N O

S U C H    T H I N G

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I woke up the next morning in a sour mood.

Why did my dad have to call my mom and ruin our evening? He hasn't wanted anything to do with us since he left, and yet here he is... trying to reach out.

Well no, I'm sorry, but I will not just accept it and pretend to be happy.

What he did has hurt not only me, but my mom. I listened to her cry herself to sleep for countless nights after he first left, and I will not allow him to hurt her any more than he already has.

Because it hurts you too, Skylar.

Shut up, sub-conscious.

I throw on a pair of black skinny jeans with a tank top, followed by my red cardigan and black sandals. I brush my wavy hair out and leave it down around my shoulders.

I grab my cellphone and head downstairs.

"Morning sweetie!" My mom chirps while handing me an already made, cup of coffee.

"You're in a good mood this morning." I furrow my eyebrows.

"Why not be?" She smiles.

"Mom... I know what you're doing..." I sigh.

She shrugs me away and grabs the waffles from the toaster before wrapping them in a napkin and handing them to me.

"You need to eat some breakfast. Take it with you." She smirks.

"Thanks." I wave. "See you later."

"Actually, I'm working the night shift tonight, so you won't. Have a good day Sky." My mom chirps yet again, and I roll my eyes as I shut the front door behind me.

I know what she is doing. She is pretending that everything is a little too good, so she doesn't think about my dad or the fact that he didn't give a care in the world about her when he called yesterday. She was like this at the beginning. She would work incredibly long hours every single night, even if it completely drained her of all energy.

When I was little, my Aunt on my mom's side would come over and spend the nights with me while my mom worked. She has since moved to another state once I was old enough to take care of myself at night while my mom is gone. I do miss her, but we call each other every now and then.

Once I walked down my driveway to my car, I heard a rumble of an engine coming down the road. I looked up and rolled my eyes at the sight of James' truck.

Once he stopped beside the curb, he rolled his window down.

"Morning Sky. Ride?" He raises an eyebrow.

A small, very small, portion of me wanted to say yes and hop right in.

"No sorry, I'm just going to drive myself today that way I don't need a ride home after." I lie, and turn to get inside of my car without letting him reply.

He eventually pulled away from the curb and headed toward school, so I waited a couple of minutes and then pulled out of my driveway.

Once I made it to school, I found a parking space sort of close to the front and parked.

I grabbed my bag and got out of my car, shutting the door with slight force.

I looked around for Abby and Lena and spotted them sitting at one of the picnic tables.

"How do you both get here so early?" I sigh while taking a seat.

"We live closer?" Abby answers, though it was more like a question. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I mumble while opening my napkin of waffles.

"Why don't you just eat breakfast from the cafeteria?" Lena asks in her usual, bubbly mood.

"Because, I don't live as close as you two do, so I don't have time to drive here and eat breakfast before the bell rings." I uneasily reply.

"Okay seriously, what's up?" Abby says.

"Nothing. I'm just not in a good mood today."

"Well that's obvious." Lena mumbles.

I exhale loudly and get up. I throw my waffles into the garbage can and begin walking inside the building without another word to my friends. Just before I enter the building, I swear I hear Abby say, "Her dad."

My two best friends know me like the back of my hand. I can't hide much from them, even if I wanted to. They know when I'm upset and usually they always know why.

They know all about my father and what he's done to my family. They used to spend the night with me all the time in an attempt to fill the empty void in my life. It worked, for the most part, but it still didn't do much to stop the constant ache that hides beneath my surface.

Once I make it to my locker, I feel a presence behind me.

"I told you guys I'm fine. Just leave it alone." I snap while opening my locker.

"Damn, I'm sorry Sky."

My eyes widen as I turn around and face Percy.

"Crap Percy, I'm sorry. That wasn't meant for you." I sheepishly try to smile.

He waves it off, "No worries. You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are we still hanging out tonight?" I ask.

