The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 148: Chapter 148 - People Talking

Roxie returned to school the next morning with a water bottle in one hand and a lunch container buried deep inside her bag.

Mrs. Robinson had packed it before Roxie left their house. She had made a sandwich, added grapes, crackers, and a folded napkin, then looked at Roxie in a way that made arguing feel pointless.

Roxie had taken it and said thank you.

Then she shoved the container to the bottom of her bag before anyone at school could see it and ask questions she had no clean way to answer.

The second she stepped through Briarwick’s front doors, three girls near the office looked at her like she had returned from war. One whispered. Another stopped whispering badly.

Roxie kept walking.

A sophomore from JV cheer hurried toward her. ”Roxie, are you okay?”

”I’m alive.”

”Oh. Good.”

”Usually the goal.”

The girl gave a nervous laugh and backed away.

Two steps later, a football player she barely knew nodded at her. ”Glad you’re good, Jones.”

”Thank you.”

A teacher near the hall monitor desk looked her over like she was checking for visible cracks. ”Take it easy today, Roxie.”

”I’ll try.”

That was a lie.

Roxie hated every second of it. The staring, the soft voices, the way people moved aside for her like she was carrying a warning sign. Yesterday, she had been captain. Today, she was the girl who fainted in front of the whole school.

By the time she reached her locker, her face already hurt from pretending she was fine.

Angela and Karen were waiting there.

Angela had her bag hugged to her chest and worry written all over her face. Karen had an iced coffee, a cinnamon roll wrapped in a napkin, and the aggressive expression of someone prepared to force feed a hostage.

Roxie looked at the cinnamon roll. ”Absolutely no.”

Karen held it out. ”Absolutely yes.”

”I have food.”

Karen’s eyes narrowed. ”Where?”

”In my bag.”

Angela softened a little. ”You brought lunch?”

”Yes.”

Karen kept the cinnamon roll raised. ”Show proof.”

Roxie stared at her. ”What are you, airport security?”

”I could be.”

Roxie unzipped her bag and let them see the edge of the container for half a second before closing it again.

Karen lowered the cinnamon roll. ”Acceptable.”

”Wonderful. I passed inspection.”

Angela stepped closer. ”How do you feel?”

”Like everyone in this school got a nursing license overnight.”

”You fainted.”

”Yes, Angela. Thank you. I forgot for almost three seconds.”

Angela gave her a look.

Roxie sighed. ”I’m okay.”

Karen pointed the cinnamon roll at her. ”That word has been suspended until further notice.”

”By who?”

”Me.”

”Unrecognized authority.”

Karen leaned closer. ”You scared us.”

Roxie’s mouth closed.

That landed harder than she expected.

Angela looked down for a second, then back up. Her eyes were calmer today, but the memory of her crying in the nurse’s office was still too fresh.

Roxie adjusted the strap of her bag. ”I know.”

Karen softened for half a breath, then pushed the cinnamon roll into her locker. ”Fine. Eat your mysterious lunch later.”

”It is a sandwich, Karen.”

”Sandwiches can have secrets.”

The warning bell rang.

People moved toward first period, but the hallway noise still followed Roxie. Whispers near the trophy case. A glance from the stairwell. Someone saying, ”That’s her,” too loudly near the lockers.

Roxie kept her chin up.

She could survive being looked at. She had survived worse than attention.

AP Chemistry was the only class where Zac and Roxie had to share air, which should have made things easier.

It did the opposite.

He was already there when she walked in.

Zac sat near the windows, one leg stretched out under the desk, hoodie sleeves pushed to his forearms. He looked up the second she entered.

His face changed.

Roxie looked away before anyone else noticed.

Karen, behind her, made a tiny sound.

Roxie turned. ”No.”

Karen blinked wide. ”Sus.”

Angela slid into her seat beside Roxie, quiet and watchful.

Zac’s phone lit on his desk.

Roxie’s buzzed a second later inside her bag.

She left it there.

Mr. Callahan came in carrying his laptop, coffee, and the kind of expression teachers wore when they knew teenagers were about to be useless.

”Good morning,” he said.

A few students answered.

The room settled, but Zac’s eyes kept finding her from across the room.

Roxie felt each glance.

She hated that she felt each one.

After everything yesterday, after him calling out her hypocrisy, after her being jealous over a rule she had helped make, she should have been ready to talk.

She was still jealous. Still embarrassed. Still angry that he had been right.

That was the worst combination.

Her phone buzzed again.

She slipped it out under the desk.

Zac: Are you okay?

Roxie stared at it, then typed.

Roxie: I am in class.

Zac: That was not my question.

She locked the phone and shoved it back into her bag.

Across the room, Zac’s jaw tightened.

Mr. Callahan kept talking about chemical equilibrium.

Roxie wrote down two words, then stopped.

