Joe answered the door. I smiled at him.
“Hey what’s up hon?” I asked trying to sound cheerful. I attempted to walk in but he just stood there blocking the way, by slightly leaning against the frame of the door.
“When were you going to say something about this? When were you going to tell me?” he yelled. I was startled by his actions. I shook my head confused.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Charlotte, I trusted you! I really liked you” he yelled yet again.
“Joe, what did I do?! Please tell me because I have no idea!” I yelled back getting a little pissed. He chuckled in sarcasm.
“Stop playing dumb! You cheated on me- Look, just don’t come back here. This whole thing was a mistake and it never should have happened.” He said harshly looking deeply in my eyes. He slammed the door in my face. I stood there shocked trying to process what just happened. When I finally realized I just lost Joe, I broke down in the middle of the hallway. I sat there and cried. I finally had the strength to pull myself together and get up from the floor. I drove home immediately. Luckily when I got there, my mom wasn’t there so I was able to try to calm myself down. I went to my room and just cried. Of course when I realized I loved him, he would do this to me and tell me I was cheating on him. First of all, I would never and second, I don’t even know where he came up with that idea.
The week went by and I didn’t go to school at all. I couldn’t bear to see him but I knew I would have to go back. It was Monday morning and my mom was making me go to school. I knew I looked a mess but I didn’t care. I threw on a pair of baggy sweatpants and a sweatshirt. I let my hair down. I didn’t bother putting any make up on. I looked out of my window and saw Harry and Collin waiting for me so I quickly grabbed my bag and went outside.
“Hey, she’s alive!” Harry said jokingly. I slightly smiled.
“Charlotte, how ya feeling? Mr. Benzoli’s been asking about you but I couldn’t really answer. I mean we haven’t seen you-.” Collin explained. I blocked everything out after he said Joe was asking about me. I didn’t know what to say, so I just nodded pretending not to care. We got to school and I wasn’t looking forward to homeroom. The bell rang to go to homeroom and so I went. It was awkward. I could feel him staring at me but I refused to look up. He cleared his throat loudly. I looked up and my gaze met his. Immediately, I put my head back down. I started fidgeting with my fingers while waiting for the bell to ring. It finally rang to go to first period. I walked out of homeroom as fast as I could. I didn’t feel up to finishing school that day so I left early. I didn’t go home because if I did, I knew I would cry in my bedroom the whole time. So I decided to go for a walk. I just walked and walked. I kept walking trying to make myself not cry. Suddenly while I was walking, I bumped into a hard and tall figure. I slowly looked up and saw Collin. He had a worried expression plastered on his face and just hugged me. I need that hug. As I calmed down, Collin and I went to a local park and sat on a bench.
“Thanks Col. I owe you one.”
“Nah, it’s cool. That’s what friends are for right?” he nudged me. I smiled.
“I think I’m okay. I’ll be fine.” I said nodding trying to convince myself.
“So are you over that douche?” he asked.
“Col, that’s a low blow and no. I’m not. Look I loved him. I actually loved him.” I said looking at the ground. He nodded understanding and embraced me in another tight hug. We spent about another hour at the park. I finally went home. I didn’t eat dinner. It was a long day so I decided to go straight to bed.
I woke up and looked at my phone. It was already the morning the next day. My mom walked in my room.
“Charlotte, your principal called me and told me you left early again!” She yelled while standing in front of me. I sat up and pushed my hair to the side. I just starred at her blankly expecting her to say something else.
“Why did you leave? This was you ninth time. Your principal is suspending you for a week. Now I’m going to ask you one more time, why were you skipping?” She yelled a bit louder. I shook my head not knowing how to answer. I felt a tear fall from my cheek as I thought of the real reason I’ve been acting like this. I quickly wiped it and looked to the ground.
“Is this about this boyfriend you had? Charlotte, what happened between you two?” She sat next to me calming down a bit.
“It was just a bad break up. I’m sorry.” I cried. She patted my back.
“Look, I feel bad for you but I told you I wanted to meet him. Maybe if I have, then this would have been avoided.” My mom walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. And with that, I just went back to bed.
A few times throughout my suspension, Harry and Collin visited me at home. My suspension went by pretty quickly unfortunately. It was Wednesday and I had to go back. I think being suspended helped me getting over Joe. I haven’t cried over him for days. Anyway, I got out of bed and decided to try to look somewhat decent. I put on a nice pair of jeans and a white v neck with a tan sweater. I straighten and curled my hair, and applied a little make up on. I went outside and Harry and Collin were there.
“Charlotte, it’s good to see you again.” Harry said with a worried look plastered on his face. I put my arm around his waist and smiled to show him that I was okay. We arrived at school after walking and talking, and of course catching up. I was so scared to go to homeroom, but I sucked it up and went. Joe was sitting at his desk and he only looked at me once. I walked over to my desk quickly. I was sitting there awkwardly fidgeting with my fingers. The bell rang and surprisingly, I didn’t rush out the door. I calmly walked and took my time.
At the end of the day, I had to go to Joe’s class. I sat down and took out my notebook. I looked up at Joe and he just looked angry, upset, and disappointed. I kind of felt bad. He started teaching class and honestly, I wasn’t in the mood to pay attention so I started doodling. I was in my own world. I got bored after a while so I started watching the clock noticing we only had five minutes left until I heard my name being called.
“Charlotte…” I recognized the voice. I looked up and saw Joe looking at me.
“Uh yes Mr. Benzoli.” I looked up. He stared at me blankly. There was an awkward silence in the room. I turned my head and saw everyone staring at me in shock; I’m guessing because I called him Mr. Benzoli. He continued to look at me then shook his head.
“I just wanted to make sure you were paying attention… Anyway class, why do you think the main character Lilith cheated on her spouse Tom? He was loyal to her. He didn’t do anything for him to deserve that.” Joe said starring directly at me the whole time.
“What is that supposed to mean?!” I snapped as I stood up from my chair. I realized everyone was looking at me. I excused myself and walked out of the classroom.
“Wait.” I turned around and saw Joe. He walked closer to me.
“What the hell was that?! The whole class knew something was up!” I whispered with anger in my voice.
“What are you talking about?”
“Joe, stop playing dumb. Look I don’t what I did to make you so mad but I’m sorry.” I started to cry.
“You cheated! That’s what you did!” He was breathing heavily and started to raise his voice.
“Why do you keep saying that? If I cheated, then why would I be this upset? Joe, I loved you. I actually loved you.” The tears were now freely falling from my eyes and I couldn’t stop them. He starred at me in shock. I heard footsteps coming toward us. It was Mrs. Aveen.
“Is everything okay?” she asked looking at us concerned.
“No, but I’ll get over it.” Just then the bell rang. I turned around and walked down the long hall way. I went to my car and immediately stared driving. I didn’t know where I was going but I didn’t care. I was speeding on an empty road. I was trying to slow down but I couldn’t. I drove straight ahead for about ten minutes until I immediately hit the break so I wouldn’t run over the squirrel in front of my car. I breathed heavily from the random stop of the car. I rubbed my eyes to clear my vision. Suddenly I heard a loud honking noise. I ignored it until it became louder. I looked to my right and saw a truck coming my way. I couldn’t move fast enough. I felt the bone crushing impact. I couldn’t hear anything. I just saw everything go blurry, and then I blacked out.