Previously on Fool Me Twice, Shame On me
Noel and Emery couldn't seem to get along after the former discovered that she was at Dean's basketball appreciation party the previous day. During their argument, her suspicions of him heightened to the extent where he felt obligated to explain his involvement in the conspiracy to humiliate her years ago. He ended up revealing all the people who were involved in the conspiracy, including Luke (Aaliyah's boyfriend) and Quentin (the originator of Emery's suspicions).
In addition, he claimed that he only found out about the plan to humiliate her later during the night of his party which triggered mixed feelings from Emery. Unable to fully believe his story, Emery ended up confronting Quentin who came to stir up some drama on campus. Once she confronted him and revealed everything Noel told her, Quentin ended up revealing a different side of the story. Emery found out that Noel was the mastermind behind the whole plan to humiliate her that night and he encouraged Dean to do it.
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• C H A P T E R
T W E N T Y N I N E •
There's no way he could've been a part of it.
If we didn't know each other back then, why would he have concocted a plan to humiliate me in front of the entire school and lied about it?
He wouldn't have approached me in an amicable way at the beginning of senior year knowing deep down, he was in some way responsible for my departure.
I'm sickened to my stomach just from thinking about it.
"What have you done?" That's all it takes to bring me back to reality.
Noel clenches his fists as he slowly approaches me. His eyes glisten with apprehension once his gaze locks with mine. He constantly breaks eye contact to glance at Quentin before meeting my gaze.
"This jackass can't possibly be telling the truth..." is the first thing to come out of Anthony's mouth in reaction to Quentin's revelation.
Neither Dean nor Noel dares to speak which triggers an exasperated sigh from Anthony's end.
"Dean?" Anthony's seeks for said person's input but it's almost impossible to gain his attention.
Once there's no response from him, Anthony opts for a different tactic.
"DEAN?" He doesn't say a word and just when I think things couldn't get any worse, Noel maneuvers his way in front of me.
Too numb to form a rational thought, I berate myself on how stupid I was to ever believe a word that came out of his mouth.
Expecting tears to blur my vision, I'm surprised when nothing comes out.
He keeps his unrelenting gaze on mine and despite the circumstances; I can't bring myself to look away or speak. I tune out my surroundings to examine him closely.
It's amazing how you think you know someone but you end up seeing their true colors once they're unmasked.
"Emery..." his voice comes out strained as he attempts to grab my hand.
I snatch my hand away, face raked of disdain.
His eyes rake of despair as tries to catch my eyes. "I can explain."
"What can you possibly say to explain yourself?" I surprise myself by speaking monotonously. "How many more patterns of lies do you think I can take?"
An apprehensive look clouds Noel's features. "Whatever he told you was a..." he exhales shakily and before he can bring himself to continue, I interrupt him.
"WHAT? A LIE? Something he just conjured up?" My voice rises out of rage. "Are you seriously going to deny it?"
Suddenly, Luke intervenes. "You're like a plunger, you like bringing up old shit. We were all blowing off some steam until you came along to make it all about you since you always need to be the victim." Quentin's crew instigates a few 'oohs' and chuckles but I'm immune to it all.
Breathing hard, I sneer his way. At the moment, all I want to do is smash a wall, something...anything to relieve myself off the anger building up.
"Oh, so now you're not going to deny what happened?" All anger and frustration escapes me as I withdraw from Noel's presence before making a beeline to Luke's direction.
I don't waver from Luke's belligerent expression once I make an abrupt halt in front of him. "You dated the best friend of the girl whom you conspired to humiliate. With your slimy ass, who knows what other secrets you've been keeping from Aaliyah? Has it also been a plan of yours to humiliate her as well this entire time?"
His eyes narrow for a second before his face contorts into an unfazed look. "You're so delusional. Don't make this any dramatic than it needs to be and please, for everyone's sake, crawl back to whatever hole you came from."
"Stay out of this Luke." Noel commands and I can see him taking approaching footsteps from my peripheral vision. "Emery, please can we just talk alone?" he implores.
