19 | nineteen
Stacey walked up from the cafeteria during lunch and snuck up the back staircase towards her locker to grab her jacket before last class began again. But when she entered the empty hallway, she saw Axel leaning against her locker.
She walked over and stopped in front of him, a few paces away.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I just wanted to talk," he said.
"About what?" Stacey spoke calmly but her body was tense.
"Look, you helped me before when I was trying to get over Melissa-"
"You used me to get over Melissa," Stacey clarified, shaking her head. "I didn't help you."
"I don't want us to hate each other," Axel said and Stacey scoffed in the back of her throat.
"I never said I hated you."
"Actions speak louder than words," Axel said and Stacey stepped forward, crossing her arms over her chest.
Axel then finally noticed her hair and the jagged and messy cut it had. His brows furrowed and his eyes flickered up to hers. "You cut your hair. I liked it long."
"Exactly."
Axel sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "What do you want me to do?"
"Get out of my way so I can get to my locker."
"I'm trying to make us even."
"There is no way we can be even Axel," Stacey said. "This isn't supposed to be some kind of game. You can't just play around with someone who loves you only when it's convenient-"
Stacey's face fell when she realized her mistake and Axel's lips parted in shock. "Love?"
Stacey breathed deeply. "Yes."
"You love me?"
Stacey looked at him, right into his eyes and said in a voice so quiet, it was almost a whisper. "No."
"But you just said-"
"I love you, yes," Stacey said. "I do. But I'm not...I'm not in love with you. Not like I was before. Not after everything you put me through."
"What did I put you through?" Axel asked in disbelief.
"You noticed me," Stacey said. "But not because you liked me. No. You noticed me because I looked slutty enough for you!"
Axel's fist clenched and Stacey shook her head, turning around and leaving her jacket in her locker.
"I didn't notice you because I thought you were slutty," Axel said as she walked away and Stacey stopped walking, looking back at him. "I noticed you because you were...you. I thought that we were friends."
"We were never friends Axel," Stacey said.
"Why not?" Axel asked and Stacey gulped down her pain before finally saying the cold, hard truth.
"Because you left me behind."
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