The Devil's Pawn

Chapter 20

She didn’t show up.

                I waited and waited and she never came.

                I waited until all the buses had cleared out.

                I waited in our usual spot behind the school where no one could see us. The temperature had to be in the upper nineties.

                Ten minutes after the buses had left, I walked around the school, looking for any sign of her blonde hair.

                Nothing.

                Groaning with frustration, I pulled out my phone, my fingers typing in the familiar seven digits I had come to memorize.

                Anger bubbled up inside me.

                How could Sam do that?

                We were still technically dating.

                If she had said she needed to talk to me about something important, I would’ve rushed over. Why couldn’t she do the same for me?

                Maybe she knew I was going to break up with her.

                I shook my head; that was a stupid thought.

                The only person that I had told was Trenton. And that was after I had texted Sam.

                It was impossible that she had known before hand unless she had an uncanny ability to predict the future.

                That was unlikely.

                After what felt like eternity, a voice finally answered my call.

                “Hello?”

                “Hi.” I said gruffly.

                “Taylor?”

                “Yeah.”

                “How’re you?” 

                “How do you think?” I snapped, furious, “She’s not even here. I’ve been here for forty-five minutes waiting for her to show up.”

                “Who?”

                “Sam!”

                A muffled cough sounded from the other line, “Aghh, sorry. Wait, are you still at school? It’s almost four-thirty.”

                “I’m aware of that. And yes, I still am.” I couldn’t hold back the anger in my voice. My fingers were curled tightly around the cell phone pressed against my ear.

                Trenton whistled softly, “That’s a long time to wait.”

                “I know.”

                “So why are you calling me?”

                I sighed, wishing he had just offered instead of making me ask, “Look, I’m sorry to be bothering you with this, but you’re really the only person I can call. Can you please give me a ride home from school?”

                There was silence on the other end for a moment.

                “Uh… yeah, sure.” He sounded distracted.