To Keep You Off My Mind

Chapter 17

Lily's POV

He didn't move. "Locke?" I questioned.

"Lils, I, I, uh..." His voice trailed off.

"I get it." I felt more tears forming in my eyes, so I stood up. "You don't like me like that. It's fine, don't worry about me, I'll get over it." I turned around and started running towards the school. I heard Locke call for me, but I just ignored him. I ran down the street to the school and in to the gym. It wasn't a far run, but I was out of breath. After a couple minutes, I decided to dance to try and keep Locke off my mind. I walked out on the dance floor and saw some girls I knew. I walked over to them, but they all scattered when I walked over, because Chris spread some terrible rumors about me, that everyone now believed. I felt so alone, everytime I walked over to people they would just walk away. I started feeling depressed and worthless.

I walked back to the tables and sat down. I saw Chris across the room and felt myself tense up at his presence. He saw me and began walking over to me. I felt like running, but I couldn't move. He sat down next to me and stared down at the table.

"Hi." I ignored him. "So what, now you're ignoring me? I know deep down you really do love me, so just confess it already." I felt a shiver run down my back with his words. If anything I hated him, no where near love.

"Just leave me alone, Chris." I mumbled. He leaned in and spoke directly into my ear.

"Where's your little puppy dog, Locke? Did he ditch you, and now you're all sad?" He said with a fake sympathy tone. "I guess he really doesn't love you. You might as well just get back with me, so you can finally be obedient and do what I tell you to." I felt tears surround my eyelids. "Come on, Lils." I'd had enough, I somehow got the strength to stand and punch Chris right in the nose. He fell off his chair and onto the ground. I jumped on him and started punching him some more.

"Don't ever call me that again! You have no right to do this to me! You are the worthless one!" A couple boys grabbed me and pulled me off of Chris, and held me back as he got up and ran out with his friends following him. A few security guards came over and took me to the office. They called my parents and told me I was definitely going to be suspended, if not, expelled.

After a couple minutes, Mom showed up and took me home. As we drove home, the car was silent. "So, what was all this about?"

"It's a long story, and I really don't want to talk about it." I sighed and looked out the window.

"I don't care, you need to tell me!" I started to get annoyed, why couldn't she just understand that I didn't want to talk about it?

"Chris got on my nerves, so I punched him." She let out a small laugh.

"Lily, you can't just punch people when they make you angry!"

"Whatever, it doesn't matter."

"Fine, but if you get expelled, you're gonna be in a world of hurt." She gave me the death look and I nodded in agreement.

We pulled up to the house and got out. I immediately walked to my room and shut the door. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw that my perfect dress was now spotted with grass, blood, and other stains from the night. I let the tears that had been bottled up, quietly escape my eyes. I pulled my dress off and laid down on my bed. I started to drift off when I heard my phone ring. I looked down and saw Locke's number, so I picked it up.

"Hello?" He let out a sigh of relief.

"Lily! Where have you been?"

"I sorta got in a fight with Chris back at the dance."

"You did what? I thought you said not to fight him, but to leave." He said semi-sarcastically.

"Yeah, it just kinda happened. He called me Lils, and I kinda just started punching him."

"Why did you punch him for calling you Lils?" He sounded surprised.

"Because, you're the only one I allow to call me that, besides, he was mocking you with it, so I did what any best friend would do and I punched him." I could hear a slight giggle.

"Well, thanks, I guess." I smiled. "So, we kinda need to talk about tonight, huh."

"Um, no, I don't think we do." I hoped he wouldn't disagree.

"Lily. I just, I need to talk to you in person about it. Okay?" I let out a small sigh.

"Okay. When should we meet?"

"Now. I need to get this off my chest, so meet me at the corner of the street in 10 minutes." He hung up the phone and I quickly sat up. What did he want to talk about?! Was he going to tell me he didn't like me like that? What if he did? Questions raced through my mind as I threw on some sweats and a T-shirt. I walked upstairs and out the fro t door as quietly as I could then ran down the street to meet Locke.

When I got there, he was no where to be found. I caught my breath from running and sat down on the pavement. I thought about everything that had happened tonight and started to tear up. When I wiped my eyes, I realized I was still wearing makeup and that now it was smeared all over my face. I used my phone screen as a mirror and tried to wipe it all off, but I heard footsteps behind me and stood up. I turned and saw a stranger walking towards me, so I sat back down. I sat for another 15 minutes, but Locke never showed up. I decided to head back home, so I started walking back down the street. I got about halfway back when I heard Locke shout my name. I ran back up the street to meet him.

"Hey, where have you been? I've been waiting for like 20 minutes." He was out of breath from running.

"I'm sorry, I-I got caught up back at home."

"So what did you want to tell me?" He glanced down at the road.

"Lils, when you said you loved me, I-"

"No, don't say it. I know you don't have feeling for me, and that's okay. I don't expect you to love me or even like me, so it's okay."

"I was just gonna say-"

"Just, don't, okay? I can't handle that right now, Locke." I turned around to walk back down the street, when I heard him yell back,

"I think I might love you back!" I stopped dead in my tracks.

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Hey!! Thank you to everyone who reads my story!!! I just wanted to tell you that I just wrote a short story about Link's family, and you should go read it! It's called, It's too cold outside for angels to fly. I'd really appreciate it if you did!! Plus, I'm in the middle of writing another story about Rhett and Link back in the day, and I'm gonna post it very soon, so you should go read that one too!! It's called, This ain't Hollywood. Thank you so much for reading my story(s)!!! Peace out!!