Bradford.

30. Happy.

Chapter 30: Happy.

Valarie's POV.

Stupid.

Stupid.

Stupid.

I can't believe I went all the way to New York to get myself totally embarrassed. I flew back to Chicago the same day, I couldn't stand the fact that I was in the same city as him. It just literally made my skin crawl.

This was the wake up call I needed.

Zachary has a girlfriend. He has moved on and he and I are never going to be anything other than exes and I guess I'm fine with that.

"I'm going to a party tonight and you're coming with me." Amanda says as she curls her hair.

"I am not." I tell her, wrapping myself in my duvet.

"You are. You've been in here for a week. You haven't left this room, you haven't gone to any of your classes. You're basically failing at this point." She says, looking back at me.

"Ugh...I know. I wanna go home, college isn't what I expected it to be." I say, sitting up and leaning on the wall beside my bed.

"That's because you're not experiencing college, you're just in your own little world and you've failed to look at the world around you. I mean, you haven't gone to cheer practice this week. You've not only let yourself down, but you've let your team down." She tells me and I scoff.

Oh My God.

The Poison Ivies.

I totally forgot about them. I've just been dealing with my own shit.

"How do you even know that?" I ask her.

"I spoke to Rebecca on my way here. She told me the whole squad is threatening to quit since you they showed up for practice six days in a row and you didn't show. They're tired of waiting for the captain to show up. They want out." Amanda says as she keeps curling her hair.

"I just...I thought I could balance it all, you know. My love life, school, the squad. But I can't. It's so hard and I'm only one person, I can't...I can't do everything. I'll just step down as captain tomorrow." I tell her as I lay down.

"No. No. None of that now." Amanda says rushing to my side.
"You're an amazing captain. You just had a bad week and that's okay." She tells me.

"I'm so overwhelmed. Everything has just gone to shit." I say, looking down.

"You really need to come to this party with me. It'll take your mind off of things, at least for a while." She says as she hugs me.

"I guess you're right. I do need a night out." I says and she cheers beside me.

"Yes, that's the spirit." She says, before she pulls away from me.

"Do you smell that?" I ask her.

"Yeah, it smells like-"

"Smoke." I say, interrupting her. "Your flat iron is burning your hairbrush." I tell her and she rushes to her desk and turns it off.

There's a moment of awkward silence before we burst out laughing as our eyes meet.

"That was almost a disaster." I tell her.

"I know right." She says as she throws her hairbrush into the trash can. The handle is completely burnt.

"I'm going to get dressed." I announce.

***

"We can't stop." by Miley Cyrus blasts through the speakers as we walk into the club the party is being held at. It's a two hour drive from school.