Treat You Better

Chapter Sixty-three: Familiar.

"It's been two months." Susan corrected, "We're counting if you aren't."

"I don't care." I said, scooping a spoonful of yoghurt into my mouth, only noticing the rumble in my tummy after I did.

"Siiiiince we're on the topic," Susan leaned over to try and catch my eye.

"We are not!" I turned my face away, sucking on my spoon.

She ignored me, "Do you think he's coming back anytime soon?"

The question stirred things in me, anxiety and hope, both of which I shoved down with a good dose of anger. "He's not, you've seen the news, he's a bigshot, his life is changing and all, what's he need from this small town?!" I snapped, shaking Susan's hands off my hair.

"Okay, we don't know that." Annie sighed.

"How would you? He's unreachable and hasn't been in contact with any of us in weeks..."

"Violet Zara Adams!" Annie shot to her feet and faced me with one hand on her hip.

"OoOhh!" Susan sang, holding the tips of her fingers over her mouth.

"Why on earth did you want this break in the first place?" Annie asked, "Because from what I've seen, you're worse off than you even started, you're further and further away from that self security you wanted in the beginning!"

"She has a point, you literally spent Christmas alone, according to your parents," Susan said, coming around to sit so she could look right at me. "And no one could find you on new year's day, after we planned on going to Frisbee for weeks!"

"I know something like this is hard but we have given you enough time. You have to talk about it. Why are you so angry?!"

"Because I can't be sad!" I replied, louder than was necessary, so I heaved a breath through my nose, "I'm tired of being sad over things I can't control. I'd rather be angry."

Susan watched me for a second before tucking some hair behind my ear, "At this rate if Angelo showed up, you'd just punch him in the gut."

I let out a wet chuckle despite myself but it quickly disappeared when I had to sniff and wipe my under my nose on my shirt sleeve. "I really want to." I confessed. "I want to strangle him for not even texting me, I know we're on a break but, ugh! And I don't want to do it first because I'm too mad at him."

"So let's get you to stop being mad first." Annie said. "Focusing on other things could help."

Susan nodded, "Focusing on other things would reeeally help. I didn't want to tell you but I heard Cassandra got a higher grade than you in chemistry."

I suddenly felt awake, like up until that moment, I'd been watching the world through half closed eyes, "Excuse me?"

"Right? Your grades are at risk, and your integrity!"

"Oh my god, what if I start f-failing?" I stood up and started pacing on the carpeted floor of my room. There were some things more important than others and my good results definitely had a higher ranking than boy problems. I may have gone through an abnormal amount of disappointments and tribulations all my life, but I always prided myself in how despite everything, my grades remained unaffected.

There was no way in this whole wide world I'd let a man who didn't even bother to wish me a merry Christmas ruin my chances of getting into my dream college, getting a great job and squashing my plans to travel the world! "This can't be happening... Cassandra's like a... C student!"

"Uhhh have you forgotten about us?" Susan said, coming to hold my shoulder with her confident smile, "You think we're going to stand and watch your grades go lower than that?"