Retaliation ✔

Chapter 20 - The Breakup

*one day later*

I dragged myself into school the next morning, only to see that Samantha was missing. Everyone else was gathered around my locker as usual. Before I could get a word out, Hazel questioned me, "Where's Sammy?" Ryder wasn't there either, but we all knew he was off with some chick.

"Hell if I know," I muttered, kicking my locker to pop it open. Hazel looked down in thought. I suspected that she was worried because of the last time someone was absent from school (aka me). "Hazel, she's probably just sick. Don't worry about it."

"She won't reply to me, though," She retorted. I looked at her mildly sad features and remembered the texts from last night. I had no intentions of showing them to Hazel, but my twisted logic thought that Caden would like to know.

I ended my conversation by pulling him away from Celine and Corey. We were only a few feet from them, so I kept my voice down. My hand was still resting on his bicep tentatively when I whipped out my phone. "Sam isn't here, and I don't know why, but last night she texted me," I whispered, getting a bit too close to show him. Caden peered down to read before looking back in my eyes. He didn't say anything, but the way he looked at me confirmed my suspicions.

"She cheated, didn't she?" I uttered. Taking my hand from Caden's strong arm, I fisted my hair in agony. Caden only nodded with a solemn face.

Hazel had noticed our whispering and worriedly interfered. She stalked towards us, and also keeping quiet, spoke, "What are you guys discussing?"

I exchanged a look with Caden and we chose to keep it from her. It wasn't our secret to tell anyway. I smirked and looked away from her, trying to convince Hazel that we had only been flirting. "I was just telling Caden how hot he looks in green," I announced, running a hand down his chest casually.

He seemed confused, but it was alright because Hazel was reassured. Unfortunately, what I said had caught Celine's attention. She broke off from talking with Corey to march at us. "Uh, what's happening over here?" She interrogated, trying to be subtle about her jealousy.

I decided that I was in too far, and chose to dig an even deeper hole. "Especially this deep green shade, it somehow brings out the magical blue in your eyes," I continued, messing with the end of his shirt. Caden was looking at Celine sadly, Celine was glaring at me, and Corey looked at the ground. Hazel was the only one that was fine.

To my surprise, Caden spoke to me then, "I think you should walk home from school today. I, uh, I kinda have feelings for someone now. I was going to tell you at lunch, but, well," He stopped mid sentence and just took a deep breath. Looking guilty at me, I forced a smile to my face.

Emotions masked, I blurted out, "Oh that's fine. Everything's fine. Don't look so guilty."

I shoved his shoulder, casing him to let out a forced chuckle and to stumble a bit. Celine softened her features and approached Caden to strike up a conversation. Corey took his gaze from the floor, eyes masking all emotions. I did the same, and we began to make small talk. I decided then and there that I was going to get over Caden, no matter how hard it was.

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I sat down at our usual lunch table, surprised to see that Samantha was there. The catch was, she looked horrible. Her hair was certainly not brushed, she wasn't wearing any makeup, had massive under eyes bags, and was wearing the same thin she wore the previous day. "Uh, Sam? You good?" I awkwardly questioned. She looked up from silently eating her food to shake her head.

"Aw, what's up? Where were you this morning?" Hazel immediately sprung to action with concern.

"I overslept," She mumbled, almost incoherently. "Does anyone have painkillers? I have an unimaginable headache." Hazel sadly shook her head, placing a gentle hand on Samantha's forehead.