The doorbell rang, again. I had fallen asleep after a long cry and when I looked at my alarm clock, and read the time. It was 6:30. I had been asleep for an hour and a half. I pulled myself out of my bed and made my way towards the door, whoever this was better have a good excuse for waking me up.
I opened the door to see Jade and Jess standing there with a box of chocolates and a big tub of ice cream. I smiled at them, and they jumped on me, hugging me with all their strength.
"Feeling any better?" Jess asked.
"No, not really. Jason came around here like an hour ago saying that he wanted to talk to me, and I yelled at him and shut the door on his face." I said, smiling, proud of myself. They started laughing.
"Good girl," Jade said. They both came in and went straight to my room, opening my wardrobe.
"What are you doing?" I asked, sniffling.
"We're picking you a dress, you're going to get ready and we're going out!" they said. This is why they were my best friends; no matter when or what, they would always go out of their way to put me in a good mood. I chuckled and sat on my bed, watching them pick me a dress. I heard the front door open, and Mum came into my room. Oh great, how was I going to tell her this one.
"Oh, hey girls!" She said. "Sarah, what's wrong?"
"She walked in Jason's supply room and he was sucking face with some slut, and now we're taking her out and she's sleeping over mine, okay?" Jade said, which would be fine. My mum was like a second mum to both Jade and Jess.
Mum gasped, and didn't know what to say. She came and sat on my bed next to me, and gave me a huge hug.
"Don't worry, everything will turn out fine. I'll talk to Luke about it all and see what this is all about." Mum said in my ear. She broke out of the hug, then kissed my head. "Where do you girls plan on going, anyway?"
"Out to dinner, then we're meeting up with Luke and partying," Jess said, smiling. If this were any other school night, mum wouldn't let me.
"Okay girls, stay safe, alright?"
"Okay muuuum" we all said at the same time.
"I can't go out looking like this!" I exclaimed, looking in the mirror after getting changed into a nice black tight, dress that stopped mid-thigh. It was strapless and one of my favourites. "My eyes are all red, and I look like shit!"
"Oh, please Sarah, you always look beautiful!" Jade said, and I couldn't help but smile. I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and applied some foundation, mascara, a thin line of eyeliner, and some eyeshadow. I out my black high heels on, and grabbed my clutch. Jade was in a light pink dress that stopped just above her knee, and Jess was wearing a strapless purple dress.
As none of us have our licence, mum dropped us off at a big, lovely Chinese restaurant. We hopped out, and I gave mum a kiss on the cheek.
Dinner was fun, and we were talking about things that had nothing to do with Jason, whcih helped me get Jason out of my head. At 9:00, Luke picked us up from the restaurant and took us to a club. He knew the bouncer, so we got in easily. We sat on a comfy lounge, enjoying the music.
"Girls, these are my mates Mark and Simon," Luke said, and we all looked up. They were both pretty cute, and looked about 19. Jade and Jess giggled, and I smiled at them and introduced myself to them.
"Wait, Sarah, as in, Jason's girlfriend?" Mark asked after I gave him my name. Wow, this got awkward.
"Now ex-girlfriend," I said, letting out a small frown.
"WHAAAAT?!" He said, completely shocked. "No way! When did this happen?"
"Thi- This morning." I said, holding back my tears. He didn't bother asking, and just pulled me in a big hug. I just managed to hold back the tears, when Jade pulled me away from Mark.
"Let's go dance!!" She said with a huge grin on her face.
"Okay" I said, taking her hand and she pulled me towards the dance floor where Simon, Luke and Jess were. We started dancing, and before I knew it, it was already midnight. I had already drunken so much and I was all over the place. The more I thought about him, the more I drank. In other words, I drank a LOT.
I started getting tired, and went to sit on the lounge. My eyes were stinging from all the crying I had done today. Luke came and sat next to me.
"Did you enjoy tonight?" He asked.
"Yes, I loved it. Thank you, so much," I slurred, giving him a big hug. I never let go, and drifted off to sleep lying on him. I felt his arms pick me up, bridal style, so I guessed we were leaving. He placed me in his car, and I sat in the backseat between Jade and Jess. My eyes gave way, and I couldn't open them. I started crying again and my head was spinning. I gave up trying to open them, and placed my head on Jess' shoulder, and we drove off to Jade's house.
____
"Come on girls! Wake up now, or you'll be late!!" I heard Jade's mum yell from downstairs. I opened my eyes, and noticed we were all sharing a bed, like we usually did. How we all fit? Well, Jade had a King sized bed, and we all snuggle up to eachother.
"How are you feeling?" Jess asked when she noticed I was awake.
"Shit. My head is pounding a million beats per second," I said with a croaky voice.
"I'll go get you some panadol." Jade said, smiling.
As soon as I stood up, I felt a wave of nausea come over me and I ran to the bathroom and vomitted everything up. Jade came in with panadol and put me in the shower. I was a wreck. I washed my hair and I started to feel a bit better. When I got out, the girls were in the bathroom getting ready. I stepped out and looked at my face in the mirror and gasped.
"OH, MY GOD!" I yelled. They both turned around and looked at me, confused. "My eyes! They're so fucking puffy!!" I screamed. How could I go to school like this!?
"Sh, you're still gorgeous." They smiled, I just shrugged. Jade had a spare school dress, and Jess already had hers with her. You could tell I came prepared. I put on the dress, and continued getting ready. I left my hair out and got my school bag and shoes ready that my mum dropped off last night after she took us to dinner.
