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Thirteen - Denim Jeans

Thirteen – Denim Jeans

Back when I was in the fourth grade and had been rejected by my first crush: Billy Holbans – the laid-back boy with the long dark hair, Riley had told me that the best way to get rid of it was to bake. It really didn't mean I had to be good at it, all I had to do is mix together a chunky batter of flour, milk and eggs, knead it into a sticky dough and punch my sorrows away.

Billy Holbans had been a round white mixture of sticky nonsense, receiving punch after punch that day. I should be grateful really... because Billy – now Bill, please ­– turned into one of those guys who smoked at the back of school and slapped girls' behinds just because it was fun.

So, because I was feeling boy-dejected and seriously had to figure out my feelings right now, I had decided to stay home and bake a punching bag. Skipping school and a shift at Deli's for like the third time now was going to cost me, but it was worth it.

My head was processing so many things and I was all dressed up in my sweats and crop, ready to punch away. The first picture I imagined was that stupid Baileen Horan.

The first punch in and I growled inwardly. She and Trent? Together? What the actual fuck? And how the hell did I miss that?!

I felt a pang of regret, pain and dejection when I'd remembered yesterday. They'd seen me – probably because they'd realized that people didn't enjoy free porn and that – that Baileen had had the fucking guts to laugh, in my face! Trent had looked apologetic, but all I'd done was ran, ran away so they wouldn't see the tears that were coming up behind my lids.

"Adrianna!" Trent had called me. I didn't know why, but I really hadn't wanted to see or hear him right then. I hadn't even know why I'd felt so angry – me and Trent had never been a thing. Hell, he didn't even know I'd existed, except on rare occasions.

I'd felt someone grab my arm, yanking me back. I kept my head down as my body collided with Trent's. I couldn't – I wouldn't let him see me cry.

"Why are you running?" he'd screamed in my face.

"Um, your – your girlfriend's waiting for you, maybe you should go."

"Yeah, but where've you been? I didn't see you in school today. But it doesn't matter – where're you going at this time?" I'd noticed then that he hadn't denied it. He hadn't denied it when I'd called Baileen his girlfriend.

"I – I didn't know you and... you and Baileen were a thing."

He'd been silent before he cleared his throat, shuffling his feet. "Well... I – I kind of wanted to keep it a secret."

"So you've been dating long?"

He gently let go of my hand. "Adrianna, she's been my girlfriend since the tenth grade—but, it doesn't matter right now. Let's get you inside." He'd moved to take my hand but I'd retreated away from him.

"Um, I – I gotta go." I'd breathed out and ran at the fastest speed I could away from him. He was so fucking oblivious and that wasn't even the worst part.

Since the tenth grade! Since the fucking tenth grade. So when she'd said – I shut my eyes as the tears fell. God I had been such a big idiot.

I was sweating by then as I kept punching the batter. My hand was hurting from the force I was using, but the rage was too flaming to stop.

So, all those times when he'd asked me...

Punch.

... When he'd separated the fights between me and Baileen...