Having finished their makeup, Izzy and Seb made their way over to the auditorium together. Seb was up first for pictures and while he posed for the camera, Izzy stood in the wings and watched.
"Hey," A voice from behind her said and Izzy turned to find Gina.
"Hi," Izzy said a bit hesitantly. She didn't think she and Gina had ever interacted and she didn't know much about the girl except for the fact that she was new to East High this year. And that she had gone to homecoming with EJ.
"I just wanted to apologize for what happened the other night at homecoming. I didn't know that EJ was already planning to go with you, or else I never would have asked him." Gina explained and Izzy blinked at her in surprise. She hadn't been expecting that.
"We were just going to go as friends," Izzy said, but Gina shook her head.
"It doesn't matter, I still wouldn't have gone with him if I'd known. It's important to me that you know that," Gina said, holding her gaze, and Izzy nodded.
"Thank you for telling me. I heard you poured punch on EJ's head," Izzy added and a slow smile spread across Gina's face as she nodded.
"You did a pretty good job of yelling at him but I wanted to get in on the fun too," Gina said with a shrug and Izzy laughed. She realized with a start that this was the second time that the other girl in the situation had done a better job of apologizing for EJ's actions than EJ himself.
"I appreciate your apology, but it wasn't necessary. You shouldn't have to apologize for his actions. Besides, we weren't really friends before, so you didn't owe anything," Izzy said and she knew instantly that she had said the wrong thing when Gina's face fell.
"But just because we weren't friends before doesn't mean that we aren't definitely friends now," Izzy added quickly and Gina's smile returned hesitantly. Before the conversation could continue, Gina was called to the stage for her photos, leaving Izzy alone in the wings again. She wasn't alone for long though and turned when she heard footsteps behind her, expecting Ricky, but she was surprised to find EJ instead.
"Hi," EJ said, stopping a few feet away from her.
"Hi," Izzy responded, her tone flat.
"I wanted to apologize for what happened at homecoming. I really never meant to hurt you," EJ said and Izzy stared at him silently for a moment. This was the second time he had used that meaningless excuse, but instead of her heart filling with the anger it had before, it simply felt empty.
"I accept your apology, thank you," Izzy said finally, her tone calm, and EJ seemed surprised.
"Can I ask you something?" EJ asked after a moment and Izzy sighed. She had thought that after she'd accepted his apology, he'd leave her alone.
"Sure, go ahead," Izzy said, her tone slightly tired. Her patience with EJ was wearing thin.
"What's going on with you and Ricky? I mean, I thought you guys had broken up," EJ said and Izzy narrowed her eyes at him. He couldn't seriously possess that much audacity.
"Why would you think that?" Izzy snapped, but EJ didn't seem to notice the change in her tone.
"Well, just because when you were talking about going to homecoming with me last week you said it was because things were complicated between you guys," EJ said and Izzy glared at him sharply. Homecoming was still a sore subject coming from him.
"It was complicated, but now it's better. We communicated because that's what you do in a healthy relationship," Izzy said and EJ nodded, still seemingly oblivious to her anger.