➴ ➵ ➴ ➵ ➴ ➵
• C H A P T E R F O U R •
One question.
Why the hell didn't I verify the caller I.D?
Well technically even if I did, I wouldn't have been familiar with the unknown digits appearing on my cell phone screen since, I deleted him from my contacts like two decades ago. I don't even remember Dean's phone number so, how the hell has he still managed to remember mine?
That could only mean one thing. . .he never removed me from his contacts.
Maybe he got your number from Aaliyah or Natalie?
That's impossible! They never would have given him my number. Sometimes my subconscious is really not thinking straight.
"Emery are you there?"
I can barely hear myself think due to the deafening sound of my heartbeat.
Perusing the phone like it could explode any second now, I immediately think of something to say.
"How the hell did you get my number Dean? No, the suitable question for this situation is; Why the hell are you even calling me?"
"Well, I told you the conversation that we had earlier was far from being over. So I'm calling you to fulfill my mission." he states in an arrogant tone.
I roll my eyes at his lame attempt of an excuse. Who the hell does he think he is, calling me for his own amusement? If he thinks he can act so cocky and full of himself then, two can play this game.
"You're starting to sound like a Star Wars character and you didn't even answer my first question you moron."
Why the hell is he even calling me?
Maybe he's calling me to apologize for all the horrible things he's done to me in the past. Maybe. . .just maybe.
"I don't have to explain myself to you. Just calm the fuck down." he retorts, his voice tone matching mine.
Okay, I really have to abstain myself from fantasizing about events that are highly unlikely to pass. Because at this point, my delusion is leading me to the brink of insanity.
"Do not tell me to calm down Dean, you're the one who's calling me so I have every right to act puzzled about the whole situation."
"If you really want to know why I'm calling you, well it's simply to persuade you into returning back to Boston." he says cockily.
Un-freakin-believable!
Not only is he calling me to annoy the living daylights out of me but he also has the nerve to call me for that? What's his problem? Doesn't he have anything better to do with his life?
I feel like my head is about to explode.
Gaining all the courage from inside of me, I don't prepare him for what I'm about to say next.
"Listen Dean Darnell and listen closely, don't you ever call me on my cell phone number again do you hear me?" I take a deep breath before continuing. "I'm not going back to Boston because you asked me to alright? So stop annoying me for goodness sake!"
"Wait—" I hang up the phone before he can say anything else.
Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I'm about to turn my phone off in order to concentrate on my essay only, I don't get to do that since I'm instantly greeted by my message alert tone, indicating that I have received text messages.
My eyebrows raise in astonishment at the twenty unread messages I've received.
Making myself comfortable on the bed, I click on my inbox.
From: Aaliyah
Girl are you even alive? Are you going to join us or nah?
I instantly roll my eyes at this. Aaliyah's always the impatient type whenever it comes to texting her friends. I furrow my eyebrows, confused on what her second question means. Scrolling down on my phone, I read the message she sent me before this one.
From: Aaliyah
We're gonna go see the Redhawks match on Monday after school. . . U're down?
Aaliyah is fully aware that I don't really enjoy being in basket ball courts. There are just way too many fan girls, cheerleaders and the loud noises in the basketball court are really impeccable.
I find it strange that the players already have a match at the begining of the semester — I mean it's a little bit odd for them to start a match this soon but if I recall on a conversation that I had with Aaliyah in relation to basketball earlier this summer; I was informed that the games were now scheduled during periods when there'll be no exams including the beginning of senior year.
Aaliyah was informed by one of the basketball players, who so happens to be her boyfriend.
Our school's basketball team are called the Red-Hawks and the inter-school basketball competition is on the loose. Knowing there's no way out from refusing her request, I begrudgingly reply her with a 'do I have a choice?' text before deciding to take a long nap.
Screw the essay. It can definetly wait.
♞ ♞ ♞
I awake abruptly to the sound of my ringtone. Letting out a monstrous growl, I throw a glance at my digital alarm clock to check the time.
7:20 PM
Sweet heavens.
