Save Your Tears | Chad Meeks-Martin

2

"you've been lonely, you don't even know me."

The school was busy with all kinds of students. Despite it being the year it is, people were still separated into their own cliques. It looked something out of a 2000's teen movie, such as Mean Girls or Clueless.

Willa walked hand-in-hand with Marcus Andrews. Eyes were on them, looks of all kinds as people looked in shock. It hadn't gone spread out between the school for the most part, considering it wasn't on social media, and their 'romance' had blossomed over the summer. It was a lot like Chad and Liv's relationship, which had just as many confused expressions.

Her eyes stayed glued to the ground, not wanting to meet anyone's stare. As soon as they bounced back up - she made eye contact with Liv, and Chad afterward. Chad's jaw tightened, looking away and down the hall to avoid any more eye contact with the blonde. This scared her, causing her to feel as if she'd done something wrong. She knew she didn't, but the angry look on his face made her think otherwise. Her fingers began to slip from Marcus', but just as she began to let go, his grip on her tightened.

Wincing, she hid the grimace with a smile and let him lead her wherever he was walking. They soon arrived at his locker, where she stood to let him get what he needed. It was silent between the two, Willa not knowing what to say and Marcus not caring to say anything.

She rubbed her hands together, the sound of her rings clinging as they clashed together. She felt awkward, not having expected this much attention despite the fact that she was dating a well-known boy from Woodsboro.

Willa watched the people around her as they gathered together, talking to each other and catching up before classes started. There were still just a few minutes, those few minutes the students of Woodsboro would take advantage of. Her eyes landed on the new boy she'd seen at the bus stop - the one who was the topic of her friend group's conversation before Marcus whisked her away.

He was attempting to open his locker, repeatedly looking at the combination on his schedule before putting it into the lock. He kept failing, but instead of getting angry and slamming it or any other emotion she assumed he'd do, he would just gently set it down, looking over the combination again.

"Can you believe Liv McKenzie is dating that douchebag?" Aaron walked up, beginning a conversation with his best friend. "Brad - or whatever his name is."

At the mention of her old friend, Willa's attention turned away from the unknown boy and to the other two next to her. Marcus laughed at his best friend's words, despite knowing that Chad was one of Willa's closest friends.

"His name's Chad... and he's not a douchebag." She defended, leaning up from the locker.

"Chad, Brad - same thing." Aaron shrugged, not at all bothered. "Either way, he's a total asshole. Only cares about his muscles, or what little he has."

"He has plenty of muscles and if he wants to be proud of them, he can. We're all proud of something of ours whether we want to admit it or not." Willa snapped, not liking the way Aaron talked about Chad.

Aaron glanced at Marcus, who'd stopped rummaging through his locker. Marcus' jaw tightened before looking down at Willa. "Why do you care so much about him? You love him or something?"

Despite being loud enough for Willa to hear, he was still too silent for anyone besides the three in the small group to hear. Willa glanced around, her face beginning to heat up at the accusation. "No, Marcus. He's my friend."

"Well, he shouldn't be. I don't think you should be friends with someone like that." Marcus looked away, putting his focus back on his locker.

Willa's brows bunched together, and she fixed her posture before responding. "Are- are you telling me I can't be friends with him, Marcus?"