And now your song is on repeat
And I'm dancin' on to your heartbeat
And when you're gone, I feel incomplete
So if you want the truth
I just wanna be part of your symphony
Will you hold me tight and not let go?
Symphony
Like a love song on the radio
Will you hold me tight and not let go?
-Symphony, Zara Larsson, Clean Bandit
20| Evelyn
Evelyn leaned further down on her history book just to convince the teacher that she was reading. In reality she wasn't. Her mind was anywhere but here.
The incident that took place in the morning kept playing over and over inside her head. Mason Stewart brimming with rage and vengeance with the animal part of him showing out in broad daylight. He had punched the life out of Alex. But Evelyn did nothing to stop him. She was too shocked to move a limb to see the other part of Mason that she thought was nonexistent. A part of her was actually starting to believe that whatever rumor had made Mason seem like a bad boy was not true at all. He was not reckless and cold hearted though he seemed at first. He was gentle, a bit jerk yes and also stubborn in a way.
But today everything changed and the worst part about it was, Evelyn was there when it happened.
After the words she heard getting out of Alex's mouth, she was angry. She had been called many names behind her back before. But it still rang in her ear.
And after what Alex said about Mallory, Evelyn couldn't tell how else Mason could have reacted. Evelyn didn't support him going all violent, but if she was at his place, she couldn't imagine what she could have done. Alex was talking about his sister.
Evelyn sighed heavily. She could not imagine what Mason must have been going through. She knew she needed to see him as soon as possible. She waited desperately for the bell to ring.
After a few moments it finally did and Evelyn quickly packed her bags and headed for the cafeteria. She wondered if she would actually found him there. But she had to try.
She heard in the hallway that Mason was most certainly expelled from the school for the scene he caused because the school had no violence rules. But she also heard someone saying Alex had gone blind because of the fight, which she knew was not true. These high school rumors had no limits.
What if he actually was expelled?
As soon as the thought entered her brain, she shook her head. It simply couldn't happen. She didn't even want to imagine it.
She walked towards their usual table. The people around her stopped talking as they spotted her. Some hushed under their breathe. Evelyn even saw someone pointing fingers towards her. When she almost made it to the table, some girl brushed past her and she heard her whisper, "Whore."
It could not get any worse. Evelyn knew a lot of people blamed her for the fight. She had seen students staring at her everywhere. She could suddenly feel she was their center of the attention, for now.
She slumped down on the chair beside Rita who looked up from the book she was reading.
"Hey," Rita said and pressed her lips together in a tight smile.
Evelyn couldn't make herself utter a single word.
"Just breathe, okay?" Rita said with a reassuring smile and patted her shoulder. Evelyn nodded.
"Hey," Diana came in with her lunch tray followed by Noah.
"I am sorry about what happened in the morning." She said and took a hold of her hand.
"I don't know if you should feel sorry about me." Her throat caught up.
"Have you seen him?" Noah asked sitting down.
"No," Evelyn replied. She jumped up in shock when Jack slammed his tray on the table.
"What's your problem huh? Do you think we are staging drama over here?" Jack was yelling at a guy who was looking at their table. He quickly looked away.
Jack sat down, "All kind of fuckers goes to this school. They can't stop talking, can they?" He clenched his fist and slammed it.
"Don't break the table." Abigail replied as she sat down in her chair. "It will wear off, give it some time."
Evelyn looked around the cafeteria. There was no sign of Mason anywhere. She glanced at Jack, "Do you know where he might be?"
Jack was the one who shoved Evelyn away from the fight while she went all stiff. He threw himself on the fight, grabbed Mason and pulled him out of it.
"Do I look like his personal assistant to you?" Jack replied with his voice shaking in anger. Evelyn could feel the panic seeping in her spine.
"Why would you say something like that, Jack?" Evelyn asked leaning forwards.
Jack stared down at his food and didn't reply. "Please, don't tell me you fought with him too." Noah said from the other side. Jack snapped at him and stood up kicking his chair behind. He left leaving his food and strode away.
"Shits real." Diana said instantly.
Evelyn could not get one thing that was going around her. She covered her face with her palm and tried to breathe. Jack fought with Mason and why would he ever do that?
"Hey," Rita chimed, "Would you like to get out of here?"
Evelyn couldn't be more grateful to her. She stood up instantly. If she could, she would get out of the school at any second. They walked out of the cafeteria and Evelyn could feel their eyes on her. Her skin crawled and her stomach flipped. She concentrated on her steps. When they were out in fresh air, Evelyn inhaled deeply. Following Rita, she made her way to the bleachers.
"I always come here when I don't wanna sit in there." Rita said taking a seat.
Evelyn sat down beside her. "This hellhole gives a lot of stress. But you know they say, it gets better after high school."
"As if," Evelyn shook her head. Putting down the lunch tray beside her she stared forward.
"I know how it feels. When I first started sitting with them, they called me many things behind my back. Don't even get me started on it." She said. "Just don't let it get to you."
Only if she knew, what Evelyn had been called for dating a popular guy once. It was like, if you date one of the popular person of school, the whole student body becomes your enemy, like you were doing some kind of crime. If you were a girl, you had it worse.
Looking at Rita, she could see it now. A girl like her usually don't fit in the popular group. Rita was the actual definition of nerd. She even wore those black rimmed glasses and she always carried books around, either it was a novel or textbooks, she always had books.
"How did ya get into with this weirdos?" Evelyn asked. Rita chuckled.
"Mallory." She said staring at her food and sighed. "I miss her, a lot."
"What Alex said about her," Evelyn couldn't bring herself to say it out aloud, "Something about Mason's best friend and her."
