Chapter 8 : A Change of Heart

Several hours after getting home and knocking out my chores, I decided to just lay on my bed and listen to my sad playlist. It always helped me work through my feelings. I believed that if you were sad, you needed to cry it out. It usually helped me from breaking down randomly.

The more I listened to music, the angrier I became. So what if Chase embarrassed me today? I shouldn’t be embarrassed that my thoughts and feelings were violated. Chase served as the intruder to my personal life. That shouldn’t make me sad. It should make me angry as hell.

All of my homework was done. Mom was out with some girlfriends from work, which shocked me, but that just meant I had the whole house to myself to mope and be as angry as I pleased. I ran downstairs to grab some ice cream from the freezer. When I got back up, I saw there was a notification from Messenger from the fake account.

“Hey, sexy,” it read.

I wanted to respond. After all, I told Hannah I wanted to explore that side of myself. I couldn’t get the laughs from today out of my head though. I couldn’t help myself.

“Hey, how are you?” I typed out. I was so upset that I truly cared very little.

“Don’t tell anyone but kinda off today. I did something bad.” He added a sad face to the end.

Interesting, maybe he did have a conscience.

“Make it better,” I replied, wanting to keep my responses short. At this moment, I realized I didn’t feel like talking.

I started to type again as I saw his dots come back up.

“I’m not feeling too well. I am going to sleep early. Talk later.” I hit send and pushed my phone under my pillow. For the rest of the night, I didn’t wait for him to respond, and I did not check my phone.

***Chase’s POV

I was tossing and turning all night. I thought I went too hard on the new girl. I didn’t blame the things she said to me or how angry her friend Hannah was. I had taken it a step too far, which I rarely felt was the case because I usually didn’t care.

Aria didn’t seem to be like the other girls, who were constantly trying to rub themselves on me and find ways to please me no matter what I did or said. She had guts, and she stood on her own two feet.

I racked my brain to figure out when I would see her next. I thought we had a few classes together. I skipped a lot, but maybe this week I wouldn’t just to test the waters.

Her red hair flashed in my mind. She was very good-looking even in the uniform that was a hand-me-down. She was nice unless provoked. Even then, she was cautious. She walked into our first period. It had been maybe two weeks since I showed up consistently to that class. I followed her in.

“Yo, bro! You here?” Luke asked.

“What?” I turned to look at him as he grabbed the seat next to me.

“You alright?” He looked weirded out.

“I’m fine,” I said and turned to look at Aria. She was talking to Hannah. It seemed like they were in deep conversation.

“Developing a bit of an obsession with the new girl, huh?” His eyes must have followed mine, and I laughed.

“Whatever, man,” I responded.

There was an extra empty seat on the other side of her. I got up quickly and maneuvered around the other desks to get there. I sat down so fast that it pushed the seat back a bit.

***Aria’s POV

“Then I shoved the phone under my pillow and enjoyed ice cream and romance.” I slammed my notebook on the desk.

Hannah laughed. “How many romance books do you have?”

“Enough to keep me from hating men entirely.” I laughed back and took out my lucky purple pen.

“Hey.” A deep voice radiated next to my ear. I turned a bit and saw Chase sitting in the seat next to me.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I’m sorry,” he replied. I choked on some saliva.

“Huh? What?” I could imagine my face looked as shocked as I felt at this moment.

“I’m sorry for yesterday. I was rude,” he said.

I couldn’t tell if he was messing with me or not, but at that moment, the teacher walked in and started writing on the board. I glanced back at Hannah, and she looked as stumped as I felt.

In second period, I was not with Hannah. Luckily, I didn’t see Chase anywhere. Unfortunately, I was still not alone. Courtney and her gaggle of cheer b*tches walked in and sat in the seats around me.

“Not today, Courtney,” I said as they each watch me intently.

Courtney laughed. “I just had a question, new girl. What is it like to be completely untouched?”

“Unwanted,” one of her brunette friends added.

“A virgin,” said her other friend. I think it was Penny.

My eyes rolled. “This again? Really?” I laughed, which caught them off guard.

“Okay, how about I tell you what it is like to be a virgin, and you tell me what it’s like to be a slut that no guy takes seriously?” Her girlfriends laughed, and some even tried to stifle it unsuccessfully. Courtney stared at me with what I could only assume was murderous intent.

“Alright, ladies, that’s enough.” Mrs. Phillips pointed to the board that reminded us that study hall was silent time.

A piece of paper landed on my desk. I opened it. The word “nerd” was written on it. Another one landed on my desk with “freak,” and then one with “loser.” A few more landed, but I left them unopened and tossed them in the trash.

A few periods later, I sat down at the table with Hannah for lunch. Unwrapping my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I felt transported back to second grade. Still, it was what we could afford, and I did love peanut butter.

“I heard what you said to Courtney this morning!” Hannah flashed a wicked smile. “I love it, girl, and keep it up. Soon, they won’t mess with you for one second.”

Hannah barely understood. Everyone seemed to like her, and she had no enemies. I didn’t think she had ever been involved in bullying until I came around.

“She pissed me off. What else was I going to say? Oh, almighty head cheerleader, please continue to grace me with your elegant bullying?” I pretended to bow down, and Hannah spat out some of her soda.

“Oh, please do next time,” she said, and I joined her in laughing.

“Ugh, anyway, I’m sure they will move on to someone else soon. It’s just because I am new and unknown,” I responded.

She nodded. “You’re smart, Aria, but all kidding aside, keep a watch out for Courtney. She isn’t as dumb as you might think. She sure plays a good game, but I heard one year she got a girl kicked out of school.” She tore off a piece of her ham sandwich and popped it in her mouth.

I lean in, curious. “What for?” I asked.

Hannah nodded at some guy a few tables back. “See him?” I nodded in return.

“He had a female lab partner once. That’s it. This chick was just his lab partner, and Courtney didn’t like it. I have no idea how she got her kicked out, but suddenly, two days later, she stopped showing up to school,” Hannah explained.

“Okay, that could be for several reasons.” I pointed out, not believing this for a second.

“She went crazy! Started showing up at school events dressed in black. She wouldn’t talk to anyone. When Courtney would make eye contact with her, she would dip out.” Hannah pointed at me. “You don’t want to be the next one.” She waved her hands, said, “Ooooh, scary, isn’t it?” and laughed.

“Oh sure is. You got me there.” I rolled my eyes.

A tall figure approached the table, and Hannah was left staring behind me, unimpressed.

“Hey, Aria.”

I turned around to see Chase.

“Hi,” I said and turned back to my food. He took a seat next to me.

“Look, my friends are having a get-together this weekend at Luke’s house. I was wondering if you’d like to come,” he said. The look in his eyes seemed innocent enough, but why was he asking me, of all people, to go with him?

“If this is because of yesterday, you can forget it. Just don’t mess with me again,” I said and took a sip of my water.

“Yes and no. I want to prove to you that I don’t suck as much as I let on yesterday,” he said.

“Um, maybe. I’ll let you know, okay? I don’t exactly trust you,” I replied. He nodded and walked away slowly.

“What was that?” Hannah asked.

“Progress,” I said and winked at her.