The rest of the weekend passed by awfully.
I kept waiting for my phone to ring, and for Grayson to explain himself, or at least apologize to me for the things he said. He was drunk, I would hear him out. But sadly, he never called.
I knew it was stupid of me to care so much, after all Grayson is infamous for being an asshole, why did I think that he'd be anything else for me?
Despite my knowledge that it was dumb to be so upset, I stayed in bed all weekend, and let my phone keep ringing every time either Chloe or Josh tried to call me. I didn't want to talk about it, it was too soon.
Monday morning, I was tempted to skip school. After all, my nightmares were even worse than usual, and I couldn't fall asleep for more than five minutes without waking up screaming. I was so used to having Grayson to talk to, I grabbed my phone instinctively every time I woke up, before realizing that I couldn't call him anymore.
I dragged myself out of bed, chugged as much coffee as I possibly could, and tried to use makeup to cover the giant bags under my eyes.
I felt horrible, but I didn't want Grayson to think that I was running away from him. He couldn't scare me out of my own school.
I was actually kind of excited to see him today, because now I could demand answers from him. I'd corner him after AP Chem, and ask him why he was acting like such a dick. There'd be no escape.
The morning passed by slowly, and when I got to the usual lunch area Chloe and Josh were sitting there, apparently waiting for me. Grayson wasn't present, but I didn't expect him to be.
"What the fuck, Serena?" Chloe asked, irritably.
"What?" I responded.
"I was so worried about you!" She scolded, "You dissapeared from the party Friday, and you haven't picked up your phone all weekend!"
"I'm sorry" I said, guilt filling my stomach. Chloe honestly deserved more, I was too distracted by my own misery that I didn't take a minute to notice how selfish I was being.
"Explain what happened with you and Grayson" She said, calmly.
"How do you know anything happened with Grayson?" I asked defensively.
"Well, first of all, he's not here" Chloe stated, matter-of-factly, "And second of all, you asked my boyfriend to go check on him Friday"
"He- I don't know he was being mean, and he was yelling at me and stuff" I said, awkwardly.
"But why?" Chloe asked, confused.
"I don't know" I lied.
I didn't want to spill about his mom, I owed him more than that, and it wasn't my place. Josh looked at me as if he didn't believe me, but thankfully he didn't push it.
"He probably didn't mean it" Josh chimed in.
"I think if he didn't mean it he would've apologized by now" I replied truthfully.
"I don't know, maybe when you talk to him-" Chloe started.
"Chloe, I didn't even recognize him" I admitted, voice breaking, "He was so cold"
"He was in a bad place that night" Josh added, "I went to find him as soon as you told me he was being strange, and it- he just- he was a total wreck"
"What did he say to you?" I asked, suspiciously. It seemed like there was something Josh wasn't telling us.
"C'mon Serena, you know I can't tell you" Josh sighed, "He's my best friend"
"Fine, don't tell me" I said, huffily, "I'm going to corner him after Chem this afternoon, and he'll explain"
"Good luck with that" Josh smirked.
"Thanks" I snapped, walking off with determination.
That afternoon, I got to AP Chem as early as humanly possible. I watched everyone file in anxiously, waiting for the one person I was dying to see to walk through the door.
But Grayson never showed up. That fucker.
That night was just as bad as the last one, with my nightmare becoming even more intense than ever before. As hard as I tried, I just couldn't save the beautiful brunette girl, just like in real life.
When I woke up the next morning, I felt awful. My skin was pale and everything about my face screamed exhausted. I drank coffee again, did my best with makeup, and forced myself out of the house.
The day passed by slowly, and I kept almost falling asleep in my classes. Grayson didn't show up to lunch, but I knew he wouldn't. When I got to AP Chem that afternoon, I wasn't expecting him to even show up, so when the late bell rang and he still wasn't there, I wasn't surprised.
I had started mixing chemicals with Brayden for the lab, when Grayson walked through the door, five minutes late. He didn't have a pass, and he didn't even apologize to the teacher. He just walked like a zombie to his seat. I was pleased to see that he looked as worn out as I did. He deserved it.
"Grayson, is there a reason you're late?" Our teacher asked, sternly.
"Yeah" Grayson answered gruffly.
My teacher waited for him to elaborate, but he never did. They had a mini staring contest, before the teacher sighed, shaking his head.
"Don't let it happen again" He finally replied.
Grayson didn't answer, and soon enough everyone turned their attention away from him and back to the labs we needed to finish, but I was still distracted. I was finally going to get to ask Grayson what the hell is going on with him. I could barely sit still in anticipation.
I expected him to try to slip out the door as fast as he could, but to my surprise he had fallen asleep on the desk by the time the bell rang.
"Grayson" I said, shaking him to wake him up.
He groaned, then picked his head up. Once he looked at me, his face set into a cold, indifferent expression again and I felt my stomach drop.
"Oh, it's you" He said, cooly.
"What the hell Grayson?" I snapped, "What is going on with you?"
"I don't know what you mean" He said, avoiding my eyes.
"We're supposed to be friends!" I replied in exasperation, "Why are you acting like such a dick?"
"This is who I am, Princess" He said icily, "If you don't like it, the door's that way"
"I know that this isn't you" I insisted, "You can't fool me, Grayson Mitchell"
"Leave me alone" He glared, "I don't even like you!"
This was basically a repeat of Friday night, and I thought that it'd be different this time because he was sober. I was thoroughly dissapointed, but I wasn't giving up that easily.
"Look, if this is because you have a girlfriend-" I started.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Grayson snapped, "Are you dumb?"
