~Mikayla's pov~
I was startled out of my sleep when a knock came at my door followed by a, "Get up!"
I groaned and walked to my door to confirm who I thought it was. Sure enough, when I opened the door I saw my fathers back, cover in a black T-shirt, walking toward the stairs.
'Am I hallucinating?' He has never cared enough to stop by at my door and wake me up to make sure I was ready for school. Sure, the way he said it was demanding and scary, but the the act itself was an utter surprise.
Shutting the door quickly when it had squeaked a little, I ran to my bed and pulled the make-up from under my bed to cover the almost-disappearing-but-still-visible-bruises. I looked out my window to find out it was still raining. When I had got home yesterday I just layed down on my bed and after about an hour I fell asleep of boredom; meaning I went to bed at around two thirty.
Thinking about yesterday made me feel evil, what I had said was way out of line and he had every reason not to acknowledge me anymore. We would go back to how we used to, except now Jacob would be hating me this time.
'Just stop thinking about it and him so you won't feel like this, but when you see him be sure to say you're sorry for what you said yesterday. That is if he lets you talk to him.'
I grab the case of make-up and took it to the bathroom with me when I heard the front door close, and not slam, to take a shower. The house was silent, with the exception of the shower running, because I had decided not to take my phone for music.
After my shower I changed then hurried to apply the make-up on my neck and brush my hair. I went back into my room to put the make-up back in its place and grab my backpack. Picking up my phone from the floor where it charged last night, I swiped my finger across the screen to check the time. It was 7:20, school started at 8:00.
I walked down stairs to the kitchen to steal an apple from the fridge, but then remembered yesterday I was eating cookies with Jacob because there wasn't anything else to eat.
I realized my mistake that I had thought of him and yesterday when I said I wasn't going to. I shook my head and climbed the stairs again to brush my teeth.
As I spit out the toothpaste and rinsed my mouth, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I slipped it out and saw the message icon at the top of the screen at the notification bar. After I entered my password, I tapped on my messages and found it was from Aiden.
'When you get to school come to my locker.'
I thought nothing of it, I always go to his locker, or him to mine, when I get to school and put my stuff in my locker anyways.
I put my phone back in my pocket, not seeing a reason to reply.
As I left the bathroom, my stomach growled because the only thing I ate was cookies, yesterday, in the morning with someone. I was about to leave for school when I heard thunder outside. I huffed because I was going to have to walk in the heavy rain, walking to my room I quickly pulled open a drawer and slipped on a jacket.
I looked down at my jacket feeling like I was forgetting something.
Someone popped into my mind, and I remembered he lent me his jacket because I decided I was walking home.
I walked back to my room to get the leather jacket. When I had gotten home I did fall asleep, but woke up in the middle of the night and found I had fallen asleep with his jacket on. I made sure to let it dry.
After walking out of my house and locking the door, I started walking to school.
***
As I walked down the halls of Donavan High almost reaching my locker I was turned around when someone had grabbed me by the shoulder.
Jacob looked down at me, with no emotion in his face and, after what felt like an eternity, he pulled me to the side, in front of my locker.
We stared at each other for a while, neither one of us talking.
"I'm sorry," we both said it at the same time.
'Why is he sorry?'
"Why are you sorry?" he voiced my thoughts.
I furrowed my eyebrows and put my stuff away in my locker. "Because I shouldn't have brought up what happened with Madison?" But it didn't come out as sure as I thought I would be. I was confused. "Why are you sorry?"
It was his turn to look confused. "Because you were the one who was right. I was being a hypocrite, I did something I called the police for on someone else. If you think that bringing Madison up was the wrong thing to do you shouldn't, if anything it just brought me back to my senses," he said with a look of sincerity. "I felt absolutely horrible after what you said." He hesitantly placed a hand on my shoulder. I turned to my, thankfully still opened, locker when he was done and handed him the jacket that I had accidentally placed in my locker along with my other stuff.
I nodded with a smile and was surprised when he bent down a little then wrapped his arms around me in a hug. But I didn't say anything, instead did the same around his torso.
When we pulled apart, I took off my jacket because the teachers usually turn on the heater on rainy days.
Jacob was staring at somewhere below my face. As I was about to question him he asked, "What happened there?" And tugged lightly at the neck line of my shirt.
I looked down to see what he was talking about and saw he was talking about the bruise I got from my father when Jacob had left after the day Jacob and I had at the fair.
I stilled, what happened to the make-up I put on it?
'Maybe the rain washed it off?' the voice in my head said like I was dumb.
I gulped and decided to answer when I saw Jacob had his eyebrows raised waiting for one. "It's nothing. I was just being dumb and was laying on my bed texting Alyssa with the phone up in the air and the thing fell right there." I came up with the lamest excuse, that even a three year old could come up with something better.
He shook his head, not agreeing with what I said. "The size of it is way bigger than a phone, though," he muttered, still staring intensely at the mark.
"Don't worry about it."
"Ahem," someone cleared their throat. We both turned to the voice and saw a not-so-very-happy-Aiden glaring at Jacob's arm between us. He turned his stare to Jacob, who was frozen in place, after a while he let his hand drop.
Aiden looked mad, to say the least, I concluded and then thought, 'But, why?' All Jacob was doing was worrying about a big bruise, anyone sane and caring would do that.
I rolled my bottom lip in my mouth at the awkward silence that passed during the two boys' stare down.
