Breaking Her Rules

Chapter 14

After class, Harrison stops by a vending machine to get a chocolate bar. I lean up against the vending machine, looking at Julian and Harrison. 'Do you reckon one of you guys could talk to Watson?' I ask. 'Just on the sly. Don't say I said anything.'

'About Taylor?' Julian asks. Harrison bends down and pulls the chocolate bar out of the slot. He rips it open straight away and takes a bite.

'Yeah,' I say. 'I just don't want him to get hurt.'

'Em, you have to talk to him,' Julian says. 'You're the only one who witnessed it, dude. We can't tell him.'

'I tried to tell him, and he got mad,' I say.

I spot Toby walking past. When he sees me he nods towards an empty classroom.

'Crap, I left my textbook in the classroom,' I say suddenly. Julian gives me a baffled look but I run off before he can say anything. I slip into the empty classroom, where Toby is waiting.

'What?' I say.

He just looks at me.

'What do you want?'

'Are we still... a thing?' he asks.

'A thing?' I say incredulously.

'You know. Are we still doing this?'

'Doing what?' I ask.

'Em, please don't make me spell it out. I like you, okay. I want to be with you. It's just got to be a secret.'

'I can't do it, Toby.'

'How can this just end now?' he asks. 'We had sex on Saturday night. How can we just have sex and then end it?'

'You have a girlfriend,' I remind him sharply. 'I'm not going to try to ask you to dump her again, but I can't keep doing this in secret. It's crazy!'

'I'm going to dump her,' he says.

'Toby, you said that when we first got together. You said that on Saturday night, you said you were going to dump her on Sunday. It's like a bandaid, okay? You just need to rip it off.'

'I know, I know, okay. But can I see you again?'

I groan. 'You don't get it, do you? You're not seeing me again. Saturday night was great, okay? But you can't play two girls at once and expect me to just be happy.'

I start to walk out, and I hear him try to say something, but he stops short, and lets me leave. I walk to my next class, wondering whether I feel okay. I can't even tell how I'm feeling. I don't even know if I'm sad or happy. I guess I'm just indifferent now.

At lunch I walk over to the table where our group usually sits, but I see Watson is sitting there with his arm around Taylor. I'm instantly disinclined to sit there and walk off to find another place in the sun where I can sit. As I walk past, Ainsley spots me and abandons the group to follow me.

'So who do you think lit the Prisley fire on the school playing field?' Ainsley asks.

'I don't know, Ains. I don't really care,' I say.

We sit down and pull up our skirts to tan our legs. I hope she doesn't speak anymore, but she does.

'Jake didn't send me a morning text message today,' she says.

'Hmm?' I say. I have my eyes closed and I'm seriously reluctant to open them.

'He usually sends me "good morning" every morning but today he didn't,' Ainsley says. She is examining the way her thighs look while she's sitting like this.

'Ains,' I say. 'Don't you think you're being a bit crazy?'

'But he hasn't even said hello to me today,' she says, and there's a whine in her voice.

'You haven't had any classes with him today,' I remind her. 'Can we talk about something else?'

'Oh, so you can complain about Watson all morning, but if I mention my boyfriend you want to change the subject?' she says, sitting up.

I groan. 'No, it's not that. I just think you're worried for no reason.'

'Here comes Watson,' Ainsley says. 'I'll leave you two alone.'

'What?' I say, but she stands up quickly and hurries off. Watson is walking towards me, alone. He's got his hands in his pockets and his gaze underneath his dark curls is fixed on me.

'I came to apologise,' Watson says. 'I'm sorry for saying stuff on Saturday night.'

'Did Jules set you up to this?' I ask.

'No, Taylor did.'

'What?' I say, surprised.

'She told me if she's the reason for any hatred between the two of us, she couldn't live with herself. It was slightly overdramatic, but it was sweet. She does like you, Emmy. Honestly, you just need to get to know her. She's the nicest girl ever. I know you'd really like her. She's so smart and she's funny.'

I stare at him. 'She's also cheating on you, which is a bit of a drawback, but sure, as long as she's funny.'

'Emmy,' Watson warns.

I give him a look.

'Please, it really offends me. Okay? Please don't make these stupid accusations about Taylor. You've got to stop. I talked to her about it and I trust her. She's not cheating on me. Your story made no sense anyway. You were barely around. I don't even remember seeing you much.'

I roll my eyes. 'You were really drunk, Watson. Taylor could have done anything and you wouldn't know. You got so drunk.'

He groans. 'I got drunk because I was angry. I know it's stupid, but it really hurts when you say this stuff about Taylor. I love you both and I just want you to get along. I don't want you to feel bad about my girlfriend.'

I sigh. 'Look, she's cheating on you, okay? The fact that you can't believe me shows you prefer her to me. I know it's just my word, but once upon a time you would have believed my word above anyone's. Now you believe her.'

'Because it's the truth!' he says. 'You're lying! Stop trying to tell me she's cheating!'

I stand up. 'Your girlfriend of a few months over your best friend for five years? Are you really believing her word over mine?'

'What, is that it?' he says, standing up too. 'You're making an ultimatum? Taylor or you?'

'Yeah,' I say decisively. 'Ultimatum. Me or Taylor. Your best friend or your girlfriend.'

He shakes his head. 'See, why would I pick the girl who makes me choose? Taylor wants to be your friend. You want to rip us apart. I can't choose you, Em.'

I stare at him, shocked, but he's walking away already.

'Fuck,' I mutter to myself. 'Watson!' I call out, but he doesn't turn around. A few grade eight Prisley girls look at me weirdly. I make a face at them.

'Fuck, fuck, fuck,' I say. Me or Taylor. Ultimatum. He picked her. Of course he did. How could I expect him to pick me? I never picked Watson. If I'd had my choice, I'd have picked Lucas. I ended up with Watson, purely through lack of choice.