Ariel's POV:
I walked out of the bathroom, my makeup no longer smudged under my eyes. Come on, Ariel. Pick yourself up!! You have to act like you don't care, remember?? I scolded myself mentally, sighing before walking back towards the classroom.
I noticed Kristi talking to Louis and I felt a pang of hurt hit me. She was still going to be friends with him, I knew she was, but he destroyed me. I have to deal with that fact now. But I wasn't going to make her give up a friendship for my sake, even if I did hate him now.
You don't hate him... I shook my mind, clearing away that thought as I saw Kristi catch my gaze, a guilty look coming onto her face as I saw Louis turn to meet my gaze. Seeing him, standing there, looking as if he were just fine, made my heart hurt.
I turned away from them and walked away, listening as Kristi called my name, but I ignored her. I'd talk to her alone, when we are in class. I didn't want to talk to her when she was with Louis, it wouldn't end up well for any of us and I knew that.
As I was walking to class, I felt a hand on my shoulder, so I stopped, narrowing my eyes and turning around. "What?" I snapped and I saw Harry looking at me startled. What I did notice about him was that his left eye was bruised. Did Louis do that to him? Wait, why is he talking to me??
"What is it, Harry?" I ask wearily and he sighs. "Look, about yesterday-" he starts but I hold a hand up, cutting him off. "Don't say a word about it Harry. Actually, I should be thanking you. You showed me how I was being played, so thanks for getting me crushed before I was even deeper than I already was." I said emotionlessly and he gives me a shocked look.
"No, Ariel you need to listen. I wanted to tell you that Louis wasn't actually playing you." he says and I narrow my eyes. "He admitted it himself, Harry!! What more proof do you need?" I hiss and he shakes his head.
"Listen to me right now Ariel. He did originally plan to do that, but he called it off!! He said he loved you!" he says hastily and for a moment I pause, thinking about what he said, but the more I thought about it, I found myself getting angrier.
"Please don't tell me any more lies Harry! I've had enough of them!" I yell, tears beginning to gather in my eyes and he looks at me shocked. "Ariel, I thought that you were the one playing him! I told you that because I thought I was protecting my friend from getting hurt! But obviously I did the exact opposite, and I feel like crap for doing it!" he says desperately at me, his green eyes pleading for me to listen to him, but I couldn't bring myself to believe him.
"I'm sorry Harry, I just don't know what to believe now." I say, turning away from him and running down the hallway. I needed to get away from everyone, and being in school wasn't helping me at all.
I got into the classroom, taking deep breaths as I went to my seat and sat down, just as the first bell rang. I laid my head on my desk as I heard more people walk in, ignoring the whispers that were being said about me. I knew that people saw how Louis and I weren't together now, so they were definitely going to be talking about it.
"Hey, Ari." Kristi says delicately and I lift my head up, smiling at her forcefully and she sits down beside me, a sad smile on her face. "I'm sorry for talking to Louis..." she trails off and I shake my head.
"No, I'm not going to interfere with a friendship just because of something that happened to me." I say and she gives me a slight hug, making me giggle. "Would you believe me if I said that the bet was a lie?" she says and I roll my eyes.
"Not you too." I groan and she gives me a confused look. "Harry came up to me and was telling me all this crap about how Louis called off the bet and that Harry only told me to protect Louis...but I can't believe that." I say, summarizing the talk Harry and I had minutes ago.
"Well..." she trails off and I give her a pleading look. "Please don't tell me that too. If anything I just need to drop the subject." I tell her, not knowing how much more I could take before I snapped. She nods to me knowingly, but stiffens as we both see Louis walk into the classroom, his eyes immediately falling on me.
I look down, breaking his gaze from me and I heard his sigh as he walked over to his seat...that just happened to be by me.
As soon as he sat down, I could feel the entire atmosphere surrounding us get heavy with awkwardness and I kept my gaze on the table. "Umm...Hi Ariel." he murmurs nervously and I take a deep breath, barely nodding to him. "Hi." I whisper, no longer having the hate inside of me. I couldn't bring myself to do it.
Before he could say anything else, the bell rang and Mr. Noltner began teaching, but I was zoned out the entire class, ignoring Louis and the teacher as my mind wandered, keeping my distance away from Louis.
As soon as the bell rang I took off, getting out of class as fast as I could, even leaving Kristi behind, but I'm sure she'd understand.