Her hand shook slightly.

She hated that too.

By lunch, the concern had changed.

It had grown teeth.

Roxie felt it before she heard it.

The cafeteria was loud, sticky, and full of bad music from someone’s phone and trays hitting tables too hard. Today, the noise bent around her in weird ways. People looked, whispered, then pretended to care about fries.

Roxie walked with Angela and Karen toward their usual table.

Karen stood in front of her before she could sit. ”Lunch.”

Roxie stared at her. ”You are getting controlling.”

”You are getting annoying.”

”I have always been annoying. And you loved it.”

”That was yesterday.”

Angela pulled out the chair. ”Just eat a little.”

Roxie opened the container because fighting them would draw more attention.

The sandwich looked neat and normal.

She hated how close to crying that made her.

Karen nodded at it. ”Fine. That counts.”

”Thank you for approving my sandwich.”

”I am generous.”

Roxie picked up half of it.

That was when Bianca’s voice cut through the cafeteria.

”Well, at least she’s eating now.”

Roxie stopped.

Angela’s face changed.

Karen slowly turned her head.

Bianca stood near the end of the table with Lily behind her. Her hair was straightened smooth, her lip gloss shone under the cafeteria lights, and she looked Roxie up and down like she was examining evidence.

Roxie placed the sandwich back into the container.

Slowly.

”Say it again,” Roxie said.

Bianca smiled. ”I said it’s nice that you’re eating. You need strength now.”

Karen stood halfway. ”Bianca, I think you forgot last time. Want a matching set?”

Her eyes moved to Bianca’s pinned hair.

Bianca’s smile thinned.

Roxie remembered the hair in her fist in the office. The shocked silence.

Bianca lifted her chin. ”Should I be scared, Karen? Last time, you didn’t even do anything. You’re all talk with no bite.”

Karen stepped forward.

Angela grabbed her arm fast. ”We’re in the cafeteria. Control yourself.”

Karen’s jaw tightened, but she stayed where she was.

Bianca’s fake smile returned, brighter this time. Then she looked at Roxie.

”What’s with the fainting at the pep rally?” Bianca asked. ”Then some older guy signs you out? People are talking.”

Roxie’s ears went hot.

She knew Bianca was baiting her.

She knew the right move was to sit there, eat her stupid sandwich, and let Bianca look desperate. She knew reacting was exactly what Bianca wanted.

Then Bianca said people were talking, and Roxie’s control snapped at the edge.

The cafeteria started quieting in rings around them.

Bianca’s smile widened.

There it was.

The audience.

Roxie hated her for waiting until she had one.

”What are they going to talk about?” Roxie asked.

Bianca lifted one shoulder. ”I don’t know. Maybe that you fainted because you’re pregnant.”

The word landed on the table like someone had dropped glass.

For one second, Roxie only stared at her.

Then everything moved too fast.

Her chair scraped back.

Angela grabbed her arm before Roxie got two full steps forward.

”Roxie.”

Bianca’s eyes flashed with satisfaction. ”Careful. Stress is bad for the baby.”

Roxie lunged.

Karen caught her around the waist this time.

Angela stepped between them so fast her tray almost tipped. ”Enough.”

”Move, Angela,” Roxie said.

Angela’s voice shook but stayed firm. ”No.”

Bianca laughed. ”Wow. Sensitive topic?”

Roxie’s vision narrowed. ”Say one more thing about me.”

”Roxie,” Karen warned through her teeth, holding tight. ”She wants you suspended.”

”I want her dental plan.”

A few people gasped.

Bianca’s smile slipped.

Angela turned on Bianca, and the sweetness vanished from her face. ”You are disgusting.”

Bianca looked surprised.

Angela almost never sounded like that.

Angela stepped closer. ”She fainted because she was exhausted. You turning that into a pregnancy rumor says more about you than her.”

Bianca rolled her eyes, but her cheeks colored. ”I’m just saying what people are already thinking.”

”No,” Angela said. ”You are starting it because you want attention.”

Bianca’s eyes cut to Karen. ”At least I didn’t get carried out by some random adult man.”

Roxie tried to move again.

Angela pushed her back while Karen tightened both arms around her waist.

”I swear to God, Karen,” Angela said, voice low and urgent. ”Hold her. We already have enough on our plates.”

State.

The word hit Roxie through the anger.

State preparation. The entrance they still had to fix. The routine Coach Miller had already been drilling into their bodies. The scholarship she could not afford to risk. The suspension that would put her right back in front of the office, explaining why she had let Bianca Reeve’s leftovers ruin everything.

Roxie knew all of that.

She knew Bianca wanted this.

She knew one swing could cost her more than Bianca was worth.

Her hands still curled into fists.

Bianca looked at her, saw the fight still sitting there, and smiled like she had already won.

Bitch.