A Blooming Beauty

Chapter 17

"What are you doing here." I said and he jumped in shock, surprised to see me. His face soon returned to that annoying smirk of his.

"I came to tell you that..." He said trailing off, getting emotional. He stepped towards me to add dramatic effects. "I told you so."

Oh God.

"Looking for these?" He said throwing them up and catching them again. I was supposed to ask how on earth he found my keys because they were always inside the frog statue's mouth but decided not to due to irrelevance.

"Give them to me." I told him, refusing to play around with him at the moment.

"Not until you tell me that you should've listened to me." He said smirking. "That I was right."

"Okay Carter please stop." I suddenly snapped. "I realize that I was too stupid and blind to see that Thomas was going to trick me. All that embarrassment caused me to chicken out today and call in sick. Jessica called and said that there were posters plastered everywhere so I'm not in the mood and I get it okay?" I said out of breath. "You're right and I'm wrong but seriously? If you were really my friend you wouldn't have come here to gloat!"

Carter looked shocked at my sudden outburst. He slowly took out my keys and handed them to me silently. I snatched my keys from him and walked towards the door. He suddenly called my name, which caused me to look back and see that he was holding a piece of paper in his hand. I walked towards it and scanned it carefully.

Certainly it had our pictures on it when the blue paint was dropped on us. Over the picture, it said 'nerds smurf it up."

I held it and looked at it one more time. I let out a sigh and crumpled it. I threw it in the trashcan but it missed. He looked as if he was about to say something but I turned around and walked towards the door.

"And when you left me when we were getting to know each other that Sunday morning, what was that about? I'm sorry that I made such a big deal of it but people don't just do that." I told him and his face looked shocked. I shut the door behind me, slumped against it and let out a loud sigh. I walked up the stairs and looked out the window. Carter was still there, kicking the floor in frustration.

He soon left with a mix of sadness and regret on his face. I jumped on my bed and stared at the ceiling.

Stupid egotistic maniac.

All that drama made me tired. I took off my jacket and had a quick 30 minute nap. I woke up and sat on the edge of my bed. I sniffed myself and made a disgusted face.

"I stink." I thought.

I took a cold shower and changed into my girl boxers and an oversized red 'thing 1' pajama shirt. I was drying my hair when I heard the doorbell ring. I ran downstairs and looked through the window to see that it was mom and dad. I opened the door and helped them bring in their stuff.

"I've got Japanese food!" My mom sang. My face immediately broke into a smile. I love Japanese food. I've been craving tempura and Katsu Don for months now and when I opened the box, sure enough that's what I got.

After that delicious meal, my mother checked my temperature again.

"Looks like you're back to normal honey. You okay with going to school tomorrow?"

I couldn't keep playing this game and lose all the time. I decided that I couldn't hide forever and eventually, I would have to go back to school, that or tell my mom everything.

I nodded at her and asked if I could sleep early tonight. She excused me from doing the dishes and I walked upstairs to my bed. I shut the door behind me and jumped on my bed and laid there dreading what unpleasant surprises would happen tomorrow. I looked under my pillows and blankets until I finally found my cellphone. I sent a quick message to both Jessica and Beth to tell them to go online. They both confirmed and I grabbed my laptop to log on.

I found both of them signing in at the same time and I immediately requested for a video chat. In no time at all, they accepted and I felt the comfort of having my two friends here to talk to me.

Jessica looked like she just got hit by a train. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail but a messy one at that. Her eyes were puffy, probably from all the crying and her nose was still red. I could see that she still had a box of tissues beside her and all throughout the call, she kept blowing her nose as if she caught a cold.

"Are you sick jessy?" Bethany said pouting.

"Dot really. Probably just frob the cryig earlier." She said with a clogged nose. Bethany and I both pitied her.

"You should've called earlier, we would've faced them together." Bethany said and I nodded in agreement. I could just imagine poor Jessica being laughed at and mocked at school, worse than before now that beth and I weren't around.

"Well. I'm going to school tomorrow so at least you won't be lonely anymore." I spoke.

"Me too." Bethany replied.

And suddenly, Jessica smiled. "Thags." She said. "I doe you guys are always goda be der for be." She said and we all smiled.