“Whore.”
I was getting really tired of hearing that word. Slut was another one that was starting to really get on my nerves as well.
“Hey, babe,” some guy called out to me as his friends around him snickered. “You wanna go have some fun on Mr. Deveraux’s desk? I’m sure it wouldn’t be the first time!”
I scowled at him as I walked by. “No, thanks. I wouldn’t want you dirtying it.”
The boy, who I’d never even seen before, seemed so surprised by my response that he didn’t have anything to say back. His friends laughed even harder, but this time at him.
“I can’t wait until everyone forgets about all of this,” I sighed once Bennett and I got out of that awful hallway and outside to freedom. Maxxon had to stay after for another class, so he wasn’t with us. “Or I can’t wait until we graduate. Whichever comes first.”
Both felt like years away, even though it was only a few months. They were going to feel so long without Ethan here with me. They were going to feel even longer with everyone calling me names.
I hated that all I could think about was Ethan. I hated that all I did during the last period of the day was imagine what it’d be like if he was still there, teaching up at the front of the room instead of the old hag that took his place. I hated that my mind was entirely flooded with him.
But then there was Maxxon. I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do about him. He really was a great guy, and I didn’t want to hurt him. But at that moment, it felt like I was never going to be over Ethan.
Suddenly stopping before we could get down the steps at the front of the school, Bennett turned toward me in concern. “Sadie? Is everything okay?”
“Did you know how Maxxon felt about me?” I found myself suddenly asking.
Bennett looked at me with wide eyes. “What?”
“Did you know?” I repeated, swallowing when my voice came out scratchy. “Did you know Maxxon was in love with me?”
Bennett seemed surprised. “He told you?”
So Bennett did know. I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about that. Bennett was my best friend, but he was also Maxxon’s best friend as well. There were things I’d told him that he didn’t tell Maxxon. My relationship with Ethan being one of them.
“How long have you known?” I questioned, almost afraid to know the answer. I knew that Maxxon had been in love with me ever since we had met, and we’d both known Bennett for that long. “He told me he’s been in love with me ever since we met…”
Bennett nodded. “I’ve known since then.”
My eyes went wide. “You’ve known since then?”
Bennett only nodded as we continued our way to the parking lot. I stayed silent, waiting for him to continue. I’d met Maxxon in preschool; he, Bennett, and I were all in the same class together. I didn’t even understand how a four-year-old could even understand what love even was.
“I can remember the first day you two met,” Bennett began, but I wasn’t so sure I wanted to hear this. “He came up to me and told me you were pretty and that he liked you. I didn’t really think anything of it. Throughout the first couple of years, he didn’t talk about it much. I’d ask every once in a while if he still liked you, and he’d say yes. And then one day, I think it was in fifth grade, I asked him that same question. But this time, he said no."
I gulped. “Why?”
“He said he didn’t like you. He loved you.”
I had nothing to say. I couldn’t say anything, because my throat was practically closed up tight. That’d been such a long time ago, and hearing the details only made it feel even more real. Maxxon really was in love with me and he always had been. And I’d always been so awful…
“Look, Sadie, I know you’re in love with Mr. Deve—Ethan,” Bennett began, stopping and correcting himself when he saw the look on my face. “But you even said yourself that the relationship has to be over.”
I sighed. “I know,” I agreed, even though I really didn’t want to.
“And I’m not trying to push you into doing something you don’t want to do,” he continued, and I wasn’t so sure I was going to like where this was going. “But I want you to be happy. And I think Maxxon, if you give him a chance, could make you happy. Not soon, obviously, but eventually.”
I felt my grip on my backpack tighten. I didn’t want to admit it, but I had been thinking the exact same thing Bennett was saying to me. I knew I’d be much happier once I was with someone else, and I knew Maxxon was a good guy for me. But I just didn’t see him in that way. All I could think about was Ethan.
“I need to see him again.”
Bennett looked at me as if I was insane. “You need to see him again?” he parroted, in case he had somehow not heard me correctly. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Sadie.”
For some reason, this angered me. “And why not?”
“It’s just that you said yourself that you and Mr. Deveraux—or Ethan, or whatever—can’t get back together. Why would you want to see him again and torture both of yourselves?” he questioned, and I guess that made sense. But I didn’t really care.
Ethan was moving. I didn’t know where he was going, and that terrified me. I didn’t want our relationship to be over, even though I knew it had to be. It just wasn’t fair. I loved him so much.
“The last time we saw each other, we didn’t get any closure,” I informed him. “All we really did was… Well, all we really did together was…”
Bennett grimaced, holding his hand up for me to stop. “I get it. You don’t have to say anything else.”
“I need to see him again and just talk,” I clarified when Bennett’s eyebrows rose at me. “I need to know if there’s really no chance that we could be together again in the future. Because… because I’m still holding onto the hope that maybe someday we can.”
Bennett was frowning at me. “Sadie, you can’t. Unless you cut all ties with your parents or something.”
He was right, but I didn’t want to think about that. The last thing I ever wanted to do was choose between Ethan and my family.
