Falling Waters

|18| -Then-

Scarlet walked in through the main building's doors. Huge mistake. It was like they were all waiting for her. All the girls and some guys, all storming toward her, bombarding her with questions.

Why was it that only a month prior, none of those people even knew who she was, and now they were all over her? She pushed past, but they pushed harder. Her force knocked a couple of them to the ground, but she wasn't in the mood to handle it. The weekend had passed and Ash had told her that no one would be talking about it by Monday. She was definitely wrong.

Tyler and Ash caught up to her and stood on either side, giving glances to people who were staring. She didn't need their help nor want it, but she let them continue. She didn't want to lose her only friends too. They made it to class, and they sat how they did before Colter, in the back with Scarlet in the middle, her taking notes, them... not so much. Colter sat a row forward, close enough to where he could be heard by Scarlet. She of course ignored him until he forced himself to be heard.

"Just forgive me, already." Colter stood up.

The teacher stopped the presentation and crossed his arms. "Mr. Thorn, sit back down."

Colter didn't. He looked at Scarlet. "Why are you making me wait for you to talk to me? I have apologized like a billion times and I just want you to talk to me again."

Colter looked at her, but Scarlet just continued to write something on her paper. She violently tore the paper out, waded it up, and threw it at Colt's head.

"Back to this, I see." He picked up the piece of paper.

Since that day, Colter hadn't had friends. Ashleigh and Tyler wouldn't sit with him at lunch for fear that Scarlet would hate them and also, they just hated how his mistakes were the reason Scarlet was in that position. If he had listened to Emily about the show, he wouldn't have gotten arrested. Yes, Scarlet was the one to sneak out, but... they actually never thought past that so that Scarlet would still be the innocent one.

"Colter Thorn, take your seat. We don't have time for this today." Their teacher was now fed up.

Colt unfolded the paper, and it said, Sit down, you jerk. I'll talk to you later.

He listened. He sat back down and threw the paper into the trash can from his desk. The teacher continued with the lesson. Never wanted the bell to ring, Scarlet, distracted herself, but Colt couldn't wait for it to ring. When it finally did, Scar took her sweet time packing away her things.

Colt turned around in his chair to look at Scarlet. "Scarlet, you have to understand, I didn't mean for what I said to sound so harsh. I didn't mean for it to come out like that at all."

"How did you mean it to sound, then? Because it didn't sound like you actually cared to be friends with me. It sounded like you were disgusted with my appearance. I thought we were good friends, but what you said, no matter how you meant it, was rude and hurtful." Scarlet picked up her things and walked out of the classroom.

He rushed after her. "Rein, anyone would be lucky to sleep with you. Just because I freaked out doesn't mean that I think you are repulsive. Rein, I got kicked out of my last school for rumors like that. That is why I freaked out. Please, just forgive me."

For the first time, no one stopped to listen, no one even grouped around the two. It was just them taking. Scarlet didn't feel like she had a million eyes on her. Their conversation was their conversation.

"Fine. I forgive you." How could she not? He had just got personal with her.

"Band practice? Tonight?" She smiled, but not 100 percent meaning it. She also was so over the argument. Honestly, it wasn't even affecting her anymore, she was just being petty.

"Sorry, I am kinda busy." He twisted his foot. "Kinda been playing with this other band, and we practice on Mondays. How 'bout tomorrow?" He started to laugh right after he finished his sentence. Scarlet slapped his arm while they walked to their next class.

Tyler saw the two walk to lunch together and nudged Ashleigh's arm to get her to look at them. He began to sing the Dora Explorer song, "We did it. We did it. We did it. Yay!"

Ash rolled her eyes at him while smiling. She couldn't help it. She was extremely happy to see Colt and Scar made up. Without either of them, their three-and-a-half concerts would have been for nothing.

"Please tell me you two aren't dating, though," Ashleigh spoke. Scarlet was clung to Colt's body while his arm was wrapped around her. The two of them busted out laughing.

"Are you kidding me? Us? Dating? I can't with you right now." Scarlet sat down with Colt doing the same next to her.

"Why would we be dating?" The pair were still laughing, but the laughter was dying. Colt's arm was still tied to her, and it didn't seem that he was going to let go anytime soon.

A puzzled look took over Ty's face. It was clear why they thought they were. "Look at you two. Attached by the hip." Tyler said in agreement with Ash. They did look... together.

"You two are on something, I swear," Scarlet claimed. "We aren't dating and will never be. We are just friends."

"That's what they all say." Ashleigh looked at the two, and Colt slowly took his arm off of her, sliding it down beside him.

Adam gave them all a ride to the house and the whole way home, he wouldn't even look at Colt. If he spoke, Adam answered but to someone else and that was only if the question needed to be answered, which most didn't. It was awkward, and you could feel the oxygen gradually leaking out of the car. It felt as if Scar was suffocating.

Tyler and Ash found humor in the situation. The entire ride, they were having the time of their lives. Singing to what was on the radio, making jokes about passing drivers, and even playing some stupid car games. The ride felt like an eternity to Scarlet and to Colt, even though it was only five minutes, but to Ty and Ash, it went by quickly.

When Adam parked the car, Scar was the first out. She was so done with being embarrassed over nothing. She would have kissed the ground if Ash didn't hit her with the car door on purpose.

"Oops. Sorry." She fakely justified her actions. "I didn't mean it." She said it like she was about to break out into song and dance.

"Oh, shut it. You don't mean it." Scarlet rolled her eyes and headed to the front door. Colter was following close behind, and Scarlet knew why. He didn't want to be seen by Emily. Who could blame him? Emily could scare a president into resigning.

Adam unlocked the door and walked in with everyone behind. Luckily, for Colter's sake, Emily was upstairs, and they had just enough time to get to the garage. The four of them rushed to the door and into the cement room for their all-time worst practice by far.