Still sending a death stare at Jacob, Aiden grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers together then pulled me roughly behind him, maybe heading to his locker that was just at the end of the hall.
I looked over my shoulder and sent a weak smile over at Jacob as he stood where me and Aiden left him a few seconds ago, staring at our retreating figures. His eyes flashed to something above me then smiled back, but anybody could tell it was a forced one, and started walking in the opposite direction.
Almost stumbling over from not paying attention to my footing, I faced forward again to see Aiden looking over his shoulder like I was seconds ago. He looked down at me with a frown on his face.
The hallways were clearing and all I thought was, 'I better not be late for first period.'
A couple more steps we were at his locker, and that's where he exploded.
"What the hell!?" He didn't gain too many stares because there was less and less people, but some one passing by had raised her eyebrows, asking with her eyes if I was okay. I smiled to show her I was fine because even though Aiden looked beyond aggravated I knew he wouldn't do anything to hurt me intentionally.
"When did you start hanging around him again?" he spat, not bothering to even say Jacob's name.
I crossed my arms and sighed. "I have to tutor him and we started talking again," I said simply.
Aiden ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "You didn't have to you know, you could have said no!" he yelled as the warning bell rang. Dammit, I only have five minutes and I'm not going to make it on time if the class is on the other side of school.
"Yes, Aiden, I did. I could get recommendation letters and he might've not been able to graduate," I stressed. "Why are you getting so mad, anyway? And calm it, would you?"
He hadn't calmed down a bit, though. I think what I said had only made him more red if possible. "You're telling me to calm down? I just found out from a friend that my girlfriend may be cheating on me with that . . . delinquent!" I was surprised people hadn't come out of their classrooms to see what all the commotion was about.
"Cheating?" Then what he had called Jacob registered. "Delinquent? Who are you to go around calling people names when you don't even know them?" I knew of Jacob being titled the bad boy at this school but I knew he listened to his parents, I knew he listened if he knew it was for his own good, people just assumed this kind of stuff.
Aiden was just raised this way, I've met his mother. She is high classed and posh, his father was more laid back. Aiden was more like his dad, but had, unfortunately picked up a few traits from his mom. Like judging based off looks.
I was trying to stay calm but Aiden was really testing my patience. "And what do you mean by me cheating?"
"Someone told me that you went to Saturday's party with him and he got in a fight over you twice. This morning I texted you to meet me at my locker because I didn't want to believe you were seeing someone else and so we can talk things out. You were taking forever when I was waiting for you at my locker so I decided to go to yours and on my way there, I saw you giving him his jacket like he was at your house, he hugs you, and he pulls you shirt down like the creep he is," he explained with his clenched jaw. "If you're cheating on me with him, tell me right now."
I stood quiet. Now I know why he was glaring and angry. He thought Jacob and I were going behind his back. Going to a party with him, people would probably assume it were a date. Jacob hitting someone, people would think he was being the protective boyfriend. Me handing him his jacket, Aiden would think Jacob was at my house, especially with all the evidence. Us hugging is a friendly gesture. And, when Jacob had pulled down my shirt to inspect the bruise, Aiden's mind would obviously start thinking there was something going on between us because that act looked pretty suggestive if you were on the side lines watching.
I started to explain just as the tardy bell echoed though out the hallways. "Saturday we went to a party because he said I need to learn how to have fun because it's my last year of high school. Jacob almost hit a guy because he had took me to a corner of a room but I stopped him from harming him in anyway, the second time he did hit someone was because the guy thought I was drunk and tried to take me to a room upstairs. I had his jacket because he loaned it to me when I wanted to walk home after we got in an argument. We were hugging because we had apologized to each other. Lastly, he pulled down my shirt because I had a big bruise on my neck and he wanted to make sure I was alright," I said leaving out the part that he had slept at my house. I pushed at Aiden's chest letting my anger out.
"Oh, what a gentleman he is. Letting someone walk home in cold rain while he stays in his fancy warm car," he said sarcastically.
I was a little hurt when he didn't ask about the bruise. I mean, I know we're in a heated argument but I know he still cares about me. "He knew I wasn't getting back in the car with him. And he was being more of a gentleman than you are right now." Then a thought came to me. "Who told you that we went to the party on Saturday?"
He stiffened for a moment and bit his lip before he answered, "Alex."
"Of course, it was him." I was really starting to hate that guy. "Alex hates Jacob ever since they got into that fight, Aiden. He would do anything to get him in trouble. And he hates him more now because he was the first guy who had pulled me to a corner." I tried to get him to understand.
But he stood quiet and looked the other way. Not looking at me he asked, "Are you cheating on me?" slowly and quietly.
"No!" I finally yelled and stomped my foot on the floor like a child throwing a tantrum at the supermarket. "Do you believe me?"
And, yet again, he was silent.
I balled my hands up into fists and, like I had done to Jacob when we had our first encounter in a long period of time, poked his chest. "If there is no trust in a relationship, then there shouldn't be one at all," I said without thinking.
Crap, did I just breakup with him?
"Wait, that didn't come out right, I didn't mea―" I was quick to add, but not quick enough.
The hurt was evident as the words registered in his head. "Then maybe there shouldn't. Have fun with Jacob," he said before walking down some stairs and through a door that led outside. He slammed the door and it echoed in the quiet hallway.
My eyes started to well with tears and I ran to the girls restroom. When I got there, I locked myself in a stall and texted Alyssa.
'I think Aiden and I just broke up' I typed then sent it.
