DEAD INSIDE

(22)

12 days- Time flies by, enjoy it while you still can...

I rolled my eyes at the new threat. Marla had insisted I opened it. The three of them had been waiting for me at the end of my last class and we were currently seated at our usual table in the lunch room.

To say I wasn't hungry would be the understatement of the century. I'd barely managed to listen to my teachers all morning long. I was still stuck on Milo's message and the anger it had filled me with.

"What does it say?" Mel asked worriedly when I didn't read the note out loud. I handed it to her and took a tentative bite of the quiche I'd bought. The only reason I was forcing myself to eat was that we had practice today and I needed all the strength I could muster to get rid of all my stress.

"You should call Officer Jenkins..." Marla suggested.

She was right, of course. Why didn't I think about doing so earlier?! I silently scolded myself.

Only I wouldn't call him. The man still irked me and I intended to keep our exchanges to the strict minimum so I motioned for Mel to hand me the piece of paper back, which she did, and I took a picture of it with my phone.

I then retrieved the small card I'd made sure to slide in my knitted hoodie pocket and quickly typed his number on the screen before pressing SEND.

"Done..." I mumbled and cut another piece of quiche.

"Ali..." I sighed at Mel's preoccupied tone. "Talk to us..."

"What do you want me to say?" I answered. "Apart from you and soccer, everything seems to crumble down around me..."

"Aww..." Deedee wrapped her arm around my shoulder and pulled me to her.

"Then stick with us and you'll be ok..." She murmured against my hair.

"What's going on?" I sighed at the sound of the White T leader's voice.

Hadn't I told him I no longer wanted to have anything to do with him?!

I grunted and cut another piece of quiche that I put in my mouth.

"Tell us what's wrong, Ali..." My eyebrows shot up when I realized that Scott had brought Niall with him.

I ignored them and pretended that the quiche was the best item of food I had ever eaten.

"Guys, why don't you let us enjoy our lunch without any more drama?" Marla said in a tone that told me Marvin was also there, which meant...

No... I shook my head. He wouldn't have...

Ever so slowly I turned around and couldn't believe it when I saw Milo freaking Bellucci was also standing there with his friends.

I didn't remember standing up but I was suddenly standing mere inches from Milo's feet, totally consumed by the rage his presence generated in me.

But then I lifted my head, and when our eyes met, it was as if everything around us disappeared and just like that, my anger vanished.

I'm sorry, his emeralds were silently shouting at me, begging me to forgive him for whatever I was mad at because one thing was sure, he didn't seem to know why I was mad.

That's when I realized that I still didn't know myself so I clenched my hands and painfully looked away from him, effectively putting a stop to our strange moment.

Bewildered and slightly mad at myself for letting his presence affect me so openly, I wordlessly resumed my seat and began eating again.

The silence was deafening and I silently begged for somebody to do or say something because the more I chewed my tasteless food, the sicker I got about the whole thing.