The Breakup Girl

Chapter Ten

It had been two months. The day after the conversation in the hallway, Todd asked me to homecoming at the football game. The dance was one of the best days of my life.

For Thanksgiving, he came to my house towards the end. He met my family right before they left, and then we had the best time going black friday shopping.

We went to each other's houses nearly every day. With him, it wasn't awkward. It was something that I didn't feel weird about sharing with my family. They liked him a lot, and his family thought I was adorable.

Claire wound up going out with this kid James, and Ashley went out with Tyler. Sam was happy that we were happy. She didn't want a boyfriend. Things worked out great.

My favorite part of the day was seeing Todd during Algebra, then walking to lunch with him, and then sitting with him. The two months went by in a daze, and it was the longest I had ever been happy before in my life.

I didn't even pay attention to the boy that sat three seats behind me in my literacy class. I didn't waste my time thinking about him anymore. People say that he stopped going out and texting his friends. He stayed home most nights and just focused on football.

One Wednesday, Todd stayed after for Mrs. Rue so I walked to the cafeteria alone. I sat there and picked at my strawberries and kept an eye on the door. I looked at the table right next to us where all the boys were talking. What caught my eye was that he wasn't there. Not Todd, but Brandon.

I realized that I was so distracted the past few months that I didn't notice how much of a mess Brandon had been.

Brandon stormed into the cafeteria angrily and sat at his table. He ignored everyone after he sat down, as if none of his friends were there. He didn't eat, and Brandon didn't even do his hair like he used to. It was a sloppy mess. Todd followed in after that, so I instantly lit up and forgot about Brandon again.

"Hey," he smiled and sat at the chair next to me. "what do you want for Christmas?"

It was the last day of school before Winter break. I had already gotten Todd his present. I bought a huge picture frame and made a collage of all of our pictures together. For only two months, we had so many memories.

"You don't have to get me anything." I shook my head.

"But didn't you get me something?"

"Yeah, but it's not a big deal." I shrugged.

"It's Christmas," he lowered his eyes. "how do you not want anything?"

"Okay, okay! You can get me something, but nothing too big."

Todd wasn't looking at me as I talked to him, though. He was too busy looking at the table next to us, where he used to sit, making a death glare at... Brandon?

"Okay, um, why do you look like you're about to kill Brandon?" I grinned and tried to make a joke out of it, when I actually was very curious.

"It's nothing," Todd turned his attention back to me.

"No, seriously. Did you say something to him? Because he walked in the cafeteria really pissed off a few minutes ago," I approached cautiously.

"I didn't say anything to him. He said something to me."

"What happened?" I demanded.

Something in Todd's voice made me think that it was something bad. He sounded like he hated Brandon.

"I was walking to lunch late, since I had to stay after for Mrs. Rue. He was in the hallway, so I just figured that he was late, too. We don't like each other, and we've never had. He never liked me because of football stuff, and I don't like him because he's an asshole for what he did to you. So he asked if we could talk, and get this: He starts telling me that I don't deserve you and that you could do better! I just laughed because this guy is pathetic, really. So I told him that he's a douche bag and I can beat the shit out of him, and I will, believe me. Then he rolled his eyes and walked away."

I couldn't believe it. Why was Brandon starting with Todd? Since when did he care about our relationship?

"Please, don't start anything." I bit my lip.

"But, Paige-"

"No. I don't want you wasting your time with him. Just ignore him."

Todd seemed to get the point, because he never brought it up again.