I Loathe You. I Love You Too.

Chapter Twenty : i'm not yours anymore

I went to wrap my arm around her shoulders and she looked up at me and I knew how much she was still letting those fears crawl in her mind again, she hadn't been the same and I wasn't expecting it but Haylee adding to her stress with some high school drama wasn't helping.

"Parker," Ella looked at me and forced a smile, wait she was perfectly fine with me this morning, what the hell happened, "I'll catch you later Paige, when you're alone," and she then went the other way.

"What happened?" I asked and she stopped at her locker and sighed annoyed.

"They're mad at me, telling me I'm not making enough time that you're a constant priority and you're always around. But how can I be with them when Madi's always there too, it's not like I want to be in the same room as her and I just hadn't had any time to be a drunk teen. That's all I do with them anyways, drink until," she stopped talking and shook her head, "anyways that's not important, how'd the test go?" she looked at me and I knew that she needed to think of something else.

"I think I did really well," I nodded, "Studying for it last night really helped."

"Good," she smiled, "see I knew you'd do good, I knew you were worried about the test last night."

"How'd you sleep last night," I suddenly asked and she hesitated answering.

"I still had nightmares, they weren't as bad as the one you came in for. I'm going to talk to my parents about it when they get home. I wanna see what they think is best to do, I know I can't live life like this. Constantly turning my head at every truck that passes by," she looked up at me and tried to smile but I saw how faded it was.

"Did you want to sit with me during lunch since you and them aren't really doing well?" I asked.

"No, I should probably go to the library for lunch. I need to touch up on an essay that's due tomorrow," I knew she wanted to be alone; she probably felt like she had no time for herself.

"I have practice tonight, I don't have to come over tonight if you need space," I looked down at her and she shook her head.

"I'm not going to stop you from not coming over Parker, if you love coming over don't stop on my end," she grabbed her binder and shoved it in her bookbag.

"Did you want to go to my game on friday, I'm not expecting you too I know you probably have work that night."

"I quit my job, after first period I called Scarlet and told her I couldn't do it anymore and we talked about it and she agreed that I needed to get myself back on track but that I'm always welcomed to come back. I mean Scarlet is a really good friend of mine and I know she'll still be there without me working there. Uh but anyways I'll go to your game on friday with Nora of course. She loves watching football," Paige smiled then at the thought of Nora, "and besides just because you're not expecting me too doesn't mean everyone else isn't."

The two minute bell rang signaling everyone that the hallways had to be without a soul in the hall.

"Lets go before someone yells at us," Paige started walking with her lunch bag in her hands, she usually bought school lunch but today was different. She was different.

"I'll walk you to the library since it's on the way to the cafeteria," I responded and she nodded pretty silently all of the sudden, and I didn't think of anything to say at the time. As we walked I saw two girls talking as they passed by us.

"I swear he's so cute, he's new from California," one said.

"Why'd he leave California to come to Indiana?" the other asked.