Ones Ignored

Chapter 25 | I don't want you.

Seeing Jameson again at school the next day is like a punch in the gut, and I would know how that feels. After Blake had cheated on me for the first time, I attacked the girl. She was half dressed on the bed, and I had marched up to her and slapped her across the face. I had never lost control like that; I had slapped her hard enough for my handprint to stay on her face for a while.

She had retaliated and punched me in the stomach, so hard that I had moved back. I was so weak that I only backed out of the room and left the two of them in there. I didn't want to fight; I only wanted to give her what she deserved. Only now do I know that she didn't deserve it; Blake did. He was the one who had made the first move—which I found out later that night from my friends—even though he was in a happy relationship with me. I had only been at his house for breakfast with his family earlier.

I didn't see Jameson until the hour before Life Skills because he had skipped lunch. I had been looking at his table, and he wasn't there. I had thought he was absent, but judging by his academics, that wasn't likely. Seeing Jameson in the class was like seeing him for the first time. That was the first time I had noticed him in the cafeteria. It didn't hurt, but when I walked into my next class, then it hurt.

Jameson was already sitting at his desk, a desk we share, and I had frozen in my spot by the door. I made a move to spin on my heels and turn back, but a voice stopped me. "Ivy!" my teacher says from behind me. I press my lips in a thin line and say, "Mrs. Meirs." My hands are at the strap of my backpack, and I hold it tighter. My teacher glances from me and to the open door I had wanted to get out of only a second ago before she frowns. She looks me in the eye and says, "I hope you weren't having second thoughts about coming to class."

I let out a fake laugh; my pitch was way too high to be true. I wave a hand in the air and say, "No, I was going to get something from my locker. But I guess I don't need it now." The lie isn't believable; well, the lie is; my acting, on the other hand, was very much not. I was speaking very fast and slowed down at the end. I point at my seat and say, "I'll just... I'll head over there now."

"Okay," Mrs. Meirs says, and then sends me off my merry way. Only it's anything butmerry. I'm walking slowly as I head over to my seat. I take a seat tentatively and let my hair fall into my eyes. My curls were messier today because I had forgotten to add product in order to tame them. But it was good; the hair would cover my face.

I can feel his body heat transferring to me from beside me. I could hear his soft breathing, one that I had fallen asleep to this past weekend. It was funny how things had changed in the span of a few days. It was just Wednesday today, and on Sunday, I woke up thinking I had wanted to make my move and kiss him. Three days later, everything had changed.

Mrs. Meirs turns my attention away from the circle I kept tracing over and over again on my paper. I look up at her, and she clasps her hands together. "You guys are going to kill me for this," she starts off, and a few people sit up in their seats, knowing that she has something exciting planned. "I wanted to get the robotic babies for you guys, but I couldn't.

A few people audibly groan, and I feel myself slouch in my seat. I could see Jameson in the corner of my eye, his eyes trained to the front of the board, and his jaw set. He wasn't clenching it, and I felt myself get angry at the fact that he looked good. I had shown up to school in sweatpants (which I got a lot of hate for with the group) and a matching hoodie. At least I was matching. He had shown up in a similar quarter zip with black pants that looked ironed.

"But I do want you guys to work with a partner," Mrs. Meirs says, focusing on a part that most people didn't even want. I didn't want this either because the guy beside me, who has yet to glance at me, was going to be my partner. We were appointed permanent partners the first day we had this class. That wasn't something I was looking forward to. "I want you guys to try and figure out how marriage works."