Once he's standing a few feet away from us, he reattempts to grab my hand and succeeds this time but I instantly disengage my hand from his firm hold like he's a virus.
I throw him a cynical expression, disgusted by the brief contact. "Don't fucking touch me."
Unlike the apologetic look he wore earlier, he looks taken aback.
I avert my gaze back to Luke's and throw him a death glare. "And you, don't tell me what to do," I retort, "it may work with your girlfriend but it certainly does NOT work with me."
There's a strained silence before Quentin intervenes. "Good thing you found out before it was too late Emery. If I were you, I'd transfer school...again." As if in queue, he and his crew erupt into laughter.
Once their laughter dies down, he then continues. "I recommend Parkland Academy. Transfer school and get with the winning team so you get to cheer us after we win the championship league against Redhawks."
"Okay Michael Jordan wannabe," Anthony summons a belligerent expression as he flounces towards Quentin. "How about you and your little group of friends get the fuck out of our school's premises, yah? I don't recall Emery asking for your unsolicited advice so shut the fuck up. You boys best be on your way now."
With folded arms, Quentin stands his ground and seems apathetic.
"Anthony, my man," his voice oozes sarcasm, "hate to break it to you but I'm just getting started here. And I didn't get the memo that you were pulling her puppet strings all of a sudden. Damn... first it was Noel, then Dean and now you? I mean what is it about this girl that has you guys acting like a bunch of pussies?"
With a murderous glare, Anthony puffs out his chest and invades Quentin's personal space with a few inches separating their faces.
Quentin just triggered something in Anthony because with the current look on his face, Anthony could decimate his opponent right then and there.
If I were Quentin, I'd run for my life.
"What did you just say?" A murderous tone overtakes Anthony's voice and I can barely recognize him for a second.
Unfazed, Quentin briefly exchanges dumbfounded looks with his crew. "I thought I made myself pretty clear but I guess I'll just have to repeat myself again for you to process—"
Before he can finish his sentence things happen in such a fast motion because the last scene I see of Quentin is his smug state before everything immediately transpires into chaos.
He can't finish his sentence, there's no time because Noel's bolts straight towards Quentin's direction and before his feet gets to even touch the ground on his last step, he connects his fist into Quentin's jaw sending the latter to the ground.
Things start spiralling downward as many students rush to the commotion with their phones ready to film what appears to be one of the most vicious fights this school has ever seen.
"You fucking asshole." The sound of animal snarls claw their way up each of their throat. Blows are exchanged between them and it's hard to determine who has the upper hand since the fight looks equal in strength.
They keep rolling over on the ground but Quentin eventually manages to keep Noel's foot pinned preventing him from sprawling his leg.
He keeps the shoulder on his opposed side raised and chin tucked in order to minimize the effectiveness of any of Noel's strike, causing him to be slightly disoriented. Upon seeing Noel's vulnerability, Quentin doesn't give him the time to breathe before delivering punches straight to his jaw.
No one does anything to stop them giving that everyone's main focus is getting to record the outcome of the fight.
Seeing that Quentin now has the upper hand, Anthony plunges his bodyweight onto Quentin's back and tries with all his strength to pull him away from Noel. With a jolt, Quentin's hands are freed before Anthony succeeds in disentangling him from Noel before he ends up shoving him to the ground just a couple of feet away from me.
As he falls backwards, a surge in the crowd behind jolts me forward just in time for Quentin to collide into me. The air is forced out of my lungs and I instantly lose balance upon the impact before collapsing on the ground. A forceful pressure leaves my body but I continue to wince since the jolt of pain lances through my body.
Once I slowly open my eyes, Dean, Anthony, Aaliyah and Natalie whom are all circled around my frame cloud my vision. They each pin me with worried expressions.
For a brief moment, their voices are muffled and all I can see is their lips moving in slow motion. It's not until Dean reaches out his hand to offer his help that I quickly come back to my senses.
