POV: Rebel Reid

Okay no big deal, she’s just coming over for pie. Don’t freak out. Oh god, Dillion Smiley is coming over to my house for pie.

“Uh, sweetie, any particular reason as to why you are stress cleaning?” Mom asks.

Stupid! I forgot to tell my parents. Okay, I can do this, hopefully, they don’t get the wrong idea. But will it be the wrong idea? We almost kissed, again! Ugh, and I said that lame pick up line, it’s a wonder that she is even interested in me. Wait, is she interested in me? She says I’m cute, but that doesn’t really mean anything, does it?

“Rebel.” My other mom calls to get my attention.

I flinch out of my thoughts and set down the duster.

“Okay, don’t freak out. I uh, invited this girl over for dinner.”

Their eyes go wide.

“I said don’t freak out!” I hiss.

“A girl, could it be the same girl you went to church for?”

“Yes, but don’t bring that up. Please. I don’t want to scare her away. She’s uh, sensitive about that kind of stuff. We are just friends, I think.”

They share a look.

“Please moms, please don’t embarrass me,” I beg.

“Well okay. I mean we usually expect your friends on Tuesdays, what about Birdie and Scooter, are they coming too?”

“Uh, no. We uh, aren’t talking at the moment. Some stuff happened at school.” I mutter.

They open their mouths to say something but the doorbell rings.

“She’s here! Go, go, go!” I shove them into the kitchen.

They snicker.

I straighten out my shirt and check my hair in the tv reflection before walking casually over to the door. When I open the door it’s not Dillion, it’s Birdie and Scooter. I sigh.

“Hey, uh, can we talk?” Scooter says.

“Yes, hurry, hurry, get in.” I pull them in and look around outside before shutting the door.

“False alarm!” I call to the kitchen.

“I’m going to start cooking now.” Mom calls back.

“Okay!”

“So uh, look we are sorry we were being dumb. Can we just pretend none of that ever happened?” Scooter asks.

“Come on you guys, I can’t believe you actually think I had anything to do with that. I would never.” I assure them.

“We know, come to find out that guy was actually Alaska’s cousin.” Scooter sighs.

“That’s awful.” I shake my head.

“No hard feelings?” Birdie says.

“Maybe a little hard feelings, but I’ll get over it. Come here.” I embrace them in a hug.

Just then the doorbell rings.

“She’s here! Okay don’t freak out, I uh invited Dillion over for dinner.”

“What!” they say at the same time.

“I said don’t freak out!” I quickly walk to the door.

I take a deep calming breath before opening the door. Dillion was looking anywhere but at the door. I can feel how nervous she is. She looks all dolled up. She actually tired, for me.

“So are you going to invite me in, or…”

“Right, sorry. Come in. My moms are already working on the food.” I step aside my cheeks going red at being caught checking her out, again.

“Moms…” she eyes me.

I force a smile and shut the door behind her.

“Uh Dillion, you know my friends, Birdie, and Scooter.”

They give lame waves and awkward smiles.

Dillion stiffens.

“Hey, it’s okay, um I always have my friends over on Tuesday. You’re my friend now.” I assure her.

She relaxes a bit.

“Come on.” I lead her into the kitchen by grabbing her hand and interlocking our fingers.

I see her blush. If she wasn’t so freaking cute. Okay fine! I admit it, I have a crush on her. She’s gorgeous, she’s so cute when she is all shy about showing her feelings. Sure she’s uh, difficult to deal with, but she is just misunderstood. Not to mention how strong she is for always pretending she is okay. I don’t think I could put myself through what she goes through daily.

“Dillion, these are my moms, moms, Dillion.” I introduce them.

“Moms?” Dillion eyes them in confusion.

“Hi! Rebel told us you might be coming. Glad you made it. I’m Tasha, Call me Mom T.” oh god they are already embarrassing me!

“I’m Roddie, you can call me Ro. Or Mom R, if you want. We are Rebel’s Moms.”

Dillion looks to me in confusion.

“I was adopted.” I supply.

“Oh.” She says as it clicks.

“But we don’t like to think of her like that. We are her Moms and she is our baby girl.”

I facepalm.

Dillion giggles at me.

“Okay, go back to cooking now.” I drag Dillion away.

“I didn’t know you were adopted,” Dillion says as we walk back to the living room.

"Yeah, My mom died by giving birth to me and my dad was never around to begin with. But thanks to my moms, I am able to live a normal-ish life.” I smile at her.

“So! When did you two start hanging out?” Birdie asks.

“Um, uh, it’s complicated,” I say.

