Illegal Love

~ Chapter 22 ~

a/n: heeyyy guys! this chapter gets kind of intense...hope you all like it! :)

"Are you sure everything is okay? We miss you so much, Gabriella!" My mom's worried voice crackles through my phone. The reception was bad under all these trees. I'm on my way to school. 

"Yes, mom, everything is okay! I miss you guys, too," I say and I swear I hear her smile on the other end of the line. 

"Don't worry, honey, we'll be back...well, to be honest not for a while. It's only been a week," my mom fakes a laugh. We chat about how my grandparents are doing and soon my school building comes into view and I tell her goodbye and hang up.  

"Gabby!" Gwen calls and pulls my wrist from behind as I open my locker. I turn to face her. "Guess what today is!" She claps her hands. 

"Um, Friday?" I ask and she nods vigorously. 

"Yes! You know how Josh always has those parties at my house every weekend?" She says, sounding exasperated. I remember my mom's remark about Gwen's brother's parties.  

I nod slowly and she continues. "Well, he decided to rent out this small club for him and a bunch of his college friends. My parents are out of town so we have the whole house to ourselves!" She exclaims. 

"We?" I raise an eyebrow. 

"You and me, silly," she pokes me in the arm. "You should come sleep over!"  

"Oh! Yeah, I should! I just have to ask my aunt when I get home and get all my stuff together," I say and she smiles. 

"Cool," Gwen says and we walk to our first class.  

I didn't think Harry would have a problem with it but a weird pit in my stomach told me otherwise. He's an advanced planner and has my entire soccer schedule pinned up on the refrigerator. He always knows where I'm at and who I'm with. I met up with Claire and Georgia at the movies once this week and he had to drive me there and back, but I got there earlier before them and left before the movie ended. I had to be super careful so they wouldn't see who I was driving with. They didn't even know my parents were out of town anyways, so they had nothing to be suspicious about. 

Gwen and I walk into Mr. Tatum's classroom and I suddenly feel nervous. He has been so awkward to me and avoiding me all week. Every time I raise my hand, he never calls on me to answer a question or to read. He never even looks at me. Once, when we accidentally made eye contact, he looked away super fast and left the room.  

Class goes by the same way it has the past week. Soon, the rest of the school day is over and I'm glad yesterday was the last day of soccer for the season because I just wanted to see Harry. I didn't have his class today and this morning he was taking a shower when I left (and no, I didn't try to peek in and see my naked teacher in the shower). He doesn't wake me up from school anymore and I have to set my alarm on my phone. Sometimes he made me breakfast but usually I just had a banana or something when he didn't. He was actually a really good cook.  

I arrive back at his apartment and drop my backpack by the door. Harry is sitting on the barstools with his head lowered and his hands in his hair.  

"Harry? Are you okay?" I ask softly, sitting next to him with my hands in my lap. He doesn't answer and sighs deeply. I hesitantly lift my hand and gently trace my fingers over his back, making random swirly and circle patterns all over. When he doesn't respond, I stop and take my hand off. 

"No, keep doing that," he looks at me sheepishly and takes my wrists and places them on his back. I continue. 

"It's- I-" he sighs again. "Work is really getting me stressed out." His long fingers drum on the granite countertop in frustration.