Page 67 of Don't Hate the Player
Then they asked me what I was going to do about Connor, which brings me back to Step 2.
When I get to the auditorium, it’s empty except for Penny and Matt taking pictures onstage. Matt’s kneeling on the floor with a reflective board propped against his chest and Penny’s phone in his hand, shooting upward to get her in a power pose against the backdrop of the red curtain.
“Stop moving for two seconds.” His whine carries easily over the rows of seating. “I’m trying to get the light to bounce off your highlighter.”
“That’s what the VSCO is for,” Penny explains. “Just set it to portrait and zoom out. I need these posters yesterday.”
“Why do we even need these?” Matt wiggles awkwardly to adjust the bounce board again, making Penny’s dark skin shimmer onstage. “It’s not like Connor’s gonna ditch you just because Lia’s dumping his—”
“Ask less, shoot more,” Penny mutters. Matt obliges. I let him get a few pictures in before clearing my throat from the back of the auditorium.
“You look great, Penny!” I call.
“Lia, is that you?” Penny breaks her pose to shield her eyes. “What’s it look like back there? Is the light washing me out?”
“Nah,” I decide, moving forward toward the stage. “The vibe is very Duckie Thot.”
“Aw, you always know what to say.”
I brandish the folder Grimes gave me. “Apparently I do.”
“Nice!” Matt holds up his free hand for a high five, and it takes me a moment to clamor onto the stage to accept it. “Grimes took the bait?”
“Like a guppy.”
Matt checks Penny’s phone for the time. “That gives you . . . ?twenty minutes left in free period to complete stage two.”
“Be gentle,” Penny reminds me, “but firm. Connor’s still my VP, and I need his head in the game. And if he asks for a reason, don’t let the reason be ‘I hooked up with someone else at a nerds-only club in Philly.’ ”
“I’m just gonna tell him I have a lot on my plate and don’t have time for a relationship right now. When I win the tournament, the cat will be out of the bag anyway, for Connor and everyone else.”
“He’ll bounce back,” Matt says confidently. “Once you’re gone, the line goes, like, Audra first, then maybe Lena on the volleyball team, then Holly? After that it’s literally every other straight girl in school because youknowthe bi ones won’t put up with him, then the girls at Hillford North—”
“Message received, Matt,” I cut him off. “Connor Dimeo is a hot commodity.”
“Dumb hot,” Penny adds.
“Jake’s really cute too,” Matt offers. Penny and I both look at him sideways. “What? I’m secure enough to say that.”
“I like you more every day,” Penny says with a look of wicked approval. If anything, bringing Penny and Matt together as future supervillain and willing stooge has been the highlight of this entire experience. Well, one of the highlights. Sticking my tongue in Jake’s mouth and pulling off a nigh-impossible drop heal with Han-Jun to bring Fury closer to a million-dollar contract was pretty great too.
“You got this, Lia.” Matt salutes me. “Go forth and break up with your boyfriend so you can keep seducing a sophomore. I believe in you.”
I return his salute and try to catch Penny’s eye before I leave the stage. I really, really wish there was another way I could make this up to her. Her campaign has been a revolving door of VPs, and it’s all my fault, so if Connor checks out because of me, it will just be another way I screwed her over since she announced her candidacy. On one level, I think she gets it; once she saw how much I stood to win, Penny understood thatGLOhad to take the top slot in my life. I just don’t know if she’s actually as understanding about the whole Jake thing.
“Go, Lia,” she says, as if she can read everything I’ve been thinking. “Do one thing for you. We’ll be here until second period if you need us.”
“We’re on your team,” Matt agrees. “Oh, and”—he reaches into his pocket for his own phone, opens it, and sends a quick text blast to a few choice Hillford West students—“the popcorn thing is go.”
I use the momentum from that roller coaster of pseudo-encouragement to propel myself out of the auditorium, down the hall, and toward the library to meet my fate. Or make it.
Now, listen, I’m not a monster. I know what I did here. A simple recounting of the events in order would make me the Asshole on that “Am I the Asshole” subreddit any day of the week. Kissing Jake was a glorious emotional impulse, and Connor was the furthest thing from my mind in the moment, but I knew then and now that I have to break up with him. I didn’t want to do it over text, because that’s mean, and I couldn’t do it over the phone, because I’m not a hundred years old, so I had to wait for free period on Monday.
I have intel that Connor’s spending free period in the library and spot him almost as soon as I walk in. He’s lounging on one of the couches with his feet stretched out on the cushions, his phone held up above his face as he texts with a fast-thumbed ferocity I am sure he’s never applied to any of his communication with me.
I’m not nervous. This is the nice thing to do. It’s not Connor’s fault we’re wildly incompatible people, and while it is my fault I kissed Jake, I know the only way I can make it right is to let him down before anything gets too serious.
“Hey,” I begin. Connor was so involved in texting, I’ve snuck up on him without intending to, and he almost drops his phone on his face before he shifts up and catches it on his chest.
