Teardrops of Roses [Completed]

Chapter 35

C H A P T E R  T H I R T Y  F I V E

quick edit:
Thanks for all the awesome comments and showing your support in the previous chapter :)

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Mum and Dad were far from impressed when they got back.
It took a lot of convincing to get them to believe that their daughter went to a party after the ball, and that was why she ended up with the massive bruise on her forehead. 

Well, things had started out well.
I spent the majority of my time hiding out in my room, crying every so often, falling asleep for a few hours, waking up and reapplying the foundation on my head whenever I had to go downstairs, and then repeating that process over.
Managing to evade looks from the family the entire morning and afternoon despite my eyes looking quite a deal puffy from all the bawling I'd done,"I think I was allergic to one of the eyeshadows we used," I lied, feeling relieved they bought that one.

To keep up with appearances, I showed my parents a select few photos on my mobile from the school ball. When Mum tried to grab my phone, tutting on about why I hadn't bothered to take more pretty photos that night, I told her to wait for the official photographs to be uploaded on the school website. Surely with the amount of photo taken, I was bound to be in at least one of them.

What I was really protecting, incase she scrolled too far up, was a photo of Mandy I'd taken under the flower arch during sunset. Only she was really blurry in it.

Because standing a bit away behind her in clear view was Jasper, looking off to the distance. The sun was setting in the trees behind his head, sending his hair alight with warm golden rays. His eyebrows were furrowed slightly, as if he was lost in thought, but his jaw had been relaxed. It was the last time I ever saw him looking complacent, but looking himself.

I hadn't noticed he'd been there at all until I looked at the screen and was ready to click the capture whilst a smiling Mandy, stood posing with a peace sign in front of me. My phone ran on auto focus, and it seemed that he was in was the perfect position that everything, down to each stand on the top of his hair was in crystal clear focus. 

And when I finally saw him, he took my breath away. With my fingers shaking, I remembered my heart pounding so fast out of my ribcage to secure the photo. And when I did, it was like a dirty little secret. It felt so wrong to do, like I was creeping. 
But I told myself I would just delete it later, or one day show it to him and we could laugh about it. Now that I know it's not a possibility, I couldn't bring myself to look at it since. It would only make my day worse.

So I was pretty much left alone to my own devices in my room. Mum and Dad knew that there had been a lot on my plate with school, so they thought I just wanted to sleep in more, like every other teenager during the weekend. Little did they know, I had been out till late... like every other teenager – at least in this town. 

What had been downfall was that afternoon, after my shower I'd forgotten to blow-dry my bangs out to cover the lump when Mum walks into the bathroom whilst I was in the process of putting my clothes in the washer. With my towel was still draped around my neck and my hair dripping wet and clumped to my face,  her eyes zeroed in onto the ferocious lump. 

Then she opened her mouth to yell.
"MY GOD, WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED TO YOU?! YOUR FACE!!! I SHOULDN'T HAVE LET YOU GO AT ALL! BILL COME UP HERE NOW!!!"

I was in big trouble and at that point I'd rather she saw me naked.

When they demanded to know how I even got in the first place, I made up the story of how some drunk kid elbowed me really hard in the face on accident during the pandemonium... you know, when the police came to shut down the party – that last bit I had to repeat slowly as I watched their eyes widen from shock.