Zoey 101: You Must Of Had A Broken Heart ☑

Chapter 12

"Eleven thirty."

It was earlier than I thought. That meant I was only at the party for a little over an hour. It seemed so much longer. But now that I looked back at it, I didn't really do much. Chase and I didn't have a real conversation the whole time we were there. I was too busy trying to avoid being grappled by drunken idiots.

I got ready for bed and scrubbed at the remaining make-up that the rain hadn't already washed away. If I were caught wearing makeup, I would probably need it to hide what Abby would do to me if she saw any traces of it.

Last year, Lola had given me a few samples of lipsticks she didn't want. I tried them on, but ended up wiping the colors off with a tissue. When I returned from practice that evening, Abby confronted me with the tissues removed from the bathroom trash with accusations that I was trying to sneak around wearing make-up behind her back after she had already told me it wasn't allowed. She called me a whore and other derogatory names as she squeezed my cheeks together so tightly in her hand that my teeth ground into the soft tissue until they bled.

So I'd rather have raw skin from scrubbing off the evidence than to face a second round over the make-up issue.

As we lay in the dark, Lola insisted, "You have to tell me what happened with you and Chase tonight."

I had hoped that Lola would be so lost in her night with Vince that she'd forget all about me, and we could avoid this conversation. No such luck.

I stared into the darkness above me, not certain where to begin.

"I talked to him," I confessed. I was quiet for a moment.

"Please don't make me drag this out of you."

"I found out he's from San Francisco and that he may move back if he doesn't like it here." I added, "I can only hope."

"What do you mean?" She sounded confused. "It looked like you guys really connected from where I was sitting - you know, his almost kissing you." My cheeks warmed at the mention of the close proximity of his face to mine when we said good night.

"Lola, I can't do this," my voice grew stronger. "I barely talked to him. He spent most of the night rescuing me from drunken hormonal gorillas. It was pretty pathetic.

"I don't want to like him. I don't want there to be anymore moments where he may kiss me. I need to stay away from him."

"I am so confused," Lola confessed. "I thought we had a plan. And who was hitting on you? Now I feel bad that I wasn't there."

"Don't," I said with an edge to my voice. "That's just it. I don't want to be protected or looked after. I should be so much stronger than to need you or Chase Mathews to stand up for me. I don't know how I'm going to be able to look at him on Monday."

"That's not what I meant," Lola said quietly. I heard the hurt in her voice. "I know you don't want me protecting you, you've made that clear way before tonight. But I feel bad because I knew how hard tonight was going to be for you, and from the sounds of it, it was pretty horrible. I should've been there as your friend, that's all."

"But it shouldn't be horrible, Lola. It was just a stupid party, and I freaked. I could barely function." I sighed in frustration. I was glad it was dark so she couldn't see the tears welling in my eyes. I clenched my jaw and swallowed the lump in my throat. I took a calming breath to be rid of the dizzying emotion, while wiping my cheeks dry. Safe again, I turned away from Lola.

"I'm sorry, Lola," I said softly. "It's been a long day, and I'm being ridiculous. We have to get up early so I can get home to do my chores. Let's just get some sleep, okay?"