Keeping A Straight Face | ✔

17 | Pretty Little Present

*Irrelevant GIF, I just found it cute as fuck.*

T A Y L O R 'S P.O.V

Monday, February 11th, 2014

"I can't believe this," I said, stifling back a laugh, "My best friend forgot about my birthday."

I picked up my bag and rushed to the teacher's desk, hastily snatching the detention slip out of his wrinkly fingers before bursting out of the room. I could hear anarchy descend from my class, but I didn't care. Their loud talking faded the further I got from the class, and soon enough, all I could hear was the relaxing raindrops that struck the roof of the cafeteria.

I fucking hate myself for kissing Bella now, more than I did on the night. I hate my birthday so fucking much!

I crashed onto my cafeteria table and unfurled the crinkled detention slip my physics teacher wrote for me. This is the first detention slip I've gotten in years.

Why the hell did I stick my finger up at the teacher? I wasn't angry at him - I was angry at Darko for forgetting about me, and Owen for stealing my best friend.

I sat there, glowering. I wanted to tear the green parchment up and ditch it in the bin. I scanned the writing. Apart from him spelling my name wrong, a particular section caught my eye. I felt my stomach lurch. The big, black, bold letters made me run my fingers through my hair.

'AFTERSCHOOL DETENTION; CLEANING DUTIES FOR AN HOUR AND A HALF.'

Ana is going to kill me! It takes an hour to get home from the school bus - I'm going to be so late for her birthday plan...

'Maybe if I run back to physics now and beg for forgiveness, I will be okay!' I thought to myself. Picking up my school bag and my detention slip, I ran to the cafeteria door.

As soon as I reached it, however, the siren rang. The thunder of student's feet sounded as they all approached the cafeteria. Accepting my fate, I trudged back to my table, slamming my head onto its metal surface.

'Could this day get any worse?' I thought to myself. I felt like crying.

"Hey... Taylor? Jesus, what did you do to your hand?" A familiar blonde's voice asked. Yeah. My day just officially got worse.

I lifted my head up. It was Bella.

"Are you okay?" She asked, seemingly genuine. Not bothering to speak with her, I rolled my eyes, picked up my bag and began to leave, gritting my teeth when my cut grazed my bag's strap.

"Hey- WAIT!" she shouted, making me freeze in my tracks. I side-glanced her.

"What do you want?" I grumbled.

"Please," she said, looking down at where I was sitting before, "Sit back down. I want to apologise for the other night."

'This should be funny,' I thought. I shook my head, my lips forming a sardonic smile. Snorting, I strode back to the table, slamming my bag onto it, and stared at her, my eyes waiting. She cleared her throat. What could she possibly say or do that would fix everything?

"Taylor," she said, unable to keep eye contact with me, "I'm... I'm sorry for how I behaved at Lyra's party. I shouldn't have kissed you, or got you drunk, or embarrassed you in front of Trent. I know how much you hate drinking because of your mum, and I know how much you hate Trent. I shouldn't have put you in those situations. I'm an idiot, manipulative, stupid, and I shouldn't have treated you like that. You're my best and only true friend. I'm... I'm so sorry."