Lauren Jory had always been the most popular girl in school. She had tan skin, perfectly clear complexion, skinny body, straight blonde hair, all the money in the world, and the hot boyfriend, Brad Crawford. He was, of course, the jock, the captain of the football team and the most popular guy in school. Brad had an athletic body with sandy brown hair, blue eyes, and a perfect smile that naturally gave him the title of the sexiest guy around. Brad and Lauren had been together since freshman year, making it their three year anniversary, as they were now seniors. Their long term relationship status made them the “it” couple of Williamsville High School.

One sunny May morning Lauren walked into school feeling confident as always, strutting her stuff down the hallway, causing everybody to turn their heads to stare at her, gawking at her outfit, hair, and makeup. Lauren, as usual, was with her best friend, Abby, walking down the halls. They were like two peas in a pod; a package deal. Every morning they met each other at the entrance to school and walked in together. On this particular morning as Lauren walked next to Abby she noticed that Abby seemed different like something was off about Abby’s usually bubbly behavior. Naturally, Lauren assumed something was wrong. Was it something she had done? Was Abby okay? She looked nervous, almost as if she was hiding something. She pulled Abby aside to talk to her.

“Abby are you okay? Did something happen? You look like you are hiding something.” Lauren said nervously trying to figure out what was wrong.

“No, I’m fine. Well, uh, actually you know how we went to that party at Rob’s last weekend?” Abby asked.

“Yes…” Lauren said hesitantly, her face cringing in preparation for what she was about to hear. Was Abby in some kind of trouble?

“When I was running upstairs to the bathroom I walked by a room and saw Brad in there kissing another girl,” Abby whispered nervously, fearing her friend was going to scream. After all, Lauren was a drama queen.

“WHAT? Who was it? Do I know her? Why would Brad do that? No, he wouldn’t do that,” She said shaking her head. “Abby, are you just trying to break Brad and I up because you are jealous? I know you have always craved my popularity,” Lauren said frantically, clearly in denial as she expressed the rude side of her personality.

“Lauren, I would never try to break up you and Brad. You guys are the best couple. I swear it happened; I saw it,” Abby uttered in an irritated tone, astounded her best friend would accuse her of such a thing.

“Nope. I don’t believe you. Brad has always been loyal to me. We have been dating for three years! He would never do that,” Lauren said as she slowly began walking away from Abby convincing herself this wasn’t true.

That night all Lauren could think about was whether or not Brad had cheated on her. It took her hours to fall asleep because of the hysterical thoughts in her head. Why on earth would Brad do that?

The next day Lauren walked into school looking on the outside, the same as the day before, confident and happy. She met Abby at the entrance and started talking to her about normal things, almost as if she never heard that her “perfect” boyfriend had just cheated on her. She went to her first three classes before lunch feeling great. Of course her boyfriend hadn’t cheated on her, she kept telling herself. She couldn’t lose Brad. After third period and morning classes were over it was time for lunch. Lauren, Abby, Brad, and Brad’s best friend Tony had their own table and they sat next to each other every day. Throughout the thirty minute lunch period they would sit, talk, and laugh about things from the morning and eat. This particular lunch felt weird, nobody was talking; Lauren ignored it. After Lauren finished eating she got up to throw her trash away and she saw Tony following her. She assumed it was nothing because Tony always followed her around, he had the biggest crush on her. Tony came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder, saying that they needed to talk.

“Tony, I don’t want to talk to you right now,” Lauren said annoyed.

“Lo,” he called her, “I have to tell you something about Brad,” Tony stated, his voice filled with fear.

“What on earth could you possibly need to talk to me about?” Lauren exclaimed angrily. She wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone.

“Look. I’m just going to be upfront with you. After Rob’s party last weekend Brad slept at my house and he told me that he cheated on you and kissed another girl. I didn’t want to tell you; I thought Brad would have been nice enough to admit to his wrong-doings,” Tony muttered scared of how Lauren would react.

“I’ve already heard this from Abby and I don’t believe either of you. Brad is the best boyfriend ever, he loves me, everyone loves me, who would do that to me?” Lauren said furious that two people had told her that her boyfriend, no perfect boyfriend, was unfaithful.

“I’m serious, Lauren. You obviously know that I care about you so I thought I should be honest with you. I’m sorry if I put this on you too quickly. I hate keeping things from you,” Tony whispered, angry at himself.

“Whatever Tony, just don’t talk to me about it again,” Lauren whispered violently as she walked away, tears building up in her eyes. She decided then that she needed to talk to Brad and finally face the situation. He would tell her the truth, after all, he was the best boyfriend.

After school, Lauren built up her courage and went to speak to Brad; she was so angry. She saw Brad walking to his car with his other jock friends and felt a flush of anger flow through her. Following them, she hurried over to Brad’s car, grabbing his muscular arms to pull him aside, away from his obnoxious friends.

“Brad, I’ve heard from two people that you cheated on me. Tell me if it’s true. If you did we can work it out and try to solve this issue but be honest with me. Did you cheat on me with a random girl at Rob’s party?” Lauren screamed. Brad’s face turned bright red.

“Lauren I did not cheat on you, I swear. I love you and I would never do that to you,” He grabbed her hand, “Lo you know how faithful I am, you know how I want us to be together forever. Why would I do anything to jeopardize that? Don’t believe the stupid rumors you hear,” He said as his icy blue eyes smiled at Lauren’s. Lauren felt the breath she had been holding in all day finally escape her. Though she felt better after talking to Brad, she couldn’t help but feel that there had to have been a sliver of truth in the accusations made by both Tony and Abby.

