𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐠 𝐌𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧 (𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏)

37

Song: Infinity - One Direction

..............................

People kept staring.

They had been ever since I laid a foot on Milton High this morning and the continuous glances hadn't stopped throughout the periods I'd already done. Due to my 'situation' -as they kindly had put it- I was allowed to skip every period that's not an exam. And I was really grateful for that.

Yesterday, the first day after everything blew up, I only had to endure this crap a couple of hours and then I was free to leave, but today I'd already had two and the last one is after lunch time. By all means, I couldn't just go. No. I had to endure lunch here.

It wouldn't have been a bad thing if Jess was by my side, glued as she had been this past couple days like the awesome protective, sweet friend she is; but she couldn't. Something to do with the Council, as always.

Don't get me wrong, a lot of people sided with me after everything and I'd been receiving support from people I didn't know would have my back. But there also anther part of the school that accused me from making it all up in order to gain popularity again.

You know what really hurt about that?

Sadie's on that group.

She hadn't openly confronted me about it, but I saw the weird glances she'd thrown me and how she never even tried to check how I was after the scandal this Monday. She just remained on that damn table with half the cheer team, including Paris, and whispered whenever I'm around. It was really unnerving.

I know we've never had the best relationship and that in the past we had our disagreements, but I thought this year we'd put all that behind and were starting to build something more real, not just being friends by association. Guess I was wrong.

I carefully closed my locker, reassuring Jess that I would be fine on my own; but she still looked at me with those dove eyes that held guilt. The bell rang over our heads for the second time and she finally sighed, giving in even tho she wasn't sure, and then I was by myself in a sea of moving bodies.

I gotta say I did feel unease after everything. Going to the cafeteria was the last thing I wanted to do. Everyone would be there, and they would stare and judge. I hate being judged, especially if I couldn't control the result of that with a nice smile or a cute outfit. But my stomach was hurting and I had to fill the lunch time before my last exam and only then I would be free 'till the end of Christmas' break.

With that in mind, I made my way there, buying my food, grinning those who salute me and ignoring the whispers. Once with the tray in my hands, careful since I got one wrist barely useful; I had to face another problem, where to sit?

I really didn't feel like sitting with those who looked the other way when it was fine to be against me even if now they seemed like the friendliest people here. Such a bunch of hypocrites. And of course the other part was completely out the hook in that matter. So I headed out, to the gardens ignoring it was middle-late December and air was freezing cold.

I shivered and my breath came out like a warm mist in that wintery weather. There was some snow brushed out the way and pilling on the corners or being thrown by some students one another. They were some jocks from the school team, luckily some of the ones that didn't hate me, and they waved and tried to charm me to join them; but I politely declined, not in the mood to pretend I was all happy and perfect. I walked further, still not knowing where to until I spot a lonely figure.

He was sitting on one of the tables under the hood of the school's building. It was hidden and one could have easily passed it without glancing its way, but I was looking for something and saw it. Once more, I remembered everything happened on Monday and a pang in my chest guided my steps his way, careful not to slide with the frost.