[Chapter 23]
Yes

George's cold, icy stare pierced through my head as I stared down at my hands on my lap. I studied the bruises that were forming on my knuckles, almost turning as purple as my hair. My eyebrows closely knitted together as I anxiously chewed down on my lip, feeling uneasy from the thick tension in the air.

I didn't like how this turned out.

I've been sitting in George's office for about half an hour now, and he's been lecturing me ever since I've stepped into the room — the volume of his voice raising with every word he spat out. It didn't take long for someone to alert a teacher of the chaos, neither did it take that long for someone to pull me off of that bitch Michelle. The worse part of it all was that Leo was the one who tore me away from her.

Before he even had the chance or the audacity to yell at me, a teacher had rushed into the cafeteria to take me away to the principal's office. I remembered leaving the cafeteria with a mixed sense of satisfaction and betrayal because even though Michelle's nosebleed had me smug, the look on Leo's face had me boiling with anger once again.

"I've never been so disappointed with you." George finally spoke up after a long period of silence. I glanced up through my eyelashes, only to see him staring down at me with a furious yet distressed expression on his face. A large frown stretched across his lips, making it as if the skin of his face was permanently dented. "Do you have anything you have to say for yourself, child?" He sighed in exasperation as he crossed his arms.

"She deserved it." I mumbled begrudgingly, my pride and ego getting the best out of me.

I instantly regretted it.

My answer immediately delivered George to his feet, sending his spinning chair flying as it knocked against the wall with great force. I jumped at the sudden sound, forcing me to look up to meet his wide, unblinking eyes that were full of fury.

"This is serious! What you did was utterly unacceptable!" He roared in my face, which left me speechless since he'd ever use that tone with me, no matter how angry he was with me. "I've never been so furious with you! Up until now, you've never been one use violence as an answer — it was one of the qualities you had in you that made me believe you were a good person at heart." He harshly scoffed as he paced back and forth behind his desk.

I clamped my jaw down tightly as I clenched my hands into balls of fists, my fingernails fitting perfectly into the dented cuts it had made earlier today. I could feel the phlegmy lump in my throat forming as tears started brimming in my eyes. He looked at me once again and narrowed his seething eyes at me. "I've never been so disappointed in you in my entire life." He repeated with gritted teeth. "How could you do such a thing? Especially to someone like Michelle—"

"She disrespected mom!" I screamed, standing up myself to meet his height as I looked up to meet his shocked gaze.

I choked back a sob as tears were now rushing down my cheeks. Heat rushed to my cheeks despite the cold tears running down them, feeling a little embarrassed that I was crying in front of someone other than Olivia.

Despite George being my godfather and all, I've never once cried in front of him, let alone have a full out sobbing session. He'd always been the one who I joked around and had easygoing conversations with, whereas Olivia was the one I go to whenever I needed emotional support. It's not that I wasn't comfortable opening up to him, it's just that the conversations I'd have with him would never go as deep as it would with Olivia.

"What?" George breathed out, his expression softening up with sympathy.

I took a sharp, jagged inhale. "Michelle knew about mom and even made fun of her." I croaked, a sob escaping my lips nonetheless. I squeezed my eyes shut, causing the overflowing tears to spill. "I couldn't let her say those things about mom. I'm sorry, I-I didn't know what else to do." I whispered, my voice coming out in a staggered manner.

I couldn't believe how weak I was being.

I should've known Michelle was only saying those to get on my nerves. I never should've walked into her trap.

I bowed my head low, my eyes still shut tightly as I let the tears freely drop to the floor. I opened my eyes once I felt a pair of arms being wrapped around me. I breathed in the familiar scent of peppermint and immediately identified it as George's.

"You don't have to apologise. Just cry and let it all out." George whispered softly as he tightened his grip around my shoulders, automatically making me sob even harder. I continued to cry, finally spilling all of my bottled-up emotions out as I enjoyed the comfort of having a guardian looking after me.

After spending five minutes crying my eyes out, despite feeling as if I've been crying for hours, I explained to him about everything Michelle had said to get me to snap. Throughout my whole explanation, I had left Leo entirely out of the situation because as much as I was angry at that stupid, gorgeous face of his, I didn't want George to take away his only chance of getting into a good college.

I hated how I was still falling hard for that idiot.

George kept quiet throughout my explanation, looking as if he was about to murder someone as he listened intently to make sure he didn't miss a single detail. He quickly dismissed me afterwards, not before assuring me that he'd take care of everything.

I gave George one last grateful smile before exiting his office, the clicking of the lock told me that the door was securely shut behind me. I readjusted my leather jacker and smoothened down the wrinkles of my top as I made my way out into the empty, then froze when I looked up.

"Leo."

