My Long-Lost Best Friend

Chapter 3

"Madi! Come on! Stop spacing out and listen to me!" Katie yelled annoyedly at me, snapping her fingers in my face. I blinked a few times and turned to look at her. "Sorry" I mumbled, taking a bite of my macaroni.

"Anyways, I was thinking we should hang out after school today and you could help me with my math homework" she said, twirling her spoon between your fingers. Yeah, right, I thought. You're just going to flirt with Joel the whole time while I do your homework. Been there done that.

"Sorry, my parents wanted to have a family thing and we're going to the restaurant right after Joel comes back from college" I made up, not really feeling like watching Katie chat up my brother in front of me.

You might think I shouldn't hang out with her and that she takes advantage of me, but I don't really care. She's my only friend. Well, she's the only one that bothers to spend time with me. It's better than having nobody.

"Fine... What about tomorrow?" She proposed bitterly. "Dunno, we'll see then" I answered vaguely, glancing behind Katie to look at the group of seniors entering the cafeteria.

"Gosh Madison, what's up with you? Lately you've been staring at them non-stop! Don't tell me you want to be friends with Chris again?" she said accusingly.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't" I answered simply, ignoring her attitude. She was making me grow impatient.

"You're so stupid! Do you seriously think he would want to be your friend again?" She said mockingly. I frowned at her, a bit hurt. Seeing my hesitation, she took the opportunity to keep going. "Like seriously, I doubt he wants anything to do with you."

With that she stormed out of the cafeteria, leaving me alone.

Thing is, she shouted that last part, so everybody was staring at me. Blushing, I quickly got up and sped out of the cafeteria. As I passed Christian's table, he shot me an apologetic look, almost as if he was sorry. Like when "it" happened. Refusing to let the memories come back, I quickly turned my head away as I felt my eyes fill with tears.

I ran to my bathroom and slammed the stall door shut. I sat on the toilet as I felt the tears spill over.

Katie's right. Why on earth would Christian want to be friends again? He's finally got rid of me, he doesn't have to pretend to care for me anymore. That's what I wanted at first, right? I wanted him to be happy, I wanted him to move on from me, because in my head, I couldn't possibly make him happy. On the down side, I haven't been happy ever since I pushed Chris away. I shouldn't have, and I regret that more than ever now.

I heard the bell ring but didn't move. I didn't feel like running laps in PE, or get yelled at for being late, so I just sat there for the rest of the period, trying to stop crying.

Suddenly, near the end of the period, I heard my name being called on the intercom. "Madison Wells please report to the front office, Madison Wells to the front office"

I frowned, wiping my cheeks with the back of my hands. Why was I getting called to the front office? Was it because I skipped class? I'd already skipped classes before and didn't get called, so why this time?

I got up and stumbled out of the stall, checking myself in the mirror. My cheeks were tear-stained and my eyes were red. It was obvious I had been crying. I tried running some cold water to my face but it didn't help much. I sighed and slung my bag over my shoulder before walking out of the bathroom, accepting that I'd have to face principal Cavannaugh like this.

I took my time walking to the front office, not really in a rush, wondering what the principal wanted from me.

I turned the corner of the hall and what I saw made my blood run cold in my veins.

The principal was standing in the hall, talking to Christian.