"I- I just saw the flowers in your car" I explained, "If you have a girlfriend, that doesn't mean we can't be friends"
"It's none of your buisness if I have a girlfriend or not" He glared, "I don't want to talk to you either way"
I sighed, wondering if I should bring up what he told me, before deciding that the conversation couldn't get any worse. He already didn't want to talk to me, so I might as well go all the way with it.
"About what you told me on Friday, I-" I started.
"Don't!" He snapped, fire burning in his eyes, "Don't you dare speak to me about that"
"Grayson, I-" I tried again.
"I didn't mean to tell you that" He muttered, losing his anger. His expression was now anxious, and he wouldn't meet my eye again.
"I just want to be there for you" I said, softly.
I thought I saw his eyes soften for a second, but when I looked back at him, he looked kind of bored and annoyed, and I decided I must have imagined it.
"Please, just leave me alone" He said, in a tired voice, "I told you that I wasn't your friend a million times, okay?"
I felt my insides turn to ice. I thought I knew him, and I thought he cared about me, but it turns out that I was wrong about everything.
"Okay, fine. I'm not going to try to force my company on you if you don't want it" I replied, struggling to keep my voice calm and cool, "Have a nice life"
I scooped up my bag and threw it over my shoulder elegantly, and headed to the door, making sure to not look at him.
"Wait, Serena!" He called after me in a low voice.
I spun around, waiting for him to say anything. To apologize. To explain himself. To tell me that he did want me around. Anything, and I would've forgiven him.
"I-I'm-Just-" He struggled with himself for a moment, "Goodbye"
I felt anger flare up inside of me. He just kicked me out of his life for no reason, and all I get is a simple goodbye? I resisted the urge to scream at him, and I just strode out of the room, not looking back.
As I headed through the school, I let the tears stream freely down my face. Honestly, almost everyone was out of the school already, and I couldn't muster up the energy to care about what anyone who was left thought.
Well, until I full out collided with Brayden.
This has to be some sort of sick, karmic joke. I didn't know why the world was out to get me so much, I'm a good person.
"I'm sorry" He said, doing a double take on my tear stained face, "Wow, Serena, are you okay?"
I did the only thing I could think of, burst into hysterical laughter.
"What's so funny?" He asked, confused.
"This would happen" I giggled, wiping tears off of my face "The only possible way to make this situation worse was to add you into it, and then this happened"
Brayden's face fell into a serious expression, as if he was deeply thinking about something. I could still read him pretty well.
"I am sorry, you know" He said, seriously, "I know what I did was messed up"
"It really was" I agreed, "But I'm kinda over it, you know, moved on with my life and all"
Brayden grinned at me, just the way he used to, and the familiarity made me cringe. It was almost like we never broke up, just for that millisecond.
"You don't let things keep you down" Brayden commented, admiration in his eyes, "That's something I've always loved about you"
"Brayden" I said, warily. It was a bad idea for him to be using that word with me.
"I do miss you" Brayden said, gently, "A lot, actually"
"Stop it" I said, mentally exhausted from my day, "We shouldn't be having this conversation"
"Tell me you don't miss me too, and I'll leave you alone" He said, seriously.
Before I had the chance to answer, footsteps echoed through the hall, and I spun around to see who it was. I was praying for it to not be Kelly, and it wasn't, thankfully.
But it was Grayson. Of course.
He walked by me and Brayden, and started laughing a cold, cruel laugh, before walking out of the building. I felt my temper boiling dangerously close to the surface, so I followed him out, fully prepared to scream at him.
"How fucking dare you?" I shouted, heart racing and blood pounding.
"What?" He asked casually, as if it didn't really concern him why I was so mad.
"You ask me to get out of your life, and yet you have a problem with me having a conversation with Brayden?" I accused, "Grow up"
"I don't care who you talk to, don't flatter yourself" He said, cold as ice.
"Then why did you even feel the need to react?" I replied angrily.
"I just think it's funny" He shrugged, "Forgive me for finding the humor in you being stupid enough to go back to someone who publically humiliated you"
"It's none of your buisness what I do anymore, and that was your own choice" I said cooly, but my hands were shaking out of anger.
"Frankly, I don't give a fuck about you or anything you do" Grayson answered nonchalantly.
I was so angry and frustrated, I genuinely wanted to hit him more than anything, but before I could react in any way, Brayden strode out of the building and came over to us.
"Is he bothering you?" Brayden asked me, glaring at Grayson.
"What if I was, Erikson?" Grayson taunted, "Would you really be willing to fight over a girl you tossed out like yesterday's trash?"
"Don't talk about her like that" Brayden answered, defensively.
"Ha! Those are just words, you're the one who actually treated her like that" Grayson laughed.
"Doesn't seem like you've been treating her so well either, does it?" Brayden smirked, "I found her crying her eyes out, and I'd bet my life that you were the cause"
"Shut the fuck up!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, "Both of you"
Both boys swung around to face me, looking equally surprised that I had finally spoken up.
"You two are the most frustrating, emotionally manipulative, fucked up people I have ever had to deal with" I snapped, "I'm not a fucking bargaining chip in your stupid feud, so leave me out of it"
There was a minute of stunned silence, where Brayden looked at me in surprise, and Grayson looked at me with an expression I couldn't quite place.
"Leave you out of our feud?" Grayson echoed lightly, with a chuckle, "Princess, you are the feud"
With that, Grayson waltzed over to his car, and got in. Brayden and I didn't move until after we watched his car dissapear.
"Serena" Brayden started.
I shook my head in dismissal, and walked off towards my car, too. I couldn't take any more drama for the day, my head was pounding and spinning from what already happened.
I went home, and curled up in bed to take a nap, trying my hardest not to think about the two most frustrating boys to ever exist.
Author's note- Sorry it's late! Comment and tell me what you think of how both boys are acting :)