Bad Reputation

Bad Reputation (5)

Chapter 5

My meeting with Riley Lewis left me confused and dazed for a few minutes. My gaze never wandered from the point she had disappeared with the male figure. Had she really just invited me to eat with her tomorrow? Would I really consider eating with the school’s bad girl?

But even our conversation didn’t manage to keep my current problem at bay. Riley Lewis had managed to distract me for almost half an hour. She had laughed at me, laughed with me and even complemented me – at least I think she did – something my friends never did.

But even her nice attempt at getting to know me couldn’t keep the empty feeling in my chest away.

It felt like my whole heart was missing. Damian had succeeded in ripping out my entire heart, shredding away piece by piece until it lay on the ground, and I couldn’t even see the resemblance to the beating clump in my chest.

I loved him with all my being and he had cruelly ripped apart everything I knew.

And to top it all off, my best friend hated me and went behind my back with my boyfriend.

I think I sat staring into the distance for ten minutes before reality crashed back into my brain and scattered any peace I had felt when my mind had had been empty. Then the tears began to roll down my cheeks viciously again and Damian’s words flew around in my head, echoing in my mind.

You are boring Melissa.

You don’t act like a seventeen year old girl.

You dress like you’re eighty.

Your friends hate you.

I hate you.

You’re not good enough for me.

Maybe he hadn’t said that last one, but the meaning wasn’t very well hidden between the lines. That’s obviously what he meant.

And that thought only made the sobs intensify.

I couldn’t control my own body. It felt like I was spiraling out of control, and I could do nothing about it. My whole life had just crashed before my eyes, and I had no idea how to fix it.

Then Riley Lewis’s words echoed in my mind.

Her laughter was like a song in my head.

She had laughed with me.

Joked with me.

Trying to make me forget what had happened tonight.

I knew that even if Reagan and I hadn’t fought, she would never have done that.

I didn’t move from that bench until my phone began vibrating in the pocket of my skirt. I fished it out, only to immediately decline the call. Mother was calling me. And with a strike of horror, I realized that the clock had passed nine thirty half an hour ago, and if I didn’t hurry I wouldn’t be home until ten thirty. A whole hour after my curfew.

I jumped up at that and began running home as fast as I could. But it was hard to run in a knee-length skirt and flats that were slipping of my ankles, so my pace was slow. I was panting heavily when I was only half way home, and the tears were still running down my cheeks. I still let out a sob every now and then, which made me even more breathless. But I knew my mother would freak if I wasn’t home soon. So I fastened my pace.

I reached the front door forty minutes after my curfew.

Mother was standing in the doorway waiting for me.