Jerk. {Cameron Boyce}

Chapter 26

"Are you ready for you're first day of senior year?" My mother asked, handing me my breakfast. "I guess," I shrugged, picking at the food she left me. "It's just high school." With a sigh, my mom stops what she's doing and looks over at me.

"I don't know what happened in LA. I don't know what happened between you and Cameron if anything even did happen, but what I do know is that you only get one senior year. You're coming to a close on one of the biggest chapters of your life and I'll be damned if you spend the year mopping."

"You're right. This year is about me. I'm going to have an awesome time and spend it with my friends." With those words, I grabbed a piece of bacon from my plate and stuffed it into my mouth before grabbing my bag and walking out the door. "Bye mom, love you!"

From: Dove
have fun on your first day! love you xo

I smiled as I read the message and quickly typed a response before catching the bus. "Elena!" A voice called, catching my attention. "Sam! Hey, how are you?" I asked as we climbed on the bus. "I'd be a lot better if I knew you were back? You've been MIA for the last two weeks! When'd you get back?"

"Last week. I've been meaning to hit you guys up but I never got the chance. Busy moving and all." I lied. In reality I had spent the last week in my room mopping over the fact that all my friends were back in California. Not to mention the guy I'm still head over heels for.

"Well, glad to have you back short stack." He smirked, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me into his side. As we walked into school, whispers and looks were being thrown my way by every angle. A lot of people came up to me welcoming me back whereas others were desperate for details of my 'glamourous' life in LA.

"Where are Vanessa and Alex?" I asked Sam as we walked over to our new lockers. "Vanessa is with Amber and Alex is-"

"Right here." A voice said from behind me. "Alex!" I squealed, jumping into his arms. "Thank for the heads up!" He said sarcastically. "I thought you were in LA?"

"I was. I just got back last week." I laughed, opening my locker. "Why didn't you call us?" He asked, leaning up against the locker beside mine. "I've been busy. What about you? I haven't heard from you or Vanessa in awhile."

"I guess that's true. Every time I did call it went straight to voicemail. I thought you were ignoring me." He shrugged. "I wasn't ignoring you I was just going through some stuff. But I'm all good now."

The three of us headed to our first period class which we luckily had together. "Vanessa!" I called when I saw her walking down the hall. "Elena? When'd you get back?" She asked, pulling me into a hug. "Last week. Thought I'd surprise you." I laughed. "By the look on your face I'm guessing it worked?" She didn't look excited to see me, instead she looked stunned, like I had just told her she was switching schools.

"Yeah. I've been trying to call you for the last couple of weeks but you never answered. Are you alright?" She asked, running her hand through her hair. "Yeah, I'm awesome. I was just really busy. But here I am!" I laughed. "Yeah, here you are. Uh, it was nice seeing you. I gotta get to class." She muttered before walking off. "Nice seeing you? Did I miss something?" I asked Sam and Alex to which they both shrugged.

+

To: Vanessa
wanna come over after school? i wanna talk

From: Vanessa
can't i'm busy

To: Vanessa
ok when r u free next?

From: Vanessa
dk

To: Vanessa
oh ok
read

I sighed in frustration and placed my phone down on my desk. Vanessa's been dodging me all day and texting me one word answers if she even bothers to answer at all. I've been trying to figure out what's up but it's like she doesn't want anything to do with me.

"Do you guys wanna hang out after school?" I asked Sam and Alex. "Can't. Football training." Alex whispered before going back to his work. "Sam?" I asked, hopefully. "A few of us are going over to Vanessa's to hang, wanna come?" I flinched at his words, hurt that Vanessa just didn't wanna hang out with me. "Nah, you go. I still have stuff to unpack anyways."

He nods, returning to his work as I dropped my head onto the desk. Everything feels so different now. Vanessa won't talk to me, Alex is suddenly on the football team, and Amber is sneaking her way into out tight knit group.

I miss California.

+

The next few days were hard.

Vanessa was still ignoring me and my teachers thought it would be an amazing idea to load us up with homework within the first week of school. Spotting Vanessa walking down the hall, I quickly snuck up behind her and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into the supply closet. "What the hell, Elena?"

"We need to talk. And since you keep dodging me, I figured the next step was kidnapping." I shrugged. "Elena let me go, I'm gonna be late." She huffed, reaching for the door before I quickly blocked her path. "Who cares. Why are you ignoring me?"

"I'm not ignoring you." She scoffs, crossing her arms. "Bullshit, V. Ever since I got back you've been running in the other direction when I see you in the halls, you've been texting me one word answers and leaving me on read, you refuse to hang out with me. What's going on?"

"You wanna know what's going on, El?" I nodded, signalling for her to go on. "You left! You flew away to California and I get that you didn't have a choice. But once you got there you created an amazing life for yourself that others only dream of. You got a boyfriend and made new friends! Not just mutual friends either, real friends. Your name was in the media more times than I can count on two hands. And I tried to be happy for you, I did. But it's when you cut me out that I felt the toll. You were too busy with you're famous boyfriend and awesome group of friends, I suppose. You can't just show up and expect everything to be the exact same as when you left!"

As I took in her words, all the sympathy I felt for her disappeared and instead replaced itself with fury. "It's not my fault that my mother shipped me off to another country while she took care of things in England! And it's not my fault that the family she left me with had a famous son who happened to be my age. I didn't expect that we'd hit it off and start dating. Oh, and it's not my fault that he introduced me to his friends that happen to now be my friends.

"And here's the funny part; it's not my fault that my 'amazing' boyfriend cheated on me with his ex. I'm sorry that I didn't have time to call while my heart was being ripped into shreds and I had to move out of the house because I couldn't bear to see him. I'm sorry that I moved in with Dove for three weeks while I tried to get over him. It's not like you tried very hard to contact me in the three weeks that I was with Dove. I think you called me a total of four times in that time span and then just gave up right after. At least Sam and Alex called me probably like twenty times in one week just to see if I was okay.

"I came back home to escape all of the shit going on over there. I've been dealing with the media who want to ruin careers and make up rumours about me. And I've been trying to deal with the fact that the guy I'm completely infatuated with doesn't think I'm good enough. I guess my 'glamourous life style' isn't as perfect as you seem to think it is. You're really going to throw all of these years of friendship away over jealousy? Because I had something good going for me and I didn't want to call to explain that it all went up in flames? If that's what's happening then you're not the person I thought you were."

I watched her expression fall as I continued getting all of this shit off my chest, like she pitied me. She stayed silent for a minute, taking it all in no doubt. But I couldn't be here any longer. Without another word, I opened the door and stormed out, leaving her in the dark.