Disguised as a Nerd

Chapter 37

Vanessa's POV

"Asher we need to talk," I tell him as soon as I sit down next to him.

"Uh oh, Ash looks like he's about to be single again~" Noah harmonizes. Ethan snorts at Noah's remark. Now thinking about it, it does look like I'm about to break up with him. "I told you, Ash, you had to come up with a better excuse than 'I have to attend this thing,' Angel face would eventually become suspicious," Noah adds on.

"Shut up Noah, maybe you could help instead of making things worse," Asher suggests.

"Good one Noah but, it's not true. I'm not breaking up with you Asher, I just need to tell you something," I reassure him.

"About that, could we talk later? Unless it's important, I need to go finish a project," Asher asks. I shake my head, it can wait, right?

"Sorry, I'll text you later!" he exclaims before leaving the cafeteria. I sigh, I missed my chance.

"What were you going to tell him?" Ethan asks.

"Nothing important, I just wanted to talk with him," I reply quickly. Ethan doesn't respond instead he stares at me for a few seconds. I know he is trying to figure out what my deal is. Thankfully, he breaks the stare as Amelia and Emily sit next to us.

"Amelia! Why are your eyes like that?!" Noah exclaims. I look at Amelia and realize what Noah is talking about.

"Noah do you really have to point that out?" Amelia asks annoyed.

"Sorry! You just don't seem like the type of person to cry-" Noah explains but Ethan interrupts him.

"Do you guys want to head out and eat ice cream after school? I heard there is a new place down the street-" Ethan asks changing the subject. I knew that he understood that Amelia might break down if we kept talking about her puffy eyes.

"Sure, we will meet you guys outside as soon as the bell rings for dismissal," Amelia reassures him. Ethan gives her a small smile. Sure enough, I knew that smile somewhat relieved a bit of her stress.

I'm seated next to Asher at the ice cream shop. The ice cream tastes amazing yet I know it would taste better if we were all not hiding secrets. I'm eating too slow that my chocolate ice cream is melting. I know what you're thinking, "Vanessa is basic," but chocolate is superior than vanilla.

Noah, of course, senses the mood surrounding us and tries to be his goofy self. It cracks some smiles here and there but it's not enough to take away our attention from Amelia's phone. Her phone lits up in the middle of our conversation. The only thing I managed to read was 'Mom'.

Amelia picked up her phone and texted a bit before setting down her phone. I checked mines and saw a quick message from her, 'we need to be there in 30 minutes'.

I turn to the guys to tell them we are leaving but they beat me to it.

"Well, sorry to cut this day short but we gotta leave, I'll see you guys in class tomorrow," Ethan dismisses himself as well for Asher and Noah.

I just simply nod. They are hiding something, the worst part is I knew it would impact all of us in some way.

"Vanessa, Emily, and I will head to the bathroom before we head to my h-house," Amelia stutters the last part. I nod at her approving.

I see their retreating figures and let out a big breath. I close my eyes tightly, why can't things be easy?

"Look! It's Nessa," exclaims a way too familiar voice. I groan inside.

I open my eyes, ready to see the devil. To my surprise, there were two. Besides Tatiana was Ian standing. He locks eyes with me and smirks.

"We meet again Vanessa, I knew I had to keep my eye on you. Guess what? I also found some interesting information about you! Who would have known that you are capable of keeping two big secrets from your boyfriend?" Ian sarcastically says. I widen my eyes at his response. He knew something.

"Why don't you tell your boyfriend about his dad's affair?" he smirks. Tatiana and I gasp at his revelation. I look away knowing that he is completely right.

"I have an idea, maybe it's because the affair is between his dad and your best friend's mother," Ian informs Tatiana. Tatiana turns her shocked face to a smirk as well. She got what she wanted, something to threatened me with.

"Tatiana, can you go order for us? I need to tell Vanessa one more thing, "Ian orders. Tatiana complies and leaves us alone. Ian stands up from his seat and walks up next to me.

"Don't worry, I didn't forget to find out your real identity, Ms. Vanessa Lee. Asher will be so disappointed once he finds out his girlfriend is someone completely different, after all, he hates lying," Ian whispers loud enough for me to hear.

"How do you know?" I ask terrified of how he got all of this information.

"Miss Lee, you are forgetting who my parents are, one of your major competitors, money is all I needed to get all of this," Ian confesses. Then, I smile at him.

"Well, you also know what my money can do, Ian doesn't utter a word or you will regret it," I threatened him.

"You are making me curious Miss Lee, I want to find out what you are capable of. After all, all I care about is Asher being defeated. I'll see you soon," Ian leaves right after that. Unfortunately, I knew it was going to be too soon.

"Dad! Please don't cry," Amelia whimpers. Her mom just left her house after confessing to her husband the truth about her affair. The poor man fell to his knees as she closed the door behind her.

"Dad! She isn't worth it-" Amelia tries to comfort her dad.

"Amelia, am I not a good husband? Am I not a good dad?" Amelia's dad asks her, yet I knew it was more directed to himself. I knew this was a personal matter so I take Emily out of the house along with myself.

"How did things get so fucked up?" I ask Emily.

"I don't know Vanessa but-" Emily starts but I interrupt her.

"You have that same feeling don't you?" I ask her.

"Yeah, something big is still yet to come," Emily confesses my suspicions. Her phone rings as she finishes off her sentence. She takes out her phone and is surprised as she reads the caller ID.

"Its Noah, I'll come back," Emily quickly tells me before she leaves to a farther place in the driveway. I look at the ground wanting someone to answer my questions. What is this bad feeling in me?

"Vanessa we got to leave now! Ian and Tatiana ran into Asher at the Downtown hospital. Noah said you might wanna be there before things get heated," Emily informs me. My eyes widen at the news. Asher was about to find out before I even get the chance to explain.

I grab the keys to Amelia's car and tell Emily to get in quickly. She looks confused as to why I'm reacting the way I am.

"Ian knows about the affair and my identity, he's going to tell Asher!" I say frustrated. She gasps knowing how messed up things were going to get.

I've never been a fan of driving fast but this time it didn't matter. Even parking was done in a second. Emily and I sprinted out of the car into the hospital. The doors opened for us and we continued to run to the main lobby.

I suddenly stop at what I see.

Ian and Tatiana are facing Asher with smiles on their faces. Asher's back was facing mine and I could see he was breathing heavily.

"Look! You're 'girlfriend' is here!" Tatiana exclaims sarcastically.

The moment I feared had arrived. It had arrived sooner than I had wanted it to be.

Asher turns around to meet my eyes. I study his face until I focus on his eyes. His fists are clenched and his eyes are filled with tears. I feel the tears coming out from me as well. Asher was always good at hiding how he felt but this time it was different.

He wore disappointment, anger, and betrayal.

He took a deep breath before walking towards me. Instead of stopping in front of me, he did the opposite. He moved out of the way and walked past me.

"Asher-" I begin hoping he would listen. He turns around to look at me.

"Pretend we don't know each other, I don't want to see you ever," Asher spits out with hatred. He turns for the last time and leaves the hospital. I begin to sob.

I lost him.