waiting for superman | book three

ten

"Thank you," Chloe says, taking the papers out of Zach's hands. "I see you finally decided to come back to school," he jokes.

"Yeah and I'm already regretting it," she mutters, looking down the hallway in the direction of Maddie, Paige, and Nia.

"Don't mind them. Maddie's just being Maddie and they're just doing what she says," Zach tells her.

"I know," she sighs, tucking a loose strand of blond hair behind her ear.

When the bell rings, indicating the beginning of what is sure to be a long day, Zach mumbles a good bye to Chloe and walks off in the direction of his first period classroom, leaving Chloe to fend for herself.

-

After the end of fourth period, Chloe heads towards what will be without a doubt the hardest part of the day- lunch. Knowing that she won't be able to sit at her normal table with Josh and his friends, Chloe has no idea where she will sit. 

She has never been an overly popular girl and she never had to be because she always and Josh and that was enough. She never needed to have tons of friends because that one was all she needed. Now she didn't have him.

When she entered the cafeteria, the whole room suddenly grew gravely silent. A pin could be dropped and it would be heard in that room. Everyone's eyes were glued to Chloe as she made her way through the lunch line, buying a grilled chicken wrap and a bottle of water.

Exiting the checkout area, Chloe glances around the room, looking for somewhere, anywhere, to sit, when she is suddenly jerked sideways toward the back doors. 

"Are you high right now? Your eyes are bloodshot and you're walking around like you've never been to this school before," Cody hisses at Chloe, his hand gripping her wrist tightly.

"No!" she exclaims truthfully. "Now get your hand off of me. We can't be seen together."

"This is the perfect time for us to be seen together! Everyone already thinks we are together so why don't we just confirm the rumors?" Cody asks, walking closer to Chloe. She yanks her hand away from him and shoves him backwards with her free hand. 

"We are not together! Get that through your mind. We are not together and can't be seen together because I need to get Josh back," she spits.

"What if he doesn't want you back? It sure looks like he's moved on," Cody murmurs, looking towards the middle of the cafeteria. Chloe turns around to see what he is looking at and sees dozens of pairs of eyes looking at them standing back there together. She self consciously steps farther away from the sandy haired boy and her eyes finally find what he is looking at.

There, sitting at her old table, in her old seat, next to her old boyfriend, is none other than Maddie Ziegler.