Shabooya, Chapter 12 :) It was a quicker update than both of us expected but it is here!

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***

I woke up to the feeling of someone beating me on the side of my head continuously. I groaned as I rubbed my temples, sitting up in the comfortable bed I was currently in. I racked my brain for memories of what had happened but I came up blank.

"You're up." I heard a husky voice say from the corner. I let out a small yelp; I thought I was alone. My increased heart rate decreased quickly at the familiar sight of Jacen.

"What happened?" I asked groggily, my voice scratchy and dry. I coughed a few times before shakily picking up the glass of water on the dresser to the left of me. I almost moaned as the cool liquid rushed down my throat soothing the burning feeling.

"Nothing you need to be worried about. I called you mom to let her know you would be spending the night." I coughed, and looked up at him incredulously.

My mom, of all people, is letting me stay over at a boy's house over night?

Willingly?

"What did she say?" I asked once my coughing fit had passed.

"She said it was fine. I told her we were behind on a project due tomorrow and really needed to get it done." He wrung his hands together as he spoke, looking anywhere but at me.

I nodded until I realized that he couldn't see me. "Ok. Do you have an Advil? My head is killing me."

He stood up swiftly as if he wanted to get out of the room as quickly as possible. "I'll be right back," he replied, and walked out without another word.

I positioned the pillows behind me into a more comfortable position, and turned back around, examining the room I was currently in. To my left was a massive window with golden curtains being held off on both sides. The floor was covered in a white soft-looking carpet that stopped at the bathroom door. The room was probably as big as the entire downstairs area of my house, but was surprisingly homey, yet still held an elegance that made me feel out of place.

One my right were several doors one I'm sure leads to a walk in closet. The comforter on the bed I was curently in was gold, with white sheets, and gold pillows with purple stitching. All in all, I felt extremely out of palce in this elegant room, that seemed to have more class than me.

"Here." I jumped at Jacen's voice as a pill was shoved in my face. I looked up at him, and back down to the blue capsule in his hand before gingerly taking the pill from his land palm.

I watch him turn around and head back to the chair he was sitting in when I got up, noticing how tense he seemed to be. What happened while I was out?

I swallowed the pill in one gulp, as my eyes remained on Jacen's hunched over figure. He repeatedly ran his fingers through his hair, his eyebrows scrunched up signaling that he was deep in thought.

I watched him, knowing that he had a lot on his mind. From my own personal experiences, I knew it wasn't good to keep your emotions bottle up, because sooner or later you will explode.

"What's wrong?" I wasn't sure if he looked surprised because I spoke up, or because of the fact that I knew something was wrong with him. He gave me a small sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Nothing Zaph. I don't want you stressing out over unneccesary things." He mumbled.

"I'm not stressing over unneccessary things," I shrugged. He let out a humorless laugh as his eyes met mine.

"Get some rest." He rose up from his chair and started to make his way towards the door when I spoke up.

"I just got some. By now you should know--" I started only to get cut off harshly.

"Forget about Zaph. I said it doesn't matter, so drop it. Or is your skull to thick to comprehend my words?" With that hurtful message, he grabbed the doorknob and slammed it shut, making me wince as the pounding started up again. I dropped the hand that had been extended towards him.

I was surprised that he had talked to me that way. I guess getting him to open up was too much to ask for, which I did understand, but that didn't make it any less painful. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, from his tone and harsh words towards me, the incident replaying over and over in my head like a broken record player.

I slowly sunk back into the warm and inviting sheets, my aching muscles relaxing into the fluffy mattress. I fell back into a dreamless sleep.

***

I fixed my appearance one more time in the mirror, before joining the rest of the group. Finn woke me up this morning and placed some clothes on the edge of the bed for me to change into.

I was grateful for them, but slightly curious as to who they belonged to since the clothes fit me perfectly. I cleaned myself up as best as I could before managing to find the kitchen.

To say the very least, breakfast was interesting. For some reason there was a gaping hole in the window that definitely not there last night, and Jacen and I were avoiding each other. Or more like Jacen was avoiding me. I was still slightly hurt from what went down last night, and I knew he was far from apologizing, so the air was tense and awkward. Everyone noticed, but didn't care to point it out.

Someone would say something every so often, and a small conversation started up for a second, but it eventually died off and everyone was once again thrust back into an uncomfortable silence.

"Finn, Luke, Spence, you guys are will me. Axle, do you mind taking Zaph?" Ouch. That one stung a little. At least try to make it a little less obvious.

Axle, somwhat oblivious to what was going on nodded his head, and made his way out the door, whistling while twirling his keys on his index finger. I looked at the ground as I passed by the remaining boys, and headed out the door into the cool morning air.

"So, what's going on, a typical lover's spat?" Axle asked me after we had gotten situated in his car, and down Jacen's driveway on our way to school.

My forehead was resting against the window, a pout on my lips as I once again thought of the recent events with Jacen. I was too exhausted to even come up with a witty repsonse for Axle.

"Hey, hey...C'mon. Its no fun bothering you if you aren't going to say something back." I continued to stare out the window, unresponsive.

I heard Axle sigh and start tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to some random song playing on the radio. "I'm sure he had a reason for whatever he did last night." He reasoned.

