𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒙 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒐𝒚.
Charlotte Lancaster grew up as a nobody in her hometown Cherryville, California. Never interested in school gossip or boys. She was always dedic...
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On Monday when we were back in school, I saw that Vincent's car was in the parking lot when Darcy pulled into the lot. I was already prepared in just going on about my day and pretending that the things Vincent said didn't hurt me. If he didn't want to talk then I would do my best to ignore him and give him the silent treatment as well.
"I got you if you need me," Darcy says with an encouraging smile. I nod and take a deep breath in and I let it out as I exit the car.
When we enter the halls, I see him talking to Maxine where she stands by her locker. I try not to let my eyes take in his appearance for long in case we make eye contact. I head over to my locker and flick away the light blue balloon that was taped onto my locker, in preparation for prom coming up this Saturday night.
I do my usual routine of switching out books and notebooks that I will need for the first two classes and then take out the ones I don't need from my bag. "So did you want to get ready at my house or should we do your house?" Darcy asks next to me as she digs into her locker as well. "Maxine is asking in case we need a makeup artist or something."
"Probably yours since you have a bigger room," I say as I look from the corner of my eye to see what Vincent was doing. I was trying not to make it obvious and it was working. Vincent didn't look my way once and I didn't know if I should be hurt or glad that he wasn't looking for me.
"When are you going to the salon again? Thursday?" Darcy asks again as I watch Vincent hug Maxine and they part ways. "I'm thinking of getting curtain bangs. What do you think?" I see that he's heading this way and I quickly look back into my locker.
"Shit he's coming this way," I curse to Darcy who looks around and sees who I'm talking about.
"Just act cool," she says.
I feel the breeze and the hint of his cologne as he passes by me and I watch him from the reflection of the tiny mirror I had in my locker. He doesn't look back at me nor acknowledges the fact that I was standing right in front of him. I bow my head in disappointment and I feel my heart drop to my stomach. Tears are pricking my eyes and I feel the sob trapped in my throat as my lips tremble, itching to release the cry from inside.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath in and close the locker door. The only way that I could not feel like shit about this whole thing between us, is by distracting myself and acting like this never happened. Like we never happened. For the rest of the school day, we played a constant game of avoidance and it was working. I decided to go the opposite way of my route that I usually took to classes, resulting in tardiness by a couple of minutes. But it was worth it if it meant keeping my heart from hurting even more as we awkwardly passed each other in the hallway with hundreds of other students.
When the last bell rang, I watched Vincent's car drive off just as I stepped foot out of the school. No chance to even chase him or stop him from getting into his car. It was like a game of tag with him these last couple of days. I guess he really meant it at the party when he said I should stay clear from him. Darcy took me home and I used my free time to lay in bed. There were no assignments due this week and I wished that we did, because any distraction would be a blessing right now.