Not even five seconds later my phone vibrated.
Alyssa: 'Where r you?'
I told her I was in the girls restroom and waited while I sniffed, leaning on the stall. This was the first breakup I've been through, I wasn't prepared for it. I was sure Aiden and I were going to last.
She was there in three minutes, tops. "Mikayla, where are you?" her voice echoed.
I slid the lock and opened the door. When she saw the tears streaming down my cheeks and my red bloodshot eyes she ran over to me. "Tell me everything that happened," she demanded and set both of her hands on my shoulders comfortingly.
I started to go into the story, the whole thing relaying in my mind. From the night of the party and Jacob staying at my house to my big, stupid mouth blurting out 'If there's no trust in a relationship, there shouldn't be one,' and his painful response. When I had told Alyssa Aiden thought I was cheating on him with Jacob, I saw her eyes narrow in anger.
"I'm going to kill him," she said, but I think it was mostly to herself.
"Oh my god," I gasped. "I'm skipping class!" I panicked, what if Mrs. Daniels doesn't let this one go and I can't do anything to stop it? I'm already tutoring Jacob because of the one time, what if there isn't anything I could do to keep my grade up now? "We have to go," I said as I grabbed her hand.
Alyssa laughed a little at my expression. "It's your first time, don't worry," she tried to assure me.
I shook my head. "No, it's not. Remember me and Jacob were in the hallway fighting and all that happened during first period?" My heart was beating so fast I think it could have jumped out of my chest any second.
She shrugged. "You have that first time covered like it never happened. What's five points taken away going to do to your grade, really?" She asked.
She was right, I suppose. It was only five points. And I was already ahead.
***
It was lunch time and I was waiting for Alyssa to pick me up outside my second period classroom when I saw Layla walking out of the room. We had first, second, and fourth period together.
"Layla!" I yelled before she could get too far.
She smiled at me when she walked over. "Hey, Miki." She waved.
Smiling back I asked, "Hi. Um, did you guys do anything important today for first period?" I bit my lip. I know Alyssa said I shouldn't worry, but what if there was an important surprise test today and I missed it?
She nodded. "Oh yeah, you weren't there." She pointed at me. "Don't worry, we had a sub and he didn't even take attendance, just walked into the class, said he was the substitute, and went on his phone." She shrugged.
"Thank you." I smiled gratefully after releasing a sigh.
Someone bumped shoulders with me. "Hey Layla," Alyssa greeted. Then she grabbed my hand. "Bye, Layla." She waved.
Layla laughed. "Hi, bye." She said and started walking the other direction to her friends.
Alyssa was speed-walking to the cafeteria with a big grin on her face. The school still goes outside for lunch even when it rains. "Hurry your little legs up."
"Sorry they're so short." I was used to her making fun of my height by now, I hadn't grown since eighth grade. "What's the rush?" I asked as we stopped by my locker to get my jacket.
"They're serving fries," was all she needed to say before I slammed my locker and we were both running down the hall with me trying to put on my jacket at the same time. You could say the fries they made at the school were more than delicious.
When we got there the lines were short because it was already twelve minutes into lunch. "They better still have some," Alyssa muttered as we stalked to the five-people line.
"You're just in time," the lunch lady said and handed us a tray with a sandwich and fries. We smiled in satisfaction. "There was three left, one now."
I felt a presence next to me and someone say, "I'll take that one please." And the lunch lady gave him the very last try of fries without the sandwich.
I froze apon hearing the voice as the people next to Aiden groaned. Alyssa had to grab my arm to pull me over to an available table. But he just followed us. I sat at the egde of the table next to the wall and Alyssa sat by me to be sure he wouldn't be able to sit next to me.
Instead he sat across from me. He cleared his throat, "Can we talk?" He leaned over the table so he was closer to me. I heard a thump under and Aiden groan. "Ow?" He glared at Alyssa who smirked and looked down at her food like she didn't just kick him in the shin. I secretly smiled in gratitude.
I got up from the table and Aiden looked up at me like he was shocked I was actually agreeing to talk while Alyssa's face showed worry and a look asking if I was sure. I nodded at her and turned to Aiden who still was looking at me in awe. "Do you want to talk or not?" I asked more harsh than I meant to.
His eyes widened and he nodded his head quickly it must've cracked his neck. We walked around the table because we were on opposite sides and when Aiden tried to grab my hand I moved it out of his reach and started walking towards the field where the football games are held.
I leaned against the bleachers and waited for whatever Aiden had to say.
"I didn't mean it. When I said you were right that there shouldn't be a relationship if we―I can't trust you," he corrected himself. "I didn't mean it. I was mostly annoyed with Jacob because of what happened between you two." He leaned his forehead against mine. "Can you possibly forgive me?"
He looked at me with the most worried look on his face. I bit my lip but let it go and let the growing smile take over my face. I nodded, my cheeks hurting from the smile but that didn't matter to me because I was so happy. My smile must've been contagious because soon enough Aiden's smile was as big as mine.
He grabbed my hand and laced our fingers through each others after pecking me briefly on the lips and together we walked back into the cafeteria. When we made it back to our table, Alyssa was glaring at our connected hands and looked at me with a 'really?' face. Then I noticed five other people at the table with her. Jacob, Adam, and Ethan, were seated next to Alyssa, and Max and Jesse were sitting next to Aiden's abandoned seat.
