Chapter 87: Chapter 87

Tucker came and sat with Steven by pulling a chair in between. He had a wide smile on his face while Steven looked uncomfortable.

"So the Sunday's plan is confirmed?" Tucker questioned, I peeked at Steven secretly, who was uncomfortably looking through his cellphone's screen.

"Yeah!" I answered and smiled back at Tucker, I wanted to know if Steven was getting jealous or not. He finally shoved his phone in his pocket and cleared his throat, getting prepared to be a part of our discussion. I sighed, I couldn't take it anymore, he has to tell me what happened between him and Ivory, or I will go insane, but I didn't want to call him to the corner in front of Tucker and make him suspicious.

We sat there for another few minutes, gossiping and laughing.

"I will meet you guys later," Steven looked through his phone and got up, stealing eyes from me.

I watched his face and hoped he would turn around to at least look at me, to at least make eye contact but he left without even glimpsing me once.

I shared a glance with Dina, who was watching my face because she knew I was upset at Steven's behavior. I felt lifeless and less motivated, Tucker was telling some jokes and the fake smile on my face was visible. A few minutes later, I received a text from Steven, at first, I hesitated to open it, what if he confesses that he loves Ivory, that he wants to be with her? I gulped and opened the message.

Steven: Whatever you girls are thinking is wrong, trust me Elle I'll never hurt you or cheat on you. Just don't ask any questions until all this is over.

I exhaled in relief and a wide smile covered my lips. Even though that didn't explain his kiss with Ivory but at least he still cared for me. The whole day went by and I didn't hear from Steven, no one saw him or heard of him, it felt like he had disappeared from the earth.

"Did you hear from Steven?" After debating with myself, I finally decided to give up on my ego and ask Sid. It was 9 am and we were still out, lingering on the bridge. Dina watched my face and sighed, she felt bad for me.

"Nope!" Sid denied to make eye contact with me, Dina instantly glared at him. "I mean, he told me that he would be busy." Sid answered and finally made eye contact, "and he didn't tell me where he was busy." he mumbled before I could utter a word.

"Okay! I said and walked ahead, slowly wandering here and there. Sid dropped me in my room and that was it about that night, the next day came as a surprise for us.

I was standing with Dina and Sid, haven't heard from both Tucker and Steven after the last day and it was getting intense.

"There you go, we all are worried and he is drooling around," Sid commented, making us aware of Steven's arrival, who was walking in our direction to join us.

"Where were you mate?" Sid patted his back and smiled, Steven smiled back and secretly looked my way.

"How are you all?" he asked generally, not making eye contact with any of us.

"Fine," we said in unison and then going back to silence. We were standing together, basically doing nothing when we noticed a commotion going around.

"What is going on?" Dina whispered in her mouth and kept looking around to find out what was going on. "Hey, what's going on?" she stopped the girl passing her and asked, we did notice that the Sheriff's car was parked in front of our school, Dina's father was here too.

"You didn't hear?" the girl inquired in shock, we all shook our heads while Steven hardly acknowledged her presence, "Ivory Arch, Tucker's sister ran away, last day," she announced and we all shared glances but you know who wasn't surprised? Steven, didn't show any interest. His eyes hardly noticed us. The girl walked away and that's when Dina lost it, she turned around in anger and stared at Steven's face.

"Is there something you wanna confess?" she stated loudly, my whole existence was shaken up. Firstly, Steven kissed Ivory and now she was gone, and Steven was missing the day Ivory allegedly ran away.

"Nothing, what am I hiding?" the hesitation in his voice was noticeable, he looked down and inhaled briefly.

"Can I talk to you, Steven?" I had enough, I mumbled, playing nervously with my fingers. The silence engulfed us for a moment, he knew he was caught.

"Okay!" he uttered, and we two walked away from everyone to isolation. I halted where no one was around us and swirled to face him.

"Say it!" I stated, folding my arms on my chest and looking straight in his eyes.

"Say what?" he was looking everywhere but at me.

"You kissed her." I announced and a gasp from him, followed by a sentence, my heart missed a beat when he finally looked in my eyes, "I saw you two." it was the hardest part to mumble. His posture was shaky, he was guilty.

"I--," I stammered and looked down, "It's not what it loo--," he halted again, nervously rubbing his hands.

"So you have no explanation for that?" it broke my heart that he didn't have an excuse, that he did it in his senses.

"Elle, it's not like that." He finally got himself together and mumbled, reaching for my hand but I gently shrugged it away.

"Lie, at least lie that it wasn't you, that I saw wrong," my voice had started to break, why did he do that to me? "Where is she?" I asked, removing one tear from my cheek that had escaped my eye.

"I don'--," he whispered, but I interrupted him.

"Do you know where she is?" I questioned, "Look in my eyes and tell me do you know where he is?" I forced, he was trying hard to ignore my question but I was being stubborn.

"Elle please," he looked away, running a hand through his hair.

"Steven tell me," I insisted, he has to be honest now.

"I know where she is." he finally gave up and mumbled, his confession made my heart sink in my chest.

"D--," I gulped to compose my posture, "Did you do something?" I wished he said no, I was hoping he would say something that would comfort me but I was wrong.

"Yes!" he closed his eyes and my reflex worked worst, I slapped him across the face. It took him by surprise, he watched my face and a tear escaped his eyes as well as mine too.

"Please don't hate me," he grabbed my hand, but I shrugged it off, pushing him away from me.

"Guys enough!" Dina came rushing, holding me and yelling at us. "stop creating a scene here." She growled in anger, I was so angry that I failed to notice there were students standing afar.

I broke free from Dina's grip and ran away, exiting through the main gate.

Steven's POV:

I felt my whole world crumbling under my feet, I was not upset that she hit me, but I was upset that I hurt her to a limit that she had to hit me.

"What the hell did you do Steven?" Dina growled, Sid didn't say much too.

"I should go after her," Sid announced, knowing that Dina wanted to stay and talk to me. He left us alone, there was anger in Dina's eyes.

"Let's go somewhere else." She commanded and I followed her silently with a broken heart. It was all too much, she now hated me, she saw me with Ivory, she saw me sneaking into her room and then kissing her.

"Now!" Dina turned around and questioned, we were now standing on the bridge, alone and a cold breeze dropping on our skin.

"She did kiss me," I stated, looking at her face changing colors, she looked mad as hell and I don't blame her.

"You are disg---," she stopped in the middle of the phrase when I added a simple sentence to my statement.

"They had Giselle's nudes," I gritted my teeth while Dina gasped and covered her mouth in shock.

"She kissed me because Tucker was approaching her room and she didn't want to tell him that I was in her room, that we were planning to steal those nudes so she kissed in haste in order to prevent Tucker from seeing me." I still had to go from the start, but this was important to be stated before anything.