And Then There Was Vince

Chapter 36: Are We Really Going To Do This In Public?

"How was the dance, sweetie?" My mother asked when I was dropped off back home. I had skipped any after parties that Liam was going to, partly because they'd bring me back in contact with Ashley, and partly because I just wanted to go sulk at home. 

I gave her the details, edited in a way that kept all drama at bay before retreating to my room, where I more or less hibernated until the end of winter break. 

It was a new year when I returned to school, and everyone was making the typical dad jokes about that. Almost every teacher opened class by saying they hadn't seen us since last year. God was that joke tiring.

School was tiring in general. Aside from random acknowledgement from Liam, I had isolated myself completely. My fingers were crossed for the semester change, hoping I'd never be sorted into classes with any of the people I'd wasted almost 5 months of my life on. I wanted to start over fresh, if that were even possible.

*

"What the hell did I do wrong?"

It was a question I wasn't expecting from someone I hadn't expected to speak to. I turned to face Vincent on the steps outside of school.

"What do you mean?" I asked, incredulous. "I want to know what the hell I did wrong. Was it that night at your house because I wouldn't? What the hell was it?"

"What? No," he snapped, shaking his head to accentuate his point. "That's not it at all?"

The inflection of his final word made me feel like he expected me to have more knowledge of the situation than I had come to posses.  

"What was it then?!" I shouted, a lot louder than I had any business to. A few stragglers paused to look at us before shrugging and carrying on. "One day we were okay and then the next you were freezing me out."

"No, you were the one freezing me out!" He argued. 

"How in the hell do you think I did that?" My agitation was growing.

"You started hanging out with Ashley all the time," he explained. "And Liam."

He practically spat the latter name at me.

"I shut up about it and accepted it. I just let you pass me over."

"I don't even understand what the hell you're saying," I defended. "I tried to see you all the time. I made excuses to skip things with them so I could be with you. I tried to talk to and you just...ignored me. Then you took Kelsey to the dance."

I lowered my eyes, holding back a trembling lip.

"How could I have taken you when you were practically tethered to Liam? Did you think I didn't see all the pictures? Did you think I wouldn't have to watch you giggling with him in the hall? Did you think I didn't hear all the stuff that was being said? Did you think I didn't see him ask you?" He rattled on.

"I told him no that day!" I argued, clinging to the most painful of points.

"But you kissed him," he threw back.

"He kissed ME!" I shouted. 

"But you went with him either way."

I felt like I was going to explode, and I more or less did.

"I WANTED TO GO WITH YOU!" I screamed before swiveling around on my heel and retreating to my home.

I stormed inside and flew straight to my bedroom, immediately barricading myself off from the world. I threw on any angry music I could find that wouldn't dredge the past up. I got online and tagged myself from so many images on social media. 

There were at least 50 of them. Some of the girls and I from the past few months, and others of just me and Liam. We did look close and a little too comfortable, but there had never been any mention in the captions of us being anything close to a thing. 

I screamed.

I threw the Snowflake portrait on the ground, shattering its delicate frame. 

Then, I hid under the covers until my mother brought fried chicken home, kickstarting what was likely to become a year and a half of hibernation.