I know people say running away from your problems is bad, but screw what people are saying right now. Most of my body was covered in milk and I didn't want to stick around for more humiliation. I pushed through the girl's bathroom door, and leaned against the counter.
I took deep breaths, staring back at the girl in the mirror, she looked like a mess. Her hair was currently dripping milk onto the marble counter, the sides of her tear stained face had little droplets of the dairy product and her shirt looked a bit damp matching her jeans. The girl in the reflection looked so weak and so helpless, as if nothing in the world could bring a smile to her face. I felt completely and utterly bad for this girl. Yes, she had friends who loved her and would always be there for her, but the one person she wanted there for her - was there, although to her, he was nowhere to be found. And unfortunately, that girl in the mirror, is me.
Hearing the bathroom door squeak open, I quickly started wiping away the tears and milk stains on my face, clothes, and hair. Even though I'm pretty sure by now, everyone in the school has already heard of the milk mishap in the cafeteria. A voice that I was so shocked to hear echoed throughout the bathroom, "Now that's not what I want to see."
From the reflection in the mirror, I noticed Parker leaning against a stall door with a towel and hoodie in his hand.
"Well next time someone pours any type of liquid on me, I'll make sure to prepare for it." I said sniffling, while wiping away any sign of me crying on my face.
He took a few steps closer to me, staring at me with sympathy, "I don't want to see such a beautiful girl like you looking like this. You didn't deserve any of that Alex."
"Apparently Quinn thought otherwise." I replied, rubbing my arms awkwardly.
He then handed me the white cloth towel in her hand, which I used to dry myself up.
"You're not supposed to be here Parker. This is the girls room, if you get caught, chicks will freak out."
He waved me off, "It's alright, no one is going to care. Plus, you need someone right now, and as your new friend it's my job to care about you."
I gave him a small smile. He then took a lock of my hair between his fingers, and examined it firmly, scrunching up his nose in disgust. He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, "She's a real bitch."
I let out a laugh, "No kidding."
"Don't worry though, she got what she deserved." He said with a sinister smile.
I furrowed my eyebrows, "What exactly do you mean by that?"
He smirked, "Well after you left, Colton and Lillian started yelling at her, than I joined in, and Jayce was trying to break all of us apart. So he pulled Quinn away, and led her away from us, not knowing that you left a puddle of milk in the middle of the walkway, so as she walked towards it, she sort of slipped and fell on her ass in front of everyone."
I giggled at his little story, "Even though that wasn't as worse as what she did to me, I'm still happy that she made a fool out of herself. Serves her right."
Finishing up drying up my hair, I handed him back the towel, and mumbled a quiet thank you to him.
"Don't be thanking me yet, I know this may not be quite your style, but it'll do for now to cover up your damp clothes." He handed me the hoodie in his hand, which he was wearing back in the cafeteria.
I quickly shook my head, "I can't take this, you've already done enough for me Parker. And what if people think... the um wrong thing when they see me come out with your hoodie on."
He grinned, gently handing me the gray sweater, "All I need to know is that nothing bad happened here between us. Let them talk, it's all just noise Alex."
I smirked, pulling the hoodie over myself, "Nice words of wisdom there."
Maybe having a friend like Parker wasn't so bad. At first I thought that things would be awkward, or that this some sort of friendship wouldn't last long because of his "popular" friends, but he was certainly proving me wrong.
The sound of a bell rang through the school. "We better get going, unless you want your oh so clean record to be marked with one tardy to class." He smiled jokingly, gesturing for me to leave the bathroom.
I followed him out, slapping his arm playfully, "Okay Mr. Jock, just because I like to do good in school, does not mean I'm one of those goody-goody's who are early to class and actually look forward to homework every night."
As we fast walked down the hallways together to get to our next class as quick as possible, we got a few stares from the rest of the student body. I'm guessing that they were probably whispering about two things; one being the milk mishap, and the second being about Parker and I's new found "love". Let's get one thing straight, just because a girl is seen with a person of the opposite sex, wearing his sweater, DOES NOT mean that they are together. Honestly, sometimes people need to stop assuming things, I swear.
"Say whatever you want Alex, just know that you'll always be my little goody two shoes." He jokingly pinched my cheek, giving me an adorable smile, "Anyways I got to go, unless I want another detention. Plus I can't afford to miss another practice, your brother would kick my ass. I'll catch up with you later!"
