I'm NOT a Slut Anymore.

Chapter 28

            He scoffed. “We were never friends. Just admit that you were using me and that the whole relationship was just another one of your flings. It meant nothing to you. You’re a bitch Callan. You always have been.”

            The way he spoke to me was like a knife in the gut. I wasn’t prepared for Mark to react the way he just did. It hurt. The last thing I expected was for him to feel as strongly as he did about the entire situation. “It did mean something.” I said quietly, looking at my feet. I really did like him and I didn’t understand why he didn’t believe me.

            “Stop lying. I bet you did sleep with Aiden while we were together. You’re a fucking whore and you always will be. You play with people and one day you’ll get what’s coming to you.” He dragged Shelly away with him and I didn’t bother to look at her triumphant face as they walked away together.

            That was another knife in my gut. He called me a whore, a ‘fucking whore’ to be exact. I didn’t know he had been that hurt. I thought he understood why I couldn’t return his feelings. And I never expected him to treat me with such animosity. He treated me like every other girl did; only it felt worse because I actually cared about him. He hated me now and it was my entire fault. What was wrong with me?

            My eyes were beginning to water.

            “Callie, are you okay?” I heard Hailey ask in a gentle voice that I didn’t deserve from her.

            “I’m fine.” I pushed back the tears.

            “Are you sure?” Lynn asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.

            “I’m really fine.” I insisted. Neither Hailey nor Lynn looked as if they believed me. I guessed that for once, my emotions were written across my face.

            “He was being a total dick just now.” Anna even chipped in as she stood off to the side. Kim stood next to her. I looked over at her and she was looking away, but I smiled at her small rare gesture of sympathy.

            “You should ignore him.” Kim said.

I welcomed their sympathy, but I wasn’t used to it. Usually I wasn’t the one who needed sympathy. Usually, I was a lot more composed. But Mark’s newfound hate for me really bothered me. I already knew this was what caring about a guy did to you, but it had been a long while since I experienced it.

            “Should we shop away the pain?” Hailey asked.

            I looked at the bright cheery face she had put on for my sake and suddenly Mark seemed right. I was a fucking whore for all the lying I was doing to my friends, but I didn’t want to lose them because I knew that if they knew what I had done, they would abandon me. Now, I wanted to cry all over again, but I didn’t. Pushing a smile onto my face, I nodded.

            “Yeah.” I said and we continued across the mall.

            When we got to the next store we searched around for dresses. I was mainly just skimming over them, not really in the mood to shop.

            “Hey, Callan. I think you should try this one on.” Lynn said, handing me a dark violet halter dress. When I just stared at it, she began dragging me to the dressing room and shoved me in with the dress.

            Even though I was pointless, I put the dress on. It was a short muted red baby doll dress with white accents. The back was open and it had a plunging neckline. The more I looked at myself in the mirror, the more I started to like it.