“Rebel can I talk to you for a sec.” Dillion tugs on my arm.

I nod and lead her to my room and shut the door behind us.

She lets go of my hand.

“You didn’t tell them about me, did you?” she asks nervously.

“About you?”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, of course not. I’m not a monster.” I say.

Bad choice of words. She backs up a bit.

“Hey, it’s okay. I know you aren’t one either. You’ve changed,”

“You really think so?” she looks into my eyes.

I nod.

“Thank you.” she smiles at me.

My heart skips a beat.

“This doesn’t have to mean anything, you can just be here as my friend. We are friends now, right?” I ask.

“I guess we are.” She smirks.

“Just don’t scare my friends okay, they already have the wrong idea about you.”

“Hmm, I wonder who’s fault that is.” She pokes me in the side.

“Hey!” I giggle.

She giggles and pokes me some more. Soon she has me back up against the door.

“Okay! You win.” I laugh.

“Of course I win.” She gives me a devious smile.

“You are so cocky, one day I’ll one-up you.” I tease.

“You can try.” She flirts.

“Does that mean you agree to be my friend for a while?”

“I don’t see why not?” she shrugs.

“Yeah, me either.” I smile.

For a moment we are silent as we gaze longingly into each other eyes. God, she has such pretty eyes. Dimond crystal blue eyes. They sparkle every time the light hits them. She leans into me, her hand cupping my face. I lean into her.

“Rebel! Tacos are ready!” Mom calls.

I flinch away and Dillion does too.

We both blush.

I force an awkward smile before opening the door and letting Dillion walkout. She waits for me with an outstretched hand, I take it and interlock our fingers.

“You know I hate to ask but are we being replaced here?” Scooter teases me.

“Maybe.” Dillion teases back.

I playfully swat at her shoulder.

“Of course not,” I say.

Birdie eyes us. I can tell she is not happy.

“Alright everyone as always here is all the ingredients, make your own tacos how you like.” Mom sets the food down on the table.

“Thanks, Mom T!” Scooter and Birdie say in unison.

“Um, thank you.” Dillion forces a smile.

“I sure am starving.” Mom plops at the table.

“Guest first Ro.” Mom swats at her.

She pouts.

“Just pick whatever you like,” I say to Dillion.

“Hmm.” She eyes the food.

Then she grabs a soft taco shell, fills it with chicken, salsa, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and a dollop of sour cream. Birdie and Scooter quickly grab the hard shells and make their usual. I grab a softshell, load it up with beef, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, and cilantro.

For a moment everyone eats in silence.

“Well, is it good?” Mom asks.

“Emm, mmhmm.” Dillion holds up a thumbs up with her mouth full.

I can’t help but giggle at her cuteness.

She blushes and swallows her food before smiling at me.

“Well, it’s always fun to induct one of Rebel’s friends into our Taco Tuesday tradition. Just wait for dessert I have my famous, Cookie Cream Chocolate pie.” Mom beams.

“Can’t wait,” Dillion says.

“So Dillion, what do your parents do for a living?” mom asks.

Ugh, please no. Not lame small talk.

“My mom is a sales representative and my dad works at some bank. I have an older sister who works at the community college.” Dillion says between bites of food.

“I see, well what do you want to be when you grow up?”

Dillon shrugs and averts her gaze.

“Ah come on don’t be shy, you know Rebel used to scream at the top of her lungs how much she wanted to be a princess.” Mom says.

“Mom!” I complain.

Scooter and Birdie snicker.

“What kind of princess?” Dillion smirks at me.

“A battle princess. Ruler of the world.” I mutter.

Everyone laughs.

“Hey! I was like 8, give me a break.” I pout.

“It was so adorable, she made us buy her battle gear, we would play fortress in the living room.”

“Can we not embarrass me please?” I eye my moms.

They snicker at me.

“Sounds fun, I was forced to go to bible camp when I was little. The only acceptable answer to what I wanted to be when I grew up was a servant of God.” Dillion snorted in amusement.

“How awful, a child’s creativity should never be limited.” Mom shakes her head.

“It was a fun camp when we weren’t in prayer circles.” She giggles.

“Well, what about now? What do you want to be now?” Mom asks again.

“Hmm, I haven’t thought of it much. I’d like a job that I could travel with. Just go wherever I want. Maybe I’ll become a travel blogger.” She shrugs.

“You like to write?” I ask.

“Sure. It’s like the only “fun” thing I can do at my house. My parents are really old fashioned.”

“Well, how about pie!” Mom gets up to get the pie.

