Chapter 84: Chapter 84

105. Promise

Jacob

I skip school the next day… and the day after. If it was in my control, I would have skipped the whole week or something.

With no mattress and furniture to lie on, my back is sore. Sleeping on the floor isn’t exactly comfortable. But I guess that’s what I needed. A bit of discomfort to distract me. It worked mostly well. I visited some of my old friends. Went to see Hanna.

After taking a bath, I pack my stuff and clean the room.

I will go home after school today and eat some decent food. I barely ate anything here.

I am kind of starving now.

…

As I drive towards school, I cannot help but wonder how everything and our breakup will affect Natalie.

How is she doing?

Will she isolate herself again? Or will she hang out with West now?

I hold the steering wheel tight as I feel a pang of jealousy. I don’t want her alone and isolated. But I don’t want her with West either.

I know it’s stupid to think like this. I shouldn’t think about her at all.

Fuck! This is going to take a hell lot of time.

Did West and Riley break up too? Riley was tired of West’s shit, anyway. I can tell it would be the last straw. I snort, remembering many times Natalie used to point out West’s toxic traits. Which were very accurate. Then why would she go to him?

Maybe girls do like bad boys.

I shake my head in amusement.

I am fucking hopeless. I had my thoughts under control over the last two days.

Look at me... Going to school thinking about things that shouldn’t matter to me.

Natalie should be the last thing on my mind.

….

As I reach the school, I see Norris getting out of his car. I stop in my tracks to see his face. It’s swollen and one-eye is shut.

“What the fuck happened to you?” I exclaim.

He chuckles. “You missed so much drama in the last two days, Jacob!”

“What happened?”

“It’s much better now. I had to take a half day yesterday because of pain.”

“Who did this? Did you get into some fight? ”

“West that asshole… He is a fucking beast, though. He thought I leaked the pictures…”

“What? W-Why-“

“Funny thing is, I didn’t even know what had happened at school on Monday… I am not in that stupid group chat anymore... So I had no way to know…”

I quit that group too.

Everyone was talking about Natalie. They were scoring us, who looked better with her. Jacob or West and some random boys. They made guesses if Riley will date me now.

I shudder at the thought. Here I am reeling under so much pain and it’s entertaining gossip for them.

Then he looks at me and says, “I am really sorry about Natalie…It was fucked up.”

I grimace. I have been constantly thinking about her since this morning. I don’t wanna talk about her.

Although it is fucked up. I am still unable to wrap my head around everything that had happened after West birthday party. I need to stop thinking about that night.

“Why would he think you leaked the pictures?” I ask as we walk inside the school.

“Do you remember West had given me a phone to repair?”

I try to think and nod. I remember he had given him his phone twice. But that happened long ago.

“I fixed and gave that phone to Millie because her phone was broken and she needed a spare for a while.”

He takes a pause then adds apologetically, “My mistake… that I didn’t check on time if it was clean or not… But when I noticed those pics along with many others, I deleted them…”

along with many others…

“But it looks like Millie made a backup of some of the pics and she…” He sighs.

“This was below the belt… By the way, I gave my statement to the police yesterday. Millie will certainly be expelled. Natalie’s parents will probably press charges on her. She is in deep shit.”

I feel bad about Natalie. It was wrong, the way everything happened. She wanted to be there for Millie’s support… She wanted to report the group for slandering. I wonder if I should do it now. The snapshots she took are in my phone after all.

“But why would she do that?” I ask him.

“I guess she did this so everyone will stop talking about her…” He says.

Suddenly, something in my head clicks and my mind blanks out.

It was an old phone…

“Someone has anger issues.” Riley had teased West that day when he handed the phone to Norris.

“Oh, come on!! Happened more than a year ago. Quit it already Babe…” West had told her.

The pics were old…

Why didn’t she tell me?

“How is Natalie, though?” Norris asks, “I understand if she doesn’t want to attend school for a few days but is she ok? I called her, but she didn’t pick up.”

I look at him, still unable to process what I just realized.

“Are you saying the pictures are not recent?” I ask, unable to believe myself.

Norris looks at me and his expression changes.

“Fuck! Oh God… You didn’t know.” he says with realization.

“She… She didn’t tell me.” I tell him, bewildered.

Why?

…… …… …… …… ……

Natalie

…… …… …… …… ……

Next day when I went to school with Dad. We planned to keep the trip short. But the paperwork took a little longer. By the time we got out of the admin office, it was lunchtime.

Everyone threw glances at me. Worst part was some students passed comments even when Dad was walking beside me. Cowards took advantage of the crowd and whistled and threw some remarks.

“I wonder if she will stick with him now.”

“Or maybe both…”

“Or more..”

Then they laughed.

“Keep your mouth shut or I will punch you right now.” Dad warned a student.

I grabbed my dad’s arm in horror and pulled him out of the school. I didn’t want him to do anything. He would have been arrested. Teenagers know adults can't hit them. This is why they can be loud mouths sometimes.

Everything played out just the way it happened last year after that party. It’s not that bad. I told myself. Still, by the time we sat in the car I was shaking.

But what happened next I had never imagined.

“I fucking hope you keep your distance from boys now!” Dad burst out at me in anger.

I flinched at the way his voice rose.

“Or do you want something worse to happen before learning your lesson?”

“It’s not my fault!” I answered him in anger.

“Of course not! But tell me why it’s always you!“ He asked and I wanted to melt in my seat.

“Amy is a year younger than you. She never faced any of this shit! Do you know why?”

I swallowed hard and looked out of the window.

Because she is a better person.

“You do not know how to tell if a boy is good or bad for you.”

I blinked, and tears slipped out of my eyes.

“That boy West! I am sure he has something to do with all this. but you still defended him, saying he has nothing to do with it.”

I wanted to tell him my reasoning, but words didn’t come out of my mouth. My heart broke that Dad was disappointed with me.

“And on Friday night you went to attend his birthday party! I can’t believe you Natalie… A boy can treat you like shit and you can still be friends with him!”

It made me cry. Because he was right.

“Even though Jacob has dumped you and insulted you… I dread the idea that you will probably still go back to him…” His voice broke.

It made me cry harder. He was right. I wanted to call Jacob. In my brain fog, I couldn’t remember why I wanted to call him. But I wanted to hear his voice. Patch up with him.

I handed him my phone and said, “Delete their numbers and block their contacts…” I sob and tell him, “block their email and everything… I promise I won’t get in touch with them again Dad… I will never get into boy’s trouble again.”

“I will get you a new number, Natalie. To make sure they can not contact you again.” He took my phone away then drove me home.

“Did you ever see me mistreat your mom?” He asked as we reached home.

No…

“Take a break from dating Natalie…” He told me softly. “With fresh eyes and at a new place, maybe you find someone better. But for now, take a break. It breaks my heart to see you miserable… And same things keep happening with you again and again… “

I nodded.

“Come here, give me a hug.”

Then I hugged him and cried for a long time.