Chapter 10

                “Before everyone leaves, I’ve graded last week’s exam and I have the papers now to hand back.” Mr. Richter announced to the class just a little less than two minutes before the bell rang.

                I watched timidly as Mr. Richter grabbed the stack of papers from his desk, which were all messily stacked in a pile with red markings showing corrections written on all pages. I was a nervous wreck as he called out name after name, handing each student their paper faced down. Normally, I wouldn’t be this anxious to get back a test grade, but I knew I didn’t do my best on this one just because of everything that’s been happening lately.

                “Jace Wasson,” Mr. Richter called out as he handed Jace his paper, “good job. I see your tutoring sessions with Everly are working out perfectly.”

                Jace nodded as Mr. Richter moved on, calling out the next name. Jace stared at his grade as I craned my neck to try to get a peek at what he got on the test. “No,” Jace shook his head as the slightest smirk made its way onto his lips, “I’m not showing you what I got until you get your grade.”

                I grumbled under my breath as Mr. Richter called out my name, startling me. He handed me my paper slowly, leaning in slightly just so that he was able to speak low enough to the point where no one but the two of us could hear what he was saying. “This isn’t your best grade, Everly.” Mr. Richter sternly said. “I want to see improvements on the next test. You have a near perfect average in my class and I’d hate to see it go down.”

                I nodded slowly as my heart sank. I didn’t even have to look at my test paper to see that I did badly because the disappointment lingering in Mr. Richter’s voice spoke for the shame itself. The bell finally rang as I crumpled the test in my hands, refusing to look at my grade. I stormed out of the class, but I didn’t get too far because I felt a gravitational pull on my back.

                Jace had his hands on the back collar of my shirt as he stopped me from escaping. “Hey, what’s with the hurry?” Jace asked. “You have lunch next period.”

                “I did really badly on the test.” I glared at the test paper, now in the form of a sphere.

                Jace carefully took the paper from my hands, smoothing out the wrinkles I made to see my horrendous grade. “What are you so upset for?” Jace asked, frowning. “You didn’t do that bad.”

                I let out an exaggerated breath as I snatched the paper from his hands, staring at the big sixty seven that was written on the top of my paper with a fat, red marker. The number that was my grade haunted my vision as I gasped, tossing the paper out in the nearest trash can. “A sixty seven?!” I choked. “That’s barely passing!”

                “Just be happy that you passed this one and redeem yourself on the next test, no biggie.” Jace advised.

                I narrowed my eyes at him, finally accepting the fact that he had a point. “So, what did you get?” I asked.

                The tip of Jace’s ears turned red as his eyes shifted away from mine. “It doesn’t matter.” He muttered under his breath before entering through the double doors, towards the cafeteria.

                Before Jace got to enter the lunch room, though, I pushed him back, stopping him. “Jace, what did you get?” I asked, but he didn’t budge. “Hey, it’s not fair! I showed you what I got!”

                “You’re going to be upset.” Jace said with a small smile as he pried my hands off of him, holding me by the wrist.

                I ignored the burning sensation that tingled against my skin when his long fingers wrapped around my wrist as I stuck my tongue out at him childishly. “I won’t be upset.” I assured. “And if I do get upset, I’ll try my best not to show it.”

                Jace released my hands, much to my disappointment as he rolled his eyes. “You’re such a child sometimes, princess.” He teased, flicking my nose.

                “How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that before I knee you in the balls?” I snapped.

                “A hundred.” Jace answered.

                “Fine!” I threw my hands up with defeat. “Stop calling me princess, stop calling me princess, stop calling me princess, stop calling me-.”

                “Oh my God, shut up.” Jace chuckled, clamping his hand over my mouth as I muffled against his palm. “I didn’t mean it in that way. I meant that I got a hundred on the test.”

                My lips stopped moving against Jace’s palm as he removed his hand from my mouth. I gawked at him as I shook my head vigorously. “No, no, no!” I shouted. “How’s that possible? I’m supposed to be your tutor!”

                Jace laughed, ruffling my hair. “Hey, you don’t have to be jealous.” He smirked. “You said you wouldn’t get upset, right?”

                I groaned, rolling my eyes as the two of us headed into the cafeteria. “Yeah? Well, I lied.” I snapped as Jace released a chuckle, approaching towards our usual lunch table where Ryan and Julianne were already seated at. “How did you even manage to get a perfect grade? You didn’t cheat, did you?”

