I Made Peace with the World Gently

After final exams, Hannah, my childhood friend and our class valedictorian, posted a picture on her social media of two hands clasped together, seemingly announcing a new relationship.
A minute later, I posted a picture of two plane tickets: [Ready for takeoff, so excited!]
Our classmates showered both posts with likes.
The class group chat lit up: [Congrats @Leo @Hannah, the happy couple finally makes it official!]
[We all knew you two were a thing, why deny it?]
[Finals are over, so youre finally going public. Nice.]
Jason, the class hunk, quickly tried to clear the air: [That was from a dare Hannah lost last night. She had to post it. When did it become a relationship announcement?]
The chat exploded.
[Wait, so its not a real thing?]
[Whats going on? Even if Hannahs post was a dare, what about Leos?]
My childhood friend, not missing a beat, typed a message in the group: [@Leo, whats this? Done with the silent treatment? Thought you were playing hard to get?!]
Then, another message popped up, this one from the school beauty: [Leos exhausted and fast asleep right now. Whatever it is, you can talk to him when he wakes up.]

1
After final exams, once Ivy and I had our projected scores, we went ahead with our planned trip to Utah.
As we settled into our seats on the plane, I quickly made a post on my socials: [Ready for takeoff, so excited.]
I attached a photo of our two plane tickets, but I blurred out my name and Ivys.
The comments started rolling in almost instantly.
[Is this a hard launch?!]
[A trip together, so sweet!]
[Whoa, relationship reveal out of nowhere.]
I was a little confused. Ivy and I had only started dating after exams, and I hadn't told anyone. I didnt think wed been obvious enough in class for anyone to notice.
"What's wrong?" Ivy asked from the seat next to me, noticing my expression.
I turned to her. "Did you tell anyone we're dating?"
"Dude, as if," she said, looking completely baffled. "You think Id do that?"
I knew she wouldn't lie. Our whole relationship had been an accident, really. Ivy was a transfer student who had joined our class in our final year. She was strikingly beautiful with a bold personality, and she immediately captured the attention of every guy in school. Id personally seen her tear up a love letter right in front of the guy who gave it to her. It was rude, and I figured wed never have anything to do with each other.
Then, by some twist of fate, she became my deskmate.
"So," Ivy asked, her voice tentative, her eyes full of hope, "are we allowed to go public now?"
Id never planned on deliberately hiding it. But our final year was too important to mess around, so we had agreed to wait until after the big exams to officially be together. Before that, no hints, no letting teachers or classmates know, and absolutely no letting our feelings affect our grades. Ivy had agreed without a seconds hesitation.
Just as I was about to nod, I saw a new message pop up in the class group chat: [Congrats @Leo @Hannah, the happy couple finally makes it official!]
[We all knew you two were a thing, why deny it?]
[Finals are over, so youre finally going public. Nice.]
I froze. So they thought I was with Hannah.
Thinking about it, the misunderstanding wasnt that surprising. We were childhood friends, practically grew up together.
I started typing a reply to clear things up.
But Jason, the class hunk, beat me to it: [That was from a dare Hannah lost last night. She had to post it. When did it become a relationship announcement?]
The chat went wild.
[Wait, so its not a real thing?]
[Whats going on? Even if Hannahs post was a dare, what about Leos?]
What about my post?
I quickly switched apps and checked Hannahs feed. There it was: a picture of two hands clasped. And my post with the plane tickets had gone up just a second after hers.
No wonder. I had been thinking my classmates were psychic, guessing a relationship from two plane tickets.
I went back to the group chat and started typing: [You guys misunderstood]
Before I could finish, Hannah herself sent a message: [@Leo, whats this? Done with the silent treatment? Thought you were playing hard to get?!]
[You knew I wanted to go to Utah, so you secretly bought me tickets? Trying to force me to go on a trip with you? smirks]
[How pathetic!]

