With Jack Garrison's miraculous return to school, my cheerleading peers were still driving me mad, asking why I kept denying that we were dating. That's how I found myself back with the drama society for lunch again on Wednesday.

Jules talked about some heavy metal band I'd never heard of, and Hugh followed along. Novah was in the back of the room reading again, which seemed to be all she ever did at school, and Rita was going over her Shakespeare lines over and over. It was pretty quiet until the door slammed open, and Samantha came in, giggling with Juan.

As usual, Samantha flaunted some ludicrous outfit that stretched the limits of the school dress code to the max. Today it was a cropped black shirt under a sheer purple cardigan, black and white checkered pants, and high-heeled combat boots. Her hair was dyed silver with strands of gold and done in pigtails. Her makeup looked designed for clubbing, and she topped it off with her signature red lipstick.

I thought seeing her with Juan would make me angry, but my rage settled into a block of indifference. Samantha had always been annoying, and Juan hadn't changed either.  

He wore a basketball shirt and athletic shorts that went to his knees. He flinched when he saw me sitting beside Rita like he hadn't known I'd be there. That didn't bother me, though. It was almost like I'd outgrown him. 

"Hello, Samantha," Hugh said cooly. "Juan."

"I'm so excited we get to work with Jamie Skylar today!" Samantha said. "I mean, like she's for real in the business. A real actress."

"It's not a big deal," Juan said. "Tell her it's not a big deal, Rita."

"I'm nervous," Rita said. "I feel like I'm going to forget all my lines."

"She's barely famous," Juan rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "She can't change your life or anything."

I glared at Juan. "Imagine if someone from the NBA came to watch you play basketball and then gave you pointers afterward. Jamie Skylar is a professional. She knows things and can make us better."

Juan frowned but didn't respond. Samantha giggled again and squeezed his hand. Her grin was overstretched, and she batted her lashes at Juan. She practically vibrated from the coffee fifty-two-ounce tumbler of coffee in her hand. Someone seriously needed to cut off her caffeine supply.

"There'll probably be scouts at the festival, and maybe Jamie's tips can help us get their attention," Samantha said. "And speaking of attention, did you guys see Jack is back in school today?"

Like we could have avoided knowing that, with all the rumors swirling around him like the eye of a hurricane wherever he went, I hoped that Jack was at least staying away from some jabbering and whispers.

"Do we have to talk about Jack?" Juan grumbled.

"I mean, he is our lead," Samantha said. "And I saw him in English earlier. He seemed so defeated. We should do something to cheer him up."

"Like what?" Novah sounded bored.

"I thought we could do a cool flash mob," Samantha said. "We could like get Carson to write a song about Shakespeare, and we can like sing and dance and promote the play all while cheering Jack on."

I shuttered. Singing and dancing in front of the school was a terrible idea. It might mortify Jack rather than cheer him up. Not to mention, we were performing a Shakespearian play, not a musical.

"I don't sing," Jules said. "Or dance."

"Carson can sing then," Samantha said. "And everyone can do simple choreography."

Jules crossed their arms. "There's no such thing as simple choreography, Samantha. Some of us were born with two left feet. Nobody wants to break an ankle."

"We have to do something," Samantha said. "What about acting out a scene?"

"How about no," Rita said. "Besides, how would that even cheer Jack up?"

Samantha clapped her hands. "I've got it, guys. We can pass out flyers and give out ice cream. No one would pass up free ice cream."

"I'm lactose intolerant, so I'll pass on the ice cream," Hugh said. "I'm also pretty sure drawing more attention to Jack would make things worse for him."

"How would it be worse?" Samantha said. "His mom is practically dead, his sister got shot, and his dad is in prison. Absolutely nothing we do can make it worse."

Grimacing, I resisted the urge to ram my head into the wall. Samantha, as usual, was in her own little world, blind and ignorant of Jack and how he might actually be feeling.

"Shay, are you okay?" Juan reached out to touch my arm, but I slapped him away.

"Don't touch me," I snapped.

"What's wrong?" Juan asked.

I glared at him. "What's wrong is I watched a little girl bleed out because her father had a gun, and then it turned into a circus. We're talking about flash mobs and ice cream as if they can wash away all of Jack's pain. Guess what? It can't."

"Shayna," Juan said. "I get that Jack dumping his problems on you was a lot, but-"

I cut him off. "No. You don't get to pretend like you have insider access to my life anymore. Jack didn't dump his problems on me. I wanted to help him because no one, and I mean no one, deserves to go through what he did. I actually care about other people's feelings, Juan."

Everyone stared at me. Heat crept across my face. I hadn't meant for all that to come out, but it was all true.

Novah broke the silence. "Preach, girl."

Juan opened his mouth. "Shayna, I'm sorry-" 

"You're sorry?" I was fuming. "Sorry for berating Jack every moment of his life? For assuming his life was perfect? Guess what? You beat up Jack over a bruise he got because his father kicked him in the face. You never even stopped to think. You were cruel and mean and would rather assume Jack was lying than even give him the benefit of the doubt."

"Shayna, I-" Juan said, but I wasn't finished.

"Jack might have been a jerk, but he never tried to break me down or make assumptions about me," I said. "He never cheated on me either. He was honest, and he needed a friend. I chose to be kind while all you did was call him a liar."

"Shayna, I'm sure Juan didn't-" I cut Samantha off.

"And you," I whirled on Samantha. "You're the one making his circumstances into a spectacle. Capitalizing on Jack's pain is cruel and uncalled for. We aren't a cheerleading team. Jack wants privacy. He's had the worst few days of his life, and he has to come to school to face the wolves because people like you won't shut up about what happened to him."

"Shayna," Juan said. "I know you're mad. Samantha and I... it just happened."

"No," I held my head high. "This isn't about our breakup or you cheating. We're talking about Jack. You both owe him an apology, but right now, he needs time and space. He'll reach out when he's ready."

Samantha looked like I'd kicked her in the teeth. Maybe I'd gone too far, but I had to step up if nobody else was willing to shut up Samantha. Jack didn't need this from her.

"I-I just wanted to help," Samantha stammered. "I was trying to be nice."

"You've helped enough," I said. "Jack will be struggling for a while and needs our support."

Jules gave me a strange look. "Why are you so nice to him now? You hate Jack."

Except I didn't hate Jack anymore. The fact that he'd told everyone my parents were getting a divorce was a million miles away. It didn't seem important anymore, and somehow, that was freeing.

Pushing a piece of hair behind my ear, I gathered myself. "If I was him, this is what I'd want. None of the rumors are helping him."

"I should have told you that I was seeing Samantha and helping her with tutoring," Juan said.

Samantha set a hand on Juan's shoulder. "He was only trying to help. I'm the one who kissed him first."

"I made a mistake and hurt you," Juan said. "I also hurt Jack. I'm going to fix that, too. I do feel awful."

"You should," Jules said. "You said some harsh things to him now that you know how he actually got that shiner."

"Is he even going to be able to go through with the festival?" Juan asked.

"We've been practicing for months," Samantha said. "So I hope so."

I looked down at my lunch. I wondered if Jack had tried to eat in the cafeteria or if he'd found a quiet corner to be alone. He didn't deserve everything he'd gone through, and he didn't deserve to be alone.

At one time, I might have assumed that the great Jack Garrison would just shake off his problems, but now I knew that he was just as human as the rest of us, no matter how much the rest of the school idolized him. He'd be better, but it would take time, and when he was ready, I was willing to give him a long-deserved second chance.