(Not Edited)

***

Mr. Falkov never had any trouble picking on Aiden and I, so it didn't surprise me the slightest bit when he called us both to his desk as everyone walked out of the classroom to work on their projects.

"Mr. Blackwood, would you care to explain why I walked inside my classroom to find paint splattered all over my windows?"

Aiden narrowed his eyes at the teacher, evidently confused at Falkov's immediate assumption.

"That wasn't me."

"Oh, and I bet you're also not guilty of the big abstract painting that was hung up to the wall earlier either," he spat back bitterly.

"That wasn't me," Aiden repeated.

Mr. Falkov stared at him, trying his best not to become livid so quickly.

"Look, I've had to put up with both of you long enough. You're lucky I haven't kicked you out. But if you don't confess, I can guarantee both of you will be kicked out."

"What? How does this have anything to do with me?!" I said angrily.

"Your act during class the yesterday wasn't funny in the slightest bit. I can think of several other reasons as to why you both deserve to be banned. So," he turned to look at Aiden, "if your friend doesn't confess, you can thank him for getting both of you kicked out."

I clenched my jaw and gave Aiden a deadly look. "You better confess," I said in between gritted teeth.

"It wasn't me!" He replied furiously. "I can't believe you think I'm stupid enough to do that."

I let out a short laugh. "Well..."

He narrowed his eyes at me, which resulted in me shrugging innocently.

"Look, it wasn't me. You can't just accuse me of doing it without having any evidence," he stated confidently. "So, if you'll excuse me," he took a step back, "I have a final project to get back to."
"Not so fast, Mr. Blackwood." The teacher motioned him to come back. "We've got surveillance cameras. Confess before we have to take a step further," Mr. Falkov tried again.

Aiden rolled his eyes before letting out an incredulous laugh. "So what you're telling me is that you're accusing me of committing the crime before even checking the cameras?" He let out another laugh. "This is a joke. Do as you please; it wasn't me." And then he walked out of the room.

"In all fairness, he's right," I said, taking the risk of getting yelled at by the man.

He shot me a look.

"You may leave, Ms. Love," he said sternly, looking as bitter as always.

I walked out of the class and followed after Aiden, who was walking towards the exit door rather than the garages.

"Hey, why are you leaving?" I furrowed my eyebrows, confused.

"I honestly don't feel like putting up with this. Don't worry about me, it's not like you actually care. Go do your work," he said, his features clouded with a mixture of annoyance and something that almost looked like sadness. My eyebrows stayed furrowed.

"I'm sorry," I said softly. Although we were talking about the whole painting situation, I think we both knew that wasn't what I was apologizing for.

"Yeah," he sighed, "I'll see you later." And then he walked out, leaving me back at the gallery without a partner, and a possible banishment for himself.

--

"No, I can't do it right now," I told my mom.

"We want to see you!"

I gave the sidewalk a nasty look. Sorry about that, sidewalk.

"I'm busy."

"Nothing can be more important than seeing your parents," she tried again.

I raised my eyebrows. Oh, I could name a few things...

"It's...art related." Technically not a lie.

"June, that's all you ever do. We want to see you, so you better be home by eight."

Who are you? My mom?

Oh, yeah.

"I'll try," I forced myself to say. "Bye."

"Who was that?" Blake asked as I put my phone away. I let out a light grunt of annoyance.

"My mom she—well, my parents—they're coming to visit. Apparently I can't stay at the party later than seven thirty."

He raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't the party start at six?"

"Yep," I said.

"But that's only one hour."

"Really? Wow, I totally didn't realize that!" I replied sarcastically before letting out a groan. "Ugh, this sucks."

"Hey, we'll make the best of it." He smiled.

"I don't know how you manage to always stay so positive."

"I don't know how you manage to always get so grumpy," he said, letting a goofy smile on his face.

"Am not always grumpy!" I laughed.

"Just a little." He chuckled, playfully ruffling my hair right after. "Now come on, we gotta get you home. You need to clean."

"What?"

"Yeah, Blue just called a while ago saying she was dog sitting her friend's dog and things didn't exactly go well."

