To Love or To Scorn

Chapter 9

January 14th (4 more days till Students election)

"Emily, wake up! Its almost noon already." A voice said softly.

"Ugh, leave me alone to my misery. So whoever it is, please crawl back to the place you came from." I said groggily. I know I'm acting rude but I'm not in the mood right now.

"Hey! That's no way to act to your best friend. You still remember me right?" Hailee replied, putting a hand to heart dramatically. I rolled my eyes.

"Sorry Hails. I slept so late yesterday so that's why I woke up so late today." I yawned before stretching my arms.

"Well, why did you sleep so late then?" She asked curiously.

And that was when I remembered the reason why. After Zach, the little traitor, left last evening, I broke down to tears. I cried and I cried but I stopped by the time my parents came home. Unfortunately, my eyes were bloodshot and my hair was really messy so that wasn't any better. So of course, when my parents asked me what's wrong, I started sobbing again and told them everything. They were a bit mad about the technicalities that I figured out but luckily, since they felt sorry for me, they decided not to punish me. And so, by the time they put me to bed, I got a little better.

But sadly, every time I close my eyes, the words kept repeating over and over again. I knew I shouldn't have kissed you in the library. That was obviously a mistake...I knew I shouldn't have kissed you in the library. That was obviously a mistake...Since I was still quite vulnerable at that time, I began weeping again and again and finally cried myself to sleep.

"Um...." I started to say but my voice caught in my throat. This was too much. I started wailing and told her everything. From the time he arrived till the time I broke down crying late at night. While attempting to tell her what happened, I watched her reactions carefully. First, it was shock, then it changed to fury somewhere in the middle, and finally when I told her how much I cried, it shifted once more but this time to sympathy.

"There, there." She whispered sympathetically, while wrapping her arms around me. We just stayed like for a while until I manned up and stop crying like a little girl.

"So....do you want to go to the mall today?" She offered after a moment of silence.
"Sure. Is it ok if we bring Conner along?" I asked. I know, I know. I shouldn't string him along like that but honestly, I think he could distract me from everything that's been going on...from Zach.

Hailee stared at me in shock but quickly recovered. "Uh sure. If you want to." She replied quickly.

I nodded. "Yeah, I want to. Hey do you mind calling him for me? I'm gonna go take a shower and change into a more decent outfit."

Before she could reply, I started getting up and heading into the bathroom, while stopping by my closet to grab a simple shirt and some light washed jeans. ***

15 minutes later, we were on our way to the Beverly Center Shopping Mall.
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"Hey guys." Conner greeted us cheerfully when we met him at the food court.

"Hi Conner!" I replied, trying to match his enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, my stomach chose right at that moment to rumble loudly.

Both Hailee and Conner raised their eyebrows at me. "You ought to feed that thing, Em. Wouldn't want you to be on an empty stomach on your date now do we?" She winked at me.

Conner and I both blushed at her remark. "Shut up Hails. But you're right. I am really hungry from all that crying." I said without thinking. I clamped a hand over my mouth.

"Why were you crying? Did that jerk hurt you?" Conner asked angrily while balling his fists.

"Uh no....I me-meant" I looked desperately at Hailee for help. Thankfully, she caught on.

"What Emily meant was all that crying when she tripped over a uh rock yesterday!" Hailee said proudly. Obviously it wasn't a really good lie because Conner still looked pretty suspicious.

"Anyway! I'm famished! Let's go get some food shall we?" I said, hoping they're as hungry as I am.
Fortunately, Conner was pretty hungry as well because he nodded and Hailee just rolled her eyes and followed us.
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"I'm so bored. I bet books even have more fun then what we're doing right now." Hailee complained. "Who's stupid idea was it to go to the mall anyway?"

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. "It was your idea, genius. And besides, what's so boring about spending time with the most awesome person in the world?" I asked. Conner cleared his throat. "I mean, with two awesome people." I quickly corrected.

"Whatever. I'm gonna go hit Hollister. Have fun on your date." She said with another wink, emphasizing on the word date. True to her word, she started walking quickly in the opposite direction.

"Looks like it's just us now Con." I said nervously. Honestly, I expected him to be quiet since he's so shy around me, so I was really surprised when he started talking about well, everything. But what's even more surprising was that I actually enjoyed his company. He's actually a pretty nice guy when he don't stutter and he shared some of my interests too. But I have to admit, his company is nothing compared to Za-, You know who....

"Hey Emily? Can I ask you a question?" Conner asked, suddenly nervous all of a sudden.

"Uh yeah?" I replied jovially. It's not like he's gonna ask me out right?

"Will you uh go out with me? I mean you don't have to if you don't want to but I really like you and I hope you like me too." He said quickly.

I stared at him with my mouth gaped open. I guess I did see it coming but It's still shocking nonetheless. Before I could reply, someone bumped into me (I hope it's an accident -_-) which caused me to fall back on my butt, my eyesight slightly blurry.

"Oh my lord, are you-wait Emily?" A too familiar voice said. The exact same voice that hurt me over and over again.

"Zach?" I said, hoping that it's anyone but him. Unfortunately, my vision betrayed me and cleared enough for me to see that it was indeed the backstabber himself.

He tried to offer me his hand but I swatted it away. "Leave me alone, Zach. You caused me enough pain already. Isn't it enough you little-" I was cut off by Zach.

"Please forgive me Em. I really didn't mean to say that. I'm so sorry that I hurt you." He pleaded pathetically.

I snorted. Yeah, right. And pigs could fly too. "You know Zach. People once told me that you will never forget your first crush, but I hope that I will because you're such an ass. First you stole my first kiss and then you said it's a mistake like its some kind of joke to you? Who the hell are you? Believe me when I say this but you're not the same Zach that I liked. The Zach I liked was kind, helpful and will never hurt anyone deliberately. But you broke my trust and because of that, I could never be able to forgive you." I said slowly, so the message can sink into his traitorous brain, no matter how painful it was for me to say it.

His mouth was open in shock. I'm not surprised. He thinks that I will forgive him that easily? I scoffed at the thought.

"Let's go Conner. We're done here." I turned towards Conner who was surprisingly watching the exchange so silent that I almost forgot he was even there. Almost.

He nodded and we walked in the the opposite direction, away from Zach.

"What was that about? And who was that guy?" He whispered.

"A mistake." I replied, not looking back.

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Author's Note:

Thank you so much for supporting me guys! You guys kept me going and I'm really thankful for that! If you guys like this chapter, then be sure to hit 'Vote'!

Also, I reckon Chapter 10 will be up around this time tomorrow or the day after that so stay tune :)