I Choose You

9. Heartbroken (Edited)

My cheeks were burning red as I took in his appearance, which was nothing short of amazing. He wore a pair of regular khakis, along with a gray V-neck sweater, a plaid button down underneath, and a pair of black converse sneakers. His button down was neatly tucked into his pants, just as it usually was. It only made him look that much more handsome.

"Nice catch slick!" Autumn smiled, bumping his shoulder with hers in an attempt to break the ice. Meanwhile, all I could do was just stand there like an idiot, smiling with tinged cheeks. Why the heck can I never speak when he's around?

"No problem!" he laughed, looking down at me as we stood in the middle of the crowded hallway, people groaning and shoving as they made their way around us.

He looked like he wanted to say something to me because he was about to open his mouth, but then his eyes flickered to someone off in the distance and he quickly closed it, simply smiling politely at me, before turning and walking away. No words were exchanged between us, not even a hello or a goodbye. Nothing.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I stood there, dumbfounded. What was that all about? I thought after everything that had happened at the party things would be different between us. I thought we'd finally stop playing this stupid game of cat and mouse all the time. The maybe things would be different. We could at least friends—talk to each other more.

But I guess I was wrong.

"I thought you said things were great between you two? What was that all about?" Autumn asked, adjusting the strap of her shoulder bag as we continued through the hallway.

I furrowed my eyebrows, my eyes wandering around the hall, spotting Aiden's tall head of brown hair. He seemed to have been watching me with a strange look in his eyes. Some emotion that I couldn't place, but it was gone as soon as I'd seen it. In fact, he quickly looked away from me as soon as I'd spotted him.

"I don't know," I whispered, all the hope that I'd gathered washing away as quickly as it had come.

Autumn and I headed to the cafeteria, taking our usual seats at our usual table just like every other day. And just like every other day it was only the two of us there, eating our packed lunches from home, but after what had happened with Evan I didn't have much of an appetite. Instead, I grabbed my planner out of my backpack and skimmed through it to see what was on the agenda for the week. It was then that my eyes landed on the words written out for me on Friday's date.

AP Bio Unit Exam over Protein Synthesis/DNA Replication.

"Oh no!" I cried, grabbing my head with both hands. I wasn't prepared at all for this test, especially considering that I'd been so wrapped up with Evan, tutoring Aiden, and other classes. I had completely forgotten about it.

"What is it?" Autumn asked.

I looked at her with a look of panic in my eyes. "I have an exam in AP Bio that I completely forgot about! And I still have to tutor Aiden and go home and cook too!"

It's official. I was stressed.

"Calm down, Emery, you still have the entire week ahead of you. It's plenty of ti—!"

Autumn was interrupted by the same dark-haired boy who always seems to pop up in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think he has a knack for that, or maybe he just does it on purpose.

He took the empty seat next to me, placing his tray down next to my sprawled-out Biology book, with its highlighted lines and scribbled on pages. I furrowed my eyebrows as I watched him make himself comfortable, not once noticing the entire cafeteria watching him, along with the rest of his friends.