                Jace narrowed his eyes at me, giving me a glare. “No, I didn’t cheat, princess.” Jace said before a demeaning smirk spread across his lips. He flicked my nose teasingly with his fingers just before we sat down besides our two friends. “I was studying your stupid color coordinated notes, actually. Who knew that your notes actually helped me get a better grade than you?”

                As an instant reflex, my middle finger shot up in front of his face. “Screw you.” I muttered sarcastically.

                Jace raised an eyebrow before arrogantly replying, “Well, if you insist-.”

                My cheeks turned bright red as I cut him off immediately, shooting him a murderous glare. “You can stop right there unless you want my fist to go flying in your face.”

*

                “I think I’m going to get the blueberry waffles.” I told Julianne as my eyes scanned over the menu one last time before I was satisfied with my decision. “What are you getting?”

                My eyes wandered towards the drink selection as I waited for Julianne. When I noticed that she hadn’t responded to me, I looked up to see her texting away on her phone, her nails gently tapping against the screen. “Jules?” I caught her attention as her head snapped up from below, giving me a weak smile.

                “Sorry,” she muttered, “what did you say?”

                “I asked what you were getting.” I raised an eyebrow as a slight smile began spreading across my lips. “But, I’m much more interested in knowing who you’ve been texting this entire time.”

                I watched with astonishment as Julianne’s cheeks turned bright red, her eyes turning bright with anticipation. “N-no one.” She stammered, shoving her phone in her pocket as she grabbed one of the menus, burying her face into it. “I think I’m going to get the chocolate chip pancakes.”

                “Was it Ryan?” I abruptly asked, immediately catching her attention.

                Julianne seemed very caught off guard as her lips parted, eyes widening. “How did you know?”

                I raised an eyebrow as a smirk slipped across my lips. “So it is Ryan?”

                Julianne paused for a moment before she realized that I’d tricked her into telling me unintentionally. “That’s not fair.” She grumbled, biting back a smile.

                “That doesn’t matter right now.” I leaned across the table, a giddy smile spreading across my face. “So tell me, why are you texting Ryan Leighton? Are there lingering feelings I should be aware of?”

                Julianne’s flustered as she began fumbling with her fingers. “That doesn’t even matter.” She mumbled. “It’s not like I’ll ever have a chance with someone like him.”

                The smile from my face slowly dropped, replaced with a frown. “What?” I reached across the table to give her a light slap across the arm. “Jules, don’t say that.”

                “It’s true, isn’t it?” Julianne snorted, a distant look in her eyes. “I’m a freak, Everly. Ryan would never ever consider me as more than a friend from everything that he’s heard from-.”

                “Don’t finish that sentence.” I warned  Julianne, giving her a stern look. “I don’t want you to ever say anything like that ever again because it’s nothing but bullshit.”

                Julianne sighed in defeat, nodding slowly. She was my best friend- she’s known me long enough to know that there was really no point in arguing with me, out of all people.

*

                “Do we have barbeque chips?” Julianne asked.

                I spotted the bag of chips at the front of our grocery cart as I gave her a short nod. “Check.”

                “Mint chocolate chip ice cream?”

                “Check.”

                “Eggs?”

                I rummaged through our cart quickly, noticing that I wasn’t able to find the carton of eggs anywhere. “I don’t think we have that, yet.” I mumbled. “I’ll go grab it quickly.”

                Julianne nodded, tucking her notepad back into her bag as she began to push the cart. “I’m going to be waiting in the cereal aisle if you need me.”

                We departed our ways in the grocery store as I headed over to the dairy section, scanning the shelves for eggs. I spotted them far off into the corner as I snatched a box quickly, making my way back towards Julianne. Just as I was about to make a sharp turn out of the dairy section of the store, I collided into someone’s chest. My immediate instinct was to grasp onto the carton of eggs, just to ensure that they wouldn’t crack. Although I fell onto my bottom, the eggs were safe and there were no spills to be cleaned up after.

                “I’m sorry. I should’ve watched where I was going.” A hand stretched out for me to grab, helping me up from my embarrassing fall.

                I shook my head, finally glancing up. “No, it’s fine really-.” I stopped midway into my sentence when I took time to notice who the stranger was that I bumped into. My face immediately fall ads my eyes darkened with hatred at the figure standing over me. “George Collins.” I gritted through my teeth, feeling my jaw clench as my mother’s boss gave me a weak smile.

