I Wish You Never Met Me

16

CHAPTER 16

As quietly as I could, I grabbed the sides of my chair using my foot as leverage to push myself away from him. "In a small town called none of your business."

I could hear the sigh that left him and from my peripheral vision, I saw him placed his chair close to mine and leaned closer to me. "Why so cold, sweetheart? Are you okay?" he almost placed his hand over his heart, pretending to be hurt.

As quiet as I could be, I scoffed. "You have a reputation to uphold. That should be your focus."

For a moment, I almost smiled to myself. Finally, that pointless conversation would be over, and I could continue moving through the school hallways like a ghost until graduation. That string of hope broke when forty minutes of class time ran away. Most of the students were already out of the class, me joining them. Or at least trying to.

That all goes in vain when I felt something pull me backwards, the grip tightening but somehow gentle.

"I already told you, "He began, his voice almost dropped down a few pitches. Any girl in our class would've melted in the span of a second listening to him. However, I wasn't going to be the one at the receiving end nor admitting how much his presence began to affect me. "I couldn't care less about my reputation. Whoever I associate myself with isn't going to affect that."

Sometimes, I think I'm a little too patient with people. I'm supposed to be cold and distant, but he keeps digging his way into my life. Instead of answering him, I grabbed my things and made b-line for my locker.

My luck went straight into the gutter the moment I saw Sami and Monica coming in my direction. One with a smirk-discreetly amused like an annoying little sister who figured out something you don't know involving a certain boy. The other obliviously watching everything unfold with a bowl of popcorn in her hands.

"So," Monica asked, amusingly with a teasing glint in her eyes. "How was chemistry?"

Sami nudged my shoulder with the same teasing glint in her eyes. "How was talking to Matthews?"

"Nothing that concerns you," I told them through gritted teeth. "That's done and over with."

"So, what's this then?" Sami held her phone up to me, and the color in my face drained completely.

Just great. Another thing the Runnels family can use against me.

Great.

Where's the nearest cliff from here?

It didn't help my predicament at all when those jolts I felt that day came back. I tensed up, fearing the fact that there was a possibility of melting. And what followed was even worse.

"People really have nothing better to do with their lives," his finger molded into the contour of my waist. His voice, dark yet velvety. I wanted to crawl into a hole right then and there. "They really recorded our scene in our presentation and posted to Instagram? Potential ship in the works, really?"

"Hey, Lucas," Monica called out.

I looked up even though I didn't want to, pushing his hand away. "Sami and Monica, when you're done being idiots, let me know."

"Meg!" I heard him call, but I don't bother to stick around further to find out what he wanted to say next.

I planned on getting through this year without anyone bothering me. It's not going well. The jolts, I've felt before but not in this magnitude. I won't mention him. I won't mention who gave me these jolts. Because in the end, it burned me to the core. I will never love again because of that.