Stay With Me ✔

3.

Whitley was waiting for me at my locker when I got to school, she was leaning against the blue metal and typing something on her phone, her fingers flying across the keyboard. 

"Who are you texting so aggressively?" I ask when I'm standing right next to her. Startled, Whitley jumps back and drops her phone to the ground. 

"Geez Ky, you scared me." She bends down to get her phone and I spin the dial on my locker, pulling it open and getting my books out as Erin joins us, her breathing normal today.

"Wow, two days in a row." Whitley compliments Erin as she shoves her phone into her purse.

Erin ignores Whitley, her eyes burning a hole into the side of my head, which is buried in my locker to avoid this very situation. "Well, did you see it?" 

"See what?" Whit says the same time that I say, "Yes."

I close my locker and lean heavily against it as Erin fills Whitley in on Rave and Lexy's latest break up. While my friends are talking, my eyes fall on Rave as he walks down the hall, his hood pulled over his head, his earbuds shoved into his ears. He keeps his head down as he walks past the other students and when he walks past Lexy's locker he doesn't even glance in her direction. 

I watch as he rounds the corner to where his own locker is located, and I can't help but wonder what he's listening to. Is it one of the playlists I made him? My fingers twitch towards my phone in my back pocket and before I know it I have an empty text pulled up with Rave's name at the top. 

My fingers are hovering over the keyboard as I contemplate if I should text him or not. I was so cold to him yesterday, but it seemed like he wanted to be friends, right? Before I can talk myself out of it, I type out the exact words I had sent him so many times before. 

What are you listening to?

As soon as I hit send, it was like my mind had finally caught up with what my hands were doing. "Oh no. Oh no, no, no." I quickly lock my phone and stare at it like it's a grenade and I'm too frozen to throw it away, so I just wait for it to explode in my hands. 

"What, what happened?" My friends are both staring at me like I have two heads. As far as they know I was only standing there, they had no idea what I had just done. 

"I texted him." 

Erin's eyes almost bug out of her head. "Rave? You texted Rave?" 

I nod weakly, and Whitley's expression matches Erin's. "When?"

"Just now." I feel my phone vibrate in my hand and I bite my lip, afraid that it could be Rave and afraid of what his reply could possibly say.

Noticing my reaction, they both wait expectantly for me to check the message. I sigh and decide that ripping off the band aid is the best way to go. I don't know if I'm more relieved or disappointed to see my mom's name on the screen. 

"It's just my mom." I tell them as the bell rings and we make our way to class. We wave goodbye to Whitley and I find myself looking down the hall where Rave's locker is located, but I don't see him. I shove my phone back into my pocket and mentally kick myself for thinking that texting him was a good idea. 

"Watch out for Cruella." Erin warns as we enter the classroom, reminding me of the incident yesterday when Lexy tried to trip me. 

I notice Lexy as soon as I step through the door, she's got a full face of make up on and her hair is perfectly curled. Her tight skirt and tank top from yesterday is traded for jeans and a pretty top. Clearly she was wasting any time being upset over her break up - not that I could blame her, I'm sure they'd be back together within a few hours, days tops.