Just Like You (UNDER RECONSTRUCTION)

Even The Best Fall Down Sometimes

"Princeton?"

"Nope."

"Yale?"

"Nope."

"Stanford?"

I slowly slid my index finger beneath the closed envelope, feeling Ray's intense stare burning into the side of my head.

"Yes." I stumbled away from the lunch table, the acceptance letter falling from my grip and on to my backpack. "Ray, I got in!" I cried, throwing my arms around him. Everyone in the cafeteria seemed to glance in our direction at my sudden outburst, watching me completely lose it in Ray's arms.

"I. . . I can't believe it! I didn't think. . ." I shook my head, backing away from Ray and nodding at the rest of the table as they laughed and congratulated me.

"You should of, Blake. You're amazing and smart, they'd be idiots to reject you." He replied, hugging me once more as the bell echoed through the semi-quiet lunchroom. I was still in too much shock to force out a complete sentence, so I only smiled and gathered my rejection and acceptance letters into my backpack, shoving my lunch tray into the trash on my way out.

My smile faded slowly as I followed Ray out of the lunchroom, unwanted thoughts bringing my happiness down until it was gone entirely.

None of those congratulations really meant anything to me, sure they were kind and a nice gesture, but they weren't from the one person I wanted to say it the most. The one person who hadn't showed up to school today and wouldn't answer any of my calls. The one person who was acting as if they'd dropped off the face of the Earth once again.

*

"Mom!" I called out, tossing my backpack on to the couch, "I'm home!"

I headed for the kitchen, waiting for a response that never came.

Where the hell was she? She had been in and out of the house since James came back, almost as if she didn't want to be here.

She would have told me if something was going on, right?

"Well, she didn't tell you about Brianna or your father being back in town, so why would she?" I muttered to myself, ripping a bottle of water from the bottom drawer of my fridge.

I let out a yelp when I lifted my head back up to meet a broad chest, a familiar washed out band shirt stretched out across it.

"You scared the crap out of me, Cammy." I slapped his chest playfully, shutting my fridge door before lifting my head to look at him.

But the boy I saw standing in front of me wasn't my Cam. His eyes were bloodshot and dilated, his eyes shooting up and down my body, as if he were peeling off my clothes with his eyes.

"What have you been drinking?" I asked, touching his cheek with the back of my hand. He shrugged, blinking a few times before he responded.

"Dunno. I found it in the kitchen. Downed the entire bottle throughout the day." He whispered, his eyes fluttering shut under my touch.

"Cam-"

"No lectures." He grumbled, "I don't want to talk to my mother right now, Blake. I want to talk to my girlfriend." I dropped my hand to my side.

"We never established the whole-"

"What? Are you having second thoughts about being my girlfriend now?" His eyes will still shut, a muscle in his jaw twitching.