2
I stared at Hannahs messages, a heavy silence falling over me.
Our parents were close, so Hannah and I had been inseparable since we were kids. Our grades were similar, so wed been in the same class since kindergarten. We walked to and from school together. We ate lunch together. Hannah's mom was a great cook, and knowing I loved her food, she always had Hannah bring extra for me.
Our classmates would tease her, "Bringing lunch for your hubby again?"
Hannah never denied it.
Our parents joked about it too, saying wed get married when we grew up. For a while, I actually believed them.
Until the New Year's Eve party in our junior year. I heard Hannah talking with some of her friends.
I had just finished my piano solo and was rushing to find her. As I got closer, I heard her familiar voice talking about me. "Leo? Oh, he's like a sister to me."
"Leo is so gentle and polite," one of her friends laughed. "He doesn't seem like a 'sister' at all."
"That's just what he's like in front of you guys," Hannah said dismissively. "You haven't seen him at home. He's a total slob. Gross." Then she laughed. "Honestly, I'm more into guys like Jason."
I followed her gaze and saw Jason on stage, performing a contemporary dance routine. The stage lights made his skin glow, his movements fluid and powerful.
It hurt, but after that night, I started to let go of my feelings for Hannah.
Then, during our senior year, Jason was accused of cheating on the midterm exams. The teacher hauled him into the office and chewed him out. When he came back to class, his eyes were red and swollen. He walked right up to my desk. "Leo, just because I beat your English score this one time, you didn't have to report me for cheating!"
I was completely blindsided.
Before I could even process what was happening, Hannah, who was sitting next to me, exploded.
"Leo, why would you report Jason for cheating? Are you that petty? You just can't stand to see someone do better than you, can you?!"
"When did I ever report him?!" I fired back.
"If it wasn't you, who was it?!" she pressed. "You've told me yourself that Jason isn't smart enough, that all he can do is memorize, that he could never beat you! Now that he's caught up through hard work, you accuse him of cheating?!"
I was speechless. Id never said he wasn't smart. Id pointed out that his study methods weren't efficient, trying to be helpful. I never imagined it would be twisted into this.
"Apologize to Jason!" Hannah commanded, giving me no room to explain.
"I didn't do it. Why should I apologize?"
"Still playing tough, huh?" she sneered, her face flushed with anger.
"I. Did. Not. Do. It," I said, my voice firm.
"If you don't apologize, I'm moving my seat. Right now," she threatened.
We had been deskmates all through high school. Teachers had suspected we were dating, but since our grades were always at the top of the class, theyd turned a blind eye.
"Fine by me," I said coolly.
Good. If we weren't sitting together, I wouldn't have to pretend anymore. I wouldn't have to watch Jason come over to our desk a dozen times a day to ask Hannah for help, their heads getting closer and closer each time.
"Are you sure?!" she demanded.
I just lowered my head and went back to my work, ignoring her.
Without another word, Hannah packed up her books and moved.
A classmate tried to play peacemaker. "Hannah, come on. This is going to be so awkward for Leo."
"Awkward? He brought this on himself," she scoffed. "Besides, who else would even want to be his deskmate?"
The words were barely out of her mouth when Ivy stood up, grabbed her backpack, and moved to the empty seat beside me.
Everyone stared at her. Including Hannah.
"Figured I'd sit next to the top student, maybe some of it will rub off," Ivy said, then looked at Hannah. "Aren't you leaving?"

3
The group chat was still buzzing.
A classmate tried to reason with Hannah: [@Hannah, come on, that was ages ago. Your childhood sweetheart is making a move, stop playing hard to get.]
[Besides, it was cleared up later. It wasn't Leo who reported him.]
Not long after the incident, the teacher had let it slip that someone else had reported Jason. But Hannah never admitted she was wrong. She never thought Jason owed me an apology either.
Instead, shed loudly told her friends, right in front of me, "I can't stand people who can't let things go. He wants to hold a grudge? Fine. Let's see how long he can keep it up."
A friend had warned her, "Aren't you worried he'll fall for someone else? Ivy seems pretty interested in him lately."
"Tsk," Hannah had laughed, full of scorn. "I know him better than anyone. He would never fall for a girl like Ivy."
She probably thought I was only into her type.
The truth is, after so many years, we both knew perfectly well whether there were any real feelings between us. She must have known I liked her.
I typed out a new message and sent it: [@Hannah, don't worry, I won't force you. I already have a travel partner.]
I took Ivys hand, lacing our fingers together. I snapped a picture and posted that too.
Just as I hit send, the flight attendant announced that we were taking off and that all phones needed to be in airplane mode. I quickly complied, not really thinking about the fallout in the group chat. I was just setting the record straight.
The flight to Salt Lake City was over three hours long. As soon as we landed, the altitude sickness hit me hard. I felt awful. Ivy took me straight to the hotel to rest. I collapsed onto the bed, completely drained, and didn't even think about looking at my phone. I had no idea that the class chat had descended into chaos, or that my phone was blowing up.
By the time I felt somewhat human again, it was nine in the evening. Ivy was worried about me going out, so she ordered takeout and we ate in the hotel room.
As we were eating, she mentioned casually, "Your phone was going crazy while you were sleeping. I put it on silent."
I nodded, not really concerned.
She paused, then added with a mischievous grin, "There were a lot of messages. I think Hannah kind of lost it."
"What?" I was surprised.
"Finish eating, then you can see for yourself," she said, her eyes twinkling.
After dinner, Ivy cleared away the food containers while I stretched out on the sofa and finally opened my phone.
36 missed calls, all from Hannah.
99+ notifications from the class group chat.
I started scrolling from the first unread message.
[What does he mean? The plane tickets Leo posted aren't for a trip with Hannah?]
[So, Leo's girlfriend ISN'T Hannah?!]
[@Leo, what is going on?]
[@Hannah, you need to explain!]
Hannah had replied: [What's there to explain? Leo's still playing games. eye roll emoji]
[But Leo posted a real picture of the tickets. It looks legit,] a classmate pointed out.
Others chimed in: [Yeah, Leo doesn't seem like the type to pull a prank like this.]
Hannah shot back: [Even a cornered dog will bite! He's just trying to get a reaction because I've been ignoring him.]

