Elite

XIV

Sienna's POV:

Walking into school still made my stomach into a bundle of knots. I made my way to my locker, feeling the eyes of everyone watching me, or maybe it was just me being paranoid. Some people were definitely staring at me. It's been five days since the party and even though Charlotte forgave me, something just didn't feel right.

"Hey, are you okay?" The touch of someone's hand on my shoulder made me jump. I turned to see Logan with a concerned look on his face.

"Um...what?" I asked, confused. I know he had asked me something, right?

"You okay? You just look spacey." he said with a small smile.

"Oh, you know how mornings are. I haven't had my coffee yet." I lie as i grab my books for my first two periods and leave without another word. Why does Logan even care how I am? We had never been particularly close. As i walked to class thinking about Logan snippets of thoughts snuck their way into my brain. I totally forgot Lennon had said i kissed Logan. I could feel the light blush creep into my cheeks as I entered first period. How could I forget something like that!

I sat staring at my textbook as the bell rang. I really was spacey today. Things just felt so off. I took a glance around my class and noticed Charlotte whispering to one of the girls beside her. When she caught me staring she broke away and gave me a big smile. I automatically returned her smile with one of my own. My smile didn't even feel genuine. It felt so forced. I really needed to get some coffee in my system. I felt so off. I hated when I felt like this. Before the teacher came in the room, I grabbed my things and went straight to the bathroom. I splashed cold water on my face, totally forgetting I had mascara and eyeliner on. When I looked in the mirror I almost shrieked. I noticed someone in the stall flush the toilet and came over next to me to wash her hands. I just smiled not really making anything of it, but when I took a double look at her, my anxiety sky rocketed.

"You know that thing Jared does with his tongue when he kisses your neck? That's my favorite thing ever." Kate Armand said with a cunning tone.

I slowly gulped, hoping she didn't hear me.

"Yeah... He rarely kissed my neck. He would always put his mouth somewhere else." I said as I winked and smiled. I walked out of the bathroom and looked at the time on my phone.

"Wednesday, September 3rd, 2016; 8:25 AM"

My eyes filled with tears and my ears started to burn. I needed to leave now. There was no way I could leave this early by signing myself out, so I needed to improvise. I went into a janitorial closet and dialed my school's phone number, blocking it so they wouldn't know I was calling.

"Hi, Vanderbilt Preparatory School. This is Lisa speaking." Lisa, our secretary said.

"Hi Lisa, this is Francesca DiMarco. I'm Sienna's mother. I am calling because Sienna has a doctor's appointment in 30 minutes. I completely forgot. I'll be there to pick her up in 5 to 10 minutes." It was crazy how much I sounded like my mom.

"Sure thing, Mrs. DiMarco. I will let Sienna know." I thanked her and hung up the phone. I nonchalantly walked into the front office holding a pair of fake glasses in my hand.

"Hey, Lisa. I just found these in the hallway on my way to class. Can you put them in the lost and found?" I lied.

"Sienna! Just the girl I was looking for. Your mother just called and informed me she needed to pick you up shortly. You have a doctor's appointment soon." My eyes shot up in confusion, hoping I didn't look too surprised.

"Oh, wow. It totally slipped my mind! Yeah, I just need a physical today." I looked out the window and squinted my eyes together so it looked like I saw something.

"I see my mom's car. Can I just sign out now?" I asked.

"Of course. Have a good day Sienna."

I smiled to myself because I just got away with sneaking out of school, but the reason I was sneaking out was not a good thing. I sat in my car and drove to our local floral shop that's a few blocks away. I purchased a nice big bouquet of lilies, sunflowers, carnations and chrysanthemums. It was a lovely arrangement of reds, oranges and yellows.

My next destination had my stomach in knots again. I knew exactly why I felt so off today. I pulled into St. Robert's cemetery and took a walk over to his headstone. I put the flowers in a nice vase that I bought and sat down next to it.

"Hey, Dad. It's been a while, I know." I said out loud, tears already streaming down my face. I leaned my back against his headstone and stared up at the sky willing the tears to stop. I knew they wouldn't. The sting of his death was still all too real. It had only been three years. The hardest three years of my life. I had Celene and Lennon to lean on but sometimes that just wasn't enough.

I took a moment to look around. Hopefully to distract myself. I tried to analyze my surroundings in order to calm myself down. I always had a tendency to get a little erratic this time of year. I tried hard to conceal the turmoil inside but only time seemed to help. I could always try to put on a brave face but things seemed rather hard this year. Especially with all my crazy actions lately. I needed to throw myself back into my school work and chill the fuck out. I had to stop letting these stupid kids get to me at school. The main one being Kate. I told myself Jared and I would never happen because he's a world class jerk. He needs to grow up. He had hurt me and i still had these leftover agonizing feelings for him that needed to disappear ASAP.

I stood and dusted myself off as I turned to face my father's headstone once again. Coming out here and being able to think without others around really helped me. I ran my hand along the length of the hard marble as I walked away. I had to come back more often.