Enthrall

Chapter 12

August

I know, I'm crazy. Some even may say stupid, or idiotic, or deluded. Whatever. All I knew was that I missed him like hell, and every day that I was without him drove a stake deeper and deeper into my heart. I thought that maybe it'd get easier, that I'd get over him and the pain would gradually go away. After all, we had only been together for about a month.

But it didn't. In fact, it got worse. Even though I had more free time, all it meant was that I had even more time to think about how lonely I was without him. How perfect we were for each other. I'd heard about all of the fun Miles had been having in my absence. Believe me, people like Stephanie Miller couldn't wait to let me know all about it. She had approached me before class began one day, which is something she would never do, so she obviously had something very "important" to say. I began mock coughing when she got near me, in an attempt to make her go away.

"I'm sorry, I was just choking on your cheap designer knock-off perfume," I explained, knowing it was something that would probably anger her.

She frowned, but quickly regained confidence as an evil smile crept onto her face. "Your little boyfriend has been going on some dates."

"We broke up," I told her matter-of-factly, pulling my folder and my book out of my backpack to prepare for class. Of course it annoyed me, but I wasn't going to let her have the satisfaction of knowing that.

"From what I hear, he's been having a pretty good time. I heard that he went out with Kacie McCoy and kissed her," she went on, mirth in her voice as she tossed her hair behind her shoulder. She was clearly enjoying this.

"Mmhmm," I responded. I was clutching a pencil in my hand so hard that I could see my knuckles begin to turn white. It's fine, August, no big deal. Don't let her get to you.

"Well, all I'm saying is that you should learn how to take better care of your man so he's not trying so hard to find another woman. In fact, I was thinking about asking him out," she announced, staring straight at me.

I don't even know what happened after that. The next thing I knew, I was in the office with a clump of blonde curls still stuck between my fingers, waiting to be called in by the principal. Luckily, my reputation hadn't preceded me, so I wasn't punished too severely for my offense. A rather awkward parent conference and one day of suspension later, I was back at school. Stephanie didn't really mess with me after that.

So yes, I took him back. I tried to make it seem like it was a difficult decision but really, I was just waiting for him to ask me again.

And even though I was happy that we were back, I was still pretty hurt by the fact that he had messed with my mind. So as my own form of payback, I decided to mess with him a little bit. For the whole rest of that day after he had approached me, I continued to avoid him. I ignored his phone calls when I got home. I didn't go online. In my own sick way, I was making him suffer, and it made me feel a little better. I took my secret path to school one last time. At school, I went every way that I knew he wouldn't. I laughed vindictively to myself as I saw him waiting for me at the end of the hallway that I would usually go through to exit the building that my first period class was in. It was mean. It was childish. I needed it.

At lunch, I walked up to him briefly and saw his eyes light up. I tried my best to keep my face straight, even though every ounce of my being wanted to break into a smile and wrap my arms around him.

"See you after school?" I asked casually.

"Yeah!" he replied eagerly.

"Okay," I shrugged, and left to go sit with Bobbi's group for the rest of lunch. I smiled inwardly to myself, feeling sufficiently pleased with how long I had made him wait for my undivided attention again.