Scarred

Everything Changes

I couldn't shake the perpetual lousy mood that I had been in for the last week. I was exhausted, angry, and unfairly snapping at everyone. I grumbled an apology to Marnie for biting her head off as we walked the hall towards the cafeteria. Her crime for my wrath? A simple question on how dance rehearsals were going.

"Ev, you're walking around like one of those cartoon characters with a cloud hanging over its head. What gives?" She asked.

"I don't know.." I sighed, stopping at my locker on the way.

I turned the dial and whipped the door open with more force than was necessary.

"I am ninety-nine percent sure that isn't true. Spill." Marnie leaned her shoulder on the locker to the left of mine.

Rolling my eyes, I grabbed my lunch and slammed the locker shut. The loud metal on metal bang reverberated off the wall, and I was mildly aware that the sound didn't startle me.

I was too pissed to give it much thought.

I exhaled and scanned the hall, searching for the real reason why I felt this way. The source of my anger leaned casually against the door frame of a classroom, talking to Faith.

A small smile played at the corner of his lips as he laughed and rolled his eyes at something she said. Faith batted her eyelashes and stuck her lower lip out as if she was begging for something.

"So, what's going on?" Marnie asked, snapping her fingers in front of my face.

"Ask him..." I growled at the display and kicked my heel against the locker behind me.

I was so damn confused and that wasn't helping my anger.

Marnie had her back turned to Casen and Faith, but she quickly looked over her shoulder to see what had earned my scowl.

"God, she annoys me," Marnie huffed before turning towards me.

"It's not her that I'm mad at. Well, not directly." 

I grabbed a hold of Marnie's arm and put as much distance as possible between them and us.

"What did Casen do?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at them over her shoulder.

"Nothing. He did absolutely nothing." 

In a way, what I said was true. It had been nothing but radio silence from Casen since last Tuesday morning. It was like he hadn't kissed me and was actively avoiding me. Even during rehearsals, he would hardly look at me. Aside from taking direction when offered during rehearsals, it was like I didn't exist.

He went from hot to cold in a matter of a day. I thought that maybe it was my imagination, or maybe he and Charlie got into it, and he was brooding. But Charlie had been in a great mood at work and rehearsals, and Casen seemed all too happy to talk to everyone else, even if it was his usual one-syllable answers. It was a hell of a lot more than I was getting.

Maybe I was wrong and him and Faith were more serious than I thought. Maybe he felt guilty about what happened. If that is the case, then he should.

"So you're mad at him for nothing? I call bullshit," Marnie sang, interrupting my thoughts as we sat down at a table where Vivian was already sitting.

"Who's mad at who?" Vivian asked, around a mouth full of food.

"Casen did something to piss off Evan," Marnie smirked.

"What did he do now?" Vivian asked, all too familiar with that family's asshole tendencies.

Before I could answer, Casen strode in and sat at a table with Marcus and Bobby. He didn't spare any of us a glance. At least his two friends gave Vivian and Marnie a quick kiss before telling them they were eating with the guys today.