Short but Sweet

8! You Found Me

8! You Found Me

The next week was deatheningly quiet and too average to be normal. I faded into the background, only smiling when I met up with Adam. 

I'd made it through another day, and I was on my way to my locker when I spotted Logan walking down the opposite side of the hallway, not even glancing at me as he pulled the girl in his arms closer to his chest. I looked away, my heart throbbing, a new wave of urgency washing over me to get out of the building. 

I was almost to my locker when I saw Adam walking the same way Logan had with his football buddies. I wondered if Logan was going to go to practice too, after he says bye to the girl he had been holding. I sighed when I realized that my thoughts had veered to him again. That had been the fourth time this week I saw him hugging another girl. How could he be going on so normally?

As soon as Adam spotted me, he separated himself from his friends and easily fell in step with me, our footsteps echoing through the now empty hallway. He swung an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close, squeezing me hard against his chest.

He didn't have to say anything. He just smiled at me sympathetically, then left to football practice. I swear, he's the only reason why I could get up in the morning and actually be okay with going to school.

On Friday, I finally summed up the guts to talk to Logan. It was the day before I left, so I figured it was no or never. He was laughing with his friends in the cafeteria, and I chose that stupid moment to walk up to him, when all his friends were there to watch me humiliate myself.

His laughter faded when he saw me, a blank, emotionless veil covering his face. "Yes?"

I gulped. "Logan, look. I'd really like to be friends even if-"

"What, even if you were just using my feelings for you to make you rich?" he asked bitterly, not letting me finish. 

I gasped at his words, wondering where in the world he could even get that idea. His whole table fell silent, watching us with interested, hungry eyes, waiting for something to gossip about.

"Logan, you know I'd never do that to you! I-" I groaned inwardly when he cut me off again, not letting me explain myself, no matter how desperate I was to do so.

"Val, you were a mistake, okay? Let's just drop this. I'm sure there's so many more people in this school that would love to talk to a Hollywood starscout, just not me. I've already forgotten about 'us', if there even was an 'us'."

My eyes widened, hearing murmurs all around me. Everyone had just heard my secret, but that wasn't what hurt me the most. That was just a dull panic in my brain that I didn't even care about at the moment, even though it could be detrimental to my job. My eyes filled up with tears and I stared at Logan. He gazed at me, his eyes warring between apologetic and indifferent. 

"How could you?" I whispered, putting all my emotion into those three words-- anger, hurt, love, incredibily devestating sadness.

"Val-"

I ignored his call and burst through the doors. I ignored everyone who talked to me the rest of the day, most of them asking if I could hook them up with even a minor role in a movie. When the bell rang signalling the end of the day, I was just about ready to explode with annoyance and frustration.

"Valerie!"

I turned around and saw Adam. I smiled at him and my heart almost stopped when he didn't smile back. Uh oh, he probably heard about my ulterior motive of being here in Seattle. I swallowed my fear and put on a casual smile although I knew it was a bit shaky around the edges.