"Hi." My humongous smile was still on my face, making Max smile back like the cheerful person he was and Jacob look at me weirdly as the others were too busy engaged in a conversation, except for Alyssa.
Adam waved. "Hi, Mikayla!"
I waved back. "Hey Adam." I noticed Aiden looking at Jacob with a look of distaste and Jacob looking back up at him with no emotion. I kicked Aiden's foot discreetly, Jacob had noticed though and smirked, finally showing something on his face.
I sat back down with Aiden across from me, and I whispered to Alyssa next to me, "I'll explain later."
"Hey Max." Aiden greeted and did the man handshake with him as I snacked on my fries. "Jacob." He nodded him in acknowledgment. "Who are you guys?" He looked at the rest of the group.
Adam was the first to introduce himself with a hand to his chest. "I'm Adam Micheals the bold one, nice to meet you . . . " He trailed off not knowing Aiden's name.
"Aiden." He nodded.
"And I'm Ethan Hayes." Ethan jabbed a thumb at his chest.
"He's the responsible and more mature one, which also means he's boring," Adam loudly whispered, rolling his eyes.
"Hey!" Ethan yelled, throwing a piece of bread from his sandwich. Adam wasn't paying attention as he was too busy laughing to take notice of the flying food targeted at him. But once he felt it slap against his cheek, he turned to his friend and the piece of bread stuck to his cheek.
I wasn't even going to ask how.
Adam slowly wiped off the bread with a disgusted look on his face. Once the bread was off, you could see that some mayo was on his cheek.
Apparently, Ethan wasn't the most mature person you would see on the streets, but he was the most out of the group of four. Five now if you include Max.
Ethan waved his hands magically in front of Jesse from across he table. "And this is Jesse Greyson, the shy one I guess now that we're putting on labels." Jesse waved at us with a small smile before looking down at his fries. "He'll warm up to ya someday," he told us as he dropped his hands, almost in defeat at Jesse's greeting.
Max tilted his head, looking at Alyssa and gestured for her to come sit next to him. She hadn't needed to be told twice and slid her tray at him before going around the table to meet with him.
Jacob slid over to me and smiled. "Hey," he greeted looking at Aiden like he was going to attack him for talking to me. He barely glanced at us then continued texting whoever he was with on the phone. Jacob put on a fake smile and fluttered his eyelashes trying to act innocent. "Can I have two fries?" he asked.
I nodded, laughing and handed him two fries like he asked.
"It didn't have to be exactly two." He pouted.
"Would you like it if I took one?"
He shook his head frantically and we laughed together. "Thank you." Then we heard a throat clearing. I mentally winced because it was Aiden and he had cleared his throat earlier today when he saw me and Jacob in the hallway. I turned to him, fearing he was going to start yelling and accuse us of flirting but all he did was smile at me. "I'm going to the library to return a book." He leaned over and kissed my cheek before swinging his backpack on one shoulder, before walking away.
"Did you get in trouble for what he saw?" Jacob asked chewing on a fry when Aiden left the lunch pavilion.
Before I could answer Alyssa stood up from her seat. "I'm going with Aiden," she stated and walked off in the direction Aiden did.
I grimaced. "Okay first, didn't someone ever teach you to not talk with your mouth full?" I shook my head disapprovingly at him.
Still with a large fry in his mouth, "Yeah, I just never listened," and smiled, with his mouth thankfully closed this time.
"To answer your question, yes I did. He said someone told him I went to the party with you and you got in two fights over me. Then he saw me giving you your jacket and he thought we were . . . then we hugged and you pulled my shirt down to look at the bruise. When we got to his locker we had a fight because he thought I was cheating with you. Then we broke-up and I skipped all of first period crying in the girls restroom with Alyssa trying to help me. Before you guys came he apologized."
"I'm happy you two made-up." He smiled. "Who told him that we went to the party together, though?" he asked me already knowing I knew the answer.
Alex.
I shook my head, "No one important." I scratched at my wrist. I had resorted to scratching because lately I haven't had my bracelet to play with when I lie.
"If it's not important then you wouldn't mind telling me," he countered as he stared at my fingers, scratching.
I let out a breath and continued scratching. "Aiden didn't tell me and I didn't ask."
Not taking his eyes off my wrist, he said, "Mikayla, stop scratching, you're giving yourself away." And with that he grabbed my hand away from my wrist. "Who was it."
"Alex," I said quickly and quietly. But Jacob still caught it and I saw him grip the edge of the table. "Please don't get mad, he wants a reaction out of you, that's why he told Aiden I might be cheating on him with you. To get you in trouble." I held on to his arm.
Jacob calmed down a bit and was silent after what I said but he still looked annoyed. Just then Alex walked by our table with two of his friends and caught the stare of Jacob. When Alex was seated at a table he was smirking now because he knew he was getting on Jacob's nerves.
Jacob was bouncing his leg, making his knee hit under the table. "I'm gonna go," he said getting up and saying bye to everyone.
After a minute I started wondering, 'Where are Alyssa and Aiden?' The library was only two buildings away and the building between the lunch pavilion and the library is pretty small.
I smiled at everyone at the table. "Bye, I need to get something from my locker." Which I did. I needed a book for my next class. Walking into the hall, some familiar voices got louder and louder each time I took a step and I only stopped at the mention of my name. Leaning against the wall, I peaked around a corner.
Aiden and Alyssa were arguing loudly. Aiden was pushed against the lockers with Alyssa pointing at his chest. "You're such a hypocrite, Aiden!"
