Sugar Boo

29

Yesterday was the hardest day for me, from realizing I was being emotionally manipulated by two guys, to fleeing from them which escalated in me stumbling into an alley of some hotel building to ugly cry.

What has my life become into? A thought occurred to me at that moment that this was never the way I planned my life out to be. The beginning of my junior year wasn't supposed to go this way.

When I felt my life was about to spiral out of control, I had a pleasant conversation with Mom where she opened my mind, soothed my soul, and comforted me with her wisdom.

Agitation was rife within me — coursing throughout my entire body with each passing step I made. Yet, there was a demanding voice at the back of my head instructing me to stay imperturbable.

I was greeted by an unpredicted light tap upon my shoulder. As I braced myself