GET HIM BACK! , c. sturniolo ✓

fourteen.

after wiping her eyes, jamie took a deep breath. she didn't want to face chris again, but she knew that ms. tylers would start getting worried. exiting the bathroom, jamie made her way back to art class. the art teacher made eye contact with her through the window of the door before opening it. 

"jamie? is everything okay? where's chris?"

"hi, ms. tylers. yeah, everything's fine. i'm sorry for running out like that."

"do you want to talk about it?" ms. tylers asked. jamie looked inside the class. some kids were looking out the door, as if trying to listen to what was going on. 

"i'll tell you later, i promise." jamie said. "but i'm not sure where chris is. we kind of argued and he went after paris and—"

"don't worry about it. if he's not back in the next half an hour, i'll call the office."

"okay."

jamie walked into the classroom and read over the assignment on the board: draw a picture of your interpretation of 'love.' jamie scoffed, thinking about her current situtation. she pretended to think about the prompt, as if she didn't already know her view on love. after a moment, jamie took out her sketchbook and immediately began to draw whatever came to mind. 

"chris!" ms. tylers exclaimed fifteen minutes later. jamie looked up from her sketch. she watched as chris explained some story to the teacher, who only nodded in understanding. 

"just make sure it doesn't happen again. go sit down." she said. chris walked toward his and jamie's table. it was only now that jamie noticed his eyes: they were only slightly red and puffy. if they didn't know chris as well as jamie did, any person would not be able to tell he was just crying. jamie looked away almost as soon as chris looked in her direction. she focused back on her sketch.

it was of a broken picture frame. one that was in the shape of a heart and held the picture of a couple. it was nearly identical to the one that happened to be in a box shoved in the bottom of jamie's desk drawer. the only difference was that the frame in the drawing seemed to be broken, cracked right in the middle. 

for the rest of art class, jamie tried her best to ignore chris. she couldn't face him right now, not after what he told her earlier. and definitely not after she just had a breakdown in the bathroom over a day that was ten months ago. when the dismissal bell rang, jamie closed her sketchbook, promising ms. tylers that she would finish the sketch at home, and rushed out of the classroom. she needed to be as far away from chris as possible. however, on the way to the parking lot, she bumped into someone else. 

"matt?" jamie asked, surprised that the boy didn't even seem to notice her. matt looked up, alarmed. 

"oh, jamie." he relaxed. "hi."

"hey." jamie greeted, awkwardly. "um, how are you?" 

"i'm doing okay." matt shrugged. "been better." he started to walk with her to the parking lot. "how about you?"

"i'm good." jamie lied. she figured chris would probably tell matt what happened later. "listen, matt..." she started, but matt cut her off.

"you don't need to apologize to me." matt said, softly. "i already told you earlier i'm not mad."

"yeah, but i still feel bad." jamie admitted. 

"well, don't. it was my choice." matt said. "and let's not talk about it, yeah?"