Rita looked up at her.
"He said, Mallory slept with his best friend." Evelyn said and Rita looked away.
As much as Evelyn hated talking about it, she needed to know who was the best friend he was talking about.
"Who was it?" Rita didn't reply right away. She just glanced back at Evelyn.
"I hate to talk about it but," Evelyn's voice trailed off, "I never thought I would see Mason react like that ever."
Evelyn looked down fiddling with her dress. If she could turn back time, she would have done anything to stop that from happening. It hurt seeing Mason like that. Evelyn swallowed the lump in her throat.
"It is quite obvious." Rita looked up. "I don't know much about it. I wasn't there when this bullshit happened. There was this party, I didn't go to. But she did, given how self destructive she was acting lately. She had been acting so weird. She fought with me when I tried to talk to her. She was so done. I-I-I" Rita's lips trembled.
"The next day in school, Mason came looking all agitated. He had been acting all different since their parents died. We all are trying to bring him back to the normal life. That morning he looked different."
"I was walking to my locker when I heard Bryan. Then before I know, I heard shouting outside school. When I reached the parking lot, I saw it. Bryan and Mason fighting like they were gonna kill each other."
Rita took a deep breathe, "I gaped at them. Jack and Noah went running towards them. It was hard to pull them apart. Bryan was bleeding. A side of Mason's face was bleeding too. He stormed out off school. Next thing I know, Mallory is out of the country."
Rita looked away, "I didn't even know what happened. I didn't even get to say her goodbye. There were so many rumors. The best friends, Bryan and Mason they broke apart. So did our group. Bryan started sitting with his friends from football team. Mason and Bryan were like two animal attacking on each other wherever they met."
"Things turned into a mess. All I knew something happened between Bryan, Mallory and Mason and they won't even talk about it. Jack said something like Bryan had betrayed Mason."
Rita finished and looked away. Evelyn gaped at her.
"But he was Mason's best friend." Evelyn said somehow.
"Why it is like this Evelyn, the people we trust most are always the one throwing knife in our back?"
Evelyn pulled her hair and sighed heavily. "Heck if I knew, Rita."
Evelyn felt her chest felt heavier. She had been betrayed the same way before. She had trusted someone with all her heart only to see it broken and crushed by the same person and thrown it towards her face. She had the same person laughing down at her, calling her stupid for trusting. Evelyn had been betrayed.
Evelyn could think of one person at that moment. She just knew she had to be there for him more than anything. If anything Evelyn needed to do now, it was being with Mason no matter what.
• • •
"Just go home." Mason said for the umpteenth time as Evelyn leaned down to pick up the juice can from the field.
Mason had been punished to clean the field after school. Thankfully, he wasn't expelled.
After finishing her classes, Evelyn looked for him everywhere. She finally found him in his PE clothes cleaning the field. Evelyn waited by the field. When he didn't approach her or even acknowledged her, she dropped her bag and started helping him.
"It's my punishment. Not yours." He said. "If Mr. Harris or anyone sees you, it won't be good for you."
Evelyn stood straight and sighed. "You are my ride back home,remember?"
"You don't even need a ride." He murmured and kept working.
"Hey," Evelyn placed her hand on his shoulder. He looked up.
"Just leave me alone." Mason said an removed her hand and walked away to the other side. Evelyn followed.
"You never leave me alone. What made you think, I would?" She replied.
Mason turned. With his hands on his hips he said, " You're so stubborn."
Evelyn smiled slightly, "I've been told."
Mason strode towards her and placing his arms on both of her shoulder, he shook her, " Why don't you understand? They already called you.." He stopped. "Because of me."
"Do I look like I care? And also I've been told that before too so," Evelyn shrugged.
Mason's eyes widened." You've been called what before?" He almost growled.
" You know, the usual. Whore, slut, bitch and," She counted her fingers.
"Stop." Mason growled. "Who the fuck called you those?"
Evelyn chuckled, "Why, would you murder them?"
"This isn't a joke, Evelyn." His voice shook.
"We go to this hell called high school, Mason. I had been to different high schools in my life and I have been called many names." She said as a matter of fact.
Mason covered his face with fingers and pulled his hair.
"I am probably making things worse." Evelyn said pressing her lips.
"I-I" He said clenching his fist, "I need to punch something so bad."
"Nope. Not here, not in school. And not me." She said and Mason snapped at her with his eyes wide.
"Why would you even think I would do that to you?" He asked looking horrified.
"Chill. I know you won't. I was just joking. I didn't even know you could fight like that before today. Sure I have seen you in that party but today it was kind of different." She said looking down.
"You hate me now, don't you?" He asked.
Evelyn took a step forward and looked at him. "It's not like I support you for what you did but if anyone said anything like that about my sister, I maybe would have done the same thing."
"I don't regret hitting him." He looked away. "But yes, I hate it when I can't control what I am doing and I didn't know what I was doing. I just heard her name and..."
"You and I both need a breather." Evelyn said as she held his hand.
"Now I am actually considering your idea of running away," Mason said entwining his fingers with hers. Evelyn chuckled at his reply.
"Knew it. I always make the best plans." Evelyn said smiling up at him. The corner of his lips twitched a bit.
"Let me finish this off." Mason pulled away and Evelyn stood there as he continued to work. She tried to help sometimes as none was watching over them, but Mason would shoo her away.
When they were finally done, Mason changed his outfit and they were off to the hideout.
• • •
A
uthor's note: You know it, it's written in a rush. But I didn't wanna break my schedule. Let me tell you, we are getting to the main part of the story. And that also means we are getting there.
Until next chapter.