Careless and Reckless — Chapter 19

My Monday started off like every other, with my alarm blaring, forcing me to get up. Reluctantly, I pull the sheets off of me and start my morning routine.

Forty-five minutes late Ava's outside my house honking like no one's business. I bid farewell to my mum and siblings before slipping into my converse, grabbing my bag and heading towards her car. "Learn some patience woman," I snap at my best friend in a joking manner.

She shrugs off my comment and starts the drive to school. We make idle chitchat in the car, nothing important just how our weekends were, minus the Wyatt parts, obviously.

We're early so we get a space at the front, thank shit. Now we can get inside before the inevitable cold hits us like a ton of bricks. I dash inside silently laughing at Ava who's struggling to keep up with me because she chose to wear heels today.

"It's not funny," she hisses at me once we're inside.

"You know it is. Don't even try and deny it," I tell her in a singsong voice, starting the journey to my locker.

She huffs at my comment before changing the subject entirely, classic Ava. After getting our thing we meet up with Max and Mason and chat for a bit before we have to go to lessons.

All too soon the bell rings so we say bye to the boys before rushing off to RS. Mr Johnson isn't happy with either of us after my outburst on the first day back so we've been making sure not to piss him off further by not being late for class.

~*~*~

After what feels like four eternities the lunch bell finally rings. Halle-fucking-lujah.

I race to the canteen so I can get food before the line becomes thirty minutes long. Five minutes later, food in hand, I walk over to my usual table, everyone already there excluding Jessica, Ava and Mason, weird—not the Jessica part, she's probably off hooking up with someone knowing her. I shrug off my confusion and sit down beside Max who's already engrossed in his discussion with Chase.

"–yeah, Max, I gotta tell ya she was a proper banger. Eleven outta ten. She was wearing this sexy little–"

"Okay, that's enough," I cut Chase off before he can go into any more detail about yet another one of his rendezvouses.

"Ari, he was getting to the best part," Max whines like a child being robbed of his favourite candy.

"Does it look like I give a shit? I don't want to be hearing about Chase's sexual escapades, especially whilst I'm eating so I'd appreciate it if you'd refrain from talking about it until you're in a private place," I say in a sickly sweet manner to convey my point.

Chase rolls his eyes at me before turning his attention to Jordan and Oliver, most likely telling them instead, honestly.

"You're so unfair, Ari," Max complains, resting his head on my shoulder. I chuckle before digging into my food, letting him keep his head on my shoulder because I'm in a good mood.

A few minutes later Jessica joins us, sitting next to Jordan, opposite me, a big smile on her face. "Look who decided to grace us with her presence," Jordan says sarcastically.

"Oh, haha," she replies dryly before digging into her ham sandwich. Jordan goes back to his previous conversation at her remark but not before rolling his eyes at her fondly? He's always had a soft spot for her and I'm pretty sure there was or maybe even still is something going on between them but who knows with those two.

"How come you were late this time?" I ask, genuinely curious even though I'm already pretty sure it was some hookup.

Jess blushes.

Wait. Hold the phone. I repeat, she BLUSHES. Jessica blushes. My confident, outgoing, crazy, daredevil of a friend just blushed. I've never seen her do that in my entire life. Now I'm definitely intrigued.

Max notices this too and does his best impression of Chloe Summers, the bitchy, stuck-up spoilt, gossip at school. "Oh my god," he starts in an overdramatic girly voice, "spill the deets girl. Who's the special someone?"

Jess's cheeks redden further as she says, "who? I don't know what you're going on about."

Max lifts his head from my shoulder as over dramatically puts his hand on his heart. "How could you lie to me, Jessica? I thought you thought more of me than that. Did our friendship mean nothing to you?" He even sheds a tear for effect. Such a drama queen, honestly.

Jess rolls her eyes at him, as do I. "No need for theatrics," I tell him.

"But it's so much fun," he complains.

"Just go back to your conversation with Chase, I'm sure you're dying to know the details," I tell him. His eyes light up and he turns his head in the opposite direction to catch the rest of the story. Max is something else I tell you.

"So Jess," I start, "Now we've gotten rid of that problem, tell me, who is this special someone?"

"We-they-sh-umm-basi-god this is so embarrassing," she whines putting her head in her hands.

"How about this, we go talk somewhere more private. Would that make you feel more comfortable?"

