DECEPTION; Bradley Simpson

34.

I've been crying the whole night, Maggie comforting me, even though she didn't know what my problem was. I didn't want to talk about it.

"How are you feeling?" my roommate asks as I slowly sit up on my bed and look at the time. I have a few more minutes until my alarm goes off and I have to get ready for classes.

"Like hell," I say, my voice hoarse because of all the crying and just waking up.

"Go get a shower and I'll do your makeup," she smiles at me. I return her a thankful smile and walk into the bathroom to take a shower.

After I turn off the water and throw on the clothes I choose, I walk back into the room to find Maggie sitting on my bed with her makeup bag. She pats the space in front of her and I walk over, sitting down. She's quick to finish my makeup and I look into the mirror, finding myself really pretty. The clues of my crying all night are nowhere to be found and she gave me some lipstick and winged eyeliner.

"Thank you," I hug her tightly before jumping to my feet. I throw my backpack over my shoulder, saying goodbye to Maggie as I walk out of the room.

I hurry into the parking lot and sit in my car, starting the vehicle. A few minutes later I pull up in the school's parking lot, stopping the car and climbing out. I see the boys standing in the parking lot next to James' car and my eyes widen as I notice Tristan standing besides them. I try to hurry inside, but he notices me, unfortunately.

"Evelyn, wait!" he calls after me. I stop in my tracks and slowly turn around to face him. I look at the other two boys, James and Connor, practically begging for help, but they just keep staring at us with cautious eyes.

"What?" I look back at him. Even though Brad clearly cheated on me, I can't help but feel defensive, knowing what happened between these two.

"I just... I wanted to apologize to you too. I know how concerned you were because of Brad, and I can assure you I never wanted that to happen," he looks into my eyes carefully, afraid of my reaction. I sigh, running a hand through my brown hair.

"I know what happened between you two before I came into your lives," I admit.

"You do?" he's clearly surprised. I nod my head. "Did he tell you?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry, I-" he starts, but gets interrupted by a too familiar voice.

"What do you want from her?" Brad walks up to us and stops next to me. I look down to the ground, trying to stay out of this.

"I just apologized," Tris throws his hands in the air in a defensive way.

"Apology accepted, now go," Brad snaps. Tristan looks at me, but I look back to the ground. The blonde haired boy walks away, leaving Brad and I alone in the middle of the parking lot. "Can we talk?" he asks and my head snaps up, glaring at him.

"There's nothing to talk about," I say, my tone as harsh as I intended it to be.

"Please, Eve," he pleads.

Before I can protest, his fingers are around my wrist and he's pulling me after him. I try to get away, but his grip is too strong. He drags me through the hallways before stopping. He looks around cautiously, then pulls me with him into a dark room. I look around, trying to recognize the room, but I just can't. It's too dark. As I look back in front of me, I see Brad standing way too close to me. My breath becomes heavier and I back into the wall, knocking something on the ground.

"You will listen to me, whether you like it or not," he says, his tone demanding.

"You can't force me to do something I don't want to," I cross my arms in front of me, and even though it's really dark, I can see Brad rolling those beautiful chocolate brown eyes of his, which I love. Evelyn, snap out of it. You're supposed to be mad at him. I remind myself.