Pettiness.

“I can’t believe you would do this to us, Oliver,” Sarah said, sighing in fake exasperation and shaking her head. “If you wanted to make out so badly, you just had to pull me by the collar and eat me up.”

With my forehead pressed against the table of the club room, I let out another groan. I was seriously out of my depth here. Not even a full day had passed and it seemed like everyone and their mother had heard that I had made out with a girl I had never talked to.

“It is very strange,” Noelle said. “It’s like many people got told this at the same time.”

“Yeah, this is clearly a forged rumor,” Mila said, scrolling down her phone with a deep scowl. “I don’t even understand why. Is it really to try and hurt us in some way?”

“There is… one thing I find interesting, though,” Noelle said. “They’re talking about it as actual cheating, right?”

“Oh!” Sarah’s eyes widened. “You’re right. I guess the magic really is working as the spirit said. They’re assuming we didn’t give Oliver permission, which WOULD count as cheating.”

“Ugh, what did we do?” I asked no one in particular. “Did I upset someone? I try really hard to avoid that…”

“Sometimes you can’t help it,” Mila said. “People see our relationship as normal, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone is jealous regardless. And you know that petty, jealous people can do stupid things.”

“You’re right that it’s about jealousy, Mila,” Grace said, coming into the club room with Alice, Isabelle and even Thomas in tow. “But it actually has nothing to do with us dating.”

I raised my head. “Did you already figure it out?” I asked, my jaw dropping.

“Seeing her work is kinda magical,” Thomas told me, sitting beside me. “She went up to people and they spilled the beans immediately. Don’t ever actually cheat on her, dude. I’m warning you.”

“You don’t need to tell me,” I said. I looked at Isabelle and Alice. “How did it go for you?”

“The other council members were pissed at you on mine and Noelle’s behalf.” Aliche chuckled. “It was sweet, but I told them to stop believing rumors and spreading them like they’re a big deal. It took a while to convince them you wouldn’t cheat, but I think they’ll help us quell the fires.”

“I spoke to Abigail,” Isabelle said. “At first she said she didn’t want to talk about it, that she doesn’t want to get involved in this mess. A minute later she was telling me how you met her outside the school after you got off work and made her fall for your charms against her better judgment.”

I gritted my teeth. “But I go home directly after work every day! And like I’m the type to make out with a girl I’ve never talked to before!”

“Uuuhh…” Mila, Grace and Sarah exclaimed.

It made me slap my forehead and made Thomas bark a loud laugh.

“Anyway,” Grace said, sighing. “Turns out Abigail is part of the scheme, but not the mastermind behind it. Though calling him a mastermind for such a basic plan is giving the guy too much credit.”

“Huh? Wait, who?”

“Who else?” Thomas said. “Your long-time friend Julian Jenkins of course.”

“Hah!? Him? But… why!?”

“I ended up getting this out of Eric, the music club’s drummer.” Grace winced slightly and bit her lip. “I actually felt kinda bad for him. He got really nervous and scared.”

“Eric? Ah, him,” Sarah said. “We were classmates last year. He’s kinda quiet, like how Oliver was.”

“Nah, Oliver and Eric are totally different,” Thomas said. “Oliver has social anxiety, but he likes having people around. Eric is an actual loner who prefers to stick to one or two friends. He’s also socially awkward, but while Oliver used to give you a **** glare, Eric just nods and goes along with whatever people tell him. It’s why Julian likes to have him around.”

“Sometimes I forget you’re friends with like half the school,” I told him.

“Yeah, and everyone’s been giving him crap for being too busy lately,” Isabelle said, grinning teasingly.

“Thomas and Maria, sitting in a tree…” Mila began to sign.

Thomas smirked and sang along. “F-U-C…”

“Don’t,” I stopped him, putting my hand over his mouth.

The girls laughed, at least.

“So… Why did Julian spread the rumors?” Noelle asked Grace, getting us back on topic.

“Ah. Because he wants to make Oliver look bad so that nobody will vote for him at the talent show. He got others involved so that the rumors started from different sources and spread faster. Eric and Abigail were only two of them.”

Mila blinked. “Wait, so he’s trying to get Oliver canceled?”

“Yeah.” Grace nodded. “Make people think that he’s the type to cheat on his girlfriends, tarnish his reputation as a shy and sweet guy and eliminate him as a threat at the competition. Whether we, his girlfriends, believe he cheated or not is not important. What IS important is that everyone else believes it until the show happens.”

“And our school is known for their love of dumb teen drama,” Isabelle said.

“You’re part of that, you know?” I told her.

Isabelle smiled sheepishly. “Guilty.”

“So what can we do about it?” Alice asked, arms crossed. “We know Oliver didn’t cheat, so the rumor means squat to us, but…” She looked at me with worry. “If it affects his act at the talent show…”

I groaned and rubbed the back of my neck, trying to get rid of the awkward sensation. “It pisses me off. I don’t care about the talent show and he’s dragging you all into his problem with me. Can’t I just go talk to him and this Abigail girl and tell them to take it all back?”

“Wouldn’t do much,” Thomas told me. “Even if they did take it back, people would see it as the culprit of the crime trying to get out of it.”

I clicked my tongue, nearly spitting venom out.

“It’s the first time we see him so pissed, isn’t it?” I heard Mila whisper to Sarah.

“Yeah. It’s kinda hot, in a strange way,” Sarah whispered back.

The more I thought about it the angrier I got. This was nothing but some guy’s petty attempt at making sure he won a meaningless school competition. I was immensely thankful for the connection between the girls and I as it proved to them that I was telling the truth, but that this guy was willing to try and damage our relationship with baseless rumors just to get me out of the picture was just infuriating.

“I’m sorry, Oliver, but there’s not much that you can do about it,” Grace told me. “Anything you say will just be seen as you trying to hide the supposed infidelity.” Grace then smirked. “However… It’s not like you have to do anything at all.”

“Hah? What do you mean?”

“I said this was a very basic plan, but it’s also sloppy. You’ll see what I mean very soon.”

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