With a final wave, he entered a classroom without another glance back. I guess it was my turn to head to class.
♔
School ended faster than I thought. Two classes later and the day was done, and I was definitely glad. I did not need another set of eyes piercing through the back of my head.
"Hey Alex." Turning around at the familiar voice, I saw Cameron leaning against the wall off the school building. He was all dressed and ready for practice, which I was just about to get out of, right this moment.
"Hey, what's up?" I replied.
He sighed, "I'm not going to ask about what happened during lunch, all I know is that Colton, Lillian, and Parker took care of it, and I'm grateful for that. I underestimated Parker, he seems like an ok guy."
I nodded, "You should be grateful, things could have gone worse. And yes, Parker is a really good friend, he even lent me his sweater to cover up the wet milk stained clothes."
Cam's eyes scanned the sweater, and it looked like he was trying to hold in a laugh, "Yeah well, anyways, where you heading? I have practice today remember?"
Rolling my eyes, I replied, "When don't you have practice?"
"You've got a point there. Back to my question, where are you going?" He questioned, sounding like a stern parent.
"Well if you want to know so badly, I'm going to be walking home all by myself, because I don't want to have waste another two hours of my life watching you and your team get all sweaty and dirty." I said, with a teasing smile.
He shook his head, while adjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder, "Is that really the reason?"
I sighed, and ran my fingers through my hair, "Look, honestly, I just can't handle seeing Jayce right now, and wherever he is, Quinn is, so I'd rather skip your practice today and suffer a 20 minute walk home."
He crossed arms over his chest, "Good point, but I'm not going to let you walk home alone, something could happen to you."
I huffed out a puff of air; "Nothing is going to happen to me, I am old enough to take care of myself Cam, so please stop treating me like a child."
He groaned out loud, "Stop acting like some annoying teenage girl... actually scratch that, stop acting like an even more annoying teenage girl and just listen to me for once."
"Whatever," I rolled my eyes, turning around, while making my way down the stairs, "I'll see you when you get home."
I didn't hear his reply, since I had plugged him my earphones, letting some music flow through my head during this 20-minute walk.
Well, this day turned out to be very eventful. The winter season weather didn't help with how I was feeling. The gloomy sky above matched just how I was feeling on the inside. Plus, the songs I'm currently listening aren't helping with my situation.
Now here are the inner thoughts I've been pushing back into my mind. Honestly, when Quinn poured that carton of milk over my head, all these things flowed through my mind.
Should I cry? Slap her? Laugh it off?
But the only thing I actually did was run. I ran, avoiding any other confrontation with her. I'm pretty sure she was satisfied with what she had done, she probably ran out of energy to terrorize me even more. Although it didn't surprise me that Jayce hadn't done anything but stand there looking as shocked as everyone else. But hey, he didn't laugh right?
Stepping over all the lines and cracks of the sidewalk, I sighed out of frustration. Okay, I need to admit this to myself. I was extremely disappointed when Parker showed up in the girls bathroom. It's not like I was ungrateful for him practically saving me from further more humiliation, it's just that I was sort of hoping it would be Jayce.
Ugh, I'm being that type of girl.
The girl that tries to convince herself that a boy will change for her. The girl that defends a boy, who's openly being a jerk to her. And yes, the girl is I, and the boy is Jayce. It's not like I have feelings for him, I guess I just give people the benefit of the doubt.
Breaking out of my train of thought, I noticed a familiar street name; finally I'm almost home. As I walked down the sidewalk at a normal pace, I heard footsteps behind me. I didn't mind it, until the steps were sounding closer to me, as if they were following me. Shit, this was exactly what Cameron was talking about. Ugh, the one time I actually go against what he says, something bad was going to happen to me.
I quickened my steps, as my house came into view. Just as I was about to step near my dirty old mailbox, a rough hand grabbed the strap of my bag, pulling me back.
I felt panicked, and almost let out a scream, before a hand covered my mouth. By now, my breathing came in quick inhales and exhales. Using any sort of physical fighting combat moves Cam had done during a karate tournament in the 8th grade, I stomped with great force on the attackers foot, while bringing my elbow back, hitting them right in the gut. I heard a familiar groan of pain, and squirmed my way out of their grip. I swiftly turned around, "Colton?!"