4
The chat quieted down for a bit after that. Everyone was probably waiting to see how the drama would unfold.
A little while later, Jason sent a message: [@Leo, is it really that hard to just apologize to Hannah? Pushing her away like this isn't going to help.]
Hannah immediately quoted his message: [You get it.] She even added a thumbs-up emoji.
Jason continued: [I'm just being honest, and maybe it's harsh, but girls don't like guys who are too stubborn.]
Hannah agreed: [Girls can't stand guys who are pretentious, full of themselves, and stubborn!]
[Don't be so hard on him, Hannah,] Jason typed, playing the good guy. [He's got his pride. You're making it impossible for him to even show his face in the chat.]
Hannah was unmoved: [He brought it on himself.]
The two of them went back and forth, dominating the conversation.
Finally, someone who must have been fed up with it wrote: [You two seem pretty compatible. Maybe it's not so crazy that Leo is on a trip with someone else.]
[What are you talking about?!] Hannah seemed to snap. [Leo is just trying to make me jealous! The picture and the tickets are photoshopped! He would never go on a trip with another girl!]
[That's just your guess. Your side of the story,] the classmate replied.
Hannah fired off a series of messages: [First of all, Leo hasn't said a single word in this chat. What does that tell you? He feels guilty.]
[Second, the names on the tickets are blurred out. It's obviously just some picture he found online and edited. And he only posted the hand-holding picture after he saw mine.]
[And finally, don't you dare question me. I know Leo better than any of you!]
After that outburst, everyone went quiet.
But then, one classmate seemed to have noticed something: [I just looked closely at the time on Leo's tickets. If he's not lying, he should be on a plane right now and can't reply.]
That stirred things up again: [OMG, you're right. I see it too.]
[So he's not ignoring us, he just can't reply.]
Hannah was sarcastic: [He's really committed to the act, isn't he? @Leo, you're a great actor.]
The classmate still wasn't convinced: [I still don't think Leo would do something like this on purpose.]
[You wanna bet?] Hannah was clearly getting heated. [If Leo is really on a trip with another girl, I'll call you Mom!]
The classmate didn't reply. Everyone could tell Hannah was genuinely angry. The chat fell silent.
Until, three hours later.
Hannah sent another message: [@Leo, you should be off the plane by now, right? Still not talking?]
By then, I must have turned my phone back on. But I'd only had time for a quick call to my parents to let them know Id landed safely before I was dealing with the altitude sickness. Replying to the group chat was the last thing on my mind.
My silence seemed to fuel Hannah's confidence.
[See, everyone? It has nothing to do with him being on a plane. He just feels guilty!!]

5
None of the other classmates said anything. Only Jason replied to her: [Everyone gets it now. You don't have to keep going on about it. Think how awkward this is for Leo.]
[You're still defending him? After he tried to sabotage you?] Hannah wrote, acting indignant on Jason's behalf.
Jason replied virtuously: [I can't stand it when people play dirty. We should all support each other.]
[You're too nice. Some people don't think that way.]
[I can't speak for anyone else, but that's just who I am.]
Hannah and Jason continued their little performance.
Then, Hannah seemed to lose her patience completely: [@Leo, are you done with this charade? How long are you going to keep this up?!]
At that point, I saw that Ivy had finally chimed in, probably unable to stand it any longer: [Leo's exhausted and fast asleep right now. Whatever it is, you can talk to him when he wakes up.]
Then, she posted a picture. It was a photo of my back as I slept. The mole on the back of my neck, visible because of my buzz cut, was something many of our classmates would recognize.
Ivy added: [@Hannah, just in case you don't believe me, here's our location.]

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