Her Guarded Heart

Chapter 25 - Loners on the Bleachers

Scarlett

It's the start of a new week, and yet my head was still buzzing from the Friday before. I have never drank that much and all the drinking and partying made me forget what happened that entire night. The last thing I remember from that night was giving James flowers.

"What's wrong with you? You seem out of it." Cassidy analyzed me as we walked down the vast halls that seemed like they never ended.

I rubbed my eyes. "I'm fine. I just have a really bad headache from Friday."

"I have Advil if you want some, or Tylenol. I can take you to the nurse?" Cassidy was always ready for any type of situation.

"No thank you, I'll be fine. I can make it through the day."

Her bright blue eyes judged me silently. "Alright. But I'm here if you need anythi-," she turned to look at the lockers to her right, "-hey, Ian!"

When Ian and I made eye contact, I got a sudden chill. His hazel eyes bored into mine, and the frown on his face made me realize something was wrong.

Cassidy pulled me by the arm and walked us over to his locker.

"We haven't talked in a while, how are you?" she asked him.

"I'm doing...fine I guess." His vibe gave off a different impression than just 'fine'.

"Yeah, I feel like we haven't hung out in a while," I chimed in.

He didn't dare look me in the eye. In fact, he didn't even respond.

There was an excruciating silence between the three of us. Cassidy and I stared at eachother in confusion, while Ian stared at the floor.

"It hasn't been that long, Scarlett," he finally acknowledged me. "I was the one that picked you up from the party on Friday."

I blinked. "That was you? Oh, thank you so much for looking out for me. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't there," I thanked him, but he didn't seem pleased.

"You're welcome." Ian rolled his eyes and walked off, his shoulder hitting mine in an aggressive way when he passed me.

I fell back a little when our shoulders touched because he was much bigger than me.

"What the hell was that about?" Cassidy asked, confused.

"I have no idea..." I've never seen Ian act like that. That wasn't the Ian I knew.

Me and Cassidy stared in disbelief as we watched Ian sulk away into the crowd of students.

The way he was acting made me think he was upset, but the look on his face made me believe he was in pain.

And it definitely had something to do with me.

James

Usually for lunch, the boys and I will go drive around and stop at the local pizza place near school to get something to eat. But as we were walking to the school parking lot, something caught my eye.

In the distance, I saw someone sitting alone on the bleachers that surrounded the football field.

I smiled. Even from far away, I knew it was her.

"James, hurry the fuck up!" Grant shouted at me as he hopped in the trunk of Vincent's—one of my other friends's—Tacoma.

"What are you staring at?" Jackson asked me as he threw his binder in the backseat.

"Nothing, nothing. I'm going to skip lunch today, I'll eat with you guys tomorrow," I told my friends.

"Why?" another one of my friend's, Cameron, asked.