Rodney's shadow stretched across the sidewalk as the sun set behind him. He took a deep breath, watching people file into the school when Derek strolled up beside him.

  "Ready for this?" Derek asked, giving Rodney a small shoulder massage to loosen him up.

  "As ready as I'll ever be," Rodney hesitated, there were more people at the school tonight than he expected. "But there it looks like something is going on at the school tonight,"

  "Oh, that? That's our cover," Derek said as they began to walk toward the school. "It's the spaghetti fundraiser for next year's sports programs. We are just here to show our support." Derek gave him a wink.

  "Ah, so we'll have witnesses to say they saw us at the dinner," Rodney mused. "I almost missed your schemes, Derek."

  "Almost?" Derek laughed, nudging him with his elbow. They reached the school and Derek showed Mr. Finburn, the gym teacher, their tickets. They could smell the meat sauce before they even reached the cafeteria, a large crowd of parents and students were conversing inside.

  "The silent auction starts after dinner, meet me in the bathroom by the gym then," Derek whispered, leading the way over to their table. The dinner felt like an eternity, Rodney and Derek were forced to listen to a man relive his glory day for the entire hour. As soon as their plates were cleared they headed right for the bathroom.

  "Coast is clear," Derek announced, looking down both hallways. They snuck past the bathrooms, making a beeline for Erica's locker.

  Rodney dialled in the combination, thanking himself for adding it to his notes app. The lock clicked open, revealing a shrine of photos of him staring back at them.

  "Ok, that's creepy," Derek muttered, going through the locker for the laptop.

  "Tell me about it," Rodney replied, noticing a few new ones had been added since yesterday.

  Derek unzipped the laptop case and flipped it open—only to be greeted by the prompt for a password.

  "Ok, all the passwords are just our student numbers right?" Rodney said taking the laptop from Derek, he quickly entered Erica's student number but was denied access. "Damn, of course, she changed to something else."

  "Think, Rod, think!" Derek urged, taking the laptop back from him. "Janitor could round that corner any minute."

  Rodney's gaze drifted up to the locker door, where amidst band stickers and doodles, he spotted 'Rodney & Erica 4 ever' scribbled with hearts.

  "Try this," Rodney suggested, pointing to the phrase on the locker.

  Derek typed it in, and to Rodney's horror and relief, the laptop unlocked.

  "We're in!" Derek exclaimed in a hushed tone, fingers flying across the keyboard as he navigated to the cloud storage. With a few clicks, the incriminating photos were history.

  "We should make sure she doesn't have any saved in her email too," Rodney reminded him, and Derek obliged, erasing every digital trace of the images.

  "Mission accomplished," Derek announced, as he signed out. "Now you just need to get your hands on her phone.

  "Yeah, we got luck she linked all her accounts together," Rodney said, carefully placing everything back into the locker.

  "We sure did, now let's get out of here," Derek clicked the lock back into place.

  They carefully made their way back down the hall, pausing at every corner to make sure they wouldn't get caught. Slipping into the cafeteria, they returned to the charity dinner with the silent auction in full swing, melting into the crowd as if nothing had happened.

  ---

  The next day, Rodney shuffled alongside Erica hoping she hadn't noticed her incriminating photos had vanished from the cloud overnight. He glanced down at her phone in his hand, feigning concentration on the screen. There was just one thing left to do.

  "Seriously, Rod? You left your phone at home?" Erica's voice hitched with suspicion.

  "Total brain fart," Rodney said, swiping aimlessly. "Thanks for letting me borrow yours, I really need to move my appointment with my therapist because mom and I are going to visit Marcy this weekend."

  "Of course, you know I can't believe I haven't met your family yet," she said, eyeing him like a hawk as he dialled.

  Just as Rodney's fingers hovered over the call button, Derek barreled around the corner, clearly on a mission.

  "Oh, shit, sorry," Derek said as he bumped into Erica, accidentally knocking her glasses off.

  "What the hell!" Erica snapped, diving to the floor to look for them.

  "Sorry, Let me help you," Derek dropped to the ground, knocking her glasses just out of reach. "I am such a clutz,"

  Erica launched into a tirade, her words sharp and fast, as she reached for her glasses again. Rodney used the time to open the gallery, and with each press, the photos of him and Hunter vanished.

