Free Reaction by Lesley Choyce Page B

the girls started calling me “The Perv,” I didn’t know how to react. It was starting to get to me, so when Elisse, a girl I once considered my friend, glared at me, I stopped her in the hall. I still couldn’t believe that Ashley had told everyone she was pregnant. It had to be something else.
    â€œWhat is it?” I asked her. “Why does everyone suddenly hate me?”
    Elisse continued to glare at me. She started to walk away, so I grabbed her, and this made her even angrier.
    â€œWhat is it?” I repeated.
    â€œYou mean, you don’t know?”
    â€œNo. Help me here.”
    â€œWe all know that you forced Ashley Walker into having sex with you. You perv.”
    She twisted herself away and walked off, turning once to glare yet again and, this time, give me the finger.
    So this was Ashley’s revenge. Yes, we’d had sex. And apparently I got her pregnant. But I would never, ever, try to force myself on any girl. Never.
    So now I had two problems. But they were two damn big problems, and it felt more like a hundred. I needed someone that I could talk to. I decided I had to confide in someone—not my parents and not any of my so-called friends. But who was I kidding? I didn’t have that many friends anyway. It would have to be Kiley. She was one of my ex-girlfriends. Kiley was always the smart one and so cute. I was surprised that she had even been interested in me. She was out of my league. But I kept doing stupid things around her. Like that party I convinced her to have at her parents’ house, where I puked in the living room. And that other party where she found me off in a corner kissing a girl whose name I can’t even remember. She had plenty of good reasons for dumping me. But strangely enough, she stayed friends with me after we broke up.
    After school that day, I found Kiley at the bus stop. I followed her on. She sat down in the back, and I sat down beside her. It was just the two of us on the back seat. I was afraid she was going to give me that look all the other girls were giving me. She didn’t, although she didn’t look all that happy to see me.
    â€œHi,” I said.
    â€œHi.” She looked puzzled.
    â€œAren’t you going to ask me how I’m doing?”
    â€œI know how you’re doing,” she said. “You’ve been voted most-hated student at the school. You’re human garbage. I imagine that doesn’t feel so good.”
    â€œBut what people think isn’t true,” I said. “Ashley is mad at me…for something else…so she spread this rumor.”
    Kiley nodded. “I think I knew that. I know you’re not that kind of guy. Horny, yes, but not...well, like that.”
    â€œThank you.”
    â€œEveryone believes what they want to believe. But then why is Ashley so mad at you?” she asked.
    â€œCan I trust you?”
    â€œTrust me to what? Keep a secret? I don’t know.”
    So I told her anyway. Kiley’s eyes grew wide. “This is not good.”
    â€œWhat am I going to do?”
    â€œWell, the first thing you have to do is talk to her. It’s no good for her to stay mad at you. You have to discuss options.”
    â€œYeah, right. Options.”
    â€œYou need to figure out what is best for both of you,” Kiley said.
    â€œWhat is best for us?” I asked.
    â€œI can’t say that, you know that, Zach. Remember when we broke up? We both knew it was the best thing for both of us. We talked and we both decided.”
    â€œYeah, but this is different.”
    â€œStill, you need to sit down and talk to her,” she said. “This is not about you right now. This is about her.”
    And I guess it sank in just then. All along, I had still been thinking about how bad this all was for me. This must be even worse for Ashley.

Chapter Four
    I needed to talk to Ashley. Some days after school she went to a coffee shop close to her house.