For most of the day, I assumed that was that. Despite what he hoped he saw in me, he had gotten the message loud and clear. I had turned him off, and he would leave me alone. I avoided looking at him, and whenever I did see him, he appeared to avoid looking at me.
He didn't approach me again before lunch or in the cafeteria, but I could see that my outburst at him was the talk of the school. Some of those girls who I knew had been jealous of me from the start saw another chance to pounce. In P.E. class, Ruta Lee and a clump of her friends accused me of being gay.
"No one can come up with any other reason why you would blow off Mark Daniels," she said. "You don't date anyone. You refuse any other boy's invitations. This clinches it. It's all right if you want to be gay. We just want you to know we know and don't appreciate your staring at us when we change clothes in here."
