BRIGHT

Chapter 46- Peyton POV- The First Day Back

I awoke to the screaming of my alarm. I rolled over to turn it off and rubbed my eyes. Monday mornings were always horrible, but today was even worse. I was sure there were tons of rumors about everything that had happened. It also scared me to see Greyson.

I rolled out of bed and went into the bathroom. I plugged in my curling iron and brushed my teeth and washed my face. I then started on my makeup, which wasn't anything fancy. I always thought natural was better. I put some loose curls into my hair and stared at myself in the mirror. It was hard to feel confident, but I had a feeling everything was going to be fine. I knew people were going to spread rumors about me, but I still had my group of friends. Erin and I had been texting a ton and the girls in our friend group had been texting on our group chat.

I threw on some light wash jeans and a cropped navy sweatshirt. I sprayed on a little perfume and scrambled down the stairs. I heard the bacon sizzling on the stove and could the egg aroma was strong.

"Good morning, Sweetheart," my mother greeted.

"Morning," I replied, sitting up to the counter. She placed a plate of eggs and bacon in front of me accompanied by a glass of orange juice.

"Your father says he loves you and he hopes you have a great day," she passed along, shoveling eggs onto another plate for Josh, who was not yet downstairs.

"Aw, that's sweet. I'll shoot him a text this morning," I said, taking a bite of the crispy bacon. My mother then completely stopped what she was doing and looked right at me.

"Look, Honey, I'm not going to sugarcoat it, today will probably be rough. But, just remember, you have Josh and your group of friends, including Greyson. Just push through, it will get better soon," she expressed. I nodded, looking down. Then I heard clomping coming from the stairs and soon enough, Josh was in the kitchen.

"Hi, Mom," he said, giving her a half hug.

"Morning, Hon," she replied. Josh sat down next to me and opened his arms and I didn't hesitate to go into them.

"Morning, today's going to be fine. I got your back, and so do all the other guys," Josh promised.

"Thanks, Josh, that means a lot," I told him. He gave a smile and began to eat his breakfast.

As soon as we finished breakfast, it was time to go. I put my dishes in the dishwasher grabbed my backpack and Josh did the same.

"Goodbye, Peyton, it's going to be fine, okay?" my mom confirmed. I nodded.

"Bye, Mom," I replied and made my way out to the car. As I looked back, I saw my mom talking to Josh in hushed tones. I opened the passenger door of Josh's Jeep and got inside. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Everything was going to be fine. The driver's door opened and Josh sat down next to me, starting up the car.

"What did Mom want?" I asked.

"She just wanted to make sure I would take care of you today. But, you have nothing to worry about. Cameron, Drew, and Sawyer all promised to look out for you. Even though you don't know him yet, Colton said the same," Josh explained.

"What about Greyson?" I asked.

"It's going to be a rough day today for him as well. We texted for a while last night and he said if you can face it, he can too. The two of you need to look out for each other," Josh said.

"I know," I told him as he pulled into the parking lot.

I grabbed my backpack and Josh and I walked into the school. I got a lot of stares and a lot of people were whispering. Nothing inside had changed, everything seemed normal.

"Alright, I have to run to my locker before first period, you going to be okay?" Josh asked me.

"Yeah, don't worry about me," I said.

"Alright, if you need anything, just come to find me. Or even go to the office and tell them to bring me down," Josh instructed.

"I will," I replied.

"Good," he said back. He gave me a hug and scurried off to his locker. I walked alone to my locker and noticed Erin at hers.

"Erin?" I said. She looked up and gave me a huge smile. She ran up and submerged me in a hug.

"Oh my god, Peyton, I missed you so much! I was so worried about you!" she exclaimed.

"I missed you too," I replied.

"How are you doing? Josh said everything was going good, I mean everything that happened to you was insane!" she rambled.

"I mean this in the nicest way possible, and I get you're just curious but I'd rather not talk about everything that happened to me, if that's okay," I requested.

"Of course! I totally understand! Ah, I just missed you! Cheer hasn't been the same," she said with a smile.

"Yeah I miss it, I can't wait to go back," I expressed.

"When do you come back?" she asked.

"Next week, the doctors want me to heal up before I go back to any sports," I told her.

"Gotcha," she said. I could tell she had a bunch of questions but was trying very hard to hold them back.

"Look, we can talk about everything later, I just don't want anyone to overhear anything," I explained.

"No, I totally understand," she said.

"I should probably get to class a little early, I need to talk to Mrs. Karson and make sure I did everything," I told her.

"Sounds good, I'll meet you in there," she replied. I nodded and grabbed my English stuff from my locker and kept my head down, though I still heard the disrespectful whispers of my peers.

"Wait for a second, is that Peyton Emerson? Or should I say, Peyton Simone?" I heard a chilling voice yell. That disgusting and bone-chilling voice could only belong to one person. Matt. I didn't look back and continued to walk. Before I could walk into Mrs. Karson's class, a muscular arm stopped me. I looked up into Matt's frightening green eyes. He brushed his blonde hair out of his eyes.

"It's really good to see you," Matt said devilishly.

"Please just leave me alone," I whispered. He put his arm around me and forced me over to the side. A bunch of other guys were standing there as well. I thought I noticed some from the football team, but they were ones I was always warned to stay away from.

"I don't think so, Peyton," Matt said with a chuckle and pushed me into the locker. I slid down to the ground as they began to condense in on me, laughing.

"Hey, leave her alone," I heard a voice call. I turned around to see the one and only, Greyson Kole.

"Oh, look what we have here. Greyson Kole. The dude who went mentally insane to protect his girlfriend, who then broke up with him," Matt taunted. I saw Greyson take a deep breath. His presence frightened me, but he was acting surprisingly relaxed. 

"She hasn't done anything to you, just leave her alone, okay?" Greyson insisted, calmly but firmly. I looked up at Matt, who was contemplating what to do next.

"Fine, but don't think this is over," Matt growled, storming away with his group of friends following him.

"Hey, you okay?" Grey asked, offering me his hand. I took it and stood up.

"Yeah, thanks," I replied, looking into his bright blue eyes.

"It's good to see you, Peyton. I know a lot has happened since we last saw each other, but I hope we can still be friends," he expressed.

"Of course we can," I replied. I looked up at the clock. "I should probably get going, I don't want to be late."

"Yeah, for sure. See you in Calc," he said and walked off. I took a deep breath and slowly walked into Mrs. Karson's class.

Greyson had taken me by surprise, but after seeing him, I only knew one thing. I still loved him.