Page 66 of Withered

“Your dad got a call from the hospital. We are home now; where are you?” She states.

“I’ll be there,” I answer, and I hang up.

Jake is standing in front of me, and from the looks of it, he heard the conversation. I hand him the glass. “Thanks.”

He nods, then smirks. “For what, exactly?”

My eyes widen, and I blurt out, “I gotta go,” with some weird hand movements.

“Oh yeah?” He asks.

“Yeah.” I nod foolishly.

As I gather my stuff, I find Jake staring at me intensely. “What are you thinking, Jake?”

His eyes are hooded as he answers, “To give you a second orgasm.”

Hearing him say those words, my eyes almost pop out. I start speaking gibberish, unable to form a complete sentence. “I…w-we…I-I. I have to leave.”

“See you tomorrow!” I yell as I bolt out the door.

Getting home, I run to my room. Mom can’t see me when I have a hickey on my neck. As expected, a lovely red spot sits on my neck. I quickly cover it up with concealer and fix my hair.

“Mom!” I yell as I walk down the stairs.

“In here,” she shouts back from the kitchen.

I follow her voice and find her sitting on the kitchen stool. “I’m hungry.”

“I told you to eat lunch, but you said you didn’t want to,” she states. My gaze drops to her hands, which hold a magazine.

“Do we have something?” I check around.

“You can have the leftovers, or you can make yourself something,” she says her eyes are glued to the magazine.

I heat the leftovers and eat in silence because my mom is too occupied with the magazine to give her daughter some attention. In a way, I’m glad since she won’t notice me, specifically the covered-up hickey.

I need to talk to Kristy again. God, I hope she won’t kill me. No, she won’t. She’ll make me narrate every embarrassing thing that I did today, and then she’ll kill me. Honestly, what was I thinking?

I won’t let Jake get too close to me again. I just can’t deal with him. Jesus, not only is he a jerk, but he is magnetic as hell. What have I gotten myself into? For the first time, my life feels like a bunch of questions, and I have no clue where to go to hunt for the answers.

Mondayistheworstday of the week. I have math with Jake first. When I walk into the classroom, I find him on the last bench; he arrived earlier than usual.

My steps halt when he makes eye contact with me. Yesterday’s event flashes through my mind, and I look away from him. I can see him smirking at me from the corner of my eye.

I take a seat and pretend to be doing something because I can feel Jake’s gaze on me. It was difficult to keep my head straight after my encounter with him yesterday, but I manage to finish my work. My concentration is certainly below average, though.

As the class starts to fill in, I sense a movement, and my spine stiffens. The empty chair gives Jake a free pass to flop down beside me.

I look at him, and he smirks. My cheeks flush, and I ask, “Why are you sitting here?”

He shrugs. “I was getting bored back there, all alone. Those two girls won’t stop babbling.”

I tried everything to avoid him until now, but he had to come and sit beside me.

I'm about to say something when Professor Williams enters the class, saving me from a chit-chat with him. I think the less I say, the better. She keeps her books on the desk and is surprised to see Jake so early in the morning.Makes the two of us

She gives us some questions to solve, and we all get to work. I notice Jake leaning back in his chair and playing with his pen after a few minutes. I return to the problem and finish it in two minutes.

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