Emma's POV
I felt like Kevin made me feel when Chase didn't show up.
We were to meet by four pm at the bottom of the stairway. I missed a class and wanted forty five minutes for someone who wasn't in school.
Unfortunately, Jessica and her new man, who surprisingly happened to be Mr Rudd already had their minds on the bottom of the stairway too for their make out session.
I heard all sorts of obscenities.
I wished I could block their sound, but if I made the slightest movement, they'd have heard.
I endured the harrowing experience for twenty five of the forty five minutes I was stood up.
The last half of the day was a blur.
Firstly, Chase got on Mr Rudd's nerve cause of me, then he stood me up.
It made no sense, but I couldn't talk to anyone about it, because what we had wasn't ideal in the first case.
I went home with hopes of seeing Chase there. I wasn't so keen on it, but it sure would have helped.
Chase wasn't home either.
The maid he was fucking the first time I saw him had gotten used to treating me like trash, because she somehow thought I had taken her sweetheart from her, which I had.
After spending the whole day thinking about what I had done to piss him off, I finally got tired and decided to go to my favorite spot in the house to be alone and take a breather.
Then Chase found me.
"How about you get the hell away from me?"I said after laughing at some dry joke of his.
He thought he could treat me like trash and then come in at the end of the day to serenade me, although I know it would work if he tried harder, I wanted it not to. For the sake of my own dignity and self esteem.
"Emma. I'm really sorry, and I'm also honest about sleeping off in the library." He said, sounding quite sincere.
"I kinda wanna believe you. Jessica and Mr Rudd were at it on the other side of the stairway. Apparently, I blended so well with the dark that they didn't notice I was there. Or maybe they just didn't care. Like everyone else does…" I trailed off and looked into the sky to somehow get the tears back into my tear glands.
"Emma, I really do not know how to apologize to you." He said, throwing his bag to the floor and coming closer to me. I didn't want Chase to touch me for fear he'd break my resolve. "Emma please, look at me." He begged.
"Don't fucking touch me." I said to him,
From the sharp exhale, I sensed that he wasn't expecting it.
"When did I start to repel you, Emma?" He asked.
"You know what?" I asked standing up, cause I was already tired of his bullshit. "This argument is baseless. I kinda need to sleep. I have a long day tomorrow. And yeah, I also have to look at the school newspaper to check if I made it to the uglier column or some other thing I normally fit into." I smiled and went back in.
"If you think you can stop me from living you, then you're fucking crazy." I stopped in my tracks, and smiled.
Determined to not let him see me smile, I walked in as fast as I could.
I grabbed the school newspaper earlier, but couldn't bring myself to read it.
If I saw any bad comments, or digs, or shades at me, I knew I wouldn't have been able to take it.
The group pictures took up a double page. Everyone, literally everyone, but me.
I kinda started regretting not taking them, but it would
Then I was back to avoiding Chase.
Things in school were not so great either.
Lily had become very comfortable with keeping our correspondence to school alone.
She was distant and I constantly asked her why, but for some reason, she either wasn't too free to talk, or she just didn't want to.
"Lily, I thought we were having lunch together." I asked her one lunch break, when I saw where she and Gray had secluded themselves to.
"I thought so too. But Gray said to eat here. You know?" She excused herself, weakly.
Grayson himself didn't even act like he knew I was there.
"Hey Gray." I acknowledged him and sat on a newly vacated seat.
"Hi Emma." He said he didn't even look up from his food.
Last I heard, he helped Chase organize the hotel we went to after the trip.
"What's up with you?" I asked him, willing to throw my dignity under the bus for the sake of the only people who were still friendly to me.
I was pretending to not have heard him laugh at me during Mr Rudd's class the previous week.
"Nothing much. Just living, making plans, and being there for Lily." He finally looked up and pressed his lip to her forehead.
They were cute for a minute. Which was the time it took for me to realize that all he was doing was to spite me.
Lily, who I thought was a bit cold, initially began to look at me with pity.
"Emma, how about we talk after school. I'll call you." She offered, eager to put me out of my misery.
I didn't know if it was my shame, or my legs just decided to rest for longer than usual. But I still couldn't bring myself to stand after she told me off nicely.
"She'll see you later, Emma." Grayson said, with affected niceness. I didn't miss the haste in his tone.
"Call. I said I'll call her." Lily corrected him.
My subconscious screamed! That couldn't be the Lily that showed me all the nicest places in County, the Lily who showed me her fave toilet just in case I needed to cry or be alone. The Lily who always had my back. The Lily I loved and protected from Jessica.
Ashamed and embarrassed, I picked up what was left of my dignity and walked to some other free seat.
"What's up?" Chase asked, crashing next to me.