"So, you ready?" Claire asks. I look up from my book.
"What are you talking about?" I shoot a look. "There's still forty minutes until class is over."
"I know that," she started, "I mean are you ready to face him?"
I instantly knew who she was talking about; and I instantly didn't care. So I resorted to playing dumb. "Who?"
"You know!" She said.
"I don't," I tried to say extra loudly, so that our History teacher would tell us to quiet down. Or maybe she'd even send me to the principal's office, if I got lucky.
"Amber," Claire said, "don't be like that. I'm just trying to see if you're alright." I looked back down at my book. I didn't answer at first, since we were supposed to be reading. Claire never looked back down at her book. I don't think she read a single page.
"Why wouldn't I be?" I said and looked back up after reading a few paragraphs.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought him up," she said. When I didn't reply, she continued, "and he was stupid for breaking up with you."
Believe me, I know. But what could I do about it? Nothing.
I battled through the next forty minutes of class, now paranoid about what I'm going to do when I see him. When the bell rang, we all instantly shot up. I avoided eye contact with everybody. I just wanted to get out of there, honestly. Too bad we just finished first period. Now onto second.
Oh! Shall I mention that 'he' is in second period, as well? Who is 'he', you may ask? Well, I don't know. Not anymore, at least.
...
The day carried on as usual. It's like nobody noticed that I hadn't been to school for over a week. Just because I was afraid that he would spread rumors about me, and I didn't wanna deal with it a day after I got my heart broken. But nothing had changed. Except I didn't sit with he and his friends during lunch. There were no rumors. Nobody thought of me any different. My life carried on as usual. Honestly, I think at least half of his friends don't even know that we broke up. It was 'that' quiet today. Not the awkward kind of quiet, either. The calm kind. Everybody carried on their day as normal. 'I' was the one who was thinking at a million miles an hour.
He isn't a bad guy. So why am I mad at him? For breaking my heart? That's good enough an answer, isn't it? It's the understandable answer, yet it's also the selfish answer. I'm mad at him for not loving me. Well, who am I to control his feelings? I can't. He didn't betray me, he just didn't feel for me anymore. We were only dating for two months. Why is this such a big deal? He wasn't even my first boyfriend. That's it! It isn't a big deal. I'm making it a big deal. Like I always do -
"Amber," Nick said, breaking my thought bubble.
I looked up at him.
No, this isn't 'him'. Nick is just a classmate. One of 'his' friends. But I don't know him too well. I wouldn't even consider him a friend. In fact, I'm surprised I even remembered his name.
"Yes?" I answered.
"How are you?" He asked, "I heard what happened."
"You did?" I asked.
"You and Wes broke up, yeah?" And there's the 'he'.
"What exactly did you hear happened?" I braced myself, preparing for the first of the many rumors which will be spread.
"I didn't hear much," he explained as he sat down next to me, "Just said that you two weren't working out."
Of course he said that...
