Something To Believe In

I'm the sweetest ditch ever! 

 

Whatever, dlut. 

 

As you wish.

 

Yes, Raychel.

Syd, a warning for you, hon. Another update means another cliffhanger. 

 

Mhm. Well, okay. ON the other hand, here's the update! 

 

Part 67: Jenna's Point of View

Aubree's eyebrows shot up and a stony expression immediately came over her face. “Excuse me?” She asked, her voice low. I merely shook my head the merest bit, not wishing to repeat myself. I’d already made myself look like a complete fool.

“That’s not true? You think he does care about you?” Aubree asked, her perfectly-waxed, pencil-thin eyebrows risen. Again, I didn’t answer. I merely averted her gaze and stared at my feet, crossing my arms across my chest as I did so.

This was humiliating.

I couldn’t believe I was being called out like this by Aubree Woods and her pathetic clones in the middle of the hallway in front of practically our entire grade. I couldn’t believe she’d called me a dlut and that Chase, Elise, and Christina had echoed it.

But what was perhaps the worst part of it all was that neither Aiden nor Mason were doing anything. They were just...standing there.

I found my attention drawn back to Aubree, who was staring at me with her lips forming a small ‘o’. “Wow.” She stated dryly. “You actually think that this little thing you’ve had with Mason means anything whatsoever. You do realize he purposely tries to get girls to think they matter to him just so he can get them in his bed, right? I mean...” She snorted. “Obviously, if he’s not dating you, he doesn’t actually care about you. If he gave a shiet about you, you’d be the one he was dating. Not me.”

There was ringing silence once more.

“And that’s why I’m his girlfriend.” She stated finally, speaking again.
I merely shook my head the merest bit, staring at the ground and refusing to meet her gaze. I wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction.

Plus...looking at her meant I’d see the herds and herds of classmates all gathered behind her to watch me be humiliated by her. “Fine,” Aubree stated suddenly, her ringing voice breaking the silence. “Let’s find out if your pathetic fantasy is true.”

She turned around then to face those gathered behind her. With a smirk still plastered on her face, she tilted her head to the side and called out, in a sickly-sweet voice injected with poison, “Mason," He looked up at her, his attention snapping onto her.

She gave him a smile. “Baby...why don’t you tell us all the truth? I mean...” She let out a small laugh. “She’s not important to you at all. Is she?” She shook her head slightly, her smile twisting into a smirk. “Did your fling with Jenna Bennett mean anything to you? Anything at all?”

My head shot upwards and my eyes immediately found Mason. He was staring at Aubree with wide eyes, as if slightly taken aback at being called out like that. There was a prolonged and tense silence as everyone stared at him, awaiting his response and what he was going to say.

All I could do was stare at him with parted lips, feeling blood pounding through my veins and my heartbeat increase tenfold. I felt adrenaline coursing through me like electricity, my heart thundering against my chest.

Everyone in the entire hallway was waiting, staring at Mason. . A few were glancing back and forth between the two of us, or darting from Mason, to Aubree,to me, and back again.

But I only had eyes for Mason. I felt anxious, nervous, apprehensive, concerned, worried. I had no idea what he was about to say. I mean, obviously I knew what I wanted him to say. And if he was hoping to be honest with any of us, he’d say exactly that. But I was left to wait in painful anticipation as he stared at Aubree blankly for what felt like hours.

Then, suddenly, his attention moved from Aubree onto me, and for a good moment or two, he could do nothing but stare at me. My face contorted into an expression of pleading.

I was begging him to tell the truth - to admit that I really did mean something to him.

Because unless he was just a really good actor and I was just hopelessly fooling myself, then that was the truth. I stared at him pleadingly for what felt like ages, begging silently and desperately for him to save me from this humiliation.

If he just admitted the truth, maybe - in some vast, fathoms-deep abyss of hopelessness, but maybe nonetheless - we could work this out and actually manage to attain something I knew we both wanted.
Maybe everything would be okay after all. He continued to stare at me, his expression blank and his eyes emotionless.

But I knew as well as he did that he’d seen the pleading expression on my face. What felt like centuries of silence followed before Aubree, who was obviously getting impatient, said, “Well?”