The next week in AP Chemistry lab, me and Brayden had finished all the work early. In the rare occasions that this happened when we were dating, it meant some free time for us to hang out. But now, it meant hell.
Predictably, I excused myself to the bathroom, figuring I could waste about five or ten minutes in there without anyone noticing.
But when I walked in, Kelly was standing at the mirror.
"Oh my god, the world must really fucking hate me" I muttered under my breath, staring at her in disgust.
I had escaped one evil just to be stuck with the other. And I honestly couldn't even tell you which one was worse.
"Don't leave" Kelly requested, looking at me sadly, "I have something to say to you"
"You have something to say to me?" I laughed in disbelief, "I'm the one who should be having a talk with you"
"So why don't you then?" Kelly asked, looking rather peaceful.
"Because you're disgusting and not worth my time" I said, forcing my voice to stay calm.
I turned around, and headed back to the door.
"You're just mad because he didn't choose you" She called after me.
I felt myself burn with rage. That's it, I couldn't take it any more. I tried so hard to pretend I was calm, but that accusation was just too much for me.
"How fucking dare you?" I screamed, "If that's why I was mad, I'd only be mad at him, not you too, you complete idiot"
"What the hell else do you have to be mad about?" She yelled back at me.
I laughed humorlessly.
"I thought we were friends! I knew we weren't close or anything, and I knew you probably had feelings for him, but for him to cheat on me with you and then you both to just smile right to my face?" I said, venom in my voice, "You must truly be an awful person"
"How did you know that?" She asked, looking panicked.
"He told me himself" I replied.
"You need to let me explain" She said tiredly.
"He cheated on me, and you both acted like everything was okay" I said, coldly, "He came back and kissed me with those lips, after you had been on them. I can't even look at you right now"
"Serena, you don't know the whole story" Kelly said, eyes sparkling with tears. This made me even angrier. She didn't deserve to cry, there was no reason for her to, she's not the one who got cheated on and dumped in front of half the school.
"I don't need to know anything else" I replied icily, turning away, "Never talk to me again"
With that, I turned around and walked out of the bathroom, and started heading down the hall back towards my class. Sadly, she followed me out, and I spun around to face her again.
"What do you want, Kelly?" I glared, "Did you wanna tell me someone else had cheated on me or is Brayden it?"
"It's not like you thought it was, Serena" She said, softly, "We kissed, but it didn't go farther than that. I know it was a horrible thing, but it only happened once and he told me it was a mistake"
I felt a little bit less disgusted, since I had been picturing scenarios where he slept with her and came back and slept with me immediately after nonstop since I found out about the cheating, but it didn't really matter. Cheating was still cheating, and no matter what, it shouldn't have happened.
"Do you want an award, Kelly?" I asked, sarcastically, "Cause I can make a plaque for you guys that says 'I only cheated once' if you want"
"I'm sorry for how this all happened, Serena" Kelly said finally.
"So am I" I said icily, "I never would've done it to you, not in a million years"
I spun around, and walked into the AP Chemistry classroom, thinking that maybe being in class with Brayden was the lesser of two evils after all.
When I walked in, the whole class was silent and looking at me. They must've been able to hear me and Kelly's argument. I sighed, how stupid was I to engage in a fight in a silent hallway?
I sat down next to Brayden as far away as I could without leaving the desk. He looked at me awkwardly. The whole class was looking at me to see if he'd say something about what they'd just heard, but thankfully, he kept his mouth shut for once. After a couple minutes, people seemed to realize they weren't going to get any more drama for today, and they turned their attention back towards the labs.
The bell rang, finally dismissing me from pure hell, about three minutes later. Brayden practically sprinted out of the room, I'm sure to question Kelly about our conversation.
Grayson lagged behind while everyone else rushed out of the room.
"Wanna go hit something?" He asked, offering me a smile.
I nodded, following him to the parking lot.
He brought me back to the gym where he had taken me the day of the breakup. Once again, he pulled out a key to unlock it.
"Seriously, what is this gym?" I asked, not as preoccupied as I was that day.
"God, Princess, you haven't figured out that I own it yet?" Grayson shook his head at me, "And you're the front runner for valedictorian?"
"We don't know anything about that yet, we still have another couple weeks until they let us know" I told him, trying not to get ahead of myself, "And you own it?"
"That's what I just said" He sighed, leading me into the room with the punching bags once again.
"Why do you have a gym?" I asked him, not letting the subject go. Normal people don't just own personal gyms.
"Because" He sighed, "My prospects as an athlete are the one thing my dad actually cares about involving me. So he bought me a gym"
"I'm sure that's not true" I frowned.
