Sorry, I Love You.

1.18

" I like that you're broken, broken like me. Maybe that makes me a fool.
I like that you're lonely, lonely like me. I could be lonely with you. "

~

Monday night, after Zoe's weekend of dealing with her disappointed parents and doing some damage control between social media and otherwise, Zoe returned to Ohio. Tuesday morning, Zoe got ready for school and waited in front of her gate. She checked the time on her phone a couple times before she realized nobody was coming to walk to school with her. Wherever Vanessa was, Chuck, Jospeh, Jennie, any of them were, they weren't walking to school that day.

So, Zoe trudged down the sidewalk by herself in the cold morning air. When she arrived at school, people stared. They stared everyday but this was different. There were no stares of admiration or lust or jealousy. It was all different. Zoe could feel spite and disgust in the stares she was getting this morning. All she wanted to do was hurry and find her friends. Maybe Vanessa knew what was going on since she always knew everything around this school.

"Hey, Chuck.." Zoe nervously tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear as she leant against the locker beside Chucks. "Everybody is looking at me real weird today.. What happened around here while I was gone?"

Check stuffed his few textbooks in his locker, glanced at Zoe, and threw his backpack over his shoulders. "Can I ask you something?"

Zoe tried to read Chuck's stiff expression, beginning to wonder if he was upset. He was usually happy to see her when she came back to school after her spontaneous disappearances, but he wasn't reacting like that now.

"Sure.." Zoe shrugged.

"When you said all of this was your fault and you were to blame on that radio show, did you mean it?" Chuck asked, his jaw stiff, eyebrows furrowed, and eyes glued to Zoe.

"Well, yeah. I wouldn't have said it otherwise." Zoe sadly smiled. "I really regret ever starting drama between you and Teddy. It wasn't fair that you guys took so much of the fall for my mistake."

Chuck slowly nodded as he took in Zoe's confessions. He cared a lot about Zoe and didn't want to be mad at her, but as he let his mind wonder all weekend, he just got more and more upset. People kept pointing things out to him that pissed him off. Just like that radio show. Why had she defended Teddy during the fight and not him? Why did she just give up when the internet pegged Chuck and Teddy as the bad guys? Because she was only being modest when she attempted to take the blame?

It was all bullshit. It made Chuck actually consider something that Teddy said, which he never did. Teddy never made good points. He was so pessimistic and crude, but Chuck couldn't help but think about what he said. Chuck was always going to get the short end of the stick with Zoe. This is why rich people dated rich people. They were on the same level. Nobody here was on Zoe's level. She was just going to screw everyone she crossed paths with around here.

"Are you friends with Teddy?" Chuck reluctantly asked. He didn't want to know but he needed to.

Zoe gulped, suspicious as to why he was asking. Chuck didn't like Teddy so, if she said yes to his question, would he be upset and disown her as his friend? She should say no, anyways. Teddy didn't consider her his friend. It would probably be deemed a lie if she said yes. Still, if Zoe wasn't going to lie to Teddy, she didn't want to lie about him either. There was no more room for error with Teddy, even if she had to sacrifice something good for the truth.

"I'm friends with him but I don't think he's friends with me.." Zoe awkwardly smiled and laughed.

Chuck's eyebrows furrowed even further as he attempted to figure out what that even meant. Zoe made no sense to him sometimes. It frustrated him. He thought they were friends and that they were close, but he really knew nothing about her. How was Teddy her friend? Why did she never tell anybody when she was leaving school to go work? Why did she always reject the idea of her friends going to her house? What was her deal?