Everything I Had

Chapter 3

As my teacher was giving us a boring lecture, I was sitting there, doodling in my journal as always. I was BEYOND bored. Hmm... What should I draw? I mused of all the things and one thing came to mind. Spongebob. I began drawing his little square body and his huge eyes when I felt my phone buzz. I looked down at it, hoping it was Matt, but it was an unknown number.

'It's Ashley. I need to talk to you. It's really important.' It read.

'Okay where?' I replied.

A second later, my phone buzzed.

'Still in the locker room. I skipped class.'

'okay. be there in a few.' I replied and raised my hand.

"Yes Ms. Hatchet?" He asked. I cringed at my last name. I hated it.

"May I go to the bathroom?"

"Is it an emergency?" He asked with one eyebrow raised.

I nodded awkwardly because everyone was staring at me. It was completely silent. Suddenly, I felt self conscious.

"You may go," He said and waved to the door.

I nodded again in thanks and headed out the door.

Since the bathrooms were on the other side of the school, there would be some time to spare. I power walked to the girl's locker room and went through the double doors. As promised, Ashley was still in the same place that I left her.

I set my bag down on the hard floors with a 'thunk'. I stood there and stared at her with comforting eyes.

"Are you okay?" I asked. It was awkward because I didn't really know what to do with myself.

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes and shook her head. I didn't know Ashley very well but I was still there for her no matter what.

"Wanna tell me whats wrong?" I asked quietly.

She nodded and wiped her eyes, which made her mascara swipe across her cheekbone. I sat down beside her on the wooden bench between the aisles of lockers and rummaged through my bag. Aha! tissues. I love the little mini tissue holders. They come in handy. Especially if you're a girl.

I handed her a tissue and she nodded gratefully. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose, obviously not caring that she blew snot into a tissue right in front of me. Something really must be wrong. Why would she ask me to talk to her? Maybe she really did take my suggestion about talking to her this morning. I never thought she'd actually ask me to talk to her.

"Ann, first of all, please don't hate me." She said and sniffled.

"Why would I?" I asked, confused.

"Because I did something really, really bad." She whispered. She avoided eye contact and fumbled with her fingers nervously. "I don't want to stall. I just want to tell you what needs to be said."

I nodded and became nervous. Was this going to hurt me? I hoped deep in my heart that it wasn't about me. Then something hit me like a ton of bricks. Carlos told me Matt had sex with Ashley.

And almost as if she had read my mind she blurted out,

"I had sex with Matt."

Then she started bawling. I could tell this hurt her just as much as it hurt me. Carlos wasn't lying. Matt, the boy I thought loved me, was the liar. He cheated on me, with this girl I was now feeling sorry for. I wasn't mad at Ashley whatsoever. She was a victim in this.

Trying to keep my voice as steady as possible, I asked, "So what exactly happened?"

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