Page 31 of Mr. Principal

“He’s OUR friend, but you broke his heart when you chose Tom over him.”

I felt my world fall out of focus. “So, you know what happened all those years ago?”

She nodded.

I wanted to hide my face.

“I’m sorry,”

“Why are you apologizing?”

“I cheated on your brother with our best friend.”

She shrugged. “You call it a mistake, I call it karma.”

“What?”

“Tom was a serial cheater.”

Now I was in shock. My head started to hurt, and I felt like I could barely breathe. “What? Tom cheated on me? And you knew? And you never told me?”

I didn’t know what upset me more: knowing that Tom had been unfaithful to me or knowing that Piper had known the whole time and never told me.

Piper looked away. “I’m sorry—”

I wasn’t ready to hear this and I was determined not to stick around to hear any more. I rose from my seat at the table and silently gathered my things.

“Dana, wait, come on, I didn’t know what to do, I knew you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. You thought the sun rose and set on Tom. You wouldn’t have believed me.”

I knew she was right. Up until he’d divorced me I’d put Tom on a pedestal. He could do no wrong in my eyes. I’d always chosen to believe the best of him even when he always just showed me his worst. But I still felt betrayed by Piper. It seemed like we were all keeping secrets. Piper knew about Tom’s infidelity and had never told me. Carter apparently always harbored feelings for me and I’d never told Piper that we’d slept together in college. Some friends we were.

“I can’t talk about this now,” I said as she grabbed my shoulder to stop me from leaving.

“Don’t be angry with me. I was just a kid. I didn’t know what to do.”

“Tell me something. Was he cheating on me while I was married to him? I mean once a cheater always a cheater, right?”

She shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. And I swear I would have told you—”

“Really? You really expect me to believe that. I thought you were better than this, Piper,” I said, my voice dripping with animosity. I knew I was lashing out. I was angry and upset and I felt betrayed by everyone who was important in my life. The only people I’d thought I could trust apparently kept secrets from me deliberately. I knew I had no right to fault them, but I had to direct my pain and anger towards something, and that something was actually someone. I couldn’t yell at Tom or Carter, so I yelled at Piper.

“Like I said, I’m sorry. If I could do it all over again, I would have told you, Dana. But you were so in love with him. You wouldn’t have listened to me.” Her voice sounded raw and I could tell she was getting choked up. “Please tell me you understand why I didn’t say anything. I just didn’t want to jeopardize our friendship by you thinking I was a liar.”

“Too late,” I said with no emotion in my voice.

Piper looked as if I slapped her. Hesitantly she said, “Well, I’m here for you, if you want to talk…”

I didn’t say a word in reply; I just shrugged and walked away, feeling that in more ways than one, I’d lost both of my best friends in one day.