Rejection Causes Love?

Chapter 9: Broken Promises

The rest of the day was one of the hardest days I've ever had to live through in my entire life. Chris either ignored me, or gave me a cold glare that instantly made me want to break down into tears. He had ruined the little happiness I had for the past few days. Now everything that happened before was like a distant dream, not a memory. It was too cruel to be a memory. Chris was cruel. 

At lunch I couldn't sit in the same cafeteria as him. I walked outside, sitting on one of the small tables a short distance from the back doors to the school. I was joined a few minutes later by Isabella, who gave me an apologetic look. I could tell she knew something I didn't. 

"Isabella, what happened?" I asked, my voice cracking from the tears stuck in my throat. 

"Chris...he's looking for you." she admitted, brushing her hair away from her face and pretending to be interested with the table. 

"Are you sure?" I asked skeptically. Even if he was looking for me, I had no intention of talking to him or even listening to what he had to say. I didn't want him to trick me again, and I also didn't want him to tell me something insulting that would make me feel even worse. 

"Yeah, I'm sure. He walked up to me and asked me if I knew where you were." she said. 

"Did you tell him?" I asked fearfully. I didn't want him to find me. 

"No, I said you went somewhere to study for a quiz next period and he'd have better luck to search for you near your locker." she said. I sighed in relief and stared down at my uneaten food. At least he wouldn't be able to find me, but a small part of me filled with sadness at that thought. Because that small part wanted him to find me. It wanted to hear what he had to say, because it was too naive to think that he could have been doing all of this just for a bet. It wanted to believe that, somewhere deep down inside, he loved me. But I knew it was wrong. He didn't love me, and he never had. Apparently money was more important to him than another person's emotions. 

I couldn't eat lunch, so I ended up throwing away my untouched lunch. I couldn't eat when my stomach was doing flips in fear. I was scared he would find me, and I was scared at what he had to say. Would it be bad? Would it be honest, good, pitiful? It made my head spin in confusion. What could he possibly want with me? 

I made my way to one of my last classes and sat down in the seat, ignoring Chris who was all the way across the room. He seemed like he was ignoring me too. Was it all just an act when he had been looking for me? If not, he didn't seem like he wanted to talk to me anymore. Maybe he just needed lunch money or something. Like I would give him that. 

After school I could feel the tears built up even more. I just wanted to go home and cry until I couldn't cry anymore, but my plans were unfortunately ruined. I climbed into my car in the parking lot, and as I shut the door I stared out the windshield and let my mind fill with events that had happened today. I remembered how shocked I had been when he had called me a bitch. A tear slipped out and trailed down my cheek, leaving a wet trail of sadness. I squeezed my eyes shut and leaned my head against the steering wheel, another tear escaping as it rested on my cheek. I suddenly heard the car door open and someone sliding into the passenger seat, shutting the door behind him. 

"Don't cry." he said, his finger wiping away the stray tear. I snapped my head up at his familiar voice and instantly cringed away. 

"I'm sorry." he mumbled. He did look sincere about his apology, but after all he had done, I couldn't trust him. 

"I needed to talk to you." he whispered. He didn't sound like he was being mean right now, but I still didn't want to fall into another one of his convincing traps. 

"Go away." I said as seriously as I could, trying to keep the sadness from my tone. 

"I'm really sorry about what I said today-" he began, but I cut him off. 

"How are you gonna say all that to me and then apologize?! Do you even know how much that hurt me, or how confused I was?!" I shouted at him. He looked guilty as he stared down at his lap. 

"It was all a lie Madison, I never meant to hurt you or anything." he said, but my patience was through. I couldn't sit here and talk to him like nothing happened. I just couldn't. 

"Chris, I have to ask you to do something," I said in a calm voice. 

"I'll do whatever you want." he said hurriedly. 

"Good. Now get out of my car." I snapped, glaring at him. 

"B-But I told you I didn't mean to-" 

"Just get out!" I shouted, feeling more tears spill over my eyes. He gave me a sad expression before he quickly leaned in, pecking my cheek softly. 

"I love you." he said, and then he ducked outside and left, strolling across the parking lot to where I assumed his car was parked. I sat there with complete shock in my expression, my eyes wide. He had said he loved me, he had kissed me on the cheek, and then he had left. And it all seemed nothing like how he had treated me at school today. It was so confusing. I dried my tears and sniffled as I started the car, pulling out of the school parking lot and driving home. i couldn't stand the fact that none of this was making any sense. 

I thought about Chris' unusual behavior all night. It was back to being just like it was before. He was cruel to me when other people were around, but when he was alone with me in the car he had acted like none of it had ever happened. Sort of. I fell asleep early that night, wanting to forget about everything. I didn't want to remember how he had treated me today, and I wished that when I woke up today would be a big dream that would be easily forgotten. Something told me that wouldn't happen. 

I woke up in the middle of the night, my heart pounding in fear. I heard a loud thump and I screamed, but my scream was cut off as someone clamped their hand over my mouth. 

"Shhh!" a voice hissed in my ear. I squeezed my eyes shut. How had someone gotten in my room? 

"I don't care if you don't wanna listen to me. You're gonna listen to me whether you like it or not." he said in a low voice. I suddenly realized who it was and I breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a little bit better now that I knew a murderer wasn't in my room. 

I felt him slowly remove his hand from my mouth as he sat on the bed. I couldn't see him in the dark, so I looked in his general direction. 

"Madison, promise me you'll listen to me, and not interrupt what I have to say." he demanded. I thought about it and let out a deep breath. Did I really wanna hear what he had to say? 

"I promise." I said finally.