~The Deceptions of Love~

The days rolled by and soon it was Friday. Chesterfield high had made sure to keep her students packed with exercises until they lost count of what day was which. Tons of classwork and assignments coming from the least to their top favorite teachers clustered around them, awakening a sense of urgency to accomplish them as quick as possible before the holidays came.

For the senior students, they were cumbered with a load of projects; grouped assignment and paired ones alike. There was almost no breathing space for them because they were leaving high school for a new world called 'college'. It was Dolores' greatest fear after the fear of the loss of another loved one.

Currently, she was in her usual spot at the cafeteria sipping on her juice gingerly. She set down the little cuboidal box and reached out to pinch a nibble out of the side of her jam filled doughnut, sending it into her dry mouth. A lot of thoughts weighed her down and she was anxious about all. First, Aurora seemed to have somehow disappeared into thin air from a party. Two, prom was happening tomorrow and she couldn't find Nicolas. Three, her prom dress wasn't in sight yet and lastly, the one that weighed heavily was the fact that she would soon be a freshman at a university in a few months to come.

She turned to talk to her best friend but sealed her lips shut when she saw that Adelina was enveloped in their own world with her boyfriend. She didn't know what they were staring at on her phone and didn't want to find out either.

Simeon, who tried unsuccessfully to humour her with his lively jokes, had long returned to playing games on his phone.

Her phone buzzed on the desk, diverting her attention. She picked it up to find a message notification from the person whose reply she had been anticipating for the past hour. There was a prom party to plan since it was a hollywood themed party. Time was far spent and there was nothing to show. Nonetheless, she opened the text which read:

Sorry, can't make it now. Let's talk later. Xoxo

"Is this a stupid joke?" She said aloud to no one in particular.

The only one who looked up from whatever they were doing on their phone was Simeon. Adelina and Grayson, however, remained oblivious.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked while his fingers reached out to touch her arm. She was his friend afterall and pretending not to hear her would have been an error on his part.

Dolores sighed and lolled her head back in anger. She was too frustrated to speak and if she did, her tears would betray her, yet she couldn't leave him without an explanation. Afterall, her best friend tended to pay no heed to anyone else whenever her stupid boyfriend was within ten centimeters. Why not speak to the person whom she had grown fond of over the month?

"Turns out he can't make it today. He keeps doing this everytime. We were going to plan our outfits for prom today and now he sent a text saying he can't make it today and we should talk some other time."

Simeon frowned. "That's a really dumb excuse to give for standing your girlfriend up."

"I know. Lately he's been giving some off vibes which I really don't like. Like on monday when we were talking, he suddenly asked me who I was going to take to the prom with me." She slid her phone back onto the table and picked up the juice box in front of her to sip from it.

Simeon couldn't wrap his head around the question. Indeed he had noticed a few questionable things about Nicolas but he wasn't in the position to speak up. He had always figured out the guy would come clean to his girlfriend instead. Turned out, he hadn't.

"Was he planning to take someone else to the party?"

She shrugged. "Someone like who? I'm his girlfriend, Simeon. Why do guys act this way?"

"Please add specifics in your question. Why does he act that way? I'm a guy too and you're hurting my feelings."

She placed a gentle hand on his arm, laughing. "I'm sorry about that." Her expression returned back to its moody state. "I can't help it. His attitude the past few days since he asked the question has been weird. I figured it could be because of the issues he has going on with him. But now? This is the frosting on the banana flavored cake."

Simeon laughed at her description and the manner she wrinkled her lips. "Why banana flavored though? It tastes delicious."

She folded her arms with her tongue poked out at him in childish humor. "I hate bananas."

"Right." He nodded in understanding.

"You know what I find most annoying? We were going to meet up yesterday and he gave the same excuse. Same thing three days ago. It's like he's been avoiding me." Her lips rounded in a sad pout as she struggled with the tears now blurring her vision.

Simeon swung into action as he held her fingers in his. "Let's step out for a bit." He whispered in her ears.

She nodded, feeling grateful for the suggestion. She needed something else to divert her attention from Nicolas before she went ballistic right there on the spot. Both of them walked quickly out of the cafeteria without stopping for once to inform either Adelina or Grayson.

°•°•°•°•°•°

After school hours, Nicolas still didn't show up like he promised. Dolores was still very pissed with Adelina but more with Nicolas. If she spotted him now, she was going to strangle him to death. As she stalked to the parking lot in anger, she spotted someone with his back turned to her, standing near her car.

"Nicolas?"

As if on cue, the person turned. To her utter disappoinment, it was Carlos. Dolores had never understood the phrase "tearing your hair out" better until that very moment. Her hopes were mercilessly dashed against the rocks of bitter fate. Her entire body shook with anger as she approached the guy who now leaned on her car's door. He seemed to be really smug like he knew something she didn't.

"Why do you look like you're about to have someone buried six feet below? Did something happen? Did someone hurt you?" He questioned the moment she stopped in front of him.

She gave a creepy smile of her own, outshining his. "It's a good thing you can read people's intentions from their demeanour so you better say your last prayers because you're one hundred percent right."

"Ha! I knew I was the cause. Pray, tell me. What did I do this time?" He crossed his arms,  wiggling an eyebrow at her to rile her up the more.

"Where did you keep Nicolas and what have you been feeding him with? More lies again? Threats?"

He paused for a second in shock then smiled. "I didn't know I was supposed to be my enemy's keeper. How did I even let that get past me? Well, as opposed to your baseless conclusions, Nicolas is right over there." He stretched out a finger behind her.

Dolores turned to follow his gaze and boiled with more anger when she caught sight of Nicolas opening the passenger door of his car for a pretty blonde girl. He flashed a charming smile like he used to do to her before shutting the door.

As if becoming aware of being watched, Nicolas raised his head and he came eye to eye with Dolores. She waved at him in excitement. He blinked. Instead of acknowledging her greeting, his face turned stoic as he entered into his car before driving away. No replies.

Dolores let her hand slowly fall to her side at his open rejection. The pain would have been easier to contain if he wanted to call things off and not take some other girl in his car while they were still together. A voice of reason warned not to jump straight into conclusions. There had to be an explanation for what she saw. With that consolation, she turned to Carlos.

"I've seen him and I'm utterly at peace."

He stepped closer to her with a leer. "Are you sure about the peace part? Because you and I, plus the entire school just saw him flat out ignore you like you were nothing but invisible air. Why else do you think he has been refusing to meet you for the past four days?"

"There is an explanation to that. What kind of girlfriend would I be if I do not give him the benefits of the doubt?" She rummaged in her bag for her car keys. She was just about done talking to the twisted guy.

Carlos sensed it as his cue to step away from the car door when she waved her keys in his face. "They say a woman's intuitions are always right and if it says her man is cheating, then he most certainly is. Listen to your intuitions." Those were his departing words.

"Bloody asshole." Dolores cursed as she watched him leave. Her fingers shook uncontrollably as she fought to insert the key in the keyhole. Her vision was a cloudy haze from the tears threatening to spill. Nicolas' refusals to meet her was understandable since she figured he could be busy with his team projects. Seeing him ushering a girl into his car didn't make any difference either so she brushed that off.

His one action that sent feelings like prickling needles piercing into her heart was him pretending not to have seen her when they both looked each other eye to eye before he impassively ignored her and drove off.

The first tear dropped onto her wrist but it didn't deter her from blindly trying to get into her car. After what seemed like ages to her, she opened the door but before she could slam it shut, a hand held the door open in place.

"You're crying?"

~~~{•}~~~

I just realized that I broke Dolores' heart again. Why do I always do this?
I'm sorry guys🥺💔

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~~Chignature~~