Once her talk with Brad was over, she jumped into her custom-made Ferrari and drove home to her gorgeous Beverly Hills mansion. It was around four o’clock when she got home so she decided to eat a snack and then maybe start her homework. She never really cared about school.  Lauren was always home alone because her dad had died a few years back and her mother worked so she didn’t get home until dinner time. At six o’clock Lauren heard her mom walk through the back door and she ran up to her and gave her a big hug. Mrs. Jory had a frightened look on her face like something tragic had happened. Lauren, noticing right away, quickly asked her mom about it.

“Mom, are you okay? Did you get into an accident on your way home? Were you fired from work? What’s going on?” Lauren badgered, with full concern for her mother.

“No sweetie, I’m okay. I actually need to talk to you about something the other moms at school called me and told me about,” Mrs. Jory said as she explained and grimaced.

“Mom, does this have to do with Brad or my friends? What stupid gossip did you hear?” Lauren heard her voice raise with every word, she was not in the mood to dwell more on the actions, or said actions, of her boyfriend.

“Oh, so you’ve heard?” Mrs. Jory said with a surprised look on her face.

“Yes mom. I know people are saying Brad cheated on me. I’m, as usual, the talk of the school right now. I confronted Brad and he told me not to believe what others said and that he would never cheat on me. I know he is telling the truth.” Lauren exclaimed, internally reassuring herself that Brad hadn’t cheated on her.

“I don’t know honey it sounded pretty true. I think you should confront him and be aggressive. I have always thought there was something untrustworthy about Brad,” Mrs. Jory prompted.

“Okay fine, I’ll talk to him tomorrow at school,” Lauren muttered with an air of finality. On the inside she was afraid to confront Brad, she didn’t want to face the possibility of breaking up. The “it” couple wouldn’t be so popular anymore!

As she drove herself to school the next morning she thought about what she would say to Brad. She wondered, did he actually cheat on her? She honestly didn’t know anymore. Lauren and Brad had been together for three years and they had only ever been with each other. Was Brad possibly sick of being with just one girl? This was probably the most nervous Lauren had ever been. Her life was always perfect and now her life had taken an unexpected turn for the worse.

Lauren strolled into school with her perfect makeup, pin straight blond hair, short skirt, tank top, and sandals on ready to face Brad the next morning. She knew what she had to do; now all she had to do was find Brad. She walked throughout the many halls of Williamsville High School trying to find him but she had no luck. Lauren decided to go outside and check the football field. Brad was always on the football field either practicing or hanging out with friends; he was never inside school. She saw Brad sitting on the bleachers by himself with a disappointed frown. Perhaps he was disappointed in himself. She marched on up to him, a scowl pasted across her face.

“Brad, babe, I need to talk to you. I have now also heard from my mother that you cheated on me. Some other moms heard about it and called her. I can’t help but believe them Brad. C’mon just tell me the truth,” Lauren stammered as her emerald green eyes became glassy with tears. This was the moment of truth.

“Lo, I didn’t want to tell you but what you’ve heard is right, I cheated on you. I don’t know why, it was a stupid mistake but I can’t go back and change it. Please forgive me. If you love me, you’ll forgive me,” Brad said begging for forgiveness. Lauren quickly turned on her heels before he could see a single tear fall onto her cheek. She couldn’t continue to face Brad’s now cold blue eyes. How could she choose what to do? Break up or forgive him, her heart said forgive but her mind said breakup.

Throughout the day Lauren avoided all confrontation and chance of seeing Brad. If she saw him turn right, she turned left. She didn’t sit at their usual lunch table, her and Abby sat by themselves with a group of girls that were obsessed with Lauren and always kissed up to her. She expected the day to be the slowest one possible but luckily, the day went by faster than Lauren thought it would. She went home after school and cried for hours. She knew she had to break up with Brad, she just didn’t want to do it. All Lauren kept thinking about was why Brad had cheated on her, was she not good enough for him? Did he still love her after three years? These plaguing thoughts kept Lauren up all night.

The night before Lauren had texted Brad and asked him to meet her at Dunkin Donuts before school so they could talk. She wanted to avoid anyone thinking that the “it” couple was having issues so she decided they would solve it before school. When Brad got to Dunkin Donuts he smiled at Lauren, believing that he would be forgiven. Lauren thought something a little different than that. Brad sat down and Lauren began to talk to him.

“Brad,” she said. “I have asked you to come here not because I want to forgive you, but because I think we need to end things,” Lauren started holding in her tears.

“Lo, come on,” He reached for her hand; she pulled away, “I thought you could get past this. It didn’t even mean anything to me. I love you,” Braid exclaimed filled with anger that what he thought would happen was the exact opposite of what was actually happening.

“No, Brad. I can’t get past this. I don’t care if it didn’t mean anything to you, it meant something to me. You cheated on me. How do I know that you won’t ever cheat again? I don’t know. Besides we are seniors and I think it’s better to break up now rather than right before we leave for college,” Lauren retorted, her heart filling with grief.

“Okay Lauren whatever you want. I can’t believe you are ending it over something this stupid. I’m not going to try to fight for you because I know you won’t take me back. I messed up but I hope you know that I’ll always love you,” Brad cried and felt the unfamiliar feeling of his heart breaking.

“I’ll always love you too, I just can’t forgive you. Once a cheater, always a cheater. Goodbye Brad,” Lauren answered quietly.

The rest of the day Lauren didn’t purposely avoid Brad because she didn’t have to. They were over. She was still the popular girl even without the hot popular boyfriend. Lauren knew she could move on, though her remaining love for Brad still kept her tethered to his beautiful memory. The rest of the school year Lauren walked into Williamsville High School feeling like a new person. She worried less about Brad and more about herself and found that this new system was working like a well-oiled machine.