Monday had officially been the longest day of Hannah’s life.
Based on the data available, every last student at her school had watched a video from the party at least once. Some, multiple times, some every last variation of the video taken from every angle. If there was a dedicated hash tag in existence, she would hardly be surprised. People had a lot of opinions that they clearly wanted to express. The notifications on Hannah’s phone had hit triple digits by Sunday evening, and she locked down all her social media soon after. Every message from randoms got deleted immediately. Even some of her friends got weird, especially the ones who bought into the narrative that Hannah and Noah were in some secret relationship.
So, Hannah dealt with it all by doing what she knew best – hiding. Blend into the background as much as possible became her goal in life. While Noah had offered support, that he would deal with any drama, she figured he had his own burdens to carry. After all, he was at the centre of the storm, and Hannah was only a side character compared to Olivia and all the crap she had spewed.
Tuesday was the second longest day of Hannah’s life, redeemed largely by the librarian letting her eat a home-packed lunch seated behind the check-out counter where no one could spot her. Better than the cafeteria.
Admittedly, the gossip mill was potentially starting to calm down. Without further fuel to add to the fire, people’s interest began to wane. One of the goth-inclined girls in homeroom congratulated Hannah for scoring a hottie, and a couple of cheerleaders whispered, but she started to feel she could breathe again.
A sensation which only lasted until second period came to an end and Hannah stopped by her locker to swap out some books. Waiting beside it was Josh McIntyre, all leaned back and decked out in his letterman jacket like a darn cliché. “Hey, Hannah.” A bob of his head in greeting, doing a glance of her chest first before deciding to bother looking her in the eye in what seemed to be an attempt at… charming her?
Part repulsed, part confused, Hannah stepped up to begin putting in her combination, only glancing at Josh as he lolled beside her, otherwise keeping her head down, the same survival tactic which had served well the past couple of days. “Hi Josh. Ummm…. Did you want something?”