Tragic

Chapter Forty-Two: Clearing The Air

Hunter

I've been marking off the days until prom on my calendar like I'm awaiting parole. It's not really a far stretch. This definitely feels like slow torture. As of now, I've only seen Elliot and Judah together in passing, spending an entire night watching them together might actually kill me.

Oliver grins at me from beside the coffee pot in the teacher's lounge. "What's so funny?" I ask.

He takes a sip from his cup. "Nothing. I just signed us up for something."

I narrow my eyes at him, and he laughs. "What did you do, Ollie?"

"Me and you are going to chaperone the prom." His smile turns smug like he did something good. I kind of feel like punching him.

"And why would I want to do that?"

He shoots me a look. "Come on, you know you want to be there."

I let out a humorless laugh. "I actually don't. Seeing Elliot and Judah prance around all night is probably the last thing I want to do."

He walks over a puts his hand on my shoulder. "If you're not there you'll just sit at home thinking about it anyway. You know I'm right."

An angry sigh escapes my lips. "You're right."

Oliver gives me a firm pat on the back. "I never get tired of hearing that."

I roll my eyes before pouring another cup. Sleeping has been difficult to say the least. I run my hand down my face in frustration. "Two more weeks and this can all be over."

The look on Oliver's face strikes me as odd. "What now?"

He shakes his head quickly. "Nothing, man."

"Seriously, what?"

Oliver's face shifts into anger. "Are you breaking up with me, too? You act like once the school year ends you're just going to leave and never come back."

My eyebrows pull in. "I didn't really think it all the way through yet, but I probably won't come back."

He takes another sip of his coffee, eyeing me carefully. "That's a lot of distance to put between you and someone you don't want to be with anymore?"

I sigh. "It's not like that..."

"Then what's it like?" he growls, cutting me off. He slams his cup down on the counter and takes an aggressive step toward me. "I warned you from the beginning I didn't want to be involved in something like this and you did it anyway. Now I have to choose sides and guess who I'm going to choose?"

"I'm sorry."

He laughs. "You're sorry?" He shakes his head. "That's not good enough. She may seem strong and confident to you, but she's not. She worked really hard to make you happy and now you're just going to throw her away when things get the slightest bit difficult."

I grit my teeth. "I fucking love her, Ollie. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't."

His jaw ticks as he continues to glare at me. Without another word he turns and grabs his cup before storming out of the break room, slamming the door on his way out.

***

Sitting in my classroom during my free period is usually a decent time to catch up on my work. I've been behind lately, and with the end of the semester rapidly approaching, I really need to get my shit together.