I was hearing that word a lot these days.
"You told me you told her and she forgave you." Alyssa said in an accusing voice.
"Well, you obviously know the truth now," he said and looked away from her. "I don't want to hurt her."
Alyssa groaned. "Just tell her, Aiden, please?" But he didn't look her way. "She would be more hurt if you kept holding it off!" she yelled at him.
"Then why don't you tell her yourself?!" Aiden was exasperated like he was with me this morning. "If you want her to know so badly then why don't you just tell her?" He pointed at Alyssa this time, turning the tables on her and making it look like she was at fault and him the victim.
She slapped his hand away. "Don't you dare try to lean this in me. You're the one who started this whole mess, so it's going to be you who ends it. I can't lose Mikayla because of you," she finished and walked off as the bell for third period went off and the sea of students came walking through the halls.
For the rest of the day I wasn't even paying attention to the lectures, all that was on my mind was what Aiden and Alyssa were talking about.
"Hey, the day's over." The person who sat next to me nugded my elbow to get my attention.
I looked at the clock.
2:51
School ended at 2:49, I know weird time. "Thanks." I smiled in appreciation.
As I was walking toward my locker to grab my jacket, I passed by Mrs. Daniel's class. When I was with Alyssa and was worrying about my grade came to mind. Maybe I should call Jacob to see if he would want to start the tutoring thing? He did promise that if I went to the party he would let me tutor him.
I couldn't call Jacob here, though. The halls were packed and noisy with teens yelling over each others voices. When I got to my locker, I pulled out my jacket and slipped my arms through it and pushed things around for my phone. Once I found it, I put it in the pocket of my jacket and tried to think up of a place more quiet to have a conversation over the phone.
The only place I was able to think of was a place next to the main office. It was the office then a door that led to some stairs outside, if you walk down them beside the railing is a little place that's covered by a roof of a next door bungalow that no one uses.
Pushing my way through the students that were headed the opposite direction, I finally made it to the doors by the office. I pulled my hood up and braced myself for the cold weather awaiting for me outside. I pushed open the doors with more force than needed because the strong wind had closed it when I tried the first time. Huffing, I made my way down the stairs, my face already getting cold from the water and wind. I heard movement but thought nothing of it. At the bottom of the stairs I turned to get to my destination.
But at that moment I knew I should have left when I heard the noise coming from where I was going to. No, I should have dismissed the idea of coming here as soon as I thought it up.
A gasp escaped as I saw the scene in front of me.
Aiden, my boyfriend, was lip-locked, hands on her waist, and her hands running through his brown hair, with someone who I thought was my friend.
Violet.
Violet is someone who I met through Alyssa. Alyssa introduced us because their lockers were next to the others last year and they worked in the same group for third period Yeah, maybe we weren't as close as me and Alyssa but we talked whenever we saw each other, waved as we walked passed in the hallways, and we even have last period together and chose each other as partners for a class survey that required someone else, once.
Hearing the noise that came out of my mouth, the two froze and turned to me. Neither one of us spoke as Violet and Aiden looked like a deer caught in the headlights and I was too hurt to open my mouth.
Finally, "It's not what it looks like," came from Aiden's mouth, then he grimaced at the cheesiness of it and how it was usually said to cover up what actually was happening.
"It's exactly what it looks like," I fumed when I finally found my voice. I pointed over at him. "You hypocrite!" I screamed my now new favorite word to use.
Aiden seemed to get his mind back and dropped his hands hastily from around Violet's waist. "Me?" he asked not completely comprehending what I said.
I walked closer to him. "This morning you accused me of cheating on you and made me feel like it was all my fault, when it wasn't. I skipped first period because I was crying so much. Then you ask me to forgive you and three-and-a-half hours later I find you doing this?" I pushed him away when he had extended a hand towards me. "Don't touch me," I hissed. "How long?"
"What?"
"How long have you been seeing her." I refused to make eye contact with Violet. She betrayed me. Did she just stay friends with me to get to Aiden or did it happen along the way?
"I should go," she said and picked up her book bag from the floor.
"So you let her leave without yelling at her? What's with that?" Aiden asked when Violet left through the building doors.
"She, unlike you, wasn't in a relationship. She was my friend but you were my boyfriend. I loved you. Twenty-seven months I've wasted," I said through gritted teeth. "You're avoiding the question. How long?" I demanded.
Aiden sighed. "Eleven and a half months," he muttered after hesitating a bit.
I felt like I could slap him as soon as the words slipped from his mouth. "That's almost half the relationship!" I shouted, making him sprint up a bit.
I had enough, I backed away from him. "In case you haven't noticed, we're over," I said before walking away where Violet had left. Once I was in the safety of the hallway, that now had five people roaming around, I let the first tear stream down my face. I kept my head down as I passed by some people so they wouldn't see me crying for the second time today.
I tried wiping the tears from my eyes but they were just replaced by new ones.
"Mikayla," someone said behind me and pulled me to the side. It was Violet with a sorry expression and from the looks of it, she had been crying too. "Can I please explain?" I stood quiet and she took that as a yes. "Our parents are friends, they went to college together. One day his family came over to my house during the summer for a get together and at night they were outside talking and laughing while we were in my room. I don't know exactly how it happened but it did. He pulled away from me and he looked so guilty because he was with you at the time and we were friends. We agreed that we would forget about what happened, but then one day his parents had a party. All the adults were getting wasted so we took the kids with us in the house and after a while they all fell asleep. We were alone and talking, I didn't know how close we were until we turned at the same time when he asked me something. It happened again but we didn't stop each other. I am so sorry," she blubbered as the water in her eyes returned. "Alyssa found out about a month ago."