My eyes widened.

"You're kidding, right?"

"Nope." We continued walking towards the exit.

"Great. Just what I needed," I muttered.

I had a feeling it would be a long day.

--

You know that moment when after a long, awful day you finally get to go home, lie in bed, and be at peace? And then you have great plans later that day and you know everything's going to be better? Yeah, well, that didn't happen to me.

Blue had been avoiding me all day and had left the apartment trashed after taking care of that dumb dog, and left me to clean it all up, my mom kept sending me pictures of dad and her on the airplane and of people sleeping, and I had nothing good to wear to that stupid party. Not only that, but Blake had decided to convince Jay to attend the party as well, which meant I was going to have to deal with the Blackwoods too.

And at that point, I wondered if breaking up with Aiden was that right thing to do. I mean, I knew it was unfair—and probably a little heartless—to do that to him, but it seemed like the best option at that time. Now, however, I had no idea why I ever even considered it. My mother would only be here for a few days, not forever. She had no right to be the reason I couldn't live and be with whoever I wanted.

However, Aiden seemed just fine without me, and he hadn't even tried talking to me, which just felt like it was easy for him to let the situation go. But that's how most guys are anyways, so I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised. After all, why would he be interested in a psycho who breaks up with him anymore?

So maybe it really was for the best. The art course would be over in a few weeks and then we'd go back to our old lives. He didn't need me around and I didn't need him.

But it's not always about that. Because needing someone is, somehow, such a selfish way of looking at a relationship. We were perfectly capable of great things as individuals. We didn't really need each other, but something about each other's company just made things a little better. Maybe it was just about having someone who pulled you out of your comfort zone every once in a while and made things fun and spontaneous. Having someone who made you look at things a little differently. But also about having someone who pulled you back and stopped you from doing seriously stupid things.

And as all those thoughts roamed around in my head, I realized maybe some things were worth fighting for...but sometimes it's too late to get them back if you've already lost the fight. It was too late to fix things. You can only miss up so many times before you run out of strikes.

After thinking it all out, I finally gathered the courage to knock on Charlotte's door and prepare myself to face whatever was on the other side of it. A second later, I was greeted by the blonde haired girl and the prominent sound of the music blaring through some speaker I could see in on a shelf located in what I believed was the living room.

There were many of people walking and chatting around the room with red, plastic cups in their hands, most of the faces unfamiliar to me.

"Hey! I'm glad you could make it!" She smiled widely, her eyes scanning me up and down as her grin faded for a second before pulling me in for a hug, the smell of flowers immediately reaching my nostrils.

"Yes, but I'll only be able to stay an hour. Parents came into town earlier today," I explained, giving her an apologetic look.

She slightly pouted but then quickly smiled again. "Well, hey, let's make the best of it."

I walked inside her house and quickly spotted the pool outside. There were lights hung up all around outside, people laughing and jumping in the pool, some playing beer pong in the corner, and a lot of food in the kitchen and on the dining room table.

What a freaking cliché.

Suddenly, my eyes locked with a pair of brown ones and my heart stopped for a second.

"Are you alright?" Charlotte asked, concern suddenly taking over her features.

"What? Yeah, why?" I frowned, confused.

"I don't know." She laughed lightly. "You just looked really...I don't know...scared or something all of a sudden."

"Oh." I let out an awkward laugh. "No, I just remembered I forgot to take out the trash," I lied.

"Oh, okay! Well, I'll leave ya now. Go on and mingle. I think Blake's around here somewhere," she told me, and then ran off to talk to some girls I'd never seen.

I stood there for a few seconds, probably looking dumb and lost, just looking around trying to see if I could spot Blake. As I searched, my eyes drifted back to the brown eyed boy, who just so happened to already be looking my way. I maintained eye contact with him for a moment, not wanting to look away too quickly and make him think he had caught me staring or something.

But before I could look away, a small smile made its way onto his lips and he began walking towards me.

This time I did make it obvious I was not interested in any way, but that didn't stop him from saying, "Hey there. You lookin' a little lost." He chuckled.