I almost overslept for three hours. Grudginly forcing my body into a sitting position, I grab my phone and click the answer button prepared to put Dean in his place.
"Dean how many times do I have to tell you, never to both--"
"Sorry Em, Did I wake you and what? Dean? It's Aaliyah!"
This has got to be a new record. Now I know for sure that I really do need to check the caller whenever my phone rings. I have seriously become a lost cause.
"No it's fine and I thought you were someone else." I manage to say in a soft-spoken voice after a few minutes of awkward silence.
"And by someone else you mean Dean? Oh god Emery, your first day of school hasn't even ended yet and you've already managed to speak with Dean over the phone?''.
In some other cases, I would've called her a drama queen but, her tone is very suitable for the current situation.
"I know, he's the one who called me. I have no idea of what was running through his thick head when he decided to make the first call. He's so weird why would he even do that?"
"Unfortunately I don't have answers to all of your questions." She starts off "But tell me this. . . how was the passionate conversation that you both had?" she questions amusedly.
I rub my temples tiredly. "Other than the fact that he was acting completely obnoxious and delusional, I wouldn't say that we had a passionate conversation, but rather an unpleasant one."
I can hear her chuckling on the other line.
"Can we please talk about something else? I feel like my brains about to explode."
"Alright, anyways I can't wait to see the match it's gonna be legit." I can imagine her smile on the other line.
"You just wanna watch the match because of Luke." I imply mockingly. I really enjoy teasing her all the time just like how she enjoys teasing me too.
"No, you're so wrong! " she protests in a pitched tone.
"Come on Aaliyah, before you started dating him, you had no interest whatsoever for basketball."
Luke is Aaliyah's boyfriend. He has a basketball pedigree just like Dean and Anthony. He's what you could call popular and good-looking with his cloud gray eyes and ash brown hair. I don't really know him that well since, he and Aaliyah began dating while I was in Boston.
However, I've noticed how giddy and smiley she gets whenever anyone mentions his name. I guess my best friend has really found true love and I know it sounds sappy and cheesy, but it's true.
"Okay that's true but—" her sentence is interrupted by my dad's voice carrying up to my bedroom. "Emery, Dinner's ready!"
The mention of food causes my stomach to do it's usual rumbling, gurgling noise. I didn't realize I was hungry until now.
"Hey, I gotta go — it's dinner time but I'll call you later." I hang up the phone as I vigorously spring up from my bed before making a beeline towards the door.
Dinner, here I come.
♞ ♞ ♞
The weekend passes by faster than I expected, and as usual, Monday quickly makes it's debut again. I seriously hate waking up very early to go to school everyday, it's so aggravating.
I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror after doing the usual morning routine. Today's one of those days where I'm dressed in a burgundy polo along with a pair of black Hollister skinny jeans. My dark-brown locks glimmer in the light and cascade past my shoulders. The only thing that I appreciate about my physical appearance, is the fact that my hair is naturally wavy.
After grabbing my bag from the bed, I check my wristwatch.
I only have twenty minutes left to get to school which means I may not have enough time to eat breakfast. I seriously need to practice getting up very early in the mornings. I stagger my way down two flights of stairs to the kitchen and hurriedly retrieve a snack from the cabinet. Knowing dad's usually sleeping aroud this time in the morning, I don't bother to greet him.
Jamming to the music on my iPod, I walk towards the garage where both my Mercedes-Benz and my dad's black colored Range Rover are stationed. After clicking the unlock button on my car key, I slide into the vehicle before abruptly tossing my bag onto the passenger seat.
The ride from my house to school isn't really long. Sure, it consists of a twenty minutes walk but it's only an eight minutes car drive. The car slows and smoothly comes to halt once I'm in the parking lot. After hearing the school bell ring from inside my vehicle, I frantically unbuckle my seatbelt and prepare to leave the car but I instantly freeze indoors once I realize what I'm seeing from a distance.
In another black vehicle are two horny teenagers, who are aggressively making out. I pull a disgusting expression at the scene before me.
