Reality Hits Hard

Her Name is Stephanie (Ch. 27)

Nicole wakes me up in the morning. She's already dressed.

I wake up and she goes off to the bathroom. I wear black leggings and a black tank top. On top I put a pink/brown like sweater with black hearts on it. I slip on my brown combat boots. I put a little more mascara today. I put a pink/nude lipstick on my lips. I put my hair in a side ponytail and do a fishtail braid.

I walk downstairs and Nicole makes us smoothies. I get my keys and we head out the door.

When I get to school I avoid Ashton. I just put my head down and walk around him. I get to my locker when I feel a warm pair of arms wrap around me.

It was Tristan

"Hey princess." He says.

"You really need to stop with these names." I laugh.

He kisses my forehead and waves goodbye.

I grab my things when I run into a girl.

"Have I ever seen her before?"

I see that all her stuff is on the floor.

"I'm so sorry! Are you okay? I didn't mean to b-" She interrupts me.

"It's okay! Don't worry. Uh, what's your name? I don't believe I've see you around before." She says.

"My name's Clementine, Clem for short." I hold out a hand.

"Very pretty name. Uh, I'm Stephanie, Steph for short." She shakes my hand.

"Thanks. My mom gave me the name." I chuckle with a shaken up voice.

"Oh, Let me help." I say dropping to the ground.

We gather all her books and I hand her the ones I collected.

"Oh! Uh, meet Mary and Braeden." She says, pointing.

"Hi." I say.

"Hi nice to meet you." Mary says.

"Yeah nice to meet you." Braeden replies.

"Hey Clem." I hear Katelyn say coming up behind me.

"Oh hey Katelyn." I turn.

"You need to go now." She says.

"Why? What's happening?"

"Um, it's Ashton. Again. With Tristan. He said he'll only stop if you're there." She answers.

"Ugh. This again. He really needs to get over himself." I say and turn.

"Sorry to cut this short, but I need to go." I run past Stephanie and her friends.

When I get to where Ashton is. There is no Tristan. I walk into the room he's in and I hear the door close behind me.

"What's going on?" I ask him.

He pushes me up against the wall.

"Clementine. I know I messed up. Bu-"

"Ashton you know I hate when your forceful like this." I say.

He holds my hands. Still pinning me against the wall.

"I'm sorry. But it's the only way I could get you to listen. I know my anger has been... horrible." He whispers.

He leans in to kiss me. I push him away.

"Ashton stop. What you said to me yesterday? Broke... you broke my heart. A-a-and the fact I had to go home to some not very good news is just worse." I stutter.

"I'm sorry Clem. I know I hurt you." He says

"If you knew you wouldn't keep doing it!" I yell.

"I just don't understand why you keep doing it you know. I guess you never really cared at all." I say more calm.

The bell rings and I walk out.

*Time Skip to Lunch*

At lunch I find myself walking with Tristan. He kisses me.

At this point, kissing Tristan doesn't surprise me any more. But I love when we do it. I don't know what we are though.

"I guess friends with benefits." I think.

We walk in and everyone looks at us.

"Heh. Um, I'm just gonna go sit down." I arkwardly pat his chest.

"Yeah, okay." He replies and we spilt.

I find Stephanie and decide to go over there.

"Hey Clem." She says.

"Hi!" Mary says.

"Hey." I respond.

"What's up?" She asks.

"Oh, um nothing really." I answer.

But that wasn't true. I couldn't stop thinking about Ashton. I don't know why.

I stare at Tristan and see him walk towards Ashton.

"Oh crap." I say. I pull out my phone and text Nicole.

*Text Starts*

C-Clementine N-Nicole

C- "Nicole!! You need to keep Ashton and Tristan in check. Please!!!"

N- "They'll fight anyway. Have you met Ashton?"

C- "Just do do it please. Say my name. Or something they'll stop."

*Text Ends*

"Is everything okay?" Mary asks.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry. I just had to do something very quickly." I say not taking my eyes off the two boys.

I see Tristan tell Ashton something and they both nod their heads. He walks away and they don't fight.

I felt a wave of relief go over me.

"But, what did the say to each other?"

"Okay. Hehe." Mary says.

"Um, Clementine want to come over to my house this afternoon? Mary and Braeden are coming. You can invite any friends you want." She asks.

"Uh, sure. I'll have to ask Nicole's mom though. Oh and Maybe Nicole could come along." I say.

"Sure. Um, it's alright if you can't. Just let me know if you can." She says.

"Okay. Maybe some day you could come ov-, um nevermind. But I'll let you know." I say standing up.

"Okay. Uh, bye." She says leaving

"See you around." She continues.

I walk up to Nicole.

"Hey want to go to a friends house? Ask your mom and I'll drive." I say my hands on the table.

"Okay." She says.

And the bell rings.

*End of School*

I'm at my locker when Nicole comes up to me.

"Ready?" She asks.

"Yeah, let's go." I say closing my bookbag.

When we arrive at home, Nicole and I go inside and find her mom.

"Hey mom, can Clementine and I go to a friend's house?" She asks.

"Sure, but which friend?" Her mom asks raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, just My friend Steph's house." I add in.

"Okay." She says.

Nicole and I go upstairs.

"Who's this Steph?" She asks

"A friend that'll you meet when we go over." I say smiling.

*********
Hoped you liked that collaboration with raebug13 go read her story to view Stephanie's point of view. Okay, bye!

♢Alabama♢