Everything According to Juliana

Chapter Twenty-One: Love Letters

"Cassie,"

The low voice rang through her ears. She knew that voice. The way he said her name was so familiar. The way he never sounded happy. She knew it was Luke.

"Hey," she greeted, watching as her boyfriend approached her. He leaned against the lockers as she took out a few of her notebooks. "How has your day been?"

"Well, I found out you hugged Jordan at Toby's party," he started, causing Cassie to freeze in her place. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest. She was afraid of what his reaction might be. "So, why don't you answer that for me?"

She was struggling to breathe when she answered Luke. "It's not what it sounds like—"

"Let me get this straight," her boyfriend cut her off as he ran a hand through his light brown hair. "You let Jordan flirt with you, then said you would rather be kissing him instead of me, and now you're hugging him? What the fuck?"

Cassie was always feisty. She never let anyone talk bad about her or her friends. She wasn't afraid of conflict and loved to speak her mind. But when it came to Luke, she was scared to be bold. She was scared to be herself. She knew what he was capable of.

"Could you stop being jealous for three seconds?" She spat, turning to look at him with an upset expression on her face. Her glare was icy. "All we talk about is Jordan. Doesn't that concern you? Don't you want to talk about other things with me?"

Luke wasn't going down without a fight. "I care about you but I'm losing my girlfriend to someone who will never love you as much as I do."

"No, you're not," she assured him. She was nowhere near that level with Jordan. He wasn't even her friend. She didn't know what to consider him. "You can't expect me to not talk to your friends or guys in general. I don't even know what other girls you talk to because I trust you. Why can't you trust me?"

"Because every time you tell me you're sorry I know you're not," he hissed as her face filled with anger. His words always cut like a knife to her heart. "You tell me you're sorry and then three days later you're hugging Jordan at a party."

Cassie wanted to rip her hair out. She closed her locker as she shook her head back and forth. She couldn't believe she was having this conversation. It was ridiculous to her. "Hugging? You say it like we had sex. I was apologizing for putting him in this uncomfortable situation. Something you should apologize to me for, too."

"I'm sorry," he apologized but Cassie didn't believe it was genuine. "It's just that... you act different around Jordan."

She laughed at his words as she shook her head in disbelief. She couldn't even look into her boyfriend's eyes. She didn't want to. "Probably because he doesn't blame me for everything or yell at me whenever I do something he doesn't like," she confessed as she stepped away, breathing heavily. "Don't walk with me to cooking."

She walked to class with a sad expression on her face. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to break up with Luke but she was afraid. She didn't want him to blow up, thinking she was breaking up with him for Jordan. But Cassie didn't know what was best for her. She would stay in a toxic relationship if that meant she would be getting the attention she thought she deserved.

Even if she wasn't blinded by love anymore, she was blinded from her self-worth. She deserved better but she didn't believe that was the case.

She walked into cooking class, avoiding eye contact with her classmates. Juliana watched as she walked in and didn't say a word to her. Not even a hello or a wave. Juliana knew something happened. She was first to blame Luke. And if it wasn't Luke, it was her brother. That seemed to be the trend for these past few weeks. Trevor and Luke were constantly up her ass.