The Secrets That Tore Us Apart

2

Emma avoided Jack's gaze as she walked over and took the seat next to him. In the corner of her eye she saw him tense up, but he did not look at her.

In front of her, Nathan and his friend Eric turned around to say something to their best friend, Jack. Nathan saw Emma sitting there and shot her a regretful look, since he witnessed Emma cry earlier. 

Emma turned her head away from them all and thanked whoever there was to thank for the fact that she had a window seat and  could direct her attention to whatever was going on out there.

She continued to ignore the conversation between the boys, even when the teacher entered the room and continued to keep her gaze at Holly and Paul, who, by the looks of it, were having a fight and would pretty soon be two single people. At least they got to yell at each other and explain why they were breaking up, unlike Emma who just got ghosted by the person she was currently sitting next to.

It was hard not to think about the fact that he was sat there, so close to her. She could smell his manly shampoo and ever so often, his leg brushed against Emma's and she could feel the warmth of it.

Luckily, the teacher gathered the class and begun teaching and luckily Emma could concentrate on whatever Mr. Williams was saying. 

When the bell rang, Jack was one of the first ones to gather his things and leave. Emma took her time and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and mentally high-fived herself for making it through her first class of many, with Jack. 

In the hallway Emma found Hannah standing talking with a group of people. Nathan being one of them and Jack being another. Hannah was stood with her back towards Emma, so Emma just walked past the group and headed for the stairs leading to her locker.

She took her time by her locker, changing her books and taking a few sips of water from the bottle she always had with her, which was something she had learned from Jack. He always kept a bottle of water with him too. She regretted taking her time as soon as she heard Jasmine's sweet-as-sugar voice.

"Emma, can I talk to you?" Jasmine asked while she approached Emma.

Emma, who didn't feel like talking, especially not to Jasmine, stopped what she was doing and turned around and met Jasmine's sparkling blue eyes. She still hadn't said anything, but Jasmine didn't seem to care.

"I'm sorry you found out about Jack and I that way. We met this summer and just klicked. It was, of course, after you and Jack had broken up."

Emma stared at her as her words sank in. Jack told people they had broken up. He had ghosted her. Left her without an explanation. 

Jasmine looked like she waited for Emma to say something. But Emma couldn't say anything. She wanted to yell, scream, hit someone (preferably Jack). But she did no such thing. She just looked at Jasmine, whose smile had gone from friendly to tense by now.

Emma looked at Jasmine for another moment before she, still without saying a word, closed her locker and walked in the direction of her next class. 

The rest of the day went by in a slow pace. Emma and Hannah had lunch. During the last semester they always had lunch with Jack, Nathan and Eric, but that wasn't really going to be a thing anymore. Emma felt a bit guilty about that.

When her last class ended she knew she had exactly 12 minutes to get to her locker and grab everything she needed before she had to be at the bus stop. She knew this because she had carefully done her research since she would no longer get rides from Jack.

Since the end of her last class was also the end of everyone's class it took her 5 long minutes to get to her locker.  She quickly left what she didn't need and grabbed what she needed and headed towards the stairs. Happy with her little victory she actually managed to put on a small smile.

On her way down the stairs she met Jack. She was ready to be ignored and to ignore him back, like she had all day, but to her surprise he grabbed her arm to stop her from walking and waited for her to look up at him. She was stood on the step above his, but he still was taller than her. 

"Emma"

The way her name sounded when he said it always made her feel special. She felt beautiful and unique. Even this time she did.

"Can we meet somewhere and talk? I know I've got some explaining to do." 

Emma looked at Jack's deep brown eyes and saw something resembling hope, and something else as well. He waited for her to answer.

She debated whether or not to go.

Jack looked like he was about to say something else, but Emma cut whatever he had been about to say off.

"No." she simply said and shook her arm out of his grip and continued to walk down the stairs.