  "Found them!" Derek announced after Rodney gave him a nod, he handed the glasses over to Erica. Before apologizing and taking off. Erica got up and cleaned her glasses before looking over to Rodney.

  "No one picked up," Rodney lied smoothly, returning the phone to an oblivious Erica. "Thanks again, so sorry about Derek. Let me carry your books?"

  "Thank you," she said, a smile curling her lips. "You have become a perfect gentleman."

  "Thank you," Rodney smiled, the weight of her textbooks was far lighter than they had been before.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  ---

  The cafeteria hummed with the usual lunchtime chatter as Rodney navigated through the sea of students. Erica came into view, but he breezed past without a glance, his destination clear.

  "Hey," Rodney greeted his friends, sliding into a seat beside Derek.

  "Where've you been, man?" Matt asked, eyebrows knitting together.

  "It's a long story," Rodney sighed, his eyes tracing the pattern on the table.

  "I'd like to hear it," Jordan encouraged, leaning in over the table.

  "Well, Erica and I weren't really dating. She threatened to out me and Hunter to the whole school if I did pretend to date her," Rodney confessed, not bothering to look over where Erica had been sitting.

  Madison's expression soured. "I knew I didn't like her," she shook her head.

  "But in grade nine you set us up together," Rodney reminded her, his voice low.

  "That was years ago!" Madison protested. "Before I realized she was... well, Erica."

  "Remember the double date from hell?" Matt chimed in, shaking his head. "The girl thrives on manipulating people."

  "I always thought she was just a friend," Rodney admitted, feeling the sting of betrayal anew. "I never thought she would actually blackmail me."

  "Are you worried she might try to pull something else?" Jordan asked, their brow creasing with concern.

  "No," Rodney murmured. "She doesn't have the photos anymore,"

  "Besides, I'd like to see her try something," Derek cut in, his confidence fierce. "I would be happy to shut her down."

  "Thanks," Rodney said with a smile. "You guys are the best."

  An unspoken guilt lingered. They didn't know everything yet. That he and Hunter had gotten back together for a while, but for now, Rodney allowed himself to feel relief, even if it wasn't going to last.

  ---

  The click of the front door shutting echoed through the house as Rodney stepped inside, but his mom wasn't there with her usual greeting. "Mom?" he called out, wondering if she had been called into work and forgot to text him.

  Instead, Erica materialized from the living room, her posture relaxed as if she were right at home. "Hey, Rodney," she greeted him with that practiced casualness that set his nerves on edge.

  "Erica?! What are you—"

  "Found it!" came Mrs. Thompson's voice, followed by her ascent from the basement, a can of tomato paste triumphantly held above her head. She stopped short when she saw Rodney, her expression morphing from victory to surprise. "Rodney, why didn't you tell me that you had a girlfriend? She is just wonderful."

  "Mom, I—" Rodney started but then noticed Erica shot him a sly look, one corner of her mouth ticking upward.

  "He didn't want to make a fuss," Erica interjected smoothly. "You know how Rodney can be, Mrs. Thompson."

  "That is very Rodney. You get a girlfriend and worry about how I'll feel about it," Mrs. Thompson chuckled, the warmth in her eyes making Rodney's anger grow.

  "Mom, she wasn't supposed to tell you without me," Rodney managed to say, trying to downplay the situation.

  "Well, I'm glad she did. Now we can have dinner together and I can ask her all those important questions moms ask," Mrs. Thompson declared, brushing past them into the kitchen.

  Erica followed her in to help with the dinner, but Rodney found himself lying on the couch cursing Erica for bringing his family into this. Once dinner was on the table, Erica spun tales of a blossoming romance that never was. Rodney answered questions with nods and half-smiles, doing his best to keep it together.

  "Rodney is just so thoughtful, I knew I loved him from the moment we met," Erica said, fluttering her lashes for effect.

  "Awe young love is so sweet" Mrs. Thompson looked between them, full of pride for her son.

  "Sure is," Rodney muttered, pushing his peas around with his fork.

  After an excruciating meal, Rodney jumped at the chance to clear the table, desperate to end the night as soon as possible. "I'll walk Erica out, Mom. She has a movie night with her family she needs to get to,"

  "Of course, honey. I wouldn't want to hold her here," his mother replied, wiping down the table. "It was so nice to meet you, Erica,"

  "Likewise," Erica called back as Rodney practically dragged her to the door.

