Love to Hate You

Chapter Eleven

The rest of the weekend I was my mother’s personal Cinderella. If she wanted the toilets scrubbed, I’d be elbow deep in toilet water for an hour. If she wanted the beds made, I washed and dried the bedspread. But, when that woman told me to make her a sandwich, I almost lost it. I spent all weekend cleaning the house, and I’m not even close to finished yet. I would be further along, but my mom thought it would be amusing to watch me scrub the hall with a toothbrush. I just bit my tongue and did it chanting, it’s for the band, do it for the band in my head the whole time.

Alex thought this was hilarious, telling me, “I told you so” which I immediately slapped him upside the head for. He’s the one who got me into this mess, and boy he’s not getting out of my clutches alive. I was bothered with chores all weekend, but when I have time to spare, that boy is going down.

By the time Monday comes around I am actually excited for school. In fact, you couldn’t get me out of that house faster. I uncovered Justin’s old skateboard, feeling worthy of it now that I’m allowed back in the band, and sped out of that house faster than should be possible on a Monday morning.

It felt good to roll along the rough gravelly sidewalk with the warm summery wind whipping my hair about. It felt good to walk into school with the skateboard hanging from my hand and a small smile plastered to my face, and it felt good to walk past my mural, knowing it was being finished today. Today, I just felt…good.

I’m busy at my locker, deciding whether to go and talk to Stephanie about Alex or to mind my own business when an arm extends past my shoulder and into my locker, setting a coffee cup on the ledge beside my Chemistry book.

I look over my shoulder, expecting to find Justin but am startled to find Sean turning to walk off. Wait, what? Without even thinking, I turn and reach out to grasp his t-shirt, effectively pulling him back towards me. He’s not getting away that easy.

“Sean?”

He sighs deeply and turns around, but doesn’t look at me. The first thing I notice is that he’s not wearing his glasses. Usually, his glasses hide the fact that he has some of the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen on a guy. They’re an intense blue with green flecks and I’m almost hurt when he doesn’t want to meet my gaze.

“You brought me coffee?” I ask, my voice soft and almost pleading.

He turns his head and rolls his eyes, his feet shifting before he answers, “Justin told Austin to give it to you since he had something to do this morning. Austin forced the cup in my hands and walked away before I could say no.”

Nodding, I hug my arms to my chest, “Thank you,” I murmur.

He doesn’t say anything in return, just continues to look in a different direction. When we’ve stood there awkwardly for longer than necessary, Sean finally asks, “Can I go now?”

He doesn’t wait for me to answer before making a move to leave.  I grab at his shirt again and don’t release him this time.

“Please don’t do this.” I beg, my fingers gripping his shirt firmly, “I don’t want this to ruin our friendship, especially since my mom said I can come back to the band.”

Eyes widening, he finally meets my gaze at hearing the news. His mouth opens, his brain struggling to find words. My lips stretch into a small smile, watching him get tongue tied.

“Are you serious?” he bursts, “How did you—“

I put a hand over his mouth and shake my head, “It’s a long story.” Feeling his lips turn up into a smile under my hand, we both momentarily forget about our current disagreement, and I’m so giddy after finally being able to tell someone the news, I don’t hesitate to add, “What are you waiting for? Hug me.”