I nodded. "I just need time to think, I'm sorry," I said and with that I continued down the hall. I didn't really need to think, they both betrayed me. Opening the door I noticed how the weather matched my mood, gloomy and gray.
Starting to walk back home, memories of Aiden's excuses and forced smiles helped me piece together the signs that he was hiding something big from me. From when he said he wasn't passing some classes and he wanted to get to school early, disappearing when we got to school, Alyssa yelling at him to tell―me meaning she knew the whole time and didn't tell me. She of all people should know I would rather be told something as soon as that person finds out, I would be more crushed if they put it on hold. For some reason the party on Saturday flashed in my mind. And then Max's fight with Nick. Familiar eyes staring at me. It was Aiden, he had gone to the party and that's how he knew I went to the party with Jacob, and that he hit someone―and almost hit someone else―because of me. It must've been Aiden.
Call me crazy, but I almost felt like laughing at myself. Reading books, I always rolled my eyes at the lame excuses the boyfriend told his girlfriend, when in reality―or their fictional reality―he was cheating. This was my reality and I was so blind to the simple hints?
I was too in to my thoughts I hadn't seen the person I was about to bump into as they bent down trying to tie their shoe. "Sorry," I muttered and wiped the tears away. I kept my head up so that wouldn't happen again.
⋆ ⋆ ⋆
I closed the house door and leaned against it for a while. Water kept pouring out of my eyes until I was barely able to breathe properly.
Running up the stairs, I walked into the bathroom across from my bedroom to clean myself of my tear stained cheeks. I took off my jacket and hung it on the rack, but a bang coming from the jacket against the wall caught my attention. I dug into the pocket and found my phone from when I was going to call Jacob to see if he wanted to study.
I felt lonely, especially because I found out my boyfriend was cheating on me. It only made me think low of myself. Like, there must be something wrong with me if my father's ashamed of me and my own boyfriend cheated on me, right? Already dialing Alyssa's number, I paused. My finger hovered over the next digit before moving to the backspace button and erasing it all. I admit, I was sort of mad at Alyssa. She knows how I feel about people who cheat and I would only get more hurt in the end if someone kept something involving me a secret.
Sighing, I called the person I was going to originally call before this whole mess started with the tears still leaking from my eyes.
"Hey, Mikayla," Jacob answered on the fourth ring. There was some voices in the back round.
I sniffled. "J―Jacob?" I asked and sat down with my back leaning against the tub.
My voice was shaky and it cracked as I said his name. "What's wrong?" He sounded more urgent and he must've caught on that I was crying.
I shook my head, not wanting to be a bother as I heard laughter. "Never mind," I said more firmly before hanging up.
My phone started ringing again with Jacob's name flashing on the screen. I put my phone on silent so I wouldn't be disturbed as I cry.
Pulling my knees to my chest I hugged them and rested my head on my knees.
⋆ ⋆ ⋆
I was interrupted from silently crying when I heard the door downstairs open then slam and I cringed.
My father was home.
Stumbling across the bathroom I locked the door so he wouldn't be able to get in here and sat back down.
I held my breath―like I was scared my father would hear my intakes and exhales of breaths―as I heard the door of my room open. The bathroom I was at the moment was joined in my room. He walked in to look for me in my room and when he didn't find me, I saw the shadow from under the door turn around and, like I feared, he heard me breathing when I had opened my mouth automatically from the loss of air.
Banging sounded at the door. "Mikayla!" But it wasn't my fathers voice. It was Jacob's. He jiggled the door knob and then stopped when he realized it was locked. "Mikayla, open the door or I'm going to break it down!" Jacob warned me.
At that I jumped up from my seat, if my father finds anything broken he will murder me or something close to it. I unlocked the door and hopped back when it swung back and hit the wall.
Before I had the chance to see if there was a hole in the wall, I was embraced in tight arms that lifted me off the ground.
Jacob was out of breath like he just ran a marathon but he just hugged me tightly with his arms around my waist, but the best part was he didn't ask any questions, because all I needed right at this moment was a hug. Still carrying me like I weighed nothing, he led us to the corner I had been sitting in for the last five minutes and he turned around so his back was to the wall. Still wrapped up in his arms, he slid down the wall so that I was on his lap crying onto his chest, clinging on his shirt (that was probably going to be drenched) for dear life. Jacob didn't seem to care that I was soaking his shirt, though, all he did was run his hands through my hair.
He had his chin resting on top of my head as he whispered sweet nothings, promising me he won't leave. That only made me cry even more since it made me think of Aiden leaving me.
'Did he ever love me?' I thought to myself.
"I hate him!" I grumbled into Jacobs chest even though my voice sounded a bit raspy. I was in hysterics by now, to the point where my eyes were soar and I couldn't even breathe.
"Who?" Jacob asked as he rocked me back and forth trying to sooth me.
I was breathing heavily, so much I couldn't answer him. My chest physically hurt. Not because of my loss of breath, but because of Aiden. I had given him everything, but he just stomped on it.
After a while of silence, the exception of my muffled cries and rugged breathing, Jacob pushed my shoulder lightly to get some space between us and to look into my eyes. "Who?" he interrogated more firmly. "Who do you hate? You can tell me."
