Chapter 152: Chapter 152 - Choking On It
The state semifinal win had officially taken over Briarwick.
Posters covered the front hall, and black and red streamers hung from the trophy case. Someone had taped a crooked sign above the main office that said STATE FINALS, RAVENS! Three teachers stood under it, smiling like they had personally coached the final drive.
Funny, considering those same teachers had spent the week telling the football players they still needed to focus in class.
Every few steps, someone congratulated a football player. Every few steps, someone said Zac’s name.
Roxie walked through it with her cheer bag on one shoulder, tired but steadier than she had been all week.
Saturday night had helped.
She hated admitting that, even to herself.
Zac showing up at her house after the game had helped. The rules helped too. They had talked without yelling. They had kissed without turning it into another fight. He had promised to remember she was there, even when the whole school could not know what she was to him.
Roxie had promised to try.
That was the part bothering her now.
Trying had sounded possible on her couch with Zac’s arm around her and the house quiet. Trying felt harder inside Briarwick, where every hallway had his number taped to it.
"Prescott!"
A group of junior boys shouted from near the lockers, even though Zac was nowhere near them.
At her locker, Angela was smiling at her phone.
Roxie slowed.
That smile was suspicious.
Angela usually smiled softly and sweetly, like she had never had a bad thought in her life, which was a lie because Angela could say the harshest thing in the room and still look gentle.
This smile was different because it was stupid.
Roxie stopped beside Karen, who was already staring.
"Oh no," Karen said. "The virus spread to you."
Angela looked up fast. "What?"
Karen pointed at Roxie. "This is your fault."
Roxie blinked. "What did I do?"
"Existing near secretive behavior." Karen side-eyed Angela. "And now this one thinks she can smile at her phone like we are blind."
Angela pressed her phone against her chest. "I’m allowed to smile."
Karen leaned closer. "You and Basketball Caleb went home together last Saturday, right?"
Angela’s cheeks warmed. "He drove me home."
Roxie’s eyebrows lifted. "And?"
Angela looked between them, trying to fight her smile and failing. "We kissed."
It came out in a small squeal.
Karen’s face twisted. "I’m getting nauseous."
Roxie smiled and pulled Angela into a quick hug. "Congrats. You’re officially in danger."
Angela laughed against her shoulder. "Roxie."
"What? This is happy."
Angela pulled back, still blushing. "We haven’t talked about being official yet."
Karen slapped her locker lightly. "I knew it. Technicalities."
"But we’re going to dinner tonight," Angela said. "So maybe we’ll talk about us then."
Roxie’s smile softened. "Okay. That’s cute."
Karen crossed her arms. "Caleb has thirty days to disappoint me."
Angela sighed. "Karen."
"That was me being supportive."
Roxie laughed under her breath.
Angela looked at her. "You too?"
"No, I’m happy for you." Roxie meant it. "I’m also watching him."
Angela’s expression warmed. "Roxie, that’s sweet. But I got this."
Roxie smiled, but something in her chest tightened. "You’re sweet. That makes me nervous."
Angela laughed softly. "I’m serious."
"So am I."
Karen nodded once. "Sweet people scare me. You all forgive too fast, then everyone else has to threaten people after."
"I’m telling you, he’s different," Angela said.
"You said that with Jonathan," Karen said. "Love makes people stupid."
Angela rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling.
Roxie watched her and tried to keep her own face easy.
Caleb seemed nice from what Angela had said before. Handsome. Polite. Normal in a way that made parents comfortable and friends suspicious. He had a clean smile, a basketball jacket, and the kind of confidence boys got when people had been called promising since middle school.
He might be fine. He might even be good for her.
Being good for Angela still did not make him safe.
Roxie knew better than that.
Soft girls could get hurt badly because they believed people first. Angela was sweet, but she was not weak. Roxie knew that too. Still, the thought of someone making Angela cry made Roxie want to start problems early.
Then another thought came in, uglier and quieter.
Angela got to smile at her phone in the hallway. Angela got to talk about dinner. Angela might get to have a boyfriend who walked up to her locker and stood beside her where everyone could see.
Roxie had rules.
She pushed the thought down hard.
That was not Angela’s fault. Angela deserved this. She deserved something normal and sweet and easy.
Roxie was the one standing inside a secret she had helped build.
"Stop thinking," Karen said.
Roxie blinked. "What?"
Karen pointed at her face. "You got serious."
"I’m always serious."
Angela smiled at Roxie like she knew there was something under it but was choosing kindness for now.
Roxie hated and loved her for that.
A voice came from behind them.
"Hey."
Angela turned.
Caleb stood a few steps away with a notebook in one hand and a coffee in the other. He looked annoyingly good for a Monday morning, tall and clean in a basketball jacket zipped halfway, with his hair still slightly damp like he had actually put effort into looking casual.
He smiled at Angela first, which Roxie noticed.
Good.
Then he nodded to Roxie and Karen.
"Roxie. Karen."
Polite, which helped.
Karen stared at him like he had applied for a job and she hated his résumé.
Caleb held Angela’s notebook out. "You left this in my car."
Angela took it, cheeks pink again. "Thank you."
"And this." He lifted the coffee. "You said you liked caramel, right?"
