Chapter 8

• The door of my room creaked open. I closed my eyes properly, pretending as if I was sleeping. Pretending to sleep is the only thing I could do in order to skip school. Talking to my mother about the situation is so useless.
• "Won't you go to school today? It's almost 8pm."My mother's high-pitched voice resounded in my head.
• I didn't give her a response, still pretending to sleep. She should get out of my room. I don't want anyone to bother me this morning.
• "Ivy, stand up as soon as possible. I know that you're not sleeping. It's pretty obvious."She snapped at me.
• I lifted my shoulder in a half shrug as I opened my eyes.
• "What?"I yawned lazily with a frown on my face.
• "You're late for school, girl. Go and have your bath, you need to go to school."She instructed me.
• "I don't wanna go to school."I muttered under my breath.
• She folded her arms over her chest, her eyebrows furrowed."Why?"
• My jaw dropped. I thought I had said it silently, so she heard me. Well, it is even better that way. It's good that she heard what I said, anyway. I don't wanna go to school.
• My eyelids dropped."I'm tired. I think I'm sick. I don't wanna go anywhere."I lied, avoiding her eye contact.
• Mom walked inside my room, her brows still drew together. She came closer to my bed and patted my shoulder gently.
• "What's wrong with you, daughter? You've never talked about skipping school before today. Did someone bully you in school or what?"Mother bombarded me with questions.
• I gave a half shrug."No one bullied me. I'm just tired."I said calmly.
• "Look at me now."Her voice turned cold and I quickly did as she said.
• "What about your boyfriend?"She questioned me.
• My heart skipped a bit after she blurted out the question I have been dreading. I know that she will ask the question but I didn't expect it to be so soon.
• Someone mentioning Romeo's name made my heart bleed. Is it how it feels to have your heart broken by your boyfriend? The relationship between Romeo and I wasn't real, but still it felt like a real break up. I had fallen in love with him deeply.
• "I'm waiting for your answer, young lady."Mom's voice jerked me out of my thoughts.
• I forced a smile, looking into her eyes."He is fine. And, I think I'm okay now. I'm going to school then."
• "Okay. But if you're really tired, you can stay at home. I don't have a problem with that. I was just surprised that you didn't wanna go to your school."Mom rambled.
• "It's okay, mom. I really wanna go to school now."I insisted.
• The corners of her mouth curled upwards."That's my baby girl. Bye sweetie, I'm going to work."
• "Bye mom."I waved at her and watched as she left my room.
• I heaved a sigh of relief when I'm sure that she had gone downstairs. I'm not really interested in going to school but I just have to tell mom that, so that she wouldn't be worried about me.
• Poor Mom thought something was wrong with me when I told her that I don't feel like going to school. It's not fair to get her worried, especially with her work.
• Of course, Mom was surprised because I'm Ivy Young. The Almighty Ivy Young. The girl who would never miss school because of anything.
• My phone beeped from the bedside table. I checked the notification. Shit! I had seven text messages from Joey and one from Xander. Damn, I really overslept. This is so unusual. Well, I shouldn't be so surprised. I slept around 1am in the midnight. I was stalking Romeo on Facebook and Instagram. I ended up getting hurt and I cried my eyes out after seeing the videos of him making out with random girls. I was so stupid, honestly.
• I clicked on the message from Xander.
• ** Won't you show up in school? Are you okay? **
• Xander and I have become pretty close these days. He is a nice person, I must say. Sometimes, he used to make me forget the thoughts of Romeo when we were in school.
• Then, I moved to Joey.
• **You must show up in school, bitch. I'm already in school. I don't understand why you're letting Romeo affect you. You really need to get over that guy. I thought you hated when girls lose themselves because of a guy. It's not like that asshole is more handsome than Jake.**
• I chuckled at her last sentence. It's obvious that she was exaggerating. Romeo is more handsome than Jake and all the boys in my school. Dude is a handsome devil.
• I blinked my eyelashes rapidly. Tears welled up in my eyes as I reread Joey's last message.
• I finally squeezed my eyes shut and let down the tears I've kept, since all these days.
• I'm a fool. Why the heck did I fall for Romeo? How did I fall for him?
• I was stupid for falling for a bad boy like him. I fell for someone who just wanna enjoy the moment with a random girl, someone who can never be committed. I'm indeed a fool.
