Perfect Student

Chapter 17

I spent too much time dressing for school on Monday, and I think it was to make up for the weekend. I woke up Saturday morning with a pounding headache and bit of a hangover, leaving me a sloppy mess all day. 

I wore sweats and a ripped shirt  to the dinner table as Bryce cooked me soup, while I pretended I had come down with some sort of brief illness. He was genuinely attentive and even rubbed by back to help me sleep when we watched a movie together, making guilt swell inside of me. I had never done something like this before and I never would again, I promised myself. I ignored the part of my brain that laughed at this decision. 

Today, I put on a maroon skirt that buttoned and tucked a white blouse into it, using my black sneakers to tone it down. I curled my hair and brushed it until it was smooth and wavy, checking that no hairs were out of place. I wasn't a messy girl who ran around wildly with her boyfriend late at night. I was a student with a stellar record and perfect GPA, getting college credit through extraneous classes before I had even graduated. I smiled to myself as I looked in the mirror.

"Adeline!" Bryce called from downstairs, making me jump. I checked my phone and realized that we were running a couple of minutes behind schedule.

"Look at you, running late," Bryce teased as I sprinted down the stairs. I glared at him worriedly, but he ushered me out of the door at ease.

"I packed you breakfast and you're only a minute or two behind, don't worry." I looked at him with surprise as he passed me a plastic bag with a cinnamon raisin bagel inside. It had been cut in half and cream cheese was leaking out the side, forming a little white blob in the bottom right corner.

 "Thank you," I said, taken aback as I shoved it into my bag.

"It's a bagel in a bag, don't get too excited." Hedrove me to school quickly, waving as I left the car to "She Will". I pressedmy hand over my face like I was shielding it from the sun,hoping not to be associated with him. 

I looked around at the other earlystudents as I walked to my locker and noticed their eyes on me. One pair of girls rested against nearbylockers and watched me with matching cat-like grins as I pulled out mytextbooks and tucked them inside. 

The girl with dark hair whispered to the blonde and she giggled, blue eyes lighting up at whatever they were discussing. Maybe someone had spread some mean rumor about me and it caught fire, blazing to the girls who wished they dated Hunter or had more friends.

I shook my head to ignore them, trying to refocus. Other people's opinions of you are none of your business, I told myself. Hunter's arms suddenly wrapping around my waist helped pull me from the chaos inside my brain. 

"Hey angel," he said in a husky voice, leaning around to peck his lips on my neck. I pulled away from him, too aware of the eyes on me to enjoy the PDA.

"Hey," I said, trying to conceal the anxiousness in my voice. As the halls grew more crowded, I could swear that everyone's eyes were on me, widening and turning quickly away as they saw me notice.

"ADELINE," Hunter said forcefully, placing his hands on my shoulders and shaking me. My eyes rattled and I looked at him, ignoring the fear bubbling in my stomach. I blinked and focused on his lips as they continued to speak.

"You weren't listening to my story about what happened on Saturday," he said, lips pursing angrily. Embarrassment swept through me as I realized I was too concerned about the people staring to pay attention to my boyfriend.

"I'm sorry, continue." I smiled at him, sighing when his shoulders relaxed, and he began again. 

"Well, Trey and I went to this party over on Elmwood.You know that area by the elementary school? There was this wild party andthese drunk girls were hitting on me left and right, but I turned them down,thinking about you the whole time." He said this with a proud smile, as if hedeserved a trophy for not cheating on me. I wondered if he said it to make mejealous or to prove some sort of a point. I opened my mouth to speak, unsure ofwhat I was planned to say.

A large hand reaching around me saved me from havingto think of something. I turned around to see James with his hand placed firmlyon my shoulder. His scent enveloped me, and I smiled before I noticed that hewasn't. His lips were pressed down at the corners and his eyes were dark. 

I recognized it as the face he made when he losta game when we were younger. It wasn't anger or regret, just disappointment. Iwould normally find determination in his eyes, evidenced by his demand that weplay again. His eyes weren't determined now but looked sad. I was probablyreading into things too much.

"Addy, come with me," James said seriously. His voice was deep and serious, not playful like it had been when we said goodbye at my house. Goosebumps shot up my body and I tried not to release a squeak as I realized I was in trouble.

"Addy?" Hunter mumbled behind me, as James led me down the hall and towards the school's front office.

He held the door for me, so I walked into the office blindly, making a right and standing beside the desk occupied by the attendance ladies. They looked up over their glasses and straightened up in their seats so they could peer over their cubicles. Their faces didn't look kind like I remembered them the last time I had come in to collect my award for perfect attendance.

"Not that way," James said, entering the building and taking a left. My legs felt frozen, but I forced them to move, following him down the hallway passed random offices until we reached the one on the very end. He opened the doors and I walked inside, sitting on one of the two available seats.

I looked up to see the man that had commended my good work on the school yearbook and told me I had a very real chance of receiving valedictorian this year.

The principal, Mr. Rodriguez, cleared his throat and leaned his head down to give me a serious look.

"Hello, Ms. Johnson. We need to talk."