"Uh, I'm fine, thanks." I avoided making eye contact.

He chuckled again.

"You sure? Maybe I can get you a drink. A pretty girl like you shouldn't be all alone at a party." I looked at him and he smiled. To my surprise, it seemed genuine. But I couldn't be fooled, especially after hearing him say something that seemed so smooth that I was almost sure this wasn't the first time he'd used that line.

"No, really, I'm fine. I'm just looking for my friends. Thank you." I began scanning the room again, beginning to regret not having come with Jack.

"Maybe I can help you find them," the boy insisted, causing me to force another smile. "I'm Carter, by the way."

"That's very nice if you, Carter. I'm June. But you don't really have to," I tried again, feeling myself become annoyed already.

"It's alright. All these guys are about to pass out anyways. It's ridiculous, the party just started," he said, looking back at a group of guys by the red couch laughing loudly, undoubtedly wasted already.

I pondered on it for a second, looking back up at him and feeling inevitably nostalgic as I stared back into the pools of chocolate in his eyes that seemed all too familiar.

He scrunched up his eyebrows at bit and looked at me weirdly.

"Are you okay? You seemed a bit troubled." He laughed.

"Yeah, sorry. It's just—you remind me of somebody I used to know, that's all." I shrugged, pressing my lips together as I let a lopsided, closed smile onto my face.

"Oh, well that's nice. I think..." he said, looking a little confused.

"I guess—"

"June!" Carter and I both turned around to see a smiley Blake waving at me, and Aiden Blackwood standing by his side looking quite annoyed.

"I'm guessing they found you."

"I guess they did. Thank you, though. It was nice meeting you," I told him, shooting him a friendly smile which he returned.

I began walking towards them at the same time Aiden walked away into the backyard, leaving me alone with Blake. I let out a sigh, the guilt still keeping me company.

"He totally hates me now," I mumbled, still looking Aiden's way.

"Well you did break up with him for no reason..." He mumbled back.

I scowled at him.

"Or at least forgot to tell him why." He quickly added.

"Aren't you supposed to make me feel better or give me advice or something?"

"I'm afraid I have to take his side this time. I don't think he hates you though, if that makes you feel better," he tried.

"Fair enough." I sighed again. "Isn't Blue supposed to be here?"

"Oh, yeah. She's in the bathroom I think...or was she playing beer pong?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "I forgot. I lost track of her." He shrugged.

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter. She hates me too right now. Actually, how come you don't?" I asked as realization hit me. He had no reason to be happy with me either.

"I don't know. I guess I'm just too nice and feel you need someone to not hate you," he admitted, making me smile.

"You're such a kind soul, Blake." I laughed.

"I'm actually just Aiden's messenger. This whole conversation is going straight to him once I'm with him again," he deadpanned.

"Haha. Very funny."

He grinned.

"You know I'd never do that you." He ruffled my hair the way he always did, and I rolled my eyes playfully.

I was about to speak again when my phone started ringing—the sound of my duck ringtone suddenly filling up the air. I earned myself a weirded out look from Blake to which I responded with an innocent smile.

"Jack?"

"I'm outside."

"Okay, I'll be right there," I told him, hanging up right away.

"Where you going?" Blake asked me.

"Jack's here."

"Jack?"

"Coffee shop barista," I reminded him.

He raised his eyebrows.

"The guy with a crush on you?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"What? No. What are you talking about?"

"Aiden won't be happy."

"Oh, give me a break." I rolled my eyes in annoyance. "Jack and I don't roll that way. Besides, he's not happy with me anyways. What difference does it make?"

"Dang, June. What's up with you? You've been acting so cold lately," Blake told me, a confused and somewhat worried look on his face.

"You can thank my mother for that."

--
A/N:
So so so sorry for the late update! However, I have fall break this week so I should be able to get some writing done! :))

Idk how I feel about this chapter & the lack of feedback lately has kinda made it less motivating/harder to write but hey, I'm not letting that get to me (':

For those who are still actually reading this tysm! Ily all❤️

Tell me what you think of this & don't forget to vote if you liked it!

love,
michelle
xx