He was currently hunched over from what I had just done to him, yet I didn't feel all that bad.
"What the hell was that for?" He managed to say.
I stuttered out a response, "I thought that you were some rapist or pedophile, maybe even a kidnapper."
"Well I'm not!" He exclaimed loudly, standing up straighter.
Muttering an apology, I sent him an embarrassed smile, "I'm sorry?"
He rolled his eyes, and cleared his throat, "Yeah whatever. This wasn't even my idea in the first place, it was Cameron's. I had planned on staying after school with Lillian to help her out with this school project that we were assigned together."
Continuing my way to my house, I replied, "I've noticed that you've been spending so much time with her lately, what's that about?"
I noticed a slight blush form on his cheeks, but he hurriedly covered it up, by following me to my front door, "Why are you asking? Does that bother you?"
Unlocking the door, we both entered at once, "No not at all, it's just odd that's all."
He mumbled a "Yeah," as we stepped into the living room.
"So how are you? After the whole, you know, Quinn thing during lunch." He said hesitantly.
I sighed, placing my bag down, "How would you feel if that happened to you?"
He thought for a moment, before responding, "I'd probably feel like crap."
I pursed my lips, "Well there you go."
He looked at me curiously, "Hey, I just remembered something. You never answered our question during lunch."
My mouth formed an "o", as I laughed nervously, "Yeah, well that was before the whole milk thing."
"Okay, enough of that little mishap. Right now we're going to talk about who you went out with on Friday night." He leaned back on the cream cushions of the couches, linking his hands together, and placing them on the back of his head. "So who was this mystery guy?"
I raised a challenging eyebrow at him, "And why do I have to tell you?"
In that moment, he plastered a sinister expression on his face, "Well, you know what, you don't have to tell me. I'll just ask Cameron when he gets back, I'm sure he knows who it was."
I glared at him, indicating that he had caught me there, "Okay, you got me, I'll tell you."
He grinned widely, knowing he had won this time, "Now put me out of my misery and tell me."
I gritted my teeth, and groaned out of frustration, "It was Jayce."
His grin immediately vanished, and his eyebrows looked like they were frowning, "Him?"
I nodded shyly.
He shook his head, and scowled in disgust, "Why him?"
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, "I may not be that fond of him, but what's so wrong about him?"
He gripped his hair, "Out of all the guys in Hartwell High, it had to be Jayce fucking Reynolds!"
"Why the sudden outburst Colton? I didn't know you felt this way about Jayce."
His anger surprised me. Out of all the years I've known Colton Michaels, he never even interacted with Jayce, until that one time in the hallway, but his words were pointed mainly towards Miles.
"You've never even talked to him before Alex, so why now?" He questioned with rage.
I shrugged, "I just gave him a chance, he seems very nice and all but-"
He waved his hands, dismissing my sentence, "No, just no. I just can't believe that you of all people would be with Jayce."
For some reason, I was offended by his words, "And what the hell is that suppose to mean?"
"What I mean, is that why he chose you, he already has a fucking perfect girlfriend, so I don't understand why he would all of a sudden go after a girl like you!" He seemed so angered, probably not even thinking about what he was saying.
His words were like slaps in the face towards me, "What is your problem? First you get all pissed about me going out with Jayce, once! And now you're insulting me, your best friend, what is wrong with you?!"
He retaliated, "You should be asking yourself that! Jayce, really? Are you out of your mind? I would've never thought that he'd actually stoop that low in going after a girl like you."
I sat there, dumbfounded. Where was this rude Colton coming from?
"I would've never thought that you'd actually be a bad friend." I stated with a stern expression.
He huffed, and grabbed his backpack, "Well if I'm a bad friend, then I have to go."
I watched as he stormed out of my house, slamming the front door in the process. Where did all that even come from? Colton Michaels was never the one to insult someone without apologizing after. Something happened between him and Jayce, and I'm so confused as to what it is.
-
Authors Note:
I apologize in advance for all the grammar and spelling mistakes in all of these chapters, I'll edit all chapters once I'm finished with the book.
ON THE SIDE: baby Colton Michaels played by Logan Lerman
PLEASE VOTE, COMMENT, & SHARE ✓
Until next time,
-queenfreakco