Page 114 of Withered

I hate wearing a skirt. The last time I wore a skirt was because I bought it the day before on our shopping spree. The only skirts I own are the ones Kristy gifted me or forced me to buy.

“To make Jake realize what he’s missing,” Kristy replies as she puts her makeup on.

“That makes no sense. I’m not wearing that,” I tell her and find a pair of black jeans.

“But why?” Kristy follows me to the closet.

“Kristy, please. No. If he wants to, he’ll realize that either way.”

I put on black jeans. Finishing my outfit with boots and a school jacket, we go downstairs and join my parents for breakfast. I tell her to go first and that I’ll have my car today. I don’t want to trouble her with my problems.

I get in my car and plug in my phone with Taylor Swift’sReady for It?blasting through. The song starts, and so does my car. I drive slowly, listening to the lyrics.

I wonder how many girls he loved and left haunted.The lyrics of the song are all in the feels today. Every single word takes me back to Jake.

Some boys are trying too hard; he doesn’t try at all, though. There are no other boys, and he did try yesterday. Maybe I overreacted?

I see nothing better; I’ll keep him forever.I don’t see anyone better, and I do want to keep him. Is that too bad? Is it too much to ask for?

In the middle of the night, in my dreams, you should see the things we do, baby. Damn, Taylor. You get me.

Irritated and annoyed, I unplug my phone and drive in silence.

I already have the books for my first lesson, so I go straight to class. The biolab will be hell today.

The class fills up, and there is no sign of Jake. We are paired for the entire year, and given yesterday’s talk, today will be much more difficult. If he doesn’t show up, I can do it myself. That has happened before, and I am fine with it.

Just before Mrs. Rivera shows up, Jake enters the class and sits beside me. The class starts, and he doesn’t move, which I take as a sign to do it all myself. I write everything down, and in a second, my copy is snatched away from me. I look at the intruder—the jerk himself.

“You perform; I’ll write it down,” Jake orders.

I glare at him, which is a waste, as he just rolls his eyes and smirks. The Taylor Swift inside me is singing…Bad Blood.

I shake my head and shush the Taylor inside me. Time passes quickly, with no disturbance, no talking, just two strangers working together on something. Confidence swirls in me that I can now ignore him properly. I got this.

And I really do. I manage to ignore him during Math class, too.

I go sit on our seats at lunchtime and wait for Kristy and Tyler. They both arrive together, hand in hand. There’s little to no doubt that they are dating and are happy together.

Kristy sits while Tyler goes to get something.

“How is the ignore mission going on?” Kristy asks.

“Pretty good. I didn’t talk to him in biology, as he wrote everything in that sloppy handwriting. In Math, I sat away while he went to the last seat, ignoring everyone. Some girls tried to talk to him, but he wasn’t having it.”

Kristy watches me without saying anything. She puts her head in her hands and grunts loudly.

“What?”

“Did you just listen to yourself?” She looks at me.

“Yeah,” I say obliviously.

“Rose, you did the complete opposite of that. You had to ignore him, yet you just told me every single detail of what he did.” Kristy says, and my mouth hangs open in realization.

Tyler arrives and sits down. I glance around the cafeteria, and Tyler beats me. “He went out somewhere and won’t be here.”

“I was not looking for Jake,” I say.

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