. Calculus was the hardest for me and unfortunately it was a core class that I couldn’t get rid of. I was already on Toni’s bad side because of the whole Aaron-thing; I didn’t want to make things worse by going on the ineligible list.

The bell signaling for class to end rang and I was happy to get out of this class room.

“Sanders,” My teacher called, “can you stay for a minute please?” Matt, who was also in my calculus class, looked at me and I looked from him to the teacher. “Sorry, I’m only used to having one Sanders in my class,” She smiled, “You’re free to go Matthew.”
Matt smiled, relieved and walked out. I walked up to the teacher’s desk.

“Evelyn, I’m really beginning to worry about your grade. At first I thought it was because you were new here and you were just struggling with all the changes, but now I’m starting to think you’re just struggling.” She looked up at me.

“Oh, I um…” I racked my brain for some sort of lie. “I just broke up with my boyfriend, so with that on top of the move and everything, I just haven’t been doing my best work, but I promise I’ll bring my grade up.”

“I sure hope so. If you continue to fail like you have been, I will have no other choice but to put you on the ineligibility list and assign you a tutor. You’d have to stay an extra hour before and after school until you brought your grade up to passing.”

I shook my head, “There’s no need to do that I’ll get it up myself.”

“Okay,” she nodded, “you can go then.”

She smiled at me and I forced a smile back before exiting the classroom and walking to my locker. When I got to it I noticed Matt leaning up against it.

“What do you want?” I asked him.

“I have a proposition.” He smirked.

I motioned for him to get out of my way, and when he did I opened my locker and slammed my calculus book into it. “I really don’t have time for this, Matt. I’ve got a lot going on.”

“Yeah, I know. Your boyfriend’s a cheat, your best friend’s a whore, you’re new friend is mad at you because her wannabe boyfriend wants you and not her. Oh and you’re almost failing calculus which not only makes you look stupid but it’ll place you on the ineligibility list and you won’t be able to cheer which will just piss your new best friend off. Am I missing something?” He looked proud of himself.

I rolled my eyes, “Fuck off. How do you know so much about my life anyways?”

He shrugged, “People talk and I’m best friends with your brother.”

I slammed my locker shut, “Leave me alone, Matt.”

Matt grabbed my arm, “Look, I don’t know what your problem is but you’ve been a real bitch ever since you moved here. I would think I had done something, but you treat all of my friends the same way and I know they haven’t done anything to you. So, cut the shit because you need my help.”

“How are you going to help me? Are you going to do my calculus homework so I can pass?” I said sarcastically.

He nodded, “That’s exactly what I was going to do, actually.”

I laughed out loud. “Whatever, I have to get to class.”

Matt sighed, “Evelyn, I’m serious. I’ll make sure you pass calculus if you do something for me.”

I rolled my eyes, “Like what, Matthew?”

Matt shifted his weight from one leg to another. I watched him as he tried to figure out the right words. “I want you to date a friend of mine.”

“Who?” I laughed.

“Zack.”

“You’re kidding right?” I stared at him, he shook his head. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen. I’ll figure something out though.” I walked away shaking my head.

“Just think about it!” Matt called.

Me date Zack Baker? Was Matt mental? Not only would that completely crush my social life, it would completely wipe it off the earth. What kind of deal was that? I sighed; there was no way that was going to happen. There was no way I was going to take that deal. I nibbled on my lip, but if I didn’t take the deal the truth would come out and everyone would know I was almost failing calculus. Toni wouldn’t forgive me; she made me promise to stay off the ineligibility list.
Truth or Deal – which was it going to be?

Notes