"You weren't there, so don't try to act like you know anything. Yesterday I couldn't stand you, and now you are my quote and quote "bodyguard". Well I relieve you of those duties or whatever. I don't like you, and one night sure as hell isn't going to change much. It's certainly not the 17th century, therefore you are free to go whenever you'd like. I don't need your help solving my own problems." I spat angrily, my breathing slightly erratic from my mini rant.

"How can you possibly be mad and upset with him, when you are doing exactly what he did to you, to me right now?" He questioned.

"Don't act like you know who I am or what I am going through. The last thing I need is for someone like you giving me advice," I grumbled, defeated. The second he turned off the car, I hopped out, and slammed the door shut, not waiting for another word to be said. I quickly pulled the strap of my bag further up on my shoulder to keep it from slipping, as I entered the dreaded school building.

I didn't miss the looks I got from the other students, I just chose to ignore them. What person that practically feeds off of gossip would I willingly interact with? I dragged my feet to my locker, slowly putting in my combination.

"I'm so excited!" I jumped and accidentally slammed my head against my locker at the sound of Joney's cheery voice right next to my ear.

"Holy mother," I muttered, "Joney, what the hell?" I asked incredulously. She smiled lightly, not seeming to care that I slammed my head hard enough to internally bleed.

"Sorry, but I am so excited, because today, we are going, wait for it," She shoved her hands in my face for dramtic effect and then paused. " Shopping!" She squealed. I covered my ears at her high pitched scream of excitement. Jesus Christ, she is like a freaking dog whistle.

Oh wait, did she say shopping? Today. I groaned. "Joney..." I started. She covered her ears.

"Nope I don't wanna hear it! You promised to go shopping with me today, and you are not allowed to back out now."

I mumbled an incoherent string of profanity under my breath. When Joney had that tone of finality in her voice, the devil himself would have a hard time convincing her otherwise. "Ok, ok I will see you at lunch." I said before shutting my locker and making my way to class.

"...so all you have to know is that the entire major axis is 2a, and the entire minor axis is 2b. All that is left is the distance between the focal points so you atomatically know that that entire distance is 2c." My teacher explained.

Who was the bitch that invented Geometry? I scowled at no one in particular because of my extreme lack of knowledge in this class, and my overall harted for the world. I mean, I memorized the formulas for the tests, but I actually have no clue what no earth I write 99.99 percent of the time.

I slouched down in my seat. My usual eagerness to learn had floated off somwhere into the wind, and in its place was an eagerness to do anything but sit in a smelly classroom for fifty minutes with a bunch of people that literally had the attention span of a fly.

Call me whiny.

When the bell finally rang to get out to lunch, I silently rejoiced in my head. I quickly packed up all my stuff and hightailed my way out of that godforsaken classroom. I met Joney by her locker after I had put my books away, ready to go to lunch.

Today was corndog day. Yum. My stomach growled as if warning me not to touch very questionable looking meat. That is saying that it was meat. I shivered at the thought as I quickly picked up a salad and a water, and paid for my lunch. I took a quick sip of my water before scanning the lunchroom for my usual spot.

As I was walking towards my table, I dropped a couple of dollars on the ground, and turned to picke them up. Every dollar counts, I told myself as I laughed bitterly to myself. As I was turning around, somone bumped into me, causing me to fall onto my butt. My water bottle hadn't been screwed on correctly, and my opened water bottle spilled over me, making me look like I peed on myself.

I looked down at myself, shocked, and silently cursing my luck.

The cafeteria erupted in laughter, only fueling my anger more. I turned to tell off the person who did this to me, and not caring to help me up, when I saw the back of none other than Jacen Matthews.

I paused, only for a quick second, before all I saw was red. Before I knew what I was doing, I picked up what was left of my salad, and made my way towards him. I yanked him my the shoulder, forcing him to turn around. With anger leading my actions, I smashed my bowl of salad, dressing and all, into his face.

The whole cafeteria went silent at that.

All that was heard was my loud, angry breathing and the low hum of the machines on the far end of the cafeteria.

Jacen slowly pulled the plastic bowl away from his face, scraping off the lettuce that was stuck to him. Some of the dressing from my salad dripped from his chin onto his shirt.

I stood there fuming, and didn't realize I was crying until I saw his suprised face.

"You jerk. You arrogant, big-headed, asshole," I whispered. "Are you happy? You succeeded in humiliating me in front of the entire school. You were the one person I was finally willing to open up to, but you are just like every other sick bastard in this room." I gestured around the cafeteria to prove my point.

"Whatever happened last night must've been really awful for you have to treat me like this. I would apologize for whatever it is that I did or what someone else did to you, but in the end, the last thing I want to keep is a shitty friend. I've had too many of those, in the past. I dont want to see you. I dont want to talk to you, and rest assured I wont even look at you from now on."

By the end of my speech, tears were flowing freely, and my nose was all runny. I probably looked like a mess, but I didn't really care. I turned to walk away from him when he grabbed my wrist. I yanked to no avail.

"Let me go," I said, deadly calm about it, as I turned back to face him. "Or is your skull too thick to comprehend my words?" I repeated the exact words he had spat at me last night. He flinched as if I had physically hit him, and released my wrist.

"Zaph, please," He pleaded in a whisper. His plea fell on deaf ears as I walked out of the cafeteria without another word, and without looking back.

***

Awww :( sad chapter, it was actually making me really depressed writing that ending! Next chapter should be up sometime soon, so be on the lookout!

xoxo, deep_in_the_meadow