Miss Grande

Chapter 66: It's Not Looking Great For Us

"We have to go," I whispered into Ariana's ear.

"Hmm?" She turned around, detaching herself from the conversation.

"I can't explain it, but everything is about to blow up in our faces. We have to go. Now."

I saw the color drain from her face as she caught sight of Justin pacing outside the tent.

She quickly jumped over to her dad and whispered something in his ear. He nodded, pointing to another exit of the tent. He looked disappointed. She grabbed my hand, and we went out the back.

"What's going on?"

"Justin knows about us!"

"I was there when you were introduced as my girlfriend."

"And you're not feeling any panic about that?"

"Only by your nervousness. Justin's a friend."

"He's an ex. Your ex and my ex. It's really not looking great for us." I was so overwhelmed but was doing my best not to lash out at her.

"He wouldn't do anything to hurt us."

"You weren't there for the conversation we just had. He's pissed."

She looked off to the side before turning back to me. "He just needs time to cool off."

"Ariana, it's so much more than that." I was starting to become agitated. How did she not understand that our relationship and her job were on the line?

"He just needs to accept it and move on. He'll get there."

"And what if he doesn't? What if he reports you or calls the police?"

"It's not going to happen. You're 18, and nothing has happened between us."

I took a deep breath to try and center myself. "I need you to understand that this isn't something that's just going to blow over. Maybe you're trying to be the calm one to help me out, but I need to know that you understand the gravity of the situation. Can you please tell me that you do?"

She held my hands and nodded. "Take a breath with me."

I tried to, but I felt the tears welling up. It felt like she was completely dismissing everything I was saying. Maybe she was lying to herself to feel better, but it was only making things worse for me. I felt like I was the only one that cared that this was about to go south.

"We're going to be okay. Justin can't do anything. He doesn't have any proof."

I immediately let go of her hands and got out my phone. I sent Trent my location and asked him to come get me as soon as he could. "I can't do this right now, Ariana. I don't understand how you aren't freaking out about this. You're making me feel like I'm overreacting."

"I think your actions are being driven by your worry. 'Overreacting' is not the word I would use."

I scoffed and took a step back. She sounded delusional and like she didn't care about how I felt.

"Baby, I didn't mean it like that."

"Don't." I crossed my arms, trying to keep myself calm. "You're unbelievable."

   "Come on, I'm sorry."

   "I can't do this right now." I walked away, letting the tears fall. Ariana called out after me, but she never tried to catch up.

I made my way to a bench in front of the pond. I tried to watch the ducks to feel better, but they were blurry which only made things worse. It felt like every little thing was going wrong.

Katie came up at some point, sitting down beside me. She could have been some random man with a gun, and I wouldn't have noticed.

We sat in silence for a while, other than my occasional sniffing.

"Sorry." She leaned her head on my shoulder.

"It's not your fault."

"I know, but I feel like I could have gotten him sick or something so he couldn't come. Crashed the car on the way over."

I laughed and put my head on hers. "You didn't know."

"But still-"

"Don't blame yourself Katie." I felt her nod.

"Ariana- that's her name, right?"

"Yeah." I sighed.

"She came back in the tent like nothing happened, but you weren't there. I came looking for you."

"Thank you." I lifted my head to wipe my tears that wouldn't stop.

"What happened?"

I sighed. She was the only person I'd admit this to, other than Trent. "She was my teacher."

"But she isn't anymore?"

"It's more complicated than that. She's my soccer coach, and I help her out in one of her classes. There's a lot of ways people could claim favoritism if they found out."

"And now Justin knows after you had a thing with him?"

"He had a thing with Ariana too. They met at the school."

"Oh, fuck."

"Yeah, it's not looking great for us."

"Why isn't Ariana out here?"

"I wish I knew."

We sat in silence for a while.

Katie sighed against me, and I held back my tears.

   "I'm gonna fix it."

   I smiled at her optimism and gave her a small kiss on the top of her head. "I don't know that you can."

okay
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i am going to be so real with you guys i started this book like freshmen year of high school and i've been in college for a while now so like... the motivation to update isn't what it used to be and also it feels weird writing stories that are supposed to be happening to a teenager when i'm so close to being grown. i really want to finish this for you guys, but it's harder to find time to work on it and make it fluid.

because of this...... i have the biggest question. would you rather have scattered updates whenever i can get around to it but like poorly edited just writing it and getting it out

orrrr i could finish writing the book and just dump a bunch of chapters all at once- or just like a couple a week once i have finished them all. i have no clue how long that would take, but who knows.

blah blah to all the boring questions just quickly thank you for reading my story it means a lot to me and has motivated me to pursue writing in new ways. i appreciate every single one of you.