"They really need to get a room." I say to myself. The brunette girl is straddled on top of the guy who -
Wait a minute.
I know him.
It seems that the mystery guy appears to be none other than Dean Darnell.
My face morphs into pure disgust. Not wanting to see anymore of this very disturbing scene, I open the door to my car and slam it shut with all the strength in me.
You really shouldn't have slammed the door so hard.
That's all I manage to register in my mind because after pulling that stunt, they both apprehend that they have company and rapidly pull away from each other. I gulp and stand statue-still in the parking lot once they've now averted their attention to me. Dean's eyebrows quirk in an angry fashion and his eyes flame in fire once he acknowledge's my presence. I grimace towards his direction as well.
Picking up all the courage that's left in me, I slowly turn around and speedily walk towards the school's building entrance with one thought in mind.
I guess he really hasn't changed a single bit.
♞ ♞ ♞
The day hasn't turned out to be a nightmare as I thought compared to Friday.
If that were only the case.
Just as I'm heading towards my locker and prepare for the second period, a pair of strong hands enclose my arm and pull me straight into the janitor's closet.
Before I know what's happening, my whole body is pinned against the walls of the room. Expecting it to be a kidnapper, I silently pray to the heavens for them to help me escape this terror.
Today's the day that you're going to get kidnapped.
My expectation's short lived as I witness before me, the face of the creature that I despise the most in this planet.
"We need to talk!"
Dean's face is inches from mine and for the first time I can see just how pissed and angry he is.
"There's absolutely nothing for us to talk about." I reply vehemently as I push myself away from him and detach my arm from his tight grip.
"I think we do," his voice is rough. "You can't tell anyone of what you saw today in the parking lot."
"Of you engaged in some lip-lock with whatever her name may be. . . now why the hell would I even bother?"
His glare is boring holes through my skull. "Just for once, do as you're told and stop fucking pretending like it didn't affect you."
I blink, unable to digest the words that just came out of his mouth.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I holler as I shove my hands into his chest. "Why would it even affect me? You're such a conceited prick. . .you need a doze of reality."
"This," I gesture at the open space between us. "What we used to have was a big mistake. I don't have any feelings for you anymore and as far as I'm concerned, you're dead to me so there's no reason for me to be jealous."
It's been building to this, all the unresolved tension and frustration has been building to this very moment. I am not prepared for the outcome.
Damn it!
It seems like an hour but a few seconds pass before he speaks. "I can tell you've still not managed to move on from the past." His voice is cold and my heart lodges into my throat.
His words pierce my heart but I manage to look away as I try to regulate my tense breathing.
"You don't know how I'm feeling so I suggest that you stop talking right now." I can feel the tears welling up behind my eyes as I glare at him. He's breaking our silent deal to never mention the unspoken.
I won't cry. . .I won't give him that sort of satisfaction.
"You know I'm right." He moves to block my path when I start for the janitor's room. "Stop pretending like you're over it when we both know that you're not." It's too much, it's all just too much. I tilt my head to face him but I know that it's a very big mistake because as soon as my eyes are locked with his, everything around me fades away. His cold expression shatters me and there's nothing I can do to stop it.
"Look Dean, I could care less if you're out sleeping around with different girls." I declare while taking a few steps backwards.
"This conversation was simply unnecessary and a complete waste of my time. If you thought that I'd actually spend my precious time, spreading the news to everyone that you were caught making out with some random girl because you thought it affected me—" I pause to take a deep breath before finishing my sentence.
"—then you definitely have another thing coming."
I spin on my heels before I rush out of the room, slamming the door shut behind me.
Pressing my back against the door, I take the time to process everything that has just happened. I can feel all the emotions rising up from within and that's when I feel the tears come from out of nowhere.
I had promised myself that I wasn't going to cry, I had promised myself to not get fragile whenever I'd be in his presence.
Then why is it that the tears are there, continuously cascading from my eyes?
♞ ♞ ♞
A/N: Thank you so much for the 1.6k+ reads. You guys are amazing and don't forget to vote and comment.