++++
Before I knew it, we were at school. We got off the bus, and I took a deep breath, this was it. I had to go to school, face Jason, and have huge, puffy eyes. I wanted to run away.
Art passed too fast, and I made my way to the science block. I put my bag on the rack, and got my books out. Jade and Jess were by my side, and we started walking towards his room. I stopped to the side of his door. Bridgette came, and I said hello to her, and then turned towards Jess and Jade.
"Guys, I- I can't do this. I can't look at him! I can't be in the same class as him for a whole period!!" I said, in my best whisper so no one could hear.
"Sare, stay strong. Text us if you need to, and we'll be right there. We know you can do it. Love you!" Jade said, and they both hugged me good bye.
"What's wrong?" Bridgette asked. Shit! I hadn't prepared my excuses.
"Uh, just broke up with my boyfriend yesterday, he cheated on me, just leave it at that," that was true, she just didn't know who my boyfriend was.
"You had a boyfriend!?" she asked, surprised.
"Yeah, I don't want to talk about it," I said, and she dropped it. I took another deep breath, and entered the room, and Luke was standing at Jason's desk. I shot him a confused look, and he signalled me to sit down. I took my seat next to Dom and Bridgette and sat there quietly, waiting for him to speak.
"Good morning guys. Mr Hills is away sick, today, so I will be filling in for him. My name is Mr Jones," he said, smiling, and I couldn't help but feel relieved that Jason was away. The girls sighed. Wait, Luke's a teacher? What the fuck?
"When will he be back?" Kirsten asked, obviously.
"Hopefully tomorrow."
Hopefully?! Why can't he just go and run away and never, ever return!? Luke explained the work we had to do, but and everyone put their heads down and worked while Luke took the attendance roll.
The rest of the class went pretty quick, and all the girls were flirting with him. He seemed to be enjoying it, and lapped it up.
At the end of class, I was walking out when Luke yelled out to me.
"Miss McKenny? Can you please come here for a second?" He asked. I turned around and walked to his desk.
"Yes, sir?" I said, chuckling.
"How are you feeling?"
"Shit, Luke. I feel like dying. I'd rather get stabbed a million times then go through this." He sighed, "Where's Jason anyway?" I asked.
"He rang me this morning saying he couldn't come in. His voice was all croaky and deep, so I'm guessing he was crying all night or something."
"Oh, right. Well I better be going. Bye, Luke."
"See ya later."
I walked out and Jade and Jess were standing there.
"Why did you have Luke as a teacher?" Jade asked, confused.
"Jason rang him this morning asking to fill in for him. Apparantly he sounded croaky or something." I said, aciting as if I didn't care.
After recess, I made my way to PE. I took my seat, and thought about everything. Jason cried over me? Was it true that he didn't mean it? I kept asking myself a million questions. "Sarah!" Sir yelled. I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to him.
"Yeah?" I said, croakily. That got everyones attention. Fuck, why didn't I clear my throat before I spoke!
"Can you please wait behind after class?" Yay. Just what I wanted.
"Sure," I said, annoyed.
The end of the period came, and I stayed behind. I walked up to his desk. "What's up with you today?" He asked.
"Nothing?" I said, acting stupid.
"Sare, your eyes are all puffy and red, you're always happy and today you're not yourself. Is everything okay?"
My eyes started tearing up. "Yes, everything's fine, thanks." I said, and rushed out towards the door. I felt his hand grab my wrist, so I turned to him.
"If you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm here. You know that I don't want you relapsing and I'll do whatever needs to be done to make sure that doesn't happen," he said, smiling. He was probably the cuteset teacher before Jason came, and was really laid back and nice.
"Thanks, Mr Thompson. Really, it means a lot to me and I do appreciate it- I'd tell you if I could, trust me," I said returning the smile. The relapse he's talking about is when I used to struggle with self-harm, but I'd never ever go back there- especially over a guy. That's ridiculous.
At lunch, Kirsten came up to my group, I didn't bother looking at her and just put my head back down on my bag. Yes, we sit on the floor, we don't have like a cafeteria like those American movies, in Australia we sit on the playground floor.
"Sarah, can I please talk to you?" she asked, in her nicest voice possible. I knew she was going to be sucking up to me about yesterday.
I stood up and walked over to her. "What?"
"About yesterday, I just want you to know that it was just a one off kiss, and there's nothing between us."
"Whatever. I don't care?"
"I'm just telling you. I don't care if you tell on me, go ahead. Then word will go around that I kissed Mr Hotty and I'll actually be slightly happy," she was seriously unbelievable!
"Oh, wow. That's just.. Lovely," I said sarcastically. She smirked, and went to walk away, then suddenly turned around again.
"Oh by the way, I find it a bit weird that yesterday when you busted us making out, you seemed really angry. You come to school today, with red, puffy eyes, and Mr Hills is away. Seems a bit fishy, doesn't it?" Fuck.
"Wow, are you really that in love with him that you have to pick out small things, it must be a coincidence? You'll run with anything, I swear," I said.
"Hm, kay whatever," she said and walked away.
At the end of the day, I said good bye to the girls, and made my way to Luke’s car. He'd offered to take me to the gym and clear my head. Hwas already there, and I jumped in, and he drove off, heading towards the gym. He was so caring, and funny and nice. Why couldn’t I just fall for him? Argh.