A Force Of Gravity✅

32

-Rose- Present

"What if I'm someone I don't want around?
I'm falling again, I'm falling again, I'm falling."
-Falling by Harry Styles

The football team have been thriving tonight. Mostly, it is because of Cooper and Will. The entire time I'm cheering, I can't take my eyes off Will. I'm not concentrating on the game or Sarah's bossy orders, just him. The whistle blows, we win the game and everyone screams loudly.

"That was amazing. Did you see that last touchdown?" Brooke squeals beside me and I nod my head although my focus was on the other side of the field. Together we rush over to the boys and tell them congratulations. Will and I have the most awkward exchange.

I haven't seen him since the kiss and I have no idea what I expected. It is supposed to go back to normal between us. Normally, he'd say a sarcastic comment, I'd say a snarky remark and we'd forget anything happened. But this time, for some frustrating reason, neither of us can.

"Holy fuck, isn't that your mum?" Sarah blurts out and I turn around. My heart drops and everything else seems to blur into the background. I've never understood when people say they wanted the ground to swallow them up until now. People are talking around me. My friends are standing beside me and yet looking at my mother, I feel so fucking alone.

"Too late, she's coming over." Ben states. Then I do what I did a few weeks ago and I run. Or walked really quickly so that I don't look awkward in front of my peers. What is she doing here? In Riverbrook, at my school? All this time I worried that people would see me for who I am, someone weak and scared. But I didn't think this would be how.

"Rose! Wait!" My mother calls after me but I keep walking until I'm standing in the parking lot. I curse when I realise I didn't drive here, Brooke had taken me.

"You can't run every time you see her." Will says from beside me and I groan.

"Actually, I can." I mutter but I look around, trying to find Brooke but she is still standing in the middle of the field. I'm about to ask Will for a ride but my mother is already standing in front of me. My breathing is harsh and shallow but it is more from the panic than the fast walking.

"Rose, stop running please." She pleads but I've already stopped. She stands a few metres away from me, looking as stunning as ever. My friends aren't surrounding me, I have no idea where they are.

"What do you want?" I hiss and she has the audacity to look surprised by my harsh tone.

"A chance to explain." She replies. "You must have wanted to speak to me if you came all that way. I'm sure it wasn't a coincidence that you were at the event that I was hosting."

"You can't show up at my high school. Someone invented mobile phones for a reason." I tell her. I had planned out my  conversation with her ever since she left but it is all going to shit.

"I'm sorry but I thought that if you saw who was calling, then you'd never pick up." She tells me honestly and I can't deny it. Will goes over to stand with the others, giving us space that I don't want.

"How did you know I was here?" I ask.

"I lived here." She says obviously, making me more angry.

"No, I mean at this football game." I shout harshly and she flinches. I can tell she wants to tell me off for my tone right now.