ASSIGNED

Chapter 14

"Ugh, holidays went way too fast. This sucks!" Mollie complained as we sat in the playground at recess.

She wasn't wrong, holidays had flown by and I wished they hadn't. I was dreading facing Bailey and the thought of Luke returning to school made everything that much more anxiety inducing. I didn't have music today, but my third period lesson was Modern History, which means that I'm going to have to face Bailey. As if the girls knew what I was thinking about, they started talking to me.

"Are you nervous to talk to Bailey?" Amanda asked me, and I nodded.

"Yeah, I am. What if she tells me she regrets it?" I confessed.

"She won't. Trust me. It will be fine. Just act chill and I'm sure the conversation will be back to normal in no time," she said. The bell rang, cutting off any further conversation. I grabbed my bag and trudged to the History faculty, walking into my classroom and sitting down at my empty desk.

As everyone began filing into class, I started to think that maybe Bailey hadn't come to school today. Those thoughts were cut short when the beauty walked through the door, her eyes refusing to meet mine. As she sat down next to me at her desk and pulled out her books and pencil case, I noticed she had gotten her cast off. I used that as a conversation starter.

"Hey, no more cast!" I observed, giving her a friendly smile.

"Yeah, got it off the other day. Feels good to be able to stretch my hand," she laughed, and I could sense the hesitation in her voice. I decided to act like nothing was wrong and continue to talk to her casually, hoping that she would eventually bring up the party.

"Did you have a good holidays?" I asked as we proceeded to copy down notes from the board.

"Yeah, it was chill. Didn't really do anything. You?" she said, not looking at me.

"Yeah me either. Chelsea's party was really the only thing that happened..." I said, proud of myself from slyly bringing it into conversation.

"Yeah, same..." she said, and that was the end of the conversation. My heart was crushed to say the least. I'd hoped that maybe we would be able to talk civilly, but even that proved to be too much for her.

We worked in silence, Bailey occasionally stretching out her newly freed fingers. I thought I was going to die from the awkwardness until Bailey finally spoke.

"About Chelsea's party..." she began, and my heart dropped.

"Hmm?" I hummed, trying to act casual.

"We're on the same page, right?" she asked me.

"And what page is that?" I asked.

"That we were just drunk and messing around, nothing more?" she responded.

Oh.

"Yeah, definitely on the same page..." I said, trying to force a smile. My heart was hurting.

"Cool!" she said, sending me an awkward smile.

We continued to work in silence for the rest of the lesson but I could barely concentrate. Bailey didn't want anything to do with me, and she had made that abundantly clear. I felt like I could cry at any moment.

The bell finally rang, indicating that class was over, and I wasted no time in grabbing my things and racing out the door. I thought I heard Bailey say my name softly, but I didn't stop to check. I ran to English with tears in my eyes, hoping Amanda could comfort me once I got there.

I made it into class and sat down next to Amanda, and no words were needed for her to see my pain.

"What happened?" she asked sympathetically, and I told her the whole story.