Jess nods, getting up, myself closely in tow. We walk until we find an empty classroom and both sit down on the desks. Jess takes a deep breath before turning to look at me. "So there's this girl," she starts.

My eyes light up. Never has Jess been this nervous to talk about anyone she likes before. This must be serious. "We met in the park actually. I was on an afternoon jog and she was sitting on a bench reading. She looked so beautiful just sitting there, wind blowing her hair slightly so it moved from her eyes," she pauses momentarily and shakes her head, clearing her thoughts.

"Anyway I don't know what came over me but I went up to her and we started talking. We talked for hours – until the sun started setting." A faint blush begins to cover her cheeks. "The time just flew by and she needed to head home so we exchanged numbers and agreed to meet up again. We've met up a few times since and that's where I was earlier. She doesn't go to school here but we both decided to skip the first half of the day and hang out together," she finishes.

"What's her name? Come on Jess, I need more details."

"Well, her name's Emma. She has short dark brown hair, the most stunning blue eyes and is quite tall," she shrugs. I urge her for more details and she sighs. "She has a little sister who's three years younger than her," she tells me.

"When did you meet?" I ask the most burning question.

Her eyebrows furrow. "Um, last Saturday. So just over a week ago, huh feels like I've known her for way longer than that," she tells me and I momentarily freeze but luckily I don't think she notices.

That's the same day Wyatt and I were in the park. Shit. I'm going to have to be more careful unless I want people finding out. Thank god I woke up so early that day.

"Well I'm happy for you Jess," I say getting up, thanking shit she didn't realise I froze. We go back to the canteen, walking at a steady pace.

As we're walking I see that Mason and Ava are now at the table. I'm about to go ask Ava where she was but Jess gasping beside me draws my attention to her instead. Her eyes are frozen looking to the right. I follow her line of sight and what I see makes completely shatter inside.

James is sitting at his lunch table. A girl on his lap but it's not just any girl, it's Chloe Summers. But that's not all, they're making out.

A lump starts to form in my throat and I quickly dash out the room before anyone can stop me. I go back to the classroom Jess and I were just in and sink down into the corner.

I feel the tears threatening to escape but I don't let them. I have no reason to cry. He's done nothing wrong. We've broken up so he can be with whoever he likes. But I just had to be Chloe, didn't it.

I mean the girl has never been too nasty to me. She did bully me for a bit when I joined the school but she stopped when she realised that people liked me and I wasn't a loner. She left me alone until James and I started dating. When that happened she came at me like a raging bull. I had to deal with her threats for a couple months but when she knew that we weren't breaking up anytime soon she left me alone again.

However, other people got it much worse than me. There are some people she's been bullying since kindergarten and believe me when I tell you it's not a pretty sight. She can be an absolute bitch when she wants and is generally not a nice person. That's why I always steer clear of her, you don't want to get on the wrong side of someone like that.

I guess that's why it hurts so much that James would kiss her. He knew what she did to me when we started dating and he knows how horrible she really is. I never thought James would stoop so low. I guess I was wrong.

A single tear slips down my cheek. I failed. I cried because of James. Knowing I've lost the battle I let the tears fall freely until my face is a wet, tear-stained mess.

I was so absorbed in thought that I didn't realise someone coming into the room and walking over to me. I only noticed when they lightly touched my chin to bring my eyes to theirs. I see a breathtaking electric blue and I immediately know who it is.

Wyatt.

"What are you doing here?" I ask but it comes out as a sob. I don't want him, or anyone for that matter, to see me like this. I'm a wreck. Wyatt doesn't seem to mind though.

He softly brushes the remaining tears from my face with his thumb. "I saw you run out of the canteen, green eyes. I couldn't just leave you here to cry that would go against the tutor code."

"Tutor code?" I ask puzzled.

"Yes, the tutor code. It states that a student must make sure his tutor is never upset or crying and if he does ever find her like this it's his job to make her smile at any cost," he tells me.

"You just made that up," I accuse.

"Maybe I did but that doesn't matter. Come on," he says, extending his hand out to me. I grab it and he hoists me up effortlessly and leads me through the school. No one's around, I guess lessons must've started and I didn't even notice. Luckily, no one needed the room I was in, that would've been so embarrassing.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"You'll see," Wyatt smirks as he opens his car door for me.

Shit. What's he got planned this time?