The week that went by afterwards was something between awkward and hell. Keeping my stupid promise to Paul, I avoided talking to Nicole, and skipped out on karate sessions just to avoid being seen with her. I'm not really sure why, but I kept going to the gym, though. It meant being picked up late from school by my parents, but I still felt the need to do it.
However, I couldn't avoid seeing her the next Monday, when we had our student council meeting. Classes went by extra slowly that day, to the point where all of my teachers made some kind of comment on it, with the exception of Mrs. Jackson. Mr. Carrozza's was one of concern, Mr. Graves seemed impatient or angry that I wasn't paying attention and asked me to explain myself after class, and Mr. Salvador told me straight-up that I could not be sad, since I was 'letting my emotions get in the way of drama.' Embarrassingly, he said this in front of the whole class. When he did, May gave me a look, which was odd for two reasons. Number one, it wasn't a very warm or kind expression, but I couldn't place exactly what the look reflected. Number two, it was the first time she even looked in my direction since Tuesday.
When the bell went, I immediately groaned. Well, here goes, I thought to myself as I envisioned Nicole's cold, empty gaze and shuddered.
"Alright, that's the bell." Mr. Salvador called out to the crowd as students began to file out of the auditorium. "Adam, could you please stay behind?"
Crap. Everyone else in the aud left while giving me judgmental looks, while I, with little energy, trudged back to the stage area to face Mr. Salvador.
"Take a seat." He told me. I complied.
He waited for a few seconds, then gestured outwards with his arms. "What's going on?" He asked me calmly.
I sighed. "Just a bunch of stuff. It doesn't matter."
He gave a soft chuckle in response, but it didn't seem all that friendly. "It matters when your attitude is disrupting the energy of the class!" He replied. "Drama is about commitment. It's about leaving your ego outside. It's a lot more than just putting on an act. And the act that you're putting on right now is pretty poor."
I simply hung my head, without even bothering to challenge him.
He continued. "When one person has lower energy, it lowers the energy of the whole class. You're really undermining drama right now, and I need you to stop that."
I sighed. There was no way I could contest him without looking like more of an asshat than I already definitely looked.
"That said…" He continued. "If there is something bothering you, and you would like to share it, this school is equipped with people who can help you. Is this a bad day, or has this been going on for a while?"
The conversation felt weird to say the least. I felt very vulnerable in front of Mr. Salvador. My go-to reaction to this was to defend myself, maybe try to even the status quo or even shift it in my favor. But a part of me also liked this vulnerability I was feeling.
"While." I lamely answered.
He nodded. "Well, whatever it is, for your sake, I hope it clears up soon, because we can't continue like this." He eyed me seriously. "You understand that, right?"
"Yes." I answered, wanting to answer with power, but still lamely.
"Good." He replied. "My office is in the basement next to the Choir room if you ever need to chat. I'm usually here until six or seven, depending on the workload."
I always took Mr. Salvador as some kind of family-oriented man, especially given how he was definitely past the casual dating years.The idea that he was single never really struck me, but the idea that he went home at around seven led me to believe he was either single or a bad husband.
"Okay." I replied, glad this conversation was closing. "Thanks." I slung my backpack over my shoulder and left, not even bothering to look at him as I left. "Take care!"
As I power-walked through the hallway, I checked my watch. I thought I was going to be awfully late for the meeting, but in actuality, I found that I would be right on time.
I felt a change in the atmosphere when I entered. Nicole, who normally gave me at the very least a chipper wave, was making it painfully obvious she was looking in every direction but mine. Megan had her head down – not sobbing, but definitely sad. Next to her sat the normally kind-faced Matt, who instead had his face twisted into a frown and was slowly shaking his head menacingly at me, one arm over his younger sister's shoulder. Phil paused whatever idle chatter he was partaking in when I walked through the door, eyeing me up and down with a completely blank expression. No one else seemed to know what was going on, but the room still became more silent when I entered. As the noise died down, more eyes, some unkind, some confused, fell upon me. Hating the spotlight more than ever, I found a seat and quietly sat down.
As soon as I did, total silence swept over the meeting. No one dared say a word, even though about 80% of the people there had no clue why it was so silent. Phil cleared his throat and began awkwardly. "Alright, great, everyone's here. Thank you all for showing up. Now… uh…" he began fumbling with his words. "Before we start, I just want to shed some light on some new developments. I hate to bring public attention to this, but it's important that we function as a team, and as efficiently as possible."
Worry crept into me and started eating me out from the inside. What the hell was this all about? I could only pray that the situation I was involved in wasn't going to become larger than it already was.
"Adam…"
Shit. Shit shit shit. I don't get how this whole thing could have blown up so fast. It was a blowjob, that's it. Hell, a blowjob she asked to give me. I didn't even get how it was possible to make such a big deal out of it.
"We understand that you're having some personal conflicts with Megan Schneider."
"Personal conflicts?!" Matt roared, standing up. "The guy made her blow him, made her feel like a sex object after, then was caught by her doing the same thing to another girl just a week later! This is my baby sister we're talking about here!"
"Sit down, Matt." Phil replied with a tired-of-this-shit voice. However, the words remained in my head. Do the same with May? Now that I considered it, Megan had no idea I even had a crush on May. I guess it did make a little sense that she thought I just wanted sex out of May… Though I never really just wanted sex out of Megan.
That's what this whole damn thing was. One person's misunderstanding after another. Megan misunderstood how to win me over, I misunderstood her true intentions, Megan misunderstood why I was with May, May misunderstood the true story of our past, and here I was, in a room full of people who were about to take the misunderstanding to the next level.
I couldn't let that happen. I cleared my throat. "Uh, Phil, could I please set things straight for the record?"
"I can't let you do that, Adam." Phil responded sternly. "If you want to work things out, work them out with her." He pointed to Megan.
"But if you don't let me explain, everyone here is going to judge us for things we didn't do. They're going to make up stories, they're going to think we did things we didn't, and think we are people we aren't!" I protested.
"Alrighty then." Phil challenged me, narrowing his eyes. "Great. You want them to have the facts?" He walked over to the table in front of me and put his palms down on the table, leaning in to face me.
"Let's start with how you were in a classroom after hours receiving oral sex. Something both parties should know is against the rules!" He aimed his last statement at Megan too. "Or how about how you didn't check to make sure you knew what you were getting into. Or making her feel used afterwards, without so much as a 'sorry,' even after you saw her upset. Or not talking to her for a good solid week afterwards, not caring if she was still upset. Just as long as Adam Watson got his blowjob…"
That was the limit. "At least I asked for her consent before doing anything with her, rather than just doing whatever I want to Nicole without even making sure she was okay with it first!" I yelled into his face.
A few scattered gasps filled the room. The tension was unbelievable. Stupidly, I continued. "Yeah, I know about that. I know all about how even though Mr. President is talking up quite a storm, he still can't handle it when he doesn't get what he wants, so he takes it, whether or not she's okay or even comfortable with it."
I felt light-headed. I was challenging the most powerful person in the whole school, and I was winning. Phil's look was stuck on furious, but his eyes showed what he truly felt at that moment: fear. He leaned back slightly, and didn't say a word, palms still on the desk. He broke eye contact with me, and it was like a spell between us was broken. Phil eyed the floor for a few seconds, before beginning. "I-"
"What a load of crap!" Nicole interrupted, standing up from her seat. No one looked anywhere close to comfortable at this point. In the corner, Megan was softly crying. Nicole continued, walking up to Phil. "Phil didn't even need my consent. I was practically begging for it. This fucking dweeb here must have seen us and is now just twisting the facts."