Chapter Ten

One week, two days, five hours, and twenty-seven minutes.

I sound like a complete stalker, but it’s been that long since my argument with Drew in my apartment. It was totally nerve-racking and I couldn’t even concentrate on the story Lillian was telling about this cute guy she saw at the mall.

We came back to our normal routine, before I got locked inside the school for the first time. Drew sat alone at the table nearest to the dumpster while I was seated at the table in the middle of the cafeteria surrounded by my popular group of friends.

The only upside I’ve seen since that night was that Lucas forgot about the whole kissing ordeal. He couldn’t even remember a thing from the party because of the amount of alcohol he consumed.

“What do you think, Celeste?” Lillian asked suddenly, snapping me out of my train of thoughts. I noticed that every single pair of eyes was placed on mine except for the Smith brothers’; both of them were happily picking on their food.

I don’t want to look like a horrible friend that didn’t even pay attention to the simplest stories of my friends, so I muttered, “Yes,” and prayed that it was a yes or no question.

“So you agree to go on a double date with Lillian and her newfound crush?” Jessica raised her perfectly waxed eyebrow.

I hesitated for a moment and cursed myself for not paying attention. I looked at Lillian who had her eyes wide with a glint of hopefulness shining in them. With a sigh I nodded, “Yeah, I’ll go on a double date with you.”

Lucas visibly stiffened and I suddenly remembered his confession. Did he really feel that way about me?

A huge grin broke out on Lillian’s face as she practically jumped on me, engulfing me in a huge hug, “You’re seriously the best!” she squealed.

I patted her head awkwardly and when I lifted my gaze, my eyes met those emerald orbs that I became familiar with.

Drew’s face was stoic was usual and his mouth was pressed into a tight line. He broke away from our eye contact and I felt my heart ache.

 When the bell rang our tiny group separated, but Jessica grabbed my arm and pulled me into the restroom, locking the door behind her.

“Celeste, what’s going on?” she asked, leaning against the tiled pink wall.

“What do you mean?” I asked, feigning innocence.

“You said yes to a date with the brother of Lillian’s love interest who we discussed as being one of the grossest kids ever,” she cringed, “And you’ve been avoiding Drew like the plague.”

“Nothing happened,” I replied monotonously, “I’m just following the status quo.”

With a look of disbelief, Jessica stomped her foot, “We don’t follow the status quo! What happened?!”

“Nothing,” I repeated and before she can question me any longer, I unlocked the door and marched out.

I didn’t feel like going to class so I instead hid inside the janitor’s closet. An overturned bucket served as my seat and I just sat there, staring at the mops.

Somewhere along the lines somebody messed up, and that somebody was me.

*

*

*

Perhaps the most awkward part of this whole ordeal was the fact that I still had to supervise the winter dance decoration because Drew was part of the whole committee.

Sitting all alone on the bleachers with a clipboard clutched in your hand while the person you desperately want to avoid is hanging up ribbons right across from you isn’t exactly the best position you could be in.

 I’d rather deal with the Smith brothers’ daunting taunts, and that’s saying something.

Drew did a good job of ignoring me, though. Whenever we cross each other in the halls, he keeps his face straight ahead with a neutral expression never faltering.

I used to think that having no class with him was upsetting, but this time, I was actually really grateful.

The lingering question at the back of mind was: will we ever make up?

A week… we were only a week away from the winter formal. The gym was beautifully decorated with the magical colors of blue and silver shimmering around the room.

Everybody was buzzing on who was taking who to the special dance. In our school, winter formal is also our last day of school before we enter winter break. Tradition calls that winter formal actually brought up most couples because it is here when a boy and a girl meet, spend their Christmas together, and get that special New Year’s Kiss. Coincidentally, my parents were one of those couples.

Even though I never shared a healthy relationship with my parents, it gave me a sense of pride that I was going to be part of the event which once brought up the two people who gave birth to me.