"Shit, I'm so sorry." Natalie and Anthony say in unison and it's right then I realize that Natalie was the one who accidentally jolted me into the fight scene.
Feeling my eyes water from pain, I try to get up but to no avail. It feels like someone shoved a knife down my back.
"Here grab my hand." Dean urges me to grab his hand for support but I disregard his gesture. I reattempt to get back on my feet but my knees end up buckling when I gradually get into a standing position.
Just when I think I'm about to fall for the second time in a row, Anthony encircles my waist and he braces my weight with his for support.
All traces of anger vanish from his face as his eyes glint with concern upon inspecting me. "Are you okay?"
Upon nodding my head, I become aware of my surroundings and remember that we still have an audience. The students witnessing the scene all whisper among themselves and some even laugh after what they just saw.
I dart a glance toward Noel who's still sprawled on the floor as he continues to wince in pain a few bruises covering his face. Quentin however, successfully got back on his feet all thanks to his mates I presume.
Dean who hadn't said a word throughout the fight comes to an abrupt halt in front of me. "You shouldn't have gotten yourself involved. Now look what happened." His voice is slightly laced with vulnerability.
As he reaches out to grasp my hand, I break away from Anthony's hold to take retreating steps. "Get the hell away from me."
His eyebrows furrow in confusion before realization dawns on his face.
"Emery—"
I intercede before he can finish. "I don't want to hear it."
"What the hell happened here?" Aaliyah's brows furrow in confusion as she assesses everyone's reactions.
All the frustrations that I've kept bottled up after I found out the truth morphs into word vomit and in that moment, I know I won't be able to control my outrage any longer. "You wanna know what happened? I'll tell you exactly what happened..." I start off, my voice intense. "See Luke here participated in the conspiracy to humiliate me years ago."
A bitter laugh escapes my mouth. "And you know who was the mastermind behind all of this plan...Noel of course." Slack jawed; both Aaliyah and Natalie appear astonished before Aaliyah shakes her head in disbelief.
"N-no that can't be true—" she pauses to search Luke's eyes in desperation, hoping for him to deny everything but he doesn't say a word.
"Luke, please tell me she's lying." Aaliyah says more urgently this time.
Unsentimental, he folds his arms and says. "It happened years ago..."
I don't even give her the time to react before I continue. "And you know what's funny about all this?" She averts her astonished gaze back to mine as I point an accusing finger at Dean while staring him straight in the eyes. "See this entire time, Dean knew all about it and SAID NOTHING. Was it their intention to humiliate me again? I guess we'll never know."
His expression is hard, as I know mine is. "Please calm down and let me exp —"
"I don't want to hear it!" I yell, feeling myself shaking. "Alright? So stop with the pretences. I don't want to hear anything you have to say because I know for a fact that I can't believe anything that comes out of your mouth at all.
"But at the end of the day it's my fault because I was so naïve and never learnt from my past mistakes. You know there's a proverb that says 'fool me once, shame on you but fool me twice, shame on me." I pause to dart a glance from Noel to Dean before continuing.
"I don't know about you guys, but that sounds pretty accurate." Once the words role out of my tongue, I swivel around before taking my retreat.
Earlier when Aaliyah sent me a text warning me not to trust Noel, I can only guess that she figured out of Noel's true intentions.
How did I miss it?
There were multiple signs but I failed to pick up on them. As I take a couple of deep breaths, I am dismayed to find hot tears rolling down my cheeks.
Everyday I go to school; I can never expect what's to come. I'm faced with unprecedented situations day in, day out.
Once I'm halfway across the school building, I decipher Evangelina's figure from afar. As soon as her eyes land on mine, she rushes straight toward my direction before coming to an abrupt halt in front of me.
She pins me with a look of concern upon inspecting me. "Emery, what's wrong?"
I can barely muster up a word since what started with drops of tears morphs into a sob. Instead of keeping things in like I thought I would, I end up breaking down.