“I just don’t get it,” I whispered, clearing my throat, but this didn’t help my voice get any louder. “His family was fine with us being together. His mother didn’t even care that he lost his job. But then my family—my mom specifically, and even Riley a little—went completely ballistic. I’m like a prisoner in my own house.”
“It’s going to get better,” my best friend assured. “It has to, right?”
I didn’t know the answer to that, and it kind of scared me.
Suddenly, two people stood right in front of us, stopping us right in our tracks before we could get into the parking lot. My stomach turned at the sight of them.
“Look who it is,” Katarina scowled, her arms crossed over her chest tightly. “It’s the whore.”
“You’re not standing in front of a mirror, Katarina,” Bennett replied back to her before I could say anything.
The blonde’s eyes widened in shock at what he had just said to her. “Why do you keep hanging out with this girl, Bennett? She’s he laughingstock of the entire school and she’s a total slut.”
“Falling in love with someone doesn’t make you a slut, Katarina,” Bennett glared back at her. “But having to get the friend of the person you like to ask him what he thinks of you makes you a coward. And asking the girl he’s actually in love with makes you an idiot.”
“Shut up, Bennett,” Freya scowled. “This has nothing to do with you.”
“And it has nothing to do with you either.” I never though I’d ever see Bennett look at Freya the way he was looking at her now. He looked like he hated her. “Her relationship with Mr. Deveraux had nothing to do with you. That’s why she didn’t tell you. It had nothing to do with me either, but I just so happened to walk into them, so they had to tell me. I get that you were hurt Sadie does, too—but that doesn’t give you an excuse to act like a raging bitch.”
The two girls standing in front of us seemed to have no idea what to say back to Bennett, and even I was standing there in shock. What had just happened? Bennett hadn’t talked back to anyone since… ever. And now he was just letting his old best friend have it!
“I don’t care what you say, Bennett,” Freya finally said after what felt like hours of just stunned silence. “Sadie was my best friend and she lied to me. She kept her relationship a secret and best friends aren’t supposed to keep secrets from each other.”
“There aren’t supposed to be any secrets between boyfriends and girlfriends,” he corrected, that hateful look still on his face. “You’re acting as if you two were dating and she cheated on you. You have a right to be angry, but you don’t have a right to team up with Miss Psycho Bitch over here!”
Katarina looked offended, as if she hadn’t just called me a slut and a whore just minutes before. Seemed like she couldn’t take what she dished out.
I’d never seen Freya this angry before, and I never thought I’d ever see her this angry toward me. She used to be bright, bubbly, and friendly. And now she was just nasty and rude.
“Are you getting picked up by your boyfriend, Sadie, or are you driving home in the skank-mobile?” my former best friend questioned, and I knew I should have probably been offended by this, but I wasn’t. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing at what she had called my car.
“Skank-mobile?” Bennett questioned. “It’s not your bed, Freya.”
Freya gasped, and I bit even harder down on my cheek. These two were actually quite amusing when I didn’t let what they said get to me. Especially when Bennett was around.
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” I finally answered, and saying this made my mouth taste bitter. I ignored it. “So, yes, I’m driving myself home.”
Katarina smirked at me. “He dumped you?”
Freya laughed. “Looked like she was a hump then dump!”
The two of them snickered and giggled together. Bennett gave me a look, but no emotion crossed my face. Because I knew that that wasn’t true.
It almost seemed like that had been what had happened. We’d had sex right before we broke up, but it was something we’d both agreed on. It was something both of us didn’t really want.
I couldn’t say any of this to Katarina or Freya. They either wouldn’t have believed me or wouldn’t have understood. So all I said was, “I wouldn’t call myself that considering I was the one that broke up with him.”
It wasn’t a total lie. It’d been a mutual breakup, so technically I did break up with him.
“So it all wasn’t even worth it in the end!” Freya shouted, and I couldn’t help but disagree. “You should have just let me have him!”
“He didn’t want you, Freya,” Bennett interjected before I could say the same exact thing. “Stop trying to flatter yourself by thinking you had a chance because you didn’t.”
“And stop talking about him like he’s some sort of item.” I scowled as she glared right back at me. “He isn’t a possession. He was a person who can choose whoever he wants to be with. And he did. That person just wasn’t you.”
Freya didn’t seem to like what I was saying at all. “You knew I liked him!”
“Every freaking girl in the school liked him!”
“But I told you I liked him more than them!” she snarled. “Probably even more than you!”
I doubted that, but I ignored her comment. “I was already dating him when you told me that, Freya.”
“When’d you even start dating him?” Katarina demanded.
I knew I didn’t have to answer her, but I did anyway. “The night of the December dance show. He danced with me in Maxxon’s place because he was hurt.”
Both of them seemed shocked by this. Even Bennett was surprised, and I realized I’d never told anyone this before. Oh, well.
“That’s why both of you were missing after your dance…” Bennett seemed to be thinking out loud. “Now it all makes sense.”
I gave him a look. “It didn’t all make sense when you found Ethan and me kissing in his classroom?”
“I try not to think about that.”
