Miss Grande

Chapter 67: Between The Three Of Us

Trent picked me up, and I told him everything that happened. He reacted the way I had expected Ariana too.

From the moment he knew, he began panicking and trying to think of solutions. He offered to switch schools with me or testify that the two of us were dating.

It honestly made me laugh. His solutions were so far off and didn't fix the problem at all. The fact that he was trying meant a lot to me, and it hurt more that Ariana wasn't the one trying to fix the problem with me.

   Trent brought me home and stayed over with me. He got us Chinese food and ice cream so we could watch horrible movies. It made me feel a little better. I really appreciated how much he showed that he cared.

   I got a text from Ariana the next morning asking if I "felt better." I ignored her text and stayed in bed all day.

   I knew I'd have to handle the situation, but it seemed impossible. I didn't want to break up with Ariana. I loved her, even if I hadn't said it out loud yet. I knew I was head over heels for her.

   It seemed like she didn't feel the same. She was an adult with a career and a house. I didn't even have my high school diploma, and my parents technically owned my car. This was her first real relationship, and maybe that meant she didn't realize how serious this was. Maybe she wasn't as ready for this relationship as we both hoped she was.

   I knew I'd have to break up with her in the end. Even if things with Justin somehow worked out, I don't think I'd be able to move forward knowing she wasn't willing to fight for us. If such a big risk didn't shake her, what would?

I felt defeated. I had chased her for so long. It felt like I was giving up on us, and I didn't want to accept that to be the truth. I wracked my mind for any possible solution, but I always came up short.

I felt like I was playing a waiting game. I was waiting for a quick fix. I was waiting for Ariana to realize this was a serious issue. I was waiting for Justin to tell somebody. I was waiting on the police to knock on my door for a statement. I was waiting on news headlines about her arrest.

I wasn't sure how I ever let myself get in this situation. I was always the good kid with good grades and good friends and a good life. I never did things that could end poorly for me, but here I was.

It was almost funny. I had stepped out of line once, and it was blowing up in my face.

I reached for my phone and texted Ariana to see if we could meet. At least we had been smart enough to not leave records of anything hinting toward our relationship in our texts. All records could just be drawn back to her being a friend of the family. If the police asked, I was sure I could get away with saying I had known her for years before.

I broke down crying in bed for the millionth time. I regretted sending Trent home. My tears didn't stop until I fell asleep of exhaustion.

I woke up to Justin and Katie both blowing up my phone.

Justin's texts were threats. He told me to leave his family out of everything and that it was an issue between the three of us. Of course, he also threatened to tell the school and police. I guess he wasn't very good at counting.

Katie's texts were paragraphs trying to explain what had happened after I left. The picnic had ended shortly after, but no parents noticed the tension. Katie had covered for me saying I didn't feel good.

At home, she had told her parents something about my complicated relationship with Ariana. She never told me exactly what was said, which did make me anxious, but she let me know that her parents were both on my side.

They said something along the lines of our relationship being our business, which I was very grateful for. Katie also let me know about Justin's toxic tendencies from his past relationships, and she apologized for not warning me because they all thought he had changed.

Most importantly, she let me know that her whole family stood behind us and threaten to disown Justin if he reported anything to the authorities.

Suddenly Justin's texts made a lot more sense. He was upset that his family wasn't on his side. The backlash against his plan only pushed him closer towards it.

I thanked Katie and asked her to thank her family for me. Even though things didn't seem like they'd be going how we hoped, I still was thankful they even tried.

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most of you voted to do updates whenever i could so surprise shawty !!

my insomnia has been really bad lately which is cheeks for me but it brings me back to when i first started this book writing chapters at 3-4am when i couldn't sleep so good for you guys i guess

the book is pretty close to being over which is kind of sad:( i've spent so many years writing this story and i feel like you can really tell how my writing changed over time (ignore me being sentimental) depending on how often i can write there's about 10-15 chapters left which feels like a lot but also not a lot

anyway hope you enjoyed, working on another chapter already