Eva engulfs me in her arms as she tells me that everything is going to be okay. She doesn't even ask questions and just waits for me to let it all out. Once she senses a couple of eyes on us, she suggests we head to the girls bathroom.
As we walk through the hallway, I try to compose myself but it's impossible. The soreness of my back burns like hell but I'm insensible to the pain.
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By the time we enter the bathroom, I sink down on the floor as I continue to weep in Eva's arms. Luckily, the bathrooms stalls are unoccupied allowing me some privacy.
She continues to console me and whispers words of comfort. The door of the bathroom opens all of a sudden revealing Natalie's figure before she makes her way in. She dashes in our direction and ends up sitting next to me.
"Noel is such a jackass," she mutters once she rubs my back, "I hate how you had to find out this way. It sickens me."
Evangelina takes advantage of my unresponsive behaviour to ask her. "What happened out there?"
Natalie summarizes what will go down to be one of the worst days of my life and the worst part about it is haven to relive the moment as she tells her everything.
"What the fuck?" is Evagenlina's first reaction after Natalie feeds her all the details. "How could he have kept it from you and lied this entire time? I'm disgusted."
Once I'm able to catch my breath, I run a hand through my tresses. "How do you think I feel? I can't take it anymore, I just can't." I shield my face with my hands to prevent an outburst from taking place.
"I can't imagine the pain you're going through right now," Natalie begins in a quiet tone, "but I hope you're not considering of transferring school."
After I remove my hands from my face, I hesitate to answer since I'm seriously contemplating this alternate. "What if I am?"
Evangelina starts shaking her head. "No, one thing you're not going to do Em is leave. That practically indicates that you're giving up and you can't let that happen. You can bounce back from this mess... don't allow those assholes to have some power over you.
"You need to fight and face your problems. Don't make the same mistake you made last time when you transferred school. You've accomplished so much and it would have all been for nothing if you left. Promise me you won't do it."
She pins me with an intense glance once my eyes lock with her's. "Promise me."
Before I can respond, the door abruptly opens and my body curves into a defensive position upon seeing him.
"I don't want to see your face again," I vociferate as I arise form the floor, "get the hell out of my sight."
Dean stiffens and looks distraught but a determined look transforms his features. "I'm not going until you hear me out."
He takes a step forward but I take a step back. "Don't you dare come near me." I cry out as his presence fuels my anger. "Just go, I don't want to see you, not now, not ever."
Silence reigns and I almost forget about Natalie and Evangelina's presence.
He keeps breathing in an intense rhythm but he manages to be stubborn. "Look, I just want to explain things and I swear if you don't want anything to do with me afterwards, I'll leave."
Trembling, I run my hands though my hair as I try to keep my cool.
"Just hear him out. You deserve an explanation." I'm surprised upon hearing those words come out of Evangelina's mouth.
My eyes widen in disbelief. "I'm not—"
"We'll wait outside." She announces and rapidly stands up before withdrawing from our presence. On cue, Natalie follows suit and disappears from our sight.
As soon as the door closes, I sigh in exasperation. We lock each other's gaze before I'm the first to break the silence. "What can you possibly say to me at this moment that can justify what you did?"
"I couldn't tell you about Noel," he begins urgently, "I know how crazy that sounds but I just couldn't okay?"
Apathetic, a bitter laugh escapes my throat.
That's all he can say to defend himself?
"Is that all?" I say monotonously.
Before I know what's happening he launches forward before coming to an abrupt halt in front of me and I don't make an effort to form a gap anymore. "Don't shut me out."
I cross my arms over my chest, inspecting the ground. "If that's all you came to say then leave." I'm surprised at how calm I sound.
"Dammit, I couldn't tell you about Noel because he blackmailed me." He practically growls.
I shift my dark glare to his. "What are you talking about?"
Dean curses under his breath as he runs a hand through his locks and exhales sharply. For what seems like ages, we measure each other's gaze before he breaks the silence.
"The day after you left Roosevelt High," his voice is soft now, "I ended up getting fucking wasted at this party."
My reaction is pure confusion. "What has that got to do with anything?"