Angela’s face softened. "You remembered."
Karen made a small sound.
Roxie looked at her.
Karen’s face said she wanted to object but had no legal opening.
Caleb glanced at Karen. "Wrong flavor?"
Karen tilted her head. "No."
"Too much caramel?"
"No."
"Then why do I feel like I’m in trouble?"
"Instinct," Karen said. "Keep that."
Angela covered her mouth, but her laugh slipped out anyway.
Caleb did not look offended. That helped him. He only smiled and nodded once, like he had accepted the warning and decided surviving Karen was part of the package.
"I’ll see you after practice?" he asked Angela.
Angela nodded. "Yeah."
He smiled at her again, then looked at Roxie and Karen. "See you."
Karen watched him leave until he turned the corner.
Angela hugged the coffee to her chest. "Can you stop looking like that?"
"I haven’t started," Karen said.
Roxie leaned toward Angela. "He seems nice."
Angela’s eyes brightened. "You think so?"
"Yes."
Karen lifted one finger. "I said thirty days."
"That is better than immediate rejection," Roxie said.
Karen shrugged. "I’m growing."
Angela laughed again, and for a few minutes, the day felt lighter.
They walked toward the gym together after their classes, cheer bags bumping against their hips. Angela was still glowing in a way she kept trying to hide. Karen pretended to be annoyed by it, but she walked close to Angela’s side like a guard dog in a cheer jacket.
Roxie stayed on Angela’s other side.
The hall grew louder as they turned past the front office. At first, Roxie thought it was just the usual football noise, with students crowding players, someone yelling about State Finals, and a teacher trying to clear the hall and failing.
Then she heard the squealing.
"Oh my gosh, wait, that’s so cute."
"Move, I want a picture."
"Homecoming King and Queen to State Finals is actually perfect."
Roxie’s steps slowed.
Karen noticed first, her head turning toward the front hall.
Angela’s smile faded.
A small crowd had gathered near the victory display by the trophy case. Student Council had set up a backdrop with black and red paper, a banner that said ROAD TO STATE, and printed photos from Saturday’s game. Someone had brought a ring light from the media room. Phones were already out.
Zac stood in front of the display in his football jacket, his hair still slightly messy from the wind outside and his face calm in that public way Roxie hated because it worked too well.
Beside him stood Kendall Whitlock in her cheer jacket, zipped neatly, with her hair smooth and her smile ready. One hand rested on her hip like she had been born knowing how to be photographed.
They stood there exactly how Briarwick wanted them to stand.
That made it worse.
Because nothing was actually happening, and Roxie still felt it.
Homecoming King and Queen.
Football and cheer.
Briarwick’s favorite picture waiting to happen.
A Student Council girl adjusted the angle. "Okay, Zac, a little closer. Kendall, turn toward him. Yes, perfect."
Roxie’s fingers tightened around the strap of her bag.
Saturday night came back fast.
Girls asking for photos. School posts. Kendall standing beside him because someone else placed her there. Interviews. Coaches. Teams. All the public things she had already agreed to understand.
She had said she would try.
This was trying.
A girl near the display squealed again. "They look so good together."
Someone else laughed. "Homecoming King and Queen to State is so cute."
The words landed straight in Roxie’s chest.
Zac’s eyes moved.
He saw her.
For half a second, his face changed.
Then he fixed it, leaving only one small tightening around his mouth before he looked back at the camera.
He had remembered.
That should have helped.
It did help.
It also made her want to scream.
Because now she had nothing to blame him for.
Karen went stiff beside her.
"Oh," Karen said, voice low. "I hate this."
Angela looked at Roxie.
Roxie felt it. The concern. The question. The quiet suspicion Angela had been carrying since the ticket table.
Roxie kept her face blank.
The girls near the display finally noticed them.
One stopped smiling. Another looked from Roxie to Zac, then away.
The silence hit harder than the comment.
Roxie would have preferred laughter.
Kendall’s smile stayed in place, but her eyes flicked toward Roxie for one quick second.
Roxie looked at Zac.
He stood there exactly like they had agreed he should.
Calm.
Public.
Doing what the school asked him to do.
Being the version of himself Briarwick wanted.
She could handle that.
She had said she could.
Her throat tightened.
Karen shifted forward, and Angela grabbed her sleeve before she took a full step.
Karen whispered, "Let go."
Angela whispered back, "No."
Roxie turned away.
"We have practice," she muttered.
Angela’s hand stayed on Karen’s sleeve. "Roxie."
"We have practice," Roxie repeated.
She started walking, her legs moving before the rest of her caught up.
Behind her, someone laughed too quietly. It might have been about her. It might have been about something else.
Roxie did not turn around to check.
Angela walked on Roxie’s other side, silent for once.
Roxie kept her eyes ahead.
The gym doors were at the end of the hall.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket.
She knew before she looked.
Zac: I didn’t know they were doing that.
Roxie stared at the message.
Her thumb hovered over the screen.
He had done what she asked. He followed the rules they had set.
And still, her chest hurt so badly she wanted to throw the phone into a locker.
She shoved it back into her pocket and pushed through the gym doors.
Because she had promised she would swallow it.
And now she was choking on it.
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