I took a couple deep breaths to control it and to speak properly. "A―Aiden," I spoke when I had most control over my breath.
Jacob's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Your boyfriend?" He couldn't believe the thought of Aiden hurting me. He had never seen Aiden being irrational towards me. Heck, I never thought this would happen with me and him.
"Not anymore," I mumbled, looking down. Just the sheer thought of it had my heart going crazy.
Jacob tugged me back to our original position with my head on his chest. "What happened?" His voice a whisper and yet murderous at the same time. It made shivers go down my spine. He could be really scary when he wanted to be.
I inhaled a gulp of air till it hurt to let anymore in, then let it out. "He―he cheated on me."
I saw his jaw clench, but he didn't say anything, just held me impossibly closer and tighter until I could barely put air in my lungs, it only hurt more because I had a bruise on my ribs. He didn't say anything after that, no 'everything's going to be alright,' because then he'd be lying. We both know nothing is going to be okay for a while.
It was comforting, though. It let me know that he cared if I was happy or sad.
After the river that was cascading down my cheeks stopped slowly. I got used to his arms wrapped tightly around me after a while, allowing me to breath properly to say what I wanted to say.
"He sucks."
"Life sucks."
And I couldn't agree with him more.
Then my eyes started fluttering and before I knew it, I was fast asleep.
⋆ ⋆ ⋆
"Aw, how cute is that?" someone said in a baby voice. I heard the sounds of a camera's snap.
I groaned and rubbed my eyes before opening them. Standing in the doorway was Adam, Max, and Ethan with their phones out and taking pictures of me. Jesse was just leaning on the wall behind them.
"What are you guys doing?" said a scratchy voice from behind me. I whipped my head around and almost bumped heads with Jacob, who was blinking rapidly to get the sleep out of his eyes.
Looking down, I saw I was still sat on Jacob's lap. I looked from the boys then back to us and realized they were taking advantage of us in the position we were in.
I jumped up quickly just as Jacob also made the conclusion I had made and stood up. I felt my face warm in a blush when the guys―except for Jacob―were laughing, even Jesse.
Adam turned to Max. "Should we put this on all our social media accounts?" he asked, sounding completely serious.
Max nodded. "I think we should. How 'bout you Ethan?" Max asked Ethan who nodded while grinning.
Without warning, Jacob started running after Adam. He almost snatched his phone from his hands but Adam jerked his hand away at the last second and started running down the hall.
A thought came to me as I picked up my phone from the floor. "How'd you guys get in here?" I asked and walked over to them, covering my mouth when I yawned.
Ethan stood a little straighter. "We were all in Jacob's car to go his house when he got a call. We started laughing and talking loudly because we heard your name and we wanted to get on his nerves. He started cursing and tried to call back, when you didn't answer he did a U-turn, driving the opposite direction of his house. He stopped at your driveway and told us he would be right back. So we waited, but he was taking forever. After about an hour, we came into the house and started looking around when we didn't hear anything," he said seriously. "And then Jesse found you guys cuddling in here." His mood changed from humorless to playful. "What happened anyway?" he asked.
The smile on my face turned upside-down and into a frown. I shook my head and ran my hand through my most likely messy hair. "Nothing, just . . . " I wanted to give him an answer but I didn't feel comfortable talking about it so soon.
"Jacob, give me my phone!" Adam yelled and seconds later they came around the corner from running up the stairs. Jacob ran past us and into the bathroom and locked himself inside.
We all looked at each other before we heard a click and Jacob stepped into the hallway. He handed back Adam's phone saying, "here," with a smile.
Adam looked at the screen of his phone and groaned. "Did you guys get a picture of them?" he asked.
"Mine came out blurry," Ethan said looking at his phone.
"You were blocking my view" was Max's excuse to Adam.
Adam groaned again.
Max turned to me. "Can we watch the soccer game on your TV. We were going to Jacob's house to watch it, but we kinda got distracted." He smiled, not saying it was my fault.
I nodded, "Yeah, come on." Soccer was a great way to keep my mind off of what happened earlier.
"We still need half an hour, though," Jacob said as we all walked down the stairs in a line.
Adam turned back to look at him. "Then you could go to the store to get us snacks, if you don't want to wait," he said, still looking upset that Jacob deleted the picture of us asleep.
"Yeah, get popcorn and candy," Max called.
When we got to the bottom of the stairs, Jacob got his car keys out of his pocket. As I was passing him, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. "You are coming with me," he simply said as he swung the key ring around his finger.
"But I can't leave them here, what if my father comes and sees a bunch of guys in the house?" I asked him trying to pull my hand back to my side. "And my hair is probably too messy to go outside right now," I complained.
But he was stronger than me so he only pulled me to the door. "You look great," and then more loudly, "Guys, if you here a car that's not mine, run out through the back door and leave by climbing the fence. Quietly," Jacob added, knowing full well how loud his friends could be. They nodded in understanding and Jacob gave me a look saying 'see?'
"Plus, your father gets out of work late doesn't he?" he reasoned when we were outside and in the rain.
I guess he was right, but my father loves to skip work sometimes. It was one of the reasons why I got a job at the diner, that and because he lost his second job. It's a wonder to me how he keeps his work as a mechanic.
My phone vibrated in my pocket when I sat down in the passenger seat and I unlocked it to see I had a new message. The message was from an unknown number I noticed, it had an attachment and I started to download it when Jacob backed out of the driveway.
