Chapter 17

Ava

For the rest of the weekend, I do nothing but wallow in self-pity. I find nothing else out about the girl from the picture, and my mum is barely at home. For once I’m glad because even a nurse can’t mend a broken heart.

I haven’t heard from Hunter since I blocked him, and I’m grateful. The pain is still there, but it’s slowly, very slowly, healing.

After two whole days without leaving the house, I have shrunk back into a nerd. I am no longer Hunter’s “girlfriend,” the girl no one recognized. I am back to being me: a nobody.

Monday rolls around, and to say I am dreading going to school is an understatement.

I lay in the safe haven of my bed, rolled in the covers like sushi, and have no plans to leave until Lily bursts into my room looking frantic and a bit psycho. Her clothes are creased, her face is blotchy and red, and her hair is sticking up in all directions, resembling a bird’s nest.

I stifle a laugh. I can’t help it; she looks ridiculous.

Lily gives me a maddened look, and I lose it. Through all the sadness and heartache, she still manages to make me laugh. This is why Lily’s my best friend; I can always count on her to make me feel better.

She joins my laughter and pulls stupid faces until I am nearly crying. Then, when the laughter finally dies down, I roll out of bed and give her a big bear hug. She hugs me back twice as hard.

Lily breaks the hug first, pushing me back to look into my eyes. I know exactly what she is going to say. “Ava, you need a shower. Then I’m going to make you look stunning so he’ll regret ever letting you go.”

I smile weakly at her but do not argue. I dutifully walk across the small hall to the bathroom and turn the shower on.

After a few minutes, I stepped into the warm water. As I wash my hair with my mango shampoo and scrub my body down with some cheap body wash, I’m grateful to finally get all the dirt from the weekend off my skin.

I sigh as I step out of the shower and wrap my big, fluffy towel around myself. I make my way back to my room, where Lily sits texting. Her appearance is back to normal.

I shake my head as I walk past her and grab some underwear from my drawers.

I slip them on underneath my towel and turn back to Lily, who has now moved to the wardrobe.

Opening it, she gasps a little. All weekend, I’d been hanging my clothes carelessly and chucking the ones that didn’t fit on the floor, and it’s a mess. Still, Lily starts rooting for an outfit.

I don’t really feel comfortable wearing the clothes Hunter had bought me, but I have no others. I stupidly got rid of them all.

Some five minutes later, we decide on an outfit, but I must admit I’m a little nervous to wear it. The bottom is a short, navy blue pencil skirt with a lace overlay, which we paired with a fitted, white crop top and wedges.

I am beyond nervous, but I looked good. The wedges give me more height, making my legs appear long even though they aren’t.

Lily arranges my hair into a half-up-half-down style, pulling out some baby hairs to frame my face. She then applies my mascara and lip gloss before we have to rush out the door so that we aren’t late.

I just prayed that I don’t have to see either Hunter or Jessica.

***

My luck runs out by the time we reach the parking lot. When they see me, everyone whispers, and that’s when I know that they know what happened.

People are shoving their phones into each other’s faces, and confused why they’re laughing, I march over to a group of kids and snatch one. Lily tells them to shut up while I look at the screen.

There, for all the school to see, is a video of Hunter and Jessica at Declan’s party. The angle indicates that Jessica didn’t film it herself—she probably got one of her minions to do it for her—but it shows Jessica coming in for the kiss. You can’t really see Hunter’s face, but the video does pan to me standing there with tears in my eyes. Then it cuts out.

The caption reads, “Looks like little Miss Nerd isn’t so smart after all.”

I feel something drop in my stomach, and then—I snap. I throw the phone at the kids and stormed over to where I can see that bitch standing. I don’t know where this newfound courage came from, but I might as well use it to defend myself.

Standing in front of Jessica, I glare. She rolls her eyes and sneers, her classic bitchy look.

“What are you doing here, nerd?”

I smile sweetly before answering in a sickly tone. “Someone told me to go to hell; at first I couldn’t find it, but then I realized all I had to do was find you.”

She growls at me before stomping her foot like a child. “How dare you say that to me, you bitch! Take it back!”

Her voice comes out high-pitched, which makes me cringe. ~Oh, my ears are so going to hurt after this.~

“Look here, Jessica. There was a time you used to scare me, and I would avoid you at any cost, but I’ve had enough of you treating me like shit. I am still a person, and I won’t let you do that to me ever again. You’re just a sad little girl who has jealousy problems, and I’m so done with you.

“So no, I will not take what I said back. Have a nice life.”

Jessica stands there with her mouth hanging open while I walk away with my head held high. No more hiding, no more letting people use me as a doormat. I will stand up for myself because I deserve better.

As she walks past Jessica as well, I hear Lily mumble “slut” under her breath, which makes me smile.

Inside, everyone turns to stare at me and Lily as we head toward my locker. Some people look shocked, while others have admiration in their eyes. I guess they’ve already heard about what went down in front of the school. Not many people stand up to Jessica, and when they do, they burn in hell.

When we finally reach my locker, I slump against it. As the adrenaline from my confrontation with Jessica dissipates, panic grips my throat, but I push it down. I don’t regret what I’ve done; she had it coming after everything she has done to me, to Lily.

When I put my key in my locker and pull it open, I’m surprised to see a single white rose with a note pinned to it. Two words are written on the paper in cursive: ~Broken Trust~.