I Choose You | ✓

Chapter 12: "I'm not interested."

"Wow, I didn't think she was that type of girl."

"Seriously? She's not even that hot."

"Is she really that desperate? I wonder if she had to pay him?"

Their voices turn from a whisper to a regular volume and I can't take it anymore. I shove my way through the crowd and pump my legs as fast as I could, trying to hold myself together.

I didn't know where I was running to but soon found myself alone in a bathroom stall, wiping away a few unshed tears. What the hell was that all about? Why did he lie? Soon, tears stopped forming and anger slowly starts to build up.

The bell rings and silence fills the hall outside. Luckily, I have a free period next, so I didn't have to worry about facing everyone's judgmental stares.

I walk out of the stall and look at myself in the mirror. My mascara is smudged and I look like a mess. I clean myself up and reapply a quick coat of mascara before leaving. I should've known. Once an asshole, always an asshole.

A N D R E W   D A L T O N

My eyes open as I hear a loud ringing noise coming from beside me. I groan and notice how bright the sun is shining when it's usually a little dark when I wake up for school. I get up and glance at my phone, noticing the two missed calls from Jacob. The phone rings again and I pick up.

"Dude, where are you? School's about to start in a minute."

His words immediately wake me up and I look at the clock. 7:59 A.M. Holy crap, I'm late. I hang up the phone and quickly get dressed.

By the time I get to school, I've already missed English and second period is about to start.

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A female voice calls out my name and I turn around. Shortcake comes up to me and hands me the clothes that I lent her the other night.

"Here. I washed it already, so it should be clean."

"Thanks, love. See you again tonight." I respond as I grab the shorts and give her a wink. As I walk away, Jacob congratulates me.

"Wow dude, you actually did the dare."

"Not yet, we almost did it, but my mom interrupted us," I lie, knowing that Jacob would tease me for turning soft if I told him the truth.

She runs up from behind and grabs my arm.

"What does that mean?" Shortcake asks, a hint of confusion and frustration in her voice.

"You know exactly what I mean, love. You should feel honored to be able to have a second taste of me so soon." A look of shock flashes across her face and I turn around, feeling slightly ashamed for embarrassing her in front of so many people. I don't want people to think that my game was weak.

"Talk about bad timing," Jacob jokes.

We walk to history and the bell rings. I hear subtle whispers around me, talking about the incident that just occurred in the hallway. I try to pay attention, but the whole situation replays in my head over and over again. The more it replayed, the guiltier I felt. I had to find her after class and apologize.

***********

S O P H I E   W I L K I N S

For the rest of the day, people were constantly watching me as I pass through the hallway, giving me dirty looks. The word had spread like wildfire, but I ignored their stares, continuing on with the day as if nothing happened.

I also avoid Andrew and tell Bree what happened. She comforted me and shot evil glares back at everyone who stared at us while we walked.

Finally, the last class of the day arrives. The situation seems to calm down a little but not completely. There are still some girls that are giving me looks in P.E. and snickering, but I held my head high. We played dodgeball and I was able to relieve some of my frustration, chucking foam balls at the girls who laughed at me earlier. Karma's a bitch.

As we walk to the locker rooms to change, a rough hand grabs onto my arm. I immediately sense who it is and I turn around, slowly feeling irritation and anger build up.

"Hey, can we talk?" Andrew questions, his eyes showing some regret.

"I'm not in the mood to talk to you right now," I argue, a slight hint of hurt in my words.

"Please? It'll only take five minutes," Andrew begs, this time sounding more desperate.

"Whatever it is you have to say, I'm not interested," I say bluntly. I shake his hand off and continue to walk with Bree.

I know eventually I'd probably have to talk to Andrew, but right now, I'm sweaty, I almost rolled my ankle and I still need to blow off some steam before I could hopefully have a normal conversation with him.

Is his reputation more important than someone else's feelings? I thought we had some sort of friendship or the start of one at the very least, but as I thought about it, I asked myself, where we really even friends?

Sure, we exchange witty banter with each other as friends do, but there are other times where we act like we aren't friends. Like we were something more.

I don't know where we stood in each other's lives, but I knew one thing for sure. Andrew Dalton would always be a player, and I was his next victim.

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Hey, hey, hey!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know we haven't seen Aria recently, but that's about to change in the next chapter. Also, if you don't remember who Max is, he's the guy who first pointed Sophie out to Jacob at the summer party, which inspired Jacob's dare, and was the only person in the "popular group" who didn't laugh at Sophie when Aria tripped her at lunch. 😉

See you in the next chapter, my lovely readers! ~Karlee 💛