According to Plan

Chapter 43

Words could not explain how unusual, yet fantastic, it felt peeking out the window the next morning and seeing Cameron DiMarco in his rusty, red truck pull up in my driveway for us to go to school together. It felt like I was on cloud nine. Countless times, I had pinched myself, wondering when I would wake up from this lucid reality. But as he drove us to school that day, our fingers intertwined and the constant warm looks he offered my way, made me realize that this was reality. A reality I had never thought would exist.

"Maybe you should pull up a few blocks from school," I suggested shyly.

He raised a brow, then a small grin formed along his lips, "why, miss Morrison? Are you ashamed of me?"

My face went red and my hands flew over my mouth, "no, no! That's not it at all!"

He laughed, obviously basking in the amusement of my near panic attack, "then what is?"

"Well, you haven't exactly broken up with Leah yet..." I felt like a criminal saying those words. This was definitely treason, and I'm sure if Leah could, she would have me sent off to the guillotine.

He looked deep in thought for a second, "you're right. I'm sorry, I don't know why I've delayed that. I'll have a talk with her today. But it's only a ride to school Stella, no one will suspect anything."

He took hold of my hand and pressed it to his lips. My face  became a steam room and I had to force back the urge to pinch myself just one more time.

"Wait," I replied, "you can't do it today."

He raised a brow, still keeping his eyes on the road, "why not?"

"Because," I responded, "she told me a while ago that she'd already bought her dress for the dance.. in blue; your favorite colour. It'll kill her if you do it today."

Cameron looked uncomfortable. Then I realized that was probably not the best thing to say.

When will I learn to just keep my mouth shut?

He eased into a spot in the parking lot then looked over at me, "Stella, what I'm going to do is gonna hurt her either way... dress or not."

He pecked a kiss on my cheek, leaving a tingling sensation behind. I held onto his arm for a second, wanted to pull him back, but I let go. He was technically still Leah's property.... no matter how much I hated to admit it.

I stumbeled out the truck and wobbled away stealthily, looking left and right to make sure no one spotted me. I could hear Cameron chuckling behind me as he walked the opposite direction, "where have you been all my life?" he said sarcastically.

I thought for sure I had succesfully pulled off an agent 007, until I saw Billy leaning against a wall, his eyes piercing me. I stopped in my tracks, knowing exactly what that look meant. He didn't have to see us hold hands for him to know what was going on. Billy was just smart like that. I gulped and a raised a shy hand to wave. He turned away and walked off, leaving only shards of ice to stab guilt through me.

On a positive note, Billy had stopped avoiding me as the day progressed, he just chose to ignore me instead. I tried to avert eye contact with him, just to prevent myself from bursting into tears at the sight of my best friend, or lack thereof. What added more to the splendor of the day was walking by in the hallway and watching Leah cling onto Cameron's arm like a leech, as she spat dirty looks my way. This day could just not get any worse.

Wrong.

I sunk deeper into the passenger seat of the vehicle.

"Leah, you're making a scene!" Cameron tried to reason outside of the truck.

Shoo! Step away from the vehicle to spare Stella's life!

"I'm making a scene?!" she argued back, "Cam, you can't just break up with me for no reason! You're ruining everything! Do you know how much I've sacrificed for you?!"

"Listen, life itself comes with lots of sacrifices Leah, so don't try and turn this around on me."

"Then atleast tell me why! Why are you breaking up with me, Cam?! I thought we were good! What's going--"

There was silence for a while. Skeptical, I ducked even deeper into the front seat of the car.

"It's a girl, isn't it?" Leah spoke again, "you've been cheating on me, haven't you?!"

Cameron was still quiet, "I wouldn't put it that --"

"WHO IS SHE?" Leah Bromwell screamed at the top of her lungs. Half the lot turned towards the scene, suddenly interested in what was going on.

I could feel my face go red and the pace in my veins quicken.

"Who is this girl?!" Leah screamed again, demanding an answer.

"You're acting crazy, Leah," Cameron finally spoke up, "I'm not ending this because of someone else. Well, that's partially the reason. But it's because the way you act towards others.. it's not how I want to be defined as."

"Others?" She repeated his word, "what do you mean by others?! Wait... are you talking about Stella?!"

My blood went cold. If Cameron did not come into this truck right this moment, I would hitch hike it out of there, hopefully in one piece.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'm sorry, but we're over," he responded and he trodded over to the driver's seat, shutting the door behind him.

"Wait!" Leah thumped on the window, "Cam, baby, I didn't mean what I said. Let's work this out, we can work it all..."

Her voice grew closer towards the driver's end of the truck and all I could do was stare, stone cold, at the open window.

"Cameron, the window!" I whispered furiously, "wind up the window!"

He could barely hear me from the gathered crowd and the screaming of his now ex.

"Speak up," he instructed, looking rather stressed over this whole situation.

And that's when my heart stopped.

Leah glared at me sitting in the passenger seat, in point-blank range. Her mouth hung open and her eyes bulged in maniacle fury. Her face was a hot mess and she, herself, was in a frantic dissaray. Leah's cheeks were tinted black from the oodles of eye makeup that ran down her face just minutes ago. I watched in horror as her complexion went from pale, to ruby red in just seconds. Just in time, Cameron backed out and zipped out of the school parking lot, leaving both Leah and I in complete and total terror.