His Sunflower

Chapter 44

"Zoey! Wait!!" I hear Katlyn yell as I try to lose her and Kaylie in the crowd on kids.

It's not that I have a problem with them, I just know it's going to be awkward. I've never avoided them before, and I now that I have avoided them, I don't want want to stop avoiding them. I mean, they're still blocked! Everyone but uncle Noah is blocked. I know mom won't call, but I blocked her anyway. Just to let her know I was mad without having to tell her. I get it was petty, but no one understands how much I hurt when my trust if broken.

I mean, Matthew knew I much I valued trust. But he's dead now. So no one understands anymore.

"Zoey!" Katlyn yells, so I groan coming to a stop.

"What?" I sigh. I know for a fact Kaylie going to be upset. That's just how she is.

"I just wanted to ask if you're ok." Katlyn asks.

"She dragged me along. I have nothing to say to you." Kaylie says, looking down at her nails, like she's more interested in her nail polish than her own cousin. That's fair, I've been a bitch.

"Are you? Ok?" Katlyn says, completely ignoring Kaylie.

"Uh, I guess." I mumble, I just want to go to lunch. Aka, Ms. Frizzles classroom to work on my painting.

"Ok....... Did you hear about the gender reveal party? Everyone's hoping you're gonna come."

"I told Mark I'd think about it."

"Seriously?! You talk to Mark before me? That's cold Zoe. And it just had to be my brother, not anyone else. Mark. Really?" Kaylie glares at me.

"I guess no one told you, but Kaylie and Mark had a falling out. Basically Mark is dating Kaylie's best friend." Katlyn shrugs. "She for some reason hates it, and now hates Mark."

"Not to be rude, but you have friends other than Katlyn and I?"

"Yes, I do. My whole dance class is my friends. Stop being such a selfish bitch Zoey. The world doesn't revolve around you."

"Woah! Kaylie! What has gotten into you? First off, you never curse. Second, why are you being so mean to Zoey? She is currently going through something hard for her, show some sympathy."

"No. She's being a baby over it. So what if some dude fucked aunt Keely without her permission? Zoey's still Zoey. She needs to get over it and stop acting like it's some big fucking deal." Kaylie snaps, looking me up and down, making a disgusted face.

"Kaylie, you cannot and will not talk to Zoey like that. How would you feel if your were in her shoes?"

"Doesn't matter. Zoey has small ass feet and so I'll never be in her tiny shoes. She's being a petty bitch."

"Kaylie! Stop it! Dance has turned you into some brat. Zoey isn't doing anything wrong! She's hurt!" Katlyn yells, crossing her arms.

"Hurt?! What about us? She blocked us just because we were trying to help! And look, now she's crying for attention. She's such a bitch." Kaylie rolls her eyes, and spins around walking away.

I look down, frantically wiping my tears away.

"I am so sorry for her behavior Zoey!" Katlyn says.

I clear my throat. "It's no problem. I'm gonna let you get to class." I mumble then walk off.

I'm gonna sit outside for a bit before going to ask Ms. Frizzles if I can work on my portrait.

I go outside, finding this nice shady spot by a tree. I sit next to it, leaning against the trunk of the tree as I continue to wipe my tears away, trying to hold the ones that haven't fallen yet in. Only babies cry. Or people who want attention. And I don't want attention.

"Hey, I saw you run out here, you ok?" I hear Ethan ask as he walks around the tree, looking down at me. "Oh.... You're not ok." He plops down crisscrossed and rest his elbow on his leg, and his chin on his hand, smiling brightly at me. "Want to hear a joke?"

I tuck my hair behind my ear, and shrug. I know I'll start crying if I start talking again.

"What bow can't be tied?"

I shrug again.

"A rainbow! Get it... cause it's a rainbow? Ok ok, want to head another?"

I shrug.

"I guess that's a yes. What has two hands but no arms?"

"A clock?" I guess.

"Dammit. You aren't supposed to guess correctly sunflowe— Zoey." Ethan glances down, just for a few seconds and looks back up me smiling.

"Want to go to the gym and skip lunch, and possibly P.E.?" Ethan asks, raising an eyebrow.

"And why would I do that?"

"To punch things. It's fun, great to let out feelings. You've already drawn on both arms. You can draw on mine in the car if you want."

I narrow my eyes at him.

"You can trust me Zoey, I promise you can."

"I'm having problems with trust right now Ethan." I mumble standing up, and Ethan jumps to his feet. "Sadly you're one of the only people I trust."

It's just him, uncle Noah, and uncle Dax to some extent.

"Then let's go." Ethan says holding out his hand for me to take, when I don't, he looks down at his hand and puts it in his pocket. "Right, acquaintances don't hold hands." He mumbles, walking a bit faster then me.

He hops in his car, not getting the passenger side door for me like he used to, but what am I supposed to say? We're just acquaintances, not dating or anything.

"Did you actually want to draw on my arm?" Ethan asks starting up his car.

I shrug. "Do acquaintances do that type of thing?"

"I mean, we snapped each other and video chatted before we upgraded to friends so..." Ethan trails off.

"Damn, we really downgraded." I mumble. "I fucked up."

"What'd you say?" Ethan asks, glancing over.

"Nothing. Yeah, I guess acquaintances can draw on each other's arms." I say, and reach into my backpack grabbing my pencil case. "What would you like me to draw?"

"Anything." Ethan says shrugging then placing his arm into my hand.

I roll up his sleeve, trying to decide what to draw. I'm just casually looking at my canvas, wondering what to draw, my eyes catch sight of slightly faded scars.

"Ethan, are these scars?" I ask, tracing along the scars covering the inside of his forearm, so he can feel what I'm talking about and keep his eyes on the road.

However, Ethan glances over at me, before looking back at the road. "Yeah. I had a really bad time at high school before moving schools."

"I've always wondered about that. Why'd you randomly join halfway through high school? The school closed to your house is much better then Rising Sun High."

"Acquaintances don't ask questions like that." Ethan mumbles, then clears his throat. "You going to draw on my arm or not?"

"Right." I mumble before drawing sunflowers on his arm. I really like drawing sunflowers, they're my favorite flower.

Not long after I finish giving Ethan a sleeve of sunflowers, we arrive at the gym. "Wow..." Ethan mumbles looking at my work on his arm. "Sunflowers..."

Ethan clears his throat, pulling his sleeve down, and getting out of the car.

I hop out as well, knowing he's not gonna open the car door for me.

Hopefully I didn't make a mistake by trusting Ethan and coming here.

*****
Howdy tic tacs

I don't really know what to say, so I'll just do this....
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