“Alright, enough of that!” Freya shouted before Bennett or I could say anything else. “The last thing I want to hear is your stupid little love stories!”
“See, Freya?” Bennett asked, and this seemed to confuse her until he continued. “Even if she had told you before they’d been caught, you would have been angry because you wanted to be with him.”
Freya’s face turned red. She didn’t want to admit it, but he was right. I knew that I couldn’t tell Freya, and that was why I didn’t. She would have been angry no matter when she found out.
“Am I late for the party?” a new voice suddenly questioned, and I jumped nearly three feet in the air before spinning around to see that it was only Maxxon. “You four are definitely the last people I’d think would want to party together.”
“Maxxon!” Katarina exclaimed, surprised.
“Bitch One,” he greeted as if this was her name, barely even glancing at her before turning toward me. “Is everything okay?"
Katarina looked like she was about to cry. Freya looked outraged. “You can’t just call her that, Maxxon!” she shouted.
The dark-haired boy looked at her as if she was absolutely insane. “You’re kidding me, right? You’re definitely not one to talk, Freya.”
Her face turned red with anger. She seemed like an entirely different person to me. Had I really upset her so much that she’d turn on me like this? Did she really like Ethan that much?
“If you continuously call Sadie things like a slut or a whore, then I’ll continuously call you Bitch One and Bitch Two,” Maxxon explained. “It only seems fair.”
I was speechless. I didn’t think there was anything I could even really say. Maxxon was the whole reason why Katarina did what she had done, and now here he was, being completely rude to her. This as fantastic.
“Maxxon, I…” was all she was able to choke out, her tears now pouring from her eyes. No emotion crossed Maxxon’s face. He didn’t even care that she was crying. “Maxxon…”
“We have to go,” I excused snippily now, clutching onto Maxxon’s hand before wrapping my other arm around Bennett’s. “I guess we’ll see the two of you around.”
I didn’t wait for them to say anything else to. I dragged Bennett and Maxxon away from them and toward my car, even though their cars were on the other side of the parking lot from mine.
“Um, Sadie,” Bennett began. “My car’s over there.”
Realizing this, I dropped his arm. I moved to let go of Maxxon’s hand, but he didn’t loosen his grip, so I continued to hold it. “Right, right,” I nodded at my best friend. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
Bennett looked from me, to Maxxon, to our conjoined hands. He then looked back up at me. “Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
When he turned and walked off toward his car, I turned to Maxxon. “You should go with him, shouldn’t you?”
Maxxon shook his head. “Why should I?”
I couldn’t help but give him a look as if he was insane. “Maybe because you car is over there?”
“It’s okay,” Maxxon shrugged, not letting go of my hand as he continued on his way to the car. “I’ll walk you to your car and then I’ll head over to mine.”
I stayed silent after this for the remaining short distance he walked me to my car. When we got to it, we stopped, but he didn’t let go of my hand. We just stood there for a few moments, neither of us saying a word to each other.
When he suddenly gently pressed me up against my car, I gasped in surprised. He had his hands on either side of my face up against the sides of my car. I couldn’t find my voice at first.
“Hey,” he greeted, grinning down at me.
“Maxxon,” I croaked, looking at all the people around us. “People are looking.”
He smirked at me. “So?”
I knew I shouldn’t have cared, but I did. I already had people calling me names for dating Ethan. I didn’t need people to call me even more names because they saw me being this close to Maxxon.
Maxxon didn’t push away from me. He just stared down at me, this smile I’d never seen before on his face. I almost didn’t want him to move because I wanted him to keep smiling like that.
“You have no idea what you do to me,” he whispered, and I felt my breath catch in my throat. “Even if you never fall in love with me, I don’t think I could ever stop feeling this way about you.”
I swallowed. “Are… are you going to use every chance you get to touch me now that I know how you feel?”
Maxxon moving his hands to my hips answered my question, but he said anyway, “Yes.”
“I… I should probably get home,” I excused, turning myself toward my car door. Maxxon let go of me. “If I don’t, my mom will probably think I ran away or something.”
Maxxon’s eyebrows furrowed at the mention of my mother. “Is she feeding you again?”
I nodded. “I yelled at her that morning, and it seemed to knock some sort of sense into her. She’s still acting cold and rude toward me, but I can live with that.”
Maxxon frowned. “You know, if you ever need to just get away from all that,” he started, and I didn’t know where he could have been going with this, “you can come over and spend the night at my house. You know my parents love you.”
I gulped. “Love me enough to let me spend the night with you in your room?”
“Well, I was thinking you could sleep in the guest room, but if that’s what you want to do…” Maxxon smirked at me and placed his hands on my hips again, pulling me closer to him. “I’d love to have you in my bed."
I hit him in the chest and he let go of me. I got into my car. “I’ll make sure to consider your offer.”
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Happy birthday to me! xD
If you've been a follower of mine since last year, you know I update all of my stories on my birthday as a birthday present to myself and you guys. xD
I wrote three chapters in two days... I'm proud of myself. xD
This message will probably be on the bottom of all my stories that I update today. xD