I glance at Scooter and Birdie who are eyeing me like I grew a second head. I gulp and force a smile for them.

“Do you like going to Church?” Mom asks.

I eye her.

“It’s okay, I guess.” Dillion shrugs and averts her gaze.

Mom starts cutting slices and handing one to everyone. Dillion licks her lips and smiles in childish delight as she eyes the pie. I giggle at her cute face which causes her to flush.

“Well I got to say Rebel must really like you, I mean you even got her to go to church for you.” Mom goes on.

Oh no.

Dillion pauses mid-bite and slowly sets her fork down.

“When?” she asked.

“On Friday,” Mom says.

“Mom!” I shout.

I see the wheels click into place in Dillion’s head. Her face contorts into one of pain and betrayal.

“It’s you.” she turned to me.

“Dillion I can explain,” I say.

She gets up.

“Dillion wait.” I stand up too.

“You used me, you played me. I should have known.” She shakes her head.

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Then what was it like!” she shouts.

“I, I just wanted to help you.”

“I don’t need your help or your pity.” Then she grabs the pie and shoves it into my face before storming off towards the door.

“Dillion!” I chase after her, flinging the cream off my face.

“Fuck you! And if you dare share that video I will end you!” she snaps at me.

“I would never. I just wanted to help.”

“I don’t need your help!” Then she walks out of the house and slams the door in my face.

Way to go Rebel. Now she hates me. Now she thinks I used her. I’m so stupid. I should have just told her when I had my chance. There goes all that progress. I rest my head against the door, getting cream everywhere.

“Rebel, care to explain?” mom walks over to me.

“I told you not to bring it up,” I mutter.

“What happened?” My other mom comes over to me.

“She hates me now. I lied to her. I thought I was helping her. I just wanted her to… forget it.” I sigh.

Mom sighs and rubs my back.

“Well better go wash your face and clean up this mess.” My other mom says.

“Okay.” I slowly drag myself to the bathroom.

I look ridiculous with chocolate and cream smeared all over my face. I sigh and turn the water on. After I clean up my face and change my shirt, I go into the living room and clean up the cream that fell on the floor.

“Okay, what was that? Since when are you and Dillion close?” Birdie asks as I clean the door.

“Oh! I get it, you were pretending to be her friend, just like your original plan.” Scooter says.

“I wasn’t pretending,” I grumble.

“Wait, what are you saying?” Birdie asks.

“I like Dillion okay! I have a crush on her. I thought if I tried to be her friend I could help rid her of her life-destroying ways. But then the lines got blurred, and I found out things about her. I saw different sides of her. She’s not as awful as I first thought. She’s just scared. I thought I could help her open up, be herself. I have been secretly texting her, she didn’t know it was me. she thought I was just some anonymous stranger she could confess all her inner thoughts to. Maybe I abused that power and encouraged her to give me a chance. I was going to tell her, but I wanted to wait until she trusted me.” I plop on the couch next to them.

“You like Dillion Smiley. The girl you said was the worst and a monster?” Birdie eyed me.

“Well, I was wrong okay! She even forfeited the match for me and cleared my name. I don’t expect you two to understand. Heck, I don’t even understand. I’m just so confused. I didn’t think someone like me could like someone like her. God, I’m so dumb.” I run my hands down my face.

“That’s just like you. You are always trying to help people.” Scooter shakes his head.

“Well it’s never backfired this badly before so I am pretty sure Dillion is going to destroy me now.” I sigh.

“Well duh! This is Dillion freaking Smiley we are talking about. Why would you even play like that? First of all, she is straight, second of all, she is mean, third of all, she is like the ruler of the school. Hello! Earth to Rebel how did you think this would turn out?”

“Well, you two weren’t there for me! I was all on my own. What else was I supposed to do?”

“You are the one that pressed rematch.” Scooter points out.

“I know! I regretted it right after okay. I just… forget it. It was dumb of me to think she could change. You two should go home, I’m tired.” I sigh and go to my room before shutting the door behind me.

I pull out my phone and stare at my text. No new text.

I open up Dillion’s text and start a new one.

‘I am soooo sorry. I know I messed up. Please, just hear me out. I never wanted to hurt you. I just, I just wanted to help you feel safe. I won’t ever show anyone that video, promise. I would never out you like that. Please just give me another chance. I don’t want you to feel alone again. You can still talk to me.’ I send.

Her response is instant.

‘Don’t ever talk to me again, and delete my number. Whatever this was, it’s over. I hate you.’

I sigh and pull the covers over my head.

How the hell am I going to fix this?