"It wasn't Alex who told Aiden that we went to the party together," I said breaking the silence that had settled in the car.
Jacob turned to me before looking back at the road. "What? Then who was it?"
"It was Aiden. He went to the party and saw us together when Max was fighting with Nick." Jacob stood quiet after that because he knew I was still hurting.
The picture popped up when the download was complete. My eyes went wide as I saw the picture that had been sent to me.
It was me and Jacob sitting in the corner. My back was to the wall and his was against the bathtub. I was on his lap with my head on his shoulder while his head was resting on mine and both of his arms were wrapped securely around my waist.
At the bottom of the picture was a caption from the sender,
'Good thing i have google auto-backup'
It read and instantly I knew the message was from Adam.
I chuckled. "Jacob."
"Hmm?" he hummed in response as he kept his eyes on the road.
I looked in front of us to see if there were any cars in front of us that we could possibly crash into. "Look," I told him as I held my phone out to him when I didn't see any cars nearby.
Jacob peaked at my phone and his eyes, just like mine had, widened to the size of golf balls. "It's Adam," he said with a small smile.
"I figured." I laughed.
We came to a slow stop in front of a 7Eleven. I stuffed my phone back into my pocket and got out of the car after Jacob. I closed my door carefully as where Jacob slammed his, I shook my head. Isn't he worried that one day he closed it too hard and, I don't know, the door doesn't open?
Jacob held the door open for me and I smiled in gratitude. "Can you get popcorn and sour skittles?" Jacob asked me. I nodded and he walked over to the freezers. Walking into the snack section, I searched for the popcorn and I found a couple different kinds of them.
I poked my head out of the isle where Jacob was. "Hey, what kind of popcorn?" I asked as he walked over with a tub of ice cream in one hand and a two liter sprite in the other.
He paused as he thought it over. "Butter," he said as he joined me in the aisle. I grabbed the bag of popcorn labeled 'Butter' and walked over to the candies. "And, uh, girls eat ice cream when they go through breakups, right?"
"Stereotypically speaking, yes―but I'm fine with anything." I chuckled. I took a look at the rack in front of me. "Can you buy something for me?" I asked as I spotted some candy I really liked. "I would buy it with my own money, but I left it at my house because I left with you unexpectedly."
He nodded and sighed dramatically. "I guess."
I picked up the bag of Jolly Ranchers then the sour Skittles and turned to Jacob. "Anything else?" I asked. The Skittles were obviously for Max, and Jacob's hands were full so he couldn't get anything for the rest of the guys.
"Yeah, can you get Nerds, Reese's, Twix, and Sourpatch Kids?" I grabbed the packages of candies as he listed them off.
"Ready?" I asked and he nodded as the bell at the top of the entrance door jingled and since Jacob was tall enough, he was able to see who it was. Jacob pulled me to the end of the isle as I started walking the other way. He stopped at the back of the rack of candy and peaked over the top then started pulling me over to the next isle. Pulling me along, we made it to the cashier who was reading a magazine. Jacob tapped on the counter to get his attention, looking worriedly over at the coffee section as I layed down all the stuff in my hands.
The man jumped from the sudden noise. "Oh, my apologies," he said and Jacob quickly put down the soda and ice-cream then got his wallet out. "Eleven dollars and fifteen cents please," the old man said as he rang up our items.
Jacob searched through his wallet. He pulled out a ten and slapped it on the counter. "Um." He looked over at the coffee machine again. "I'll be right back. I have the rest of the money in my car," he told both the man and I before running outside to his car. He was lying, though, I saw a five in there.
I moved our things to the side as I heard the sound of heels clicking on the floor behind me. A flash of red hair filled my vision. She held up the cup of coffee in her hand.
"Two dollars."
The girl pushed her hair to one side of her neck as she pulled a five out of her purse. That's when I knew why Jacob had been in a hurry to leave. Kate was here.
She eyed the things me and Jacob got beside her and her eyes trailed to me as I pretended to be texting on my phone. "Michelle, right?" she asked pointing lazily at me while the man was gathering her change.
I looked up. "It's Mikayla," I corrected her.
She nodded. "Right." Her eyes drifted back to the pile of junk food in front of me. "That's . . . a little too much, don't you think?" She considered her words carefully.
I looked down at the candies, ice-cream, and soda then at her. "Oh, this? This is just, um . . ." I didn't know what to tell her. If I told her it was for Jacob, his friends, and me she would probably invite herself to come with us and I would ruin Jacob's plan of staying away from her.
"Okay . . . ?" she trailed before walking out the store.
I saw Jacob come out of his car with a dollar in hand as Kate drove off around the corner. I waited awkwardly for Jacob to come in to the store as the man would glance at me every once in a while.
"Here you go." Jacob gave the rest money to the man.
"Take care of your girlfriend," he said lowly, winking.
Jacob nodded with a smile. "I sure will, thank you sir." He waved goodbye as we left the 7Eleven store.
Once we got in the car Jacob burst out laughing. "Did she tell you anything?"
"Well, thanks to you, your girlfriend thinks I'm having a party for myself."
Jacob looked down, sighing as he rolled his eyes. "She's not my girlfriend."
-
a/n:
•I didn't even mean for you guys to think Aiden was cheating with Alyssa.
•hope you liked it? If you did, there's a button in the shape of a star! Comment if you like.
•fact about me: i don't even like popcorn
•love you