I regret doing that though. I'm walking down the middle of the hallway when I see Harry come up in front of me, crossing his arms with a stern look on his face. I just glare at him, turning around to go the other way when I see Louis coming up behind me, determination in his eyes.
"Haven't you two done enough to me?" I scream out and everything falls silent. The kids passing by the halls pass us looks before scurrying to class, not wanting to be late. No one says anything as Louis looks guilty and sad, while I can't see what Harry's doing.
"Ariel, you need to listen to me." Louis begs and I shake my head, tears gathering in my eyes. "You don't understand Louis. Trust isn't something I usually give to people twice, I don't know if I should even listen to you. I don't want to make the same mistake twice." I say to him, the hurt showing in my voice as his face fell.
"If you won't listen to him, listen to me." Harry says and I turn around, watching as he uncrossed his arms with a sigh. "I know I've been a jerk to you, Ariel, but this time I'm being honest. Louis cares for you, and you need to accept the truth." he says and I look down, my body beginning to shake in anger and a deep pain.
"What truth?" I spit, taking a few steps back and looking up, both of them now in my view. "What truth is there on a relationship built on a lie?" I snap, a tear slipping down my face and I angrily sweep it away. So much for not crying, huh Ariel?
"Ariel, just listen to me!" Louis begs and I shake my head at him. "NO! I...I gave you a chance Louis. A chance to prove that you were different...and...and you, you betrayed me!" I yell at him and he looks down at the ground ashamed, knowing that it was true.
"Ariel, Louis does love you! That is the truth! He broke off the deal a long time ago!" Harry yells at me and I look down, both of my hands going to my head as it began to pound. "STOP IT!! STOP IT WITH ALL THESE LIES!!" I shout, my body shaking before I turned around and took off running, to the front doors and out the school.
I didn't care if I missed school today, it was a mistake coming here. If all they were going to do is set me up and lie to me, I should never have come. Tears began to fall down my face as I ran, rain now starting to fall.
"Of course, of course it would be raining!!" I yell, sadness overwhelming me as I ran in the rain. I heard more footsteps behind me but I ignored it, pushing forward to get to my house.
"Ariel, wait!" Louis' voice made me cringe and I curled my fists into balls, running even harder. Suddenly, two hands were on my shoulders, making me come to a stop.
"Let me go!" I cry, trying to struggle against him, but he was too strong as he held me to his chest, making me stop struggling against him. He turned me around in his arms and looked down at me, tears in his eyes.
"Ariel what Harry said was true. I called it off. I love you!!" he says to me desperately and I begin to sob. "I can't tell if you're lying or not! Everything's been a lie Louis!" I scream, pushing away from him as the rain fell a little harder on us, soaking us head to toe.
"I'm not lying Ariel. I...I need you." he whispers, his voice cracking at the end and I bite my lip, trying to stop my tears. A part of me was telling me to believe him, to accept what he was saying was true and to move on with my life, but another part was telling me that this was just another part to his game, that these were more lies that he was feeding me.
"I know you love me too Ariel." he whispers and a pang of hurt hits me, and I slowly look up at him. "And because of that, I got betrayed." I say back to him, a tear falling down my face. "Please, believe me. I never meant for you to find out. I didn't want to hurt you." he says and my lip begins to tremble, looking at him.
He looked vulnerable, but I couldn't let myself fall for it. Something was holding me back from just running into his arms and letting him hold me, just like he used to, and it was my past. I've been so hurt and betrayed by men my entire life, the one time I let another man into my life...it ended in more pain.
"Louis...I...I can't believe you." I tell him and his shoulders begin to shake, almost like he was about to cry. He takes a step forward and puts his arms around me, his head leaning onto my shoulder as I heard him crying.
"Please...Ariel please...I'll do anything." he begs me and I begin to cry, putting my fists against his chest as both of us stood there crying. My heart was telling me to forgive him, but my mind wasn't letting me do that.
"I'm sorry Louis..." I whisper, pushing him away from me with my head bowed. I was shaking, sobs racking my body as the rain continued to fall down on us. "Please, Ariel." he begs and I bite my lip.
"Goodbye." I say, letting him go and running away from him. Tears fall down my face as I run, and I take a look over my shoulder, my heart breaking as I saw Louis sink to his knees, crying into his hands as the rain poured on him.
"I'm sorry Louis...I just can't do it." I sob, running the rest of the way to my house.
So sad :( hope you all liked this chapter! Sorry it took so long to get up, I've been really sick :(
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