• It was just a truth or dare game, but I got lost in the moments. Perhaps, I wasn't a fool, it was so easy to fall for Romeo. He made me feel like I was the most beautiful girl on earth, like he really cared for me. He did all those things that were so sweet. He was the first guy that made me feel like a woman.
• That was the first time a boy would make me feel that way. He was my first kiss and also the first guy I fell in love with. It hurt that all those beautiful moments we shared were gone so soon.
• I know that it was just a game that would come to an end. But, what was really painful was how he treated me when I went to his house the last time. Like, he didn't know me at all. Like, nothing really happened between us. Even if he was in a bad mood, he ought to talk nicely and apologize later.
• It was so painful.
• I swallowed a gulp down my throat and wiped off my tears.
• Breathe in. Breathe out.
• You can do it, Ivy Young. I really need to get over him and also pretend like he hadn't existed in my life at all.
• I'm sure I can do that. I have belief in myself. It's easy if I'm determined. I just have to go back to the old Ivy Young. The one who really cared about her mother, her education and her best friend.
• I guess, I will have to tell my mother that I have broken up with Romeo later, else she would keep asking about him.
• I sent a text to Joey that I will be in school in a few minutes.
• I got down from my bed. It's time to prepare for school. I can't just lose all my dreams of becoming a surgeon because I fell for a guy who doesn't give a damn about me.
• ~•~
• By the time I reached the school, it was already the second period. The class I'm having now is English. I don't wanna think about it after all I had promised to forget about him totally. But still, both of them have English class together.
• What if he shows up in class today?
• I don't think he's gonna do that. He hasn't been coming to class since he resumed school after that incident.
• I took a deep breath and entered the class. In order to get rid of the feelings I had for Romeo, I have to get rid of every thought of him, hence I shouldn't be thinking about him.
• "Why are you late, Ms Young?"Mr Banks asked me, glaring at me with his eagle eyes.
• "I woke up late. I'm sorry."I muttered, picking my words after the other.
• "Sorry for yourself. Don't let this repeat itself next time. You can have your seat.''He snapped at me.
• I bowed my head a little."Thanks sir."
• I glanced around my seat, looking for an empty seat. The class was filled up to the brim. I wondered why everyone decided to attend English class, the day I was late.
• "You're disturbing my class, Ivy. Just sit down beside Romeo."Mr Banks's voice resounded in my head.
• My eyes widened as I heard that name. Romeo? He is in this class? What the heck!
• My eyes roamed around the class until they landed on him. He wasn't aware of my intense gaze at him, he was chatting with a red head sitting beside him. He was obviously flirting with her, the girl's cheeks had turned pink already.
• My hands tightened into fists. I was jealous and confused at the same time.
• Jealous because he was flirting with a girl in class which was so unreasonable.
• Confused because I don't wanna sit beside him.
• I don't know what to do. There was an empty seat beside him, I think that's the only empty seat in the class.
• Mr Banks threw me a deadly glare."Kindly have your seat, young lady."He snapped at me.
• I nodded my head."Yes."
• I slowly walked down to the seat. My chest rose and fell in rapid breaths. I don't understand why I am feeling this way. Maybe, it is because I'm gonna sit closer to him after a long time. I have really missed the sweet scent of his cologne.
• He was still engrossed in his conversation with the girl beside him. I felt a pull in my chest. I couldn't deny that I was really jealous right now. And, I was so disappointed in myself for that. I thought I'd agreed to get over him.
• I swallowed hard and finally took my seat beside him.
• He sensed that someone was beside him. He turned and his eyes met mine. My palms began sweaty as he stared intensely at me.
• "What are you doing beside me?"The words came out of his mouth suddenly. His voice was deep and low.
• I raised an eyebrow as his words finally registered in my head.Why would he ask me this question? Is this class his personal space?
• "This isn't your house. This is a school."I blurted out.
• His eyes narrowed."Who taught you how to talk back? Xander?"
• A line appeared between my brows."Look, I'm here to study. I'm not here to discuss anything with you. Also, I have no choice but to sit here since there was no empty seat."
• His eyes pierced into mine, they held no expression at all."Xander has really taught you a lot of things."
• Not again. After a long time of ignoring me completely, he finally spoke to me today and he kept talking about Xander. What the heck is wrong with him? I think Romeo has gone crazy.
• I threaded a finger through my hair."Why do you keep dragging Xander into our conversation?"I snapped at him in a high pitched voice.
• Obviously, I've lost my cool.