"Absolutely, I'll pick you up from your place sometime after school. I'll text you." He smiles before walking away.

I give him a smile back, and proceed with grabbing some notebooks from my locker and stuffing them into my bag.

"What did Percy want?" I hear Abby say from behind me.

"We're hanging out today after school... just the two of us." I reply while shutting my locker and turning the combination wheel to reset the lock.

"Like a date?" Lena smiles wide.

"Like, two people just hanging out." I roll my eyes.

"Okay Ms. Attitude. Sorry for asking." Lena glares while crossing her arms.

"I'll see you both at lunch." I fake a smile before walking in the opposite direction toward my first class.

I am so not looking forward to dealing with James and Ian right now. Lord, please give me strength.

As I walk into the classroom, I am happy to see that James and Ian are not here yet.

I walk over to my original seat in the back and quietly put my head down.

Minutes go by before I feel a poke to my shoulder.

"Unless you're Mr. Briggs, I suggest you leave me alone." I say, but it comes out muffles as my head is still down laying against my arms.

"Well, thank God I am Mr. Briggs, huh?"

My eyes widen as I immediately snap my head up to see a full classroom as all of the other kids snicker.

"S-sorry Mr. Briggs." I say as I feel my cheeks redden.

"Now that that's settled, may we begin class now Skylar?" Mr. Briggs asks.

"Yes." I mumble as I sink down into my chair. A few of the other kids laugh while Mr. Briggs walks back over to his desk.

"Damn Sky, way to get the class started." James comments from my left.

"Shut up." I sigh while opening my notebook.

"Are you alright?" He asks.

"Ya know... I wish everyone would stop asking me that question." I say with a fake smile.

"What happened? Did Percy do something?" He raises an eyebrow.

"No actually, I'm going to hang out with him after school. Percy is fine. I am fine." I say without thinking.

"But I thought you said you were spending time with your mom after school?" James now has an expressionless face.

"Well, now I'm spending time with Percy after school." I reply while taking a pen from my bag to begin writing notes.

James only nods while turning to face the front as he opens his notebook and begins writing notes from the board as well.

"Psst. Sky." I hear from my right.

"Not today Ian, not today." I say without even looking at him.

"But Skylar... My pen isn't working." Ian whines. I turn to look at him and he has a genuine frown on his face as he holds his lifeless pen.

I roll my eyes but reach into my bag for an extra pen. I hand it over to Ian and his frown instantly turns upside down, as he takes the pen from me.

"Thanks Sky!"

"No problem, Ian." I sigh, but lightly laugh.

"How come you're nice to Ian, but not to me?" James suddenly says from beside me.

"Ian is low maintenance." I shrug.

"And I'm high maintenance?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Well you certainly aren't low." I casually answer.

"Wow that actually hurts Sky." He fakes sadness while holding his hand to his chest.

"What can I say? I'm malicious." I smirk.

"Can't argue with you on that." He shrugs while I glare at him.

"Dude, you're never going to win her heart by agreeing to bad stuff." Ian casually comments while writing down some notes from the board.

My eyes widen as does James' and James throws a balled up piece of paper at Ian, hitting him directly in the face.

"Ow! What was that for?" He whines while rubbing his forehead.

"You know why." James replies and I just roll my eyes at their childish behavior as I decide to tune them out.

Can school please be over soon?

_______

| James' POV |

Once lunchtime rolled around, I knew I needed to try to find out what has Skylar so down.

She was perfectly fine yesterday, even though I hate to admit that it hurt when she told me she was spending the afternoon with Percy today.

I don't know if her mom went in to work last minute, or if Skylar lied to me, but I don't like this Percy guy and I honestly think there's something sketchy about him. He just randomly pops up out of nowhere and has an interest in Skylar. That just doesn't happen in real life.

At least I don't think it does.

As I get my lunch and head towards Skylar's lunch table, I notice Percy sitting down with her.