So far, I got a lot of proposals from boys around school, but I rejected them as nicely as I could. As cliché as it sounds, I’m waiting for somebody special.

Oh who am I kidding? My life is a walking cliché!

Tomorrow will be our last day of decorating the gym, meaning I don’t have to endure the painful feeling of being in the same room as Drew any longer.

Miss Runway sashayed to where I was with a huge pile of papers in her hands and gave it to me. “Here are the list of members of the committee and the time table of progress…” she listed off. I stared at her with my mouth wide open; the only person who has access to this paperwork was the head of the dance committee.

Hold up! I flipped through the papers given to me as I saw the full list of the names of the students’ part of the dance committee and there it was plastered on the very top:

Dance Committee President: Claire Roberts

“Your name’s Claire?” I asked without a second thought and she nodded with a smug smirk on her face.

I then remember Drew’s words when he explained to me why he was pumping balloons on the first day of decorating.

“My teacher, Mr. Roberts has a daughter and she happens to be the president of the dance committee.”

They have the same last name. Claire knew the guy she liked was failing her father’s class so she practically gave him no other choice than to spend time decorating the gym to give her more time to pin him down.

For somebody who has the highest GPA in this school, I feel really stupid right now.

She sat down next to me with the smirk never leaving her face, “I’ve noticed you and Drew had a little argument.”

I rolled my eyes before standing up and swinging my bag on my shoulder. I don’t have the patience to deal with her right now.

“Just lock up the doors when you guys are finished, I’m going home,” I told her, throwing the keys at her direction but, much to my dismay, she caught it with one hand.

I turned on my heel before she could utter a smartass comment, avoiding every single body and effectively ignoring Drew along the way.

I pushed the doors of the gym open and exited, using every single ounce willpower I had left to make sure I didn’t look back to see Drew’s piercing green eyes.

When I was walking down the empty hallways, I heard some moaning. Probably some horny couple who couldn’t wait until they get home.

Imagine my shock when I saw Jessica pressed against the lockers with her legs securely wrapped against Blake’s waist as they attacked each other’s lips mercilessly.

I quickly scampered away before they could even acknowledge my presence. Well, looks like I finally found out who was Jessica’s lovely neighbor who she was absolutely crazy for.

There were too many revelations that happened today for my little brain to process.

“Hey Celeste,” I jumped at the sudden greeting, but when I whipped around it was only Lucas carelessly walking toward my direction with a can of coke in his hand.

“Please don’t tell me you’re actually pining for someone who’s been standing in front of you the whole time, and you’re thinking a devious plan to get them to fall for you.”

He looks shocked at my statement but I only shrugged. Claire did the ‘devious planning part’ while Jessica had the ‘person standing in front of you’ thing.

When Lucas didn’t reply, I assumed that he thought I was joking. Who wouldn’t? I blurt out random stuff all the time.

“So what are you doing this weekend?” he asked casually, and I couldn’t believe I was actually having a normal conversation with Lucas Smith.

“I have a date,” I replied, and I mentally groaned at the agreement I had with Lillian.

She owed me big time!

The cracking of the poor coke can brought my attention as I saw Lucas’ death grip on it. The liquid remaining inside the can dripped on his hands and down to the floor.

“You have a what?!” he growled, and I flinched at his harsh tone before taking a cautious step away from him.

This guy once made me land a spot on the emergency room and he was so unpredictable.

Out of instinct, I broke into a run away from him. I didn’t look back and ignored the freezing temperature outside. I got inside my car and felt relief when I was sure all the doors were locked.

Again, too much drama for my little brain to process.

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I'm so sleepy! Writer's block is seriously hard to deal with and I'm not particularly satisfied with this chapter but I'll work on that when I have my daily dose of coffee. I apologize if this was shorter than usual.

Sorry it took longer than usual for this chapter to go up... vote, comment and follow.

P.S. Watch the video at the side, it has no relations with this story but I just think it's so sweet.