this is the start | gilinsky

Chapter Forty

"Marley, you can't go," Sammy pleads as he watches me pack my suitecase. I angrily throw my last pair of shorts into the bag then zip it up, pulling out my phone to text Mallory and Johnson to come over.

"I'm sorry," I tell him. "I can't stay, not after what I just saw."

"That was an asshole move on Jack's part, I know, and I'm sorry," Sammy says, snatching my wrist up in his hand. "But that doesn't mean you have to leave, you shouldn't run away from this."

"I can't stay here for the rest of the summer and just pretend like it never happened!" I shout, ripping myself out of his grip. "He cheated on me with Leigh, who knows how long this has been going on?" Sammy's face pales and a sick thought crosses my mind. "Did you know?"

"Mar..."

"How could you?" I whisper, tears threatening to spill over onto my cheeks. "How could I be so stupid? I knew I should've just stayed home, I knew that coming here wouldn't help me at all! It just made things worse!"

"I know I should've told you, okay, but I just couldn't!" Sam argues. "You were grounded and so was he, I thought this would stop when you guys saw each other again but it didn't."

"I don't understand," I breathe, pulling myself onto my bed.

"I don't either, I wish he could just forget about Leigh already." Sammy swallows hard, eyeing the empty space next to me. I sigh and invite him to sit down.

"Did he even like me?" I wonder aloud. What if this whole thing was a joke to him? What if I was just a player in his stupid game? I should've known that our whole relationship was too good to be true. I should've saw the warning signs.

"Of course he liked you," Sammy assures. "He most likely still does."

"If he liked me why would he cheat on me? That makes no sense."

"People do stupid stuff, Marley, especially when they're confused."

"What did Jack have to be confused about?" I ask, feeling my anger start to drift away, sadness replacing it.

"Leigh has him wrapped around her finger, he'll do anything for her, and will listen to anything she says," Sam admits. "She could've manipulated him in some way."

"That's no excuse for what he did."

"I know it's not, but I hope it helps you understand better."

"Why does he trust her so damn much? She's cheated on him multiple times."

"He loved her and he thought she loved him too...he was blinded by that."

Before I can reply to him, there's a knock at my bedroom door. "Come in!" I call out. Instantly, Mallory bashes open the door and flies at me, tackling me in a hug. Johnson strolls in slowly behind her, a sad smile on his face.

"Marley, I'm so sorry, oh my God!" She squeals. "I cannot believe he did that to you! Do you need ice cream, do you want a milkshake? We can go out for burgers or something! Why do you have your bags packed, are we going on a road trip?" I laugh at how energized she was but instantly feel guilty that I hadn't told her I was leaving yet.

"I texted you so we could say goodbye."

"Goodbye?" Mallory's energy suddenly fades away and her voice gets small.

"I, uh, I'm leaving."

"Leaving, what?" Mallory asks, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Why?" Johnson looks just as surprised and confused. "When?"

"Tomorrow morning, hopefully...my mom's on her way to come get me."

"Is this because of Gilinsky?" Mallory clenches her jaw.

"I don't know, I guess."

"Everyone gets cheated on, Marley, everyone gets their heart broken at least once in their life," Mallory says, her voice cracking. "That shouldn't make you want to leave us."

"I don't want to leave you, I want to leave Jack." I promise her.

"You don't have to leave Omaha to leave him!" Mallory tells me. "All you have to do is ignore him."

"It's not that simple," I say.

"How is it not that simple?" Mallory pushes Sammy off my bed and takes his spot next to me.

"You just don't understand," I snap.

"I could if you'd let me."

"No, you still wouldn't because what about you and Johnson?" I question. "Has he ever cheated on you?"

"Well, no, but that's not the point."

"Then what is the point?"

"The point is that just because you get your heart broken doesn't mean you should just leave everyone else here, we care about you." Mallory's eyes are filled with desperation.

"If you cared about me you would be letting me leave without a fight," I say.

"If anything that'd just show that we didn't care," Johnson adds, plopping himself down on the floor in front of my bed. "We can fix this, Marley."

"Fix it how?"

"All you have to do is talk to Jack about it?"

I scoff. "I never want to see that jerk again!"

"That kind of attitude won't solve anything." Johnson raises his eyebrows at me, as if waiting for me to agree with him.

I take a deep breath, closing my eyes. "I can't believe this."

"It's going to be okay, Marley, you know that, right?" Sammy places a hand on my shoulder and gives it a squeeze.

I look up and stare at him for a moment. "How do you know?"

"Jack just texted me," He says. "He's on his way over here."

"Hell no, Sammy." I growl, slapping his hand off my shoulder. "Tell him to turn back around, I can't face him right now!"

"You can and you will." He orders. "The faster we get this over with the faster you can text your mom to tell her you were just joking about wanting to go home."

"I hate you," I murmur with a sigh.

"Thank me later." Sammy grins. I can't help but grin back. Maybe talking to Jack would be a good idea. I just hope I don't regret this like I regret most of the things I've done recently.

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SUP EVERYONE! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Sorry for any errors I tried typing this relatively quick because I have a lot of homework to do. Anyway, you know the drill by now with comments and voting and stuff like that lol so yeah chapter forty-one will be out soon! We're nearing the end of this story, so get ready! Much love, gilinskyshigh