Trapped Love ✓

•35• Plan B

Luckily for me, the class had a math test which meant that the room was silent for the whole hour. Mr Jackson gave me some other work to do and kept an eye on me at all times. I couldn't tell if it was out of fear or for the 'protection' that Principal Clark had ensured my mum I'd receive.

The light drizzle from the smoky clouds above let tiny droplets of water cling to my hair, making it shimmer at first glance.

"Lola?" Someone a few steps behind me asks.

Turning around, I find Chloe standing by the end of my car. She crosses her arms across her chest to keep herself warm. Her face flickers with the hint of a smile but quickly fades back to having no expression.

"Yeah?" I reply, trying to hide any emotion from my voice.

"Can we speak?" She asks, looking behind her to check if there's anyone else around.

"About what?" I frown.

"I need to tell you something..." She starts to say.

I also look behind her, wondering what it was that she was scared of.

"How do I say this?" Chloe rambles, clearly flustered.

"Just spit it out Chloe, I'm not really in the mood." I say as I tap my foot impatiently against the concrete.

"You know that day, about a month ago, when those pictures of you and that guy were all around the school?"

"How could I forget?" I scoff which makes her even more nervous.

"I'm the one who did it." She quickly says, her eyes glance between the cars and mine.

I take in a sharp breath, almost choking on the frozen air. It has been Chloe behind that this whole time. I thought we were friends. We've sat together for the past two years in math and I thought we got on. How could she have stabbed me in the back like this?

"Please let me explain." She desperately says, noticing the shocked look on my face.

"What is there to say?" I reply, still taken aback.

Once again, Chloe checks behind her shoulder, clearly hesitant to answer my question.

"After Amelia's party, when you two had that fight, she started to speak to me more around school and ask me to hang out with her more. One night I was at hers and she told me of the plan she had to try and take you down. She pitched it to me like a sales pitch, telling me why it was a good idea and why she wanted my help." She paused to catch her breath.

"Is this meant to make me feel better?" I ask as I interrupt her story.

"It's just something I need to get off my chest. Anyway, she told me about Jack-"

My body shudders at the mention of his name.

"And told me that she needed to get some pictures."

"Where did you get them?" I ask.

"Well, Amelia told me she'd searched into your past in England and gave me the number of a friend of yours called Emily. She thought that she'd have pictures of you that she could send to us. Amelia made me tell her that I was Zac's real girlfriend and that you'd made him cheat on me with you, she said that'd be a story that would have Emily on our side and I'm not going to lie, Emily agreed to send over the pictures almost immediately. She didn't seem to like you very much." Chloe stopped awkwardly.

"Yeah, Em and I aren't exactly friends anymore..." I trail off.

It finally makes sense. All of the polaroids had come from Emily's camera. She always took photos with it, she used to say that it was her way of collecting memories and that she'd store them in a future box so that she can look at them and remind herself of the good old days when she's old and grey.