                “Hey, you’re Evelyn’s daughter, right?” George Collins asked, running a hand through his dark grey hair. “I know the last time we met didn’t give you a very good impression of me, but-.”

                “I don’t want to talk about it.” I snapped immediately, feeling my cold exterior starting to show. “Look, sorry for running into you but I’ve really go to go.” I felt a hand grab onto my wrist as I immediately flinched, pushing him away from me. “Don’t touch me.” I hissed. “What the hell do you want from me now?”

                George Collins was no longer smiling. Instead, his expression was replaced by a defeated one. His eyes were casted over with hints of grey, and looking at him now, we looked more tired than I last remembered seeing him. “C-Can you just tell your mother to call me back?” he asked quietly.

                Anger boiled through my veins as I shot him a glare. “Who the hell do you think you are?” I snapped. “How could you even ask me to do such a thing when you ripped my family apart? Why did you even come into my mother’s life? You ruined everything and now you want me to tell her to call you back?”

                I was very fortunate that the grocery store happened to not have much business today because I didn’t want anyone to witness me in such a vulnerable state.

                “I understand and I’m very sorry that your father-.”

                “Don’t talk about my father.” I interrupted. “You have no right.”

                “Of course, I apologize.” George quickly corrected himself, clearing his throat. “But you must understand that I love your mother a lot, Everly. I’ve loved her since she started working for my company six years ago and I still love her now. When love is this strong, I’m not willing to let go of it. Can you please, just for the sake of being a human, tell her to call me back? She’s been ignoring me since your father caught us. She hasn’t even shown up to work.”

                George Collins is so fucking pathetic.

                “I’ve got to go.” I muttered, pushing past him.

                “Just think about it, okay? As of now, you’re the only person that Evelyn is willing to listen to.” George Collins called back for me as I stammered away, my arms trembling as I held the eggs.

*

                “Everly, you’re home early today!” My mother smiled as she hurried to the kitchen to grab me a plate. “I made pot roast for dinner, I know you aren’t a big fan of it but I didn’t expect you to be home tonight out of all days.”

                I stared at the plate unwillingly as I watched her scoop me some pot roast, settling the dish down carefully at the seat across from hers. I wanted to tell her so badly that I’d already eaten with Julianne and her family, yet again, but I didn’t have the heart to. I didn’t know what overcame me because if this would’ve happened a few nights after my father left, I was pretty sure that I would’ve just bluntly ignored her.

                I slowly inched my way towards the seat, pulling out the chair as my mother watched me willingly sit with astonishment. She was probably just as shocked as I was that I was actually going to join her for dinner.

                “Did you have a good time at school today?” my mother asked, trying her best to spark up some sort of conversation.

                This was the woman who had raised me for sixteen years- yet I felt as if I barely knew her at all at the moment. My fork stabbed at the food as I tried my best to avoid any eye contact with her. “It was fine.”

                My mother nodded, keeping a smile on her face. “That’s great!” she said enthusiastically. “How’s Julianne been lately? I haven’t seen her in an entire month, I think.”

                “She’s fine, as well.” I mumbled, pushing my carrots off to the side of my plate.

                “I’m glad. How is she dealing with her diagnosis? I heard from her mother that she still gets nightmares in the middle of the-.”

                “Why haven’t you been going to work?” I asked with a slight edge in my voice. “I ran into George at the grocery store today and he told me that you haven’t been showing up.”

                My mother’s eyes widened almost immediately as her face went ghostly pale. “Y-You spoke with him today?” she whispered.

                “That doesn’t matter.” I snapped. “What matters is that you haven’t been to work, which means you haven’t been making money. How do you expect to pay for the bills without working, especially since dad is no longer here to financially support us? You can’t just slack off just because you decided to fuck up!”

                “Language!” my mother immediately shouted back at me.

                I glared at her, feeling my hatred grow greater for her by the second. “You can’t tell me what to do anymore because I don’t consider you my mother anymore.” I muttered lowly, getting up from my seat. Tears blurred my vision as I glanced back over at my mother over my shoulder. “I wish dad was here.” I whispered so quietly, I wasn’t sure if she heard or not. But the second her eyes snapped up to meet mine, I knew she’d heard me- loud and clear.