  Once outside, Rodney rounded on Erica, his voice barely above a whisper. "What are you playing at?"

  "Playing? Oh, Rodney," Erica shook her head, feigning disappointment. "I know you deleted the photos. I'm impressed, actually."

  "If you know they are gone," Rodney's hands balled into fists. "Then you know this whole thing is over."

  "It's not over, Rod," she continued, undeterred. "So you failed my love test, I can forgive you."

  "You can forgive me?!" The words erupted from him. "You're the one who threatened to out to the whole school, you should be asking for me to forgive you!"

  "Rodney, I'm not the one who destroyed someone else's private property," Erica explained.

  "You don't get it do you," Rodney's voice was firm. "I don't love you, Erica. I never will. Not after what you've done."

  "Well if that is really how you feel," she stammered, tears brimming in her eyes. "Then I'll go, but you are going to regret this."

  "I already do," Rodney said coldly. "Just leave me and my alone please."

  With that, Erica turned sharply and ran off into the night, leaving Rodney alone under the porch light, hoping against hope that her shadow would never darken his doorstep again.

  ---

  Matt shuffled his feet, going over his pitch in his head while he waited his turn. He swayed with nervous energy that zipped through his body, listening to another name being called. Across the hall, Ally sat in silence, her gaze locked on the posters on the wall.

  "So you want to DJ the dance too?" Matt ventured, trying to fill the silence. She turned toward him, her blue eyes showing a hint of reservation toward him.

  "Yeah, I thought I would give it a shot since they opened it up to students," she replied, her voice steady but distant.

  "Have you um, talked to Rodney since you know..." Matt said, feeling awkward even asking the questions.

  "No, not really. Is he... is he doing okay?" Ally asked, a crease forming between her brows.

  "Rod's solid," Matt reassured her. "You should talk to him, you know he will be there listening to our sets."

  "Oh, I didn't know he was on student council," she sighed, looking toward the door. "Maybe I should just go."

  "I don't think Rodney would hold anything against you," Matt said, his voice firm. "You were a great car DJ when we were dating, you should go for it."

  Ally hesitated, then stood abruptly, her chair scraping against the floor. "He might not hold anything against but I'm not ready to see him yet." She took a step away, then stopped as if rooted to the spot.

  "Ally wait," Matt insisted. "I shouldn't have started talking about Rodney with you. I should have asked how you were doing first,"

  Before Ally could respond, the door swung open. "Matt? They're ready for you," called Zoe, peeking out with an encouraging smile.

  "Maybe you could wait here? I'd like to catch up with you after," Matt said to her as he rose and squared his shoulders. He walked into the room, leaving Ally pondering what she was going to do next.

  "Hey everyone," Matt greeted, passing out sheets of paper with his carefully curated song list. "As you can see my set is themed just like the spring formal this year, around the roaring twenties."

  The committee members exchanged glances as they looked over the list. Matt took his position at the small DJ setup they had for him to give them a sample. The Charleston blared from the speakers, and the room seemed to collectively wince. Zoe's thumbs-up came across more as pity than support for his choices as he moved to the next song.

  Ally stood outside the door, listening as Matt struggled to keep the council's attention. Something shifted inside her in the moment and she found herself reaching for the door. She couldn't leave him hanging.

  "Sorry I'm late," Ally interrupted, stepping into the room, "Matt only had half our set." She offered the confused council an apologetic look. "I have the other half right here. Now we can really get started."

  She connected her phone to the laptop and mixed the songs. A modern beat infused with jazzy brass filled the room, and heads began to nod along. The atmosphere lightened immediately and most of the council members shared some impressed murmurs.

  "I really loved what you did, blending old and new," Jordan commented after they finished, their expression brightening.

  "It really hits the theme," another committee member added.

  After a brief discussion that had an air of formality rather than debate, the vote was unanimous. "Looks like we've got our DJs," declared Zoe, her earlier embarrassment forgotten as she clapped Matt and Ally on the back.

  "Thanks for the save," Matt whispered to Ally as they left the room together.

  "You too," she replied, a genuine smile finally breaking through.