Page 49 of TJ Powar Has Something to Prove

“That doesn’t mean anything,” TJ mutters at last. “Let’s go to class.” She starts walking, but falters when she sees another problem approaching down the hall.

Liam.

“Oh no,” Piper breathes. “Should we go the other way?”

Piper’s not the only one who’s noticed his arrival. TJ can feel eyes on her back. The news of their breakup has definitely spread.

TJ shakes her head at Piper and keeps walking. She’s not going to give them anything more to talk about.

Liam avoids looking at her for as long as possible. And then, when he draws close enough for conversation, he meets her eyes. His are so startlingly green. Despite everything, her stomach does a funny dip.

But then he gives her a look-over.Thelook-over. The one usually followed byHey, beautiful.

He continues on past her.

And TJ continues on past him, hoping no one can guess what she’s thinking.

He just walked away, like it was nothing. Like he never used to get in trouble whispering to her in class. Like he didn’t take her for ice cream every week last summer, like they didn’t make matching Addams Family costumes last Halloween, like he didn’t use to kiss her in the hallways just because. Likeshewas nothing.

Piper gives her a sympathetic look. TJ sets her jaw. No—Liam doesn’t get to make her feel worthless. Not with her new resolution.

But damn it all, she can’t help but look back once more. Just in time to see him stop near Alexa Fisher’s locker down the hall to talk. Alexa smiles up at him, and there’s nothing to really suggest they’re flirting. For all TJ knows, they could betalking about a science project. But it still feels like someone put a cheese grater to her heart.

∗

After a few days, the shocked stares and whispers following TJ around at school die down. An excellent start to her new argument.

But it’s notquiteback to business as usual. She still can’t bring herself to use the communal showers after soccer practice. And although Piper keeps tight-lipped about it, TJ heavily suspects her teammates talk about her behind her back. She never paid much attention to her own social status before, but now she notices all the time. The silences that fall when she joins a group. The eye contact people make when they think she’s not paying attention. She decides to ignore it. Eventually they’ll get used to it—get used toher.

The following Monday, TJ checks her phone under her desk in class and sees several university decisions in her inbox, from the handful of Ontario schools she’d applied to for their thriving debate clubs. She scrolls through them. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection—Offer! At Western University. TJ restrains her grin, not wanting her phone to be confiscated. She’d been hoping for an Ontario offer.

When the lunch bell rings, she practically skips down the hall, bursting to tell someone. The first person she finds is Mrs. Scott—in her classroom, rooting through a drawer.

Mrs. Scott barely looks up when she appears. “Oh, hello, TJ. Can you help me with something? I need someone to get those boxes from the top of the cabinet. They’re full of old magazines I’m donating to the book drive.” She points.

TJ knows she’s about to get roped into an entire lunchtime’s worth of errands, but there’s nothing to do about it now. The cabinet’s too tall to reach, so she drags a chair over. “I got a bunch of Ontario decisions today,” she says as she balances on the chair.

“Really?”

TJ tells her the details as she hefts the box off the shelf. God, that’s heavy. She turns and hands it off to Mrs. Scott, who’s smiling.

“Oh, congrats. Western hosts such excellent debate tournaments. While you’re up there, can you also take down those other boxes? They’ve been there for years.”

TJ sighs and turns back around. “Well, I just wanted to thank you for writing me a reference.” She’s suddenly feeling sappy, so she adds, “And for running the debate club all these years. It’s weird to think it’s over now.”

“It’s not over yet. Nationals are in May.”

TJ frowns as she hefts an even heavier box off the cabinet. She wouldn’t be surprised if these were actually just full of rocks. “Uh, I know? But I won’t be able to help out. I have an away soccer game that weekend. I thought I told you.”

Dead silence behind her. TJ turns around with the box in her arms to find Mrs. Scott staring. “What?” she says slowly.

“I have to say I’m confused,” Mrs. Scott says as she accepts the box from TJ. “I thought you were going to Nationals.”

TJ blinks, unsure if she heard right. “Uh, no, I’m not. I came third in the region at Provincials, remember?”

“But Simran is stepping out of the competition,remember?”

TJ loses her balance and nearly falls off the chair. “What?”