Chase's POV
I was so mad at the stupid shit Jessica did.
I was more angry at myself. I still couldn't believe I did it. I couldn't even face myself in the mirror.
I looked like what I imagined my enemy to be.
Jessica had bragging rights, not just over Emma, but me too.
"Emma, I swear it was nothing." I walked briskly towards her.
Emma kept switching lanes, so did I.
I forgot to catch the name of the orphanage, but the children were already looking at us weird.
"Emma, please listen to me." I begged her.
Right in front of me, she took out the chocolates I gave her and handed them to the little girls who were staring at us.
They thanked her chirpily and hid them away in their gowns.
"That was weird, right?" She looked at me.
"Yes." I replied enthusiastically. At least she talked to me. "As I was saying…"
"I'd rather talk to Jesic than talk to you." Emma faced me abruptly and said.
Jessica was literally her worst enemy.
"Please, just hear me out." I said.
She took her shades off and I saw the darkened sunken eyes behind them.
I did the same. I was having a hangover, but somehow I still looked better than she did.
"Tell me you didn't sleep with Jessica." Our eyes locked, she was unrelenting.
"I didn't." I said to her,
I felt bad for lying, I felt miserable, I felt like a fraud.
"Alright. It's still not a beautiful piece of information that y'all sleep in the same suite anyway." She said and walked off.
Emma had her mind made up already, and nothing I did could change it
She went straight to Lily and Gray.
At that point, my relationship with Gray was not the best it could be.
There was so much I should have told him, but Lily swore me to secrecy.
It hurt me to watch my best friend live in a lie, but he was happy and that was what I really wanted for him, to be happy.
Alone, once again, I got to my duty of taking records to be published in the school paper, written and pictures.
I was so engrossed in it, that the second day of our trip was the most documented day.
The girls were so happy to have us, after which we made a donation to the official account of the orphanage.
Jessica, being herself, donated extra, almost the amount that the school planned
It was the end of a very hard day for me and we were soon carted back to the hotel.
I made extra effort to sit next to Emma, and all she did was suck her teeth.
She was still avoiding me, and I wished I could say I didn't know why.
I decided to just quit it and take a nap.
I slept so hard that I woke up to an empty bus and Emma tapping me too, cause I trapped her.
"I'm sorry." I apologized and got up like the drunk I was.
Wordlessly, she walked past me and went in.
I knew so many ways to make girls happy, but I knew better than to try any of it with her. Definitely not after last night.
But I also wanted her to understand that last night was about me being a gentleman.
I was falling so hard for her that I couldn't even think properly.
I managed to drag myself up to spend one last night with Jessica before the last section of our Trip, and then we headed straight home.
All the other days went as a blur.
I doubt I even saw Emma at all, but she was on the bus going home.
Her look was always so far away. She was always out of body, and I got it. There were too many pricks like me around.
I looked out of the window, hoping desperately for time to pass.
We got back to County City ten minutes to midnight.
Everyone had their parents or chauffeur waiting for them, except Emma and I.
"We're stuck." I said, leaning closer to her.
"I can see that." She replied. "I'm trying to order a ride. How are you getting back?" She asked me. I sensed the humor in her voice.
"We're riding together. That's how I'm getting back." I slipped a hand around her waist, which she slapped away almost immediately it got there.
She wasn't so mad, but she wasn't exactly pleased with me either.
The ride came and she fit in, I did too.
"Where are we headed?" The balding middle aged man asked.
I smelt a lot of alcohol in the car, there were also cigarette butts and a little bit of white powder.
Emma was starting to get scared, so I paid off the man and ordered another, an A class ride.
She looked impressed, and also tried to hide.
"Aren't we going home?" She asked as the car veered off course.
"Not until you tell me why you've been avoiding me." I replied.
I put the address of a hotel Gray helped me arrange. Been planning it since noon. I had half hopes that I'd be able to trick her into going there with me.
We were on the road to Carson and Carson.
Emma wasn't too antsy, and if she was, she hid it well.
We checked in at the hotel. Emma looked like she was trafficked, but had the sense to smile when we got to the reception.
"I have a reservation under the name Grayson." I said to her,
"Yeah." The lady smiled. I found it funny cause there was a very big chance of what she was thinking not happening.
I soon got the keys and we went up. It was on the topmost floor.
Emma was trying hard not to look impressed but she was failing.
"You can smile now." I said to her,
She did smile. It looked like the sun was smiling on me.
Emma was my beacon of hope. Something to fight for.