Emma's POV
"Emma, all you're being right now is irrational." Chase said as he parked in his dads garage.
He had a bit of trouble trying to reverse and park in a garage which contained no less than ten luxury cars.
"I can't remember asking for your opinion." I replied to him.
"You don't have to. I literally told you what happened and now it somehow comes back to bite me in the ass." He said.
"Chase, please just park and let me get out." I replied.
"Emma, please." He said, turning the engine off. "I never should have told you anything."
"Is that an attempt at making me pity you?" I asked him. I wasn't feeling the game he was playing. All I wanted was to be alone.
The next day, we were gonna be taking pictures in our uniform for the school yearbook. I needed to rest and breathe if I was going to be amongst people who thought I was a killer.
I can't believe the whole school walked about seeing me like that.
"You can run, Emma." You can't hide.
I went up still, not minding the strange glances from some domestic staff, and the loud moans that came from the butlers bedroom. I had gotten used to hearing him ram ladies up whenever Mark wasn't around.
"Fuck!" I screamed as soon as I entered my room. I flung everything that felt like an inconvenience out of my way, which was practically everything.
The tears came afresh, hot and scalding. My whole life had been a fucking circus. From one mess to the other.
I unlocked my phone to see if Lily had called and she had, twice
I put a call back to her and it kept being diverted.
"Lily, I know what's up. Please call me. I can't believe you didn't tell me." I raped into a voicemail and sent it.
"Is this the 'Thanks' I get?" He asked, standing outside the half opened door.
"Do you think you deserve it though? Really?" I asked, turning back at him.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked, looking surprised.
"Wouldn't it have made more sense if you told me all these when you found out about it?" I asked him. "My reputation, and my mom's, was going down the drain. All you could do was charm and smile, and act like nothing was fucking up. I hate that I had to discover it myself. I hate you." I replied to him.
Chase looked surprised, then angry, next I knew, he banged the door in my face.
I didn't care how he felt about it, it was only sensible he told me.
. With that, I closed his chapter in my head.
If I had to do it without him, I would. Afterall, our relationship wasn't ideal either.
And maybe before my mom and Mark got back, we could have been totally over each other.
Chase slamming the door on me only made me more resolved to sort things out with Lily.
The next day came fast as I slept off while crying.
I dragged myself with my swollen face and sore body to the bathroom.
It felt like I was getting ready for my execution. It was one thing to go to school everyday thinking everyone was just on their periods and it wasn't my fault. But it was a whole d if free ball game knowing that bits and pieces of my past were catching up with me.
I drove alone to school. Mark had started letting me use one of his least used cars, so I had the luxury of going on my own.
I drove really slow, all the while, thinking about so many ways things could go south.
I finally got to school, took a deep breath and stepped out of the car.
It wasn't until that moment that I realized I had been raking Chase for granted.
He was the wall separating me from every bad thing that could happen to me, and the moment I stepped out of the car in the parking lot, I knew it.
"Got a ride out of it too, huh?" One girl who I barely recognised asked.
I hadn't had much experience with mass bullying and confrontations, but I knew after that day, I was gonna have a wealth of experience.
I kept strictly to my classes.
I pretended to ignore all the brushing past me, the shoves, the sighs, gossips, whispers, remarks, and every funny thing they did to me.
I had begun to bask in the hope that they would have been too cowardly to face me directly.
It didn't surprise me either when they cleared a single table for me in the dining hall.
I knew I walked right into that one when Jessica and her cronies came and sat next to me. Lily, who had been avoiding me all day, wasn't so far from me either.
I tried to look Gray in the eyes, but he seemed to have forgotten that I was human at all. He barely looked at or acknowledged me.
"Hey, Murderer." Jessica said, slurring.
I snubbed her and just kept eating.
"Don't you hear she's talking to you?" One other girl said, I recognised her from the boutique, the day we went shopping for the school trip.
"Shut the fuck up!" I replied to her.
"Ooh." I heard one other spineless girl say from the corner.
They were all so terrified of Jessica, and I really didn't see why.
"I don't care what it is you're here for, but you can't break me. So how about you move on to some other table, preferably one with people like you who fuck around and pretend to love their girlfriends." I replied to Jessica loud enough for Grayson to hear, also keeping my eyes on him.
He looked up for a split second and looked back down, putting his hand around Lily. I saw Lily stiffen, and something in me was glad.
"Alright, Missy." Jessica said standing up. "I better start going, before, you know…" She put a hand on her neck and demonstrated strangling.
My head was hot, but I wasn't going to grant Jessica the reaction she wanted.
Next thing I saw, Gray walked past me and tossed my tray away.
"I'm fucking ashamed of you, Emma. You should know better." Lily, in tears, said as she passed right after Gray.