Bad Connection✔️

The Unlucky Escape

The last story we come to before our fates were sealed, is this very one. It's where the big question was asked, the stereotypes came into play, and the rumors became slightly more true.

I was in the hall before 7th block when Anna came up to me. She was hesitant about speaking to me, everything was just off about her.

I finally quit pretending to ignore the vibes.

"Okay, Anna, what's up?" I asked her, pulling the second strap of my bag up onto my shoulder.

She shrugged and waited a second before answering. "Is it true you slept with Lucas Maddinly last weekend, and Mason Andrews got jealous and beat him up?"

I stared at her for a long moment.

"What."

She let off a nervous laugh. "It's nothing, it's just what I heard. I figured it probably wasn't true, but I wanted to check with you and see. It's just, that's what Lucas's been telling everyone and we all know Mason never had a problem with him before!"

My insides twisted. I didn't even really know Lucas, we had a class together and landed being partners for one project, but that was it. Nothing more had ever happened, and I never had any interest in it happening.

What the heck, Lucas?

A couple other people had been listening into mine and Anna's conversation.

"So is it true?" A girl, Karly, asked me, taking a step closer. Some of her friends joined in, and started adding on more questions to Anna's, then some of their friends joined in too until it seemed like there were 100 people talking at once.

My lungs tightened for a small second, and then I ran out.

I don't remember the route I took, or how I even found it, but I managed to find my way into a mechanical room. The room wasn't lit very well, leaving me to edge against the wall to find my way around the gloomy area.

"Who's here?" a tough voice demanded suddenly. I didn't respond.

"I said, who's in here?" it asked roughly again. Fear curled in the bottom of my stomach.

I pushed it aside and mumbled out, "Me."

They gave a bitter laugh before, "Nice name."

Genius response, Emmi.

"It's Emily. People call me Emmi, though."

"People?"

"Friends."

"Friends?"

"My parents."

He chuckled. "Okay, well I'm Mason."

My blood ran cold. My mind shot into overdrive, and finally came down to the thought that I had two options.

1. Play it off and pretend I'd just met him, act like I'd never heard any of the rumors.

Or 2. Run away and change my name.

If I'm honest, I wanted to chose two.

"Mason. Nickname?"

"I don't have one," he responded, I could hear his smile. "It's just Mason."

I nodded, then realized he probably couldn't see me. "Are you Mason Andrews or Mason Smith?"

"There's a Mason Smith? Huh."

Frick.

"Yeah," I whispered.

He was quiet for a long moment. "Emily Parths?"

I sat for a second, waiting for him to give a second option. Emily Garret, Emily Thomas. Emily Anything, just anybody else.

When no other choices were given, I gave a small 'mhm' as I sunk down the wall to the floor.

An awkward silence hung in the air for a while until he broke it. "I'm really tired of the rumors about us. I've been avoiding you in the halls, taking a different path every day just to make sure I don't have to come face to face with you and the rest of the school."

I don't know why, but that kind of stung. It's not my fault he helps me, and it isn't my fault people have boring lives and make things up. Half the things they say don't even sound true.

When I couldn't find a response, I mumbled an, "I'm sorry."

There was a shuffling from somewhere close by, some footsteps, and then somebody sat next to me.

"It's not your fault. You're just a clumsy girl who attracts trouble and picks out cute little bras. Sorry about the shirt, by the way. Doesn't coffee leave stains?"

I let out a small snicker. "Yeah, it does."

He laughed, too. "I guess it doesn't matter if it's supposed to rain or not, girls can really just never wear white shirts."

I nodded in agreement. The awkwardness settled again when he couldn't think of something else to say. So I tired to break it this time.

"I don't know what to do to make them stop talking about us."

I felt him shrug. "I guess we wait it out."

Waiting would eventually work, but it'd take a long time for it to go away, especially if both of us aren't really doing anything about what's being said.

Then an idea hit me.

"We could stage some huge break-up fight thing in the cafeteria."

He didn't say anything for a second.

"That's actually a really good idea, Emmi. We can make this work," he finally said before standing back up.

I stood up with him, mostly because I had no idea what else to do, but staying down on the ground seemed like one of those things that would make it awkward again.

A light suddenly lit up and I could see his face. He was on his phone, the screen lighting up him and some of the wall next to him.

"Phone number," he said.

I stared at him for a second before realizing he was asking for mine.

I stuttered the digits while he typed. He finally stopped and everything went black again. Then his hand was in mine and I was being led back the way I'd come in.

"I'll message you later. We can plan this whole fight thing then."

When I nodded he looked around. People in the hall were watching us. He slowly leaned down and kissed my cheek, making sure everyone saw before he turned around and walked away.

My hand went to the place he'd kissed before I could really think about it.

Why is my life so weird?

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