He looks like he's about to pour his heart out on his sleeves with the look he's giving me. "I was so drunk that night that I decided to send you this huge text that I regret to this day."
My expression hardens, as my brain is slow to process his words. "I didn't receive any—"
He interrupts me. "You didn't receive that message because I accidently sent it to Noel. I passed out before I knew what a huge mistake I made. The next day, Noel and I ended discussing about the text situation and at the time, I was so relieved that you didn't get a hold of that text and that he received it instead."
"But when you arrived a few months ago, and I saw how close you two were getting I was about to tell you everything."
I had something I needed to tell you but of course, Noel got to you before I could.
And then it hits.
On Halloween night at Evangelina's house, Dean revealed that he had something he wanted to tell me right before Noel confessed his feelings for me. When I questioned Dean about what he had to say, he was dismissive and brushed the topic aside.
"As soon as I found out about how you two were getting so close, I wanted to tell you everything but..."
My eyes glisten with anticipation. "But what?"
Dean's hands clench into a fist. "When he sensed that I was going to tell you everything, he threatened me with the text I sent him at the party that night."
Even if his revelation is somewhat insightful, there are still so many unanswered questions roaming through my head.
"What was the message Dean?" I interrogate like my life depends on it.
Dean shakes his head in disregard. "I can't tell you that."
I don't know what possesses me to grab him by the shirt but I do. By this time, we're separated by two inches. "Tell me what you said, tell me." I scream at the top of my lungs and my vision ends up blurring.
He cups my cheeks with his hands and my heart lodges in my throat when he wipes away my tears with his thumbs. "I-I can't."
"Maybe coming back here wasn't such a good idea." I admit in a monotonous tone with tears still cascading from my eyes. I end up loosening my grip from his shirt.
Dean shakes his head again, briefly brushing his forehead with mine. "You can't be thinking of leaving the school again, that's crazy."
"I don't care if I transfer school, twice or freaking thrice." I begin in an impatient tone. "I'm sick of everyone. This place is fucking toxic. And besides, you've been nothing but cruel to me since I got here so I don't see how my departure will make a difference."
He stares fixedly at me. "I made your life a living hell, I admit that but don't leave now."
"Why shouldn't I?"
Ungluing his eyes from mine he seems hesitant "Because...because I'll fucking end up missing you."
And suddenly the world stops. I must've heard him incorrectly because there's no way he just said what I think he said.
I break away from his hold to scrutinize him like he's grown two heads. "What?"
He nods in determination this time. "When you first returned to Roosevelt High, I tortured you because I was angry at myself. I was angry because all I felt towards you the first day we crossed paths wasn't spitefulness. I was so fucking angry because I didn't realize how badly I missed you until I saw you that day."
There air in the room becomes suffocating all of a sudden and it's like I'm having trouble breathing.
"So if that's a good enough reason to stay," his eyes are hooded. "I'll keep on saying it until it sinks in."
Still in shock, I allow his revelation to sink in.
"And you're just telling me this now?" I raise my voice. "Wednesday, you said you were jealous of Noel and I. Thursday, you confessed to caring about me and today you claim that you missed me while I was in boarding school. What's next? Monday you're going to profess your undying love for me? Right like I'm supposed to believe that Dean."
I inwardly snort.
An unreadable expression is plastered across his face.
I recollect my thoughts before continuing. "Until you don't tell me the full story about the text message situation, I'm not sure I can be able to trust you. Then again, I never trusted you to begin with so..."
Attempting to head towards the opposite direction, I'm propelled backwards since Dean captures my hand in his. Our shoulders swiftly touch but we don't hold each other's gaze.
"I did miss you Emery," he whispers and it's a miracle I get to hear him, "I hope you grow to believe me someday. Hate me all you want, but don't transfer school."
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What do you guys think Dean's text said?
A/N: I know it's been a while guys but I just want y'all to know how much I appreciate your support despite taking so long to update. I won't take forever to update the next chapters rest assured.