Dahlia Martinez. A girl with attitude, wit, and an extreme need for academic validation.
Blake Austin. A compassionate guy who has priorities...mostly.
Home troubles and past issues force Dahlia to a new school for her final year of highschool. S...
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1 Week Later
The sandwich is placed in front of me, along with some chips and a bottled water. Blake looks at me with pleading eyes, and I take the food to my side of the table.
For the past week, we've been sitting outside at a picnic table just the two of us. I wasn't keen on the idea, but he wanted to help, so I agreed. He's packed an extra lunch for me everyday this week, and we eat in silence for all of lunch.
His demeanor has changed. We no longer kiss, talk outside of school (excluding his reminders for me to eat), and we don't talk. I never thought our situation would end up like this, but somehow it has.
In class, we simply do our work, not exchanging any words. At lunch, he brings out food for me, and we sit and eat until the bell rings. We don't FaceTime, text, call, nothing.
Maybe it's finally clicked. I'm not that great of a person. My final secret is out to him, and he helps me out of pity. But Blake doesn't want me anymore.
I miss him. I wish he would've decided this before I got attached. But this is all for the better. He gives me rides, brings me lunch, and calls it a day.
When the bell rings for third period, Blake nods his head in my direction, grabbing all of our trash. Once thrown out, he walks inside for class. I always sit out here for a little while. The November breeze makes Texas a little cooler, but never too much for me to want to go inside.
I walk inside for counseling prep, my feet feel like they're just dragging on the floor. This class is fun, learning about something I want to do is fun. But right now, I just want to go home.
━━━━━━━━━━
Off period. This would usually be my favorite part of the day. It's a Friday, and I get to leave early. Yet that's not the case.
Blake stands at the tree we meet at to leave. It's hard to accept that he no longer wants me when he looks that good. Tight clothes from practice, hair sweaty from working so hard, and veins on his arms from holding his duffel bag.
It all makes so much sense. He's the most attractive person in this school, he deserves good in his life.
Once he sees me, we walk in silence to the car. I clutch a few books to my chest, my backpack hangs on one shoulder. The drive to the middle and elementary school is silent. I face out the window for the duration of the drive.
This is how it goes. We sit in the pickup line waiting for Jake, and then drive over to get Emerson and Lucy. But we don't talk. When Jake scrambles out, he's ecstatic. He swings open the door, immediately flying into conversation with Blake.
"Blake! Guess what I got on my math test?" He bubbles.
