Met Online

Chapter 13

I have a dozen unread messages and they are all from Justin. I haven't opened any of them, because as soon as I do I know I'll be tempted to answer him and that's the one thing I cannot let myself do; I will not let myself fall back into his trap. But it's hard to ignore someone when they insist on texting you every half hour. "Shut up," I snap at my phone as it buzzes again.

I'm hiding behind one of the bookshelves in the back of the school's library. It's the one place where no one ever comes, mostly because all of the books in this section are written in Latin.

My Algebra homework is strewn across the carpeted floor; a few dozen notes have been ripped from my notebook and are now crumbled up and stacked in a messy pile next to my binder and the candy wrapper from a chocolate bar that I devoured an hour ago is neatly folded into a squared box.

My phone buzzes for what feels like the millionth time and I'm about ready to throw it at the bookshelf opposite of me, when I'm caught off guard by the sound of footsteps coming closer. I'm surprised to see that they belong to Taylen, especially considering the fact that she's been ignoring my messages all weekend.

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," I tell her.

"I came to find you," she shrugs. "You haven't been in class all day. I figured you were hiding."

"I thought you were ignoring me," I admit as she drops to the floor and takes a seat next to me.

"I'm not. I've just been busy," she shrugs. Her voice sounds flat and insincere and she doesn't look at me when she talks.

"Did I do something wrong?" I ask her right away, skipping the bullshit. I'm tired of feeling like I'm walking on glass around her, especially since she's the only one in this hell hole that I can talk to and without her my heart is aching with loneliness.

"No." I can tell that she's lying, but I don't have time to call her out on it and demand the truth, before she changes the subject: "Are you coming to the last game of the season?"

"I don't think so," I sigh in frustration. She still hasn't spared me a glance and her constant denial is starting to piss me off.

"Of course not," she mumbles. I don't think she meant for me to hear it, but I do and it's like a punch in the gut.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing."

"It didn't sound like nothing."

"Just drop it," she sighs in frustration and a tension filled silence settles between us, until my phone buzzes against the carpet covered floor and the screen lights up with a new message from Hero56. "I thought you blocked him."

"I'm working on it," I tell her, as I flip my phone over so she can't see the screen any more. The only reply I get is a snarky snort. "Have I done something wrong? Is that why you're acting so weird?"

"This has nothing to do with you," she tells me.

"If it has nothing to do with me then why do you tense up every I get a new message? And why have you been ignoring me?"

"I do not tense up and I have not been ignoring you."

"Yes you do," I argue, just as my phone buzzes again and Taylen's body tenses at the sound, her eyes darting towards my phone. "See?" I exclaim. "What did I do to piss you off?"

"God. When will you learn to listen?" she snaps at me, her eyes finally meeting mine. "You're so unbelievable stupid." Her words feel like a thousand daggers are being stabbed into my heart at the same time. Sure Taylen and I have fought before, but never like this; without restrains or verbal filters and never have I seen so much hatred in her eyes. "Not everything is about you, Cassidy," she yells at me, as she pushes herself off of the floor and hurries out of the library. I hear the familiar sound of the old wooden door slam behind her before the silence consumes me again. 

//AN: thought I owed you a little extra chapter to celebrate the weekend - What do you think of Taylen's reaction?//