"Princess, you met him briefly" He said, putting on gloves and punching the bag hard, "I think you can believe it"
I slipped on my own gloves, taking the punching bag next to his.
"What happened?" I asked, after a minute of silence.
"What do you mean, Princess?" Grayson asked, distractedly.
"With you and your dad" I said gently.
"There are some things you're just better off not knowing" Grayson said, training his eyes on the punching bag once again.
"You don't always have to be tough and alone, Grayson" I told him, "You could talk to me, if you wanted to"
"I don't want to" He said, cooly, "Can you please just not do this, Briggs?"
"What am I doing?" I asked, getting angry, "Trying to be there for you?"
"I don't need you to be there for me!" Grayson snapped, "It's none of your buisness why my fucking father doesn't love me, and trust me when I tell you that you're better off not knowing!"
I silently seethed. I just wanted to return the favor, because Grayson has been such a huge help since the break up. I don't know why he has to turn into such a jerk when I try to get to know him.
I placed an angry punch on the bag, and then a few more. Grayson followed in my example, and we both beat up the punching bags in silence.
"I'm sorry, Princess" He said, stopping abruptly, "I shouldn't have snapped at you. It's just- I can't talk about that. I'm sorry"
"It's alright" I said smally.
I was dying to know what was going on with Grayson, but I knew I had to let it go.
Me and Grayson went back to my house after we were done at the gym. The fall air was cool and crisp, but still nice enough to sit outside, so I led him to the backyard and started up the fire pit.
Grayson pulled his chair about four feet away from it, and I stood next to it, holding my hands out to warm them.
The wind blew and some embers shot out onto the ground. Grayson flinched, even though they didn't come near him.
"Princess, step away from the fire" He said, voice light but face worried.
"It's okay" I said calmly, "I'm fine"
"Please, just- just take a couple steps back" Grayson insisted, a panicked edge to his voice, "Please, Briggs"
"What's your problem with fire, Grayson?" I asked, turning around to face him.
"I told you that I've played with fire before" He said, intensely, "I've been burnt, Princess, and I don't want you to ever be"
I frowned, confused about if we were talking figuratively or about literal burns. Grayson is never easy to understand.
I took a few steps back, and dragged my chair right next to his. He visibly relaxed as soon as I had done so. What was his problem with fire?
"Shit, I probably owe you an explanation, don't I?" He said, running his hand through his hair in distress.
"I'm not going to force anything out of you, Grayson" I replied casually, but I was dying to know.
"My mom died in a fire when I was 11" He said, not taking his eyes off of the flames.
"Oh Grayson" I said, heart dropping, "I'm so sor-"
"Don't" He said sharply, looking at me with distant eyes.
"But-" I started.
"No" He cut me off, "Trust me, I don't deserve anyone's pity"
"Grayson!" I exclaimed in surprise.
Of course he deserved pity, his mom died. I couldn't think of many things that deserved pity more than that.
"I-I need to go" He said, abruptly getting up.
He rushed out of my backyard, leaving me there speechless. I didn't move again until I got a text from Chloe, asking me to hangout with her to explain the Kelly situation from today. I had almost forgotten, it felt so long ago now, and so stupid. I texted her back that I'd explain later, and I stared at the fire for a few more minutes silently thinking about Grayson.
I went inside, and pulled out my laptop and searched the name 'Grayson Mitchell' into google. I didn't find anything about him, so I tried our town name. His dad's buisness showed up on our local news page, so I took his name, Paul Mitchell, and searched that into google.
Bingo.
Local woman dies in tragic fire
I clicked on the link, and it lead me to an article. On the top, there was a picture of a woman who looked exactly as you'd expect the mother of Grayson and Aria to look; beautiful beyond words.
I scrolled down and started reading. The article was over six years old, and it was from the day after the fire.
Yesterday evening, a local tragedy struck when the Mitchell family's house set on fire. Sources confirm the fire started in the kitchen, and spread quickly, trapping Denise Mitchell (pictured above) and her son, Grayson, in the burning house. The fire department came, rescuing Grayson who was sleeping on the couch downstairs, but by the time they could get upstairs to Denise, it was already too late. The two were rushed to the local hospital, where she was tragically declared dead within minutes, while Grayson is set to make a full recovery. Aria Mitchell, their daughter, was at college during this tragedy, and Paul Mitchell was on his way home from work. We send our most sincere apoligies to the Mitchell family for their tragic loss.
I stared at my computer screen, and started blinking, hoping the article would just dissapear. Grayson was in the fire that killed his mother.
I felt guilt sitting in my stomach and weighing on my mind. I wanted nothing more than to give Grayson a giant hug, and never let go of him.
And I've been complaining about my life because of a breakup. I can't even imagine how Grayson feels.