I rolled my eyes, but went to sit on the other side of Skylar anyway.

"Hello Sky." I smile just as Percy looks up to send me a neutral look.

"Don't you normally sit with Ian?" Skylar asks.

"Yes, but we wanted to sit here today." I shrug just as Ian approaches and sits next to Lena.

Lena's face turns a soft shade of pink, and I honestly wonder how Ian couldn't tell how in love she is with him.

"Is this mongrel bothering you Lena?" Ian asks, while sending a smirk to Percy.

I wanted to laugh, but refrained.

"Excuse me?" Percy speaks up, and Ian just looks at him and then at the door to the cafeteria behind us.

"You're excused." He shoo's Percy away with a hand gesture and Abby actually laughs.

I smile, but instantly frown when I see the glare on Skylar's face.

"Ian, don't be rude please." Skylar says and Ian sulks.

"Fine." He sighs.

"You're both so annoying, I swear." Skylar mumbles and I smirk.

"Oh are we? You weren't saying that last night." I wiggle my eyebrows, and her eyes widen.

I see Percy give me a pointed look and so I continue.

"Don't worry; we can hangout more this weekend when we work on our project." I shrug while taking a sip of my chocolate milk.

"Yippie for me." Skylar sighs.

"You were with James last night?" Percy suddenly asks.

"Yeah, only to work on our project." Skylar replies with a small smile.

Percy nods and continues eating his lunch.

Little does Skylar know, her best friend's life is about to drastically change.

I had a chance to talk with Ian last night about Lena, and let's just say he honestly and genuinely didn't think she wanted to be with him. Otherwise, he said he would have asked her a long time ago.

I rolled my eyes when he told me that, because it's only so obvious that Lena is into him.

Oh well, better late than never, right?

"So, Lena." Ian begins and Lena quickly wipes her mouth with her napkin before turning to look at Ian.

"Yeah?"

"Are you doing anything tonight?" He asks boldly, while nervously scratching the back of his head.

Lena's eyes widen for a split second, but then she pulls herself together long enough to answer.

"Not at all."

"Do you want to be?" Ian smirks.

Smooth Ian.

"Do you mean... you and me hangout?" Lena tries to clarify, but then I assume she feels stupid after she says it because she quickly recovers. "I mean, yes. I'd love to!" She smiles weakly.

Ian's face lights up like a little kid at Christmas as he lets out a breath of air. "Great!" He grabs a piece of paper out of his backpack and writes down his cell number. "Just text me after school with your address, and I'll come pick you up." He smiles warmly.

"Okay!" Lena smiles wide while taking the piece of paper and putting it inside her bag.

I can see Skylar beaming from behind her hamburger as she witnesses Ian asking her best friend out. Abby is smiling too, and I know the three of them are probably communicating telepathically.

"So, now that that's settled, what's everyone else doing tonight?" I ask.

"Well, Skylar and I are going somewhere later." Percy shrugs, as if it means nothing to him.

"Cool, where at?" I push.

"Actually, I'm not too sure yet. I'm still getting a plan together." He says casually while munching on some potato chips.

"So you asked Skylar out, but don't even have anything planned?" I chuckled.

"I will have something planned by this afternoon. So you can go back to minding your business now." He smiles while scooting closer to Skylar.

The bell rings ending lunch. "Well, while you two have some sort of weird macho-man showdown, I'm going to class." Skylar stands up and tosses her trash into the garbage can.

The girls leave and immediately start talking about Lena's date with Ian.

Ian stays beside me as Percy eyes me.

"Is there a problem?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Nope. Not at all." He smirks. "Don't worry; I'm sure tomorrow Skylar will be ready to share the details of our night. I'll make sure to rock her world." He winks before walking away.

"Did he just mean..." Ian begins.

"I really hope he didn't." I say, worried about Skylar.

I knew I felt something sketchy about this guy. I hope he doesn't try to use Skylar.

She doesn't deserve that.