His eyebrows knitted together in frustration as he wore a confused expression on his face. His arms were crossed in a tensed manner as he leaned against the lockers. We stared at each other for silence for a while, neither of us daring to speak the first word. I felt like I was constantly being pulled towards him, both willingly and against my own will.

"What the hell were you thinking?" He hissed, slowly sauntering towards me. "Michelle said that you attacked her because she asked why you were working at the diner."

I narrowed my eyes at his aggressive attitude towards me and roughly gritted my teeth, unbothered with the fact that I might've accidentally chipped off a tooth. I glared sharply at him, absolutely enraged that he'd still have the audacity to listen to that conniving bitch and not even consider my side of the story.

Well, if he's not gonna listen to what I have to say, then I might as well not say it at all.

"You're unbelievable." I chuckled humourlessly, shaking my head in disbelief as I walked straight past him.

"I'm unbelievable?!" Leo yelled, making me stop in my tracks. "You're the one who attacked Michelle for no goddamn reason!"

I whipped around the second those words left his mouth, my blood boiling with anger. "You didn't even give me the fucking chance to explain! All you care about is that bitch Michelle, and you don't even realise that she's been manipulating the shit out of you!" I screamed, practically foaming at the mouth like a mad dog.

I had enough of his shit.

Leo stared at me blankly, not a trace of emotion on his face whatsoever. He clenched his jaw tightly and furrowed his eyebrows. "She was right." He scoffed, causing me to raise an eyebrow in suspicion. "Michelle has been warning me since the day she got back that you were too possessive. And to be frank with you, I could see why she'd think that now."

That bitch has been talking shit about me to Leo and he actually believed her lies.

Is this even the same Leo that made me felt butterflies whenever he came into my line of vision? I'm starting to question whether his feelings for me were even real in the first place or that I was just some girl he used as his rebound.

"What the fuck is your point?" I growled.

"We aren't even official, and you're already obsessing over other girls  — even ones that I've been friends with for years." He huffed. "I think we should take some time apart. You know, other than our tutoring sessions."

My eyebrows shot up as fast as fireworks, and my jaw dropped so hard that I probably cracked it. I was utterly and completely shell-shocked. I was both speechless and hurt. It felt like somebody had just shot me in the chest at the same exact spot over and over again. I didn't want to cry again, not after feeling extremely weak and vulnerable when I was balling my eyes out in front of George.

I scowled. "Fine." I spat.

—

Why am I even here?

The unexpected roar of my motorcycle made students jump in surprise as I rode into their school's parking lot. I took my helmet off and looked around, raising a curious eyebrow at the massive number of students loitering around the parking lot along with students sitting down on the grass and benches. I'm assuming that they were currently having their lunch break, making my plan a little easier to execute because it'd mean I wouldn't have to walk into every class to find him.

Should I even do this?

It felt like the first day of school again, with all heads turned and eyes glued to me. As I scanned around the school campus, I spotted their football field not that far from the parking lot. Before I could control what I was doing, my feet moved on its own as it made its way towards the field. I knew there was a chance he might not be there, but it was pretty plausible that he might be, considering how it's the middle of their season and every varsity team was pretty much hard at work.

I walked into the football field, and fortunately enough, it looked as if the entire team was on a break. They were all by the sidelines resting and talking, as well as gulping down what seemed to be energy drinks. I spotted a familiar mop of raven-black hair, his shoulders shaking from laughter as he listened to a joke his teammate told. His back was facing towards me, making it easier for me to approach him.

His teammates took notice of me and despite their chatter suddenly stopping, he was still obliviously talking to his friend. I chuckled and shook my head as I tapped on his shoulder, causing him to turn around. He looked down at me with a stunned look on his face, totally confused by my random presence.

"Flo?" Joey asked, his eyebrows furrowing as he tried to put the puzzle pieces together in his brain. "What are you doing here?"

"Yes."

"Huh?" He asked again, his head tilting slightly to the side like a confused puppy. He stared at me with wide, curious eyes and I couldn't help but smile at how cute he looked at the moment.

A part of me felt guilty for betraying Leo like this and going after his number one rival, and it was telling me that it wasn't too late to back out of this. But the larger portion of me was thinking back to all the times he's betrayed me, and all the times he wouldn't listen to what I had to say.

"Flo, what the fuck did you do?" Leo's angry voice pierced through my ears.

"I heard everything you've said, and I can't believe you'd treat her so rudely when she's been nothing but kind to you — I really thought you've changed, Flo."

"We aren't even official, and you're already obsessing over other girls — even ones that I've been friends with for years." He huffed.

That last thought pushed me over the edge, making me say out words I could no longer take back.

I smiled at Joey. "Yes, I will go out with you." I chuckled as I grabbed his hand, causing him to grin from ear to ear.

OMG I FINALLY FINISHED IT! Thank you all so much for waiting! I seriously appreciate your support and patience. I hope you liked it! <3

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