Zoey 101: You Must Of Had A Broken Heart ☑

Chapter 43

“I’m surprised you could hear with Rebecca Martin’s tongue in your ear,” I shot back. His face turned a different shade of red as the surprise reflected in his eyes. “Yeah, I heard about that too.”

“It’s not what you think,” he explained, still angry, but the bite was absent from his tone. “We went out once.”

“Oh, is that why I saw you together at the bon fire?!” I yelled back. Now, I was the one infuriated as I recalled the image of Rebecca nuzzled into Chase’s arm across from me at the bon fire.

“You were there?” he asked, dropping his attack.

“I left pretty much after I saw the two of you. So don’t you dare try to make me feel anything remotely like guilt for kissing James.” The heat spread across my face as I abruptly closed my locker, holding my backpack and duffle bag in my hands.

“But you hardly know him,” he rebutted. “What, you’ve talked to him for a week and that makes it okay to kiss him the first time you see him out?” His voice escalated again.

“Oh, and you’re so much better?! Had you ever talked to Rebecca before you did whatever you did with her at Lance’s party that first weekend?”

His eyes widened as he leaned back from my blow, confirming what Rebecca had told me earlier that day.

“Yeah, it was really great to hear it from her too, Chase,” I snapped, trying to hide the hurt in my voice, while recalling her snide remark about how interesting it was that she and I were seeing the guys that we met at Lance’s party. I thought I was going to fall over when the words came out of her mouth before she walked away with a smug grin.

Chase struggled to find the words. “I didn’t do…” His eyes pleaded. “It’s really not like that. Can I explain?”

“No.” The edge dropped from my voice, releasing the anger with it. I became emotionless, pushing away the pain and sadness that threatened to seep up from where I hid them. “I don’t want to know.”

I walked past him towards the stairs.

“I trusted you,” Chase bellowed, as the distance grew between us. I stopped and turned back around. He walked towards me until we were only a foot apart. “I trusted you, and you couldn’t trust me.”

I stared back, watching the hurt reveal itself in his eyes. My heart ached in return.

“I unpacked for the first time ever – for you. I was honest with you about everything – even with the truth about how I felt about you. I’ve never been that honest before. I trusted you.” His voice drifted into a whisper as he leaned closer to me. “Why couldn’t you trust me?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat with tears welling in my eyes. My heart reached for him, begging me to touch him, as I absorbed the pain in his stormy eyes. The seconds lasted for what felt like minutes, and then I tensed my body and walked away.

I went through the doors leading to the stairs and hurried down them.

“I’m still in love with you,” he yelled from the top step. I froze as the first tear rolled down my cheek. “Please don’t walk away from me.”

The tears streamed silently down my face - I couldn’t move. My heartbeat thumped forcefully in my chest, and for a second, I almost turned around. Then the image of Chase and Rebbeca together in front of the bon fire, with his arm around her shoulder, flashed through my head, and I found my feet moving in a rush down the stairs.

I made it through practice that afternoon, although I don’t remember much about it. Forcing myself to dribble, pass and shoot kept me from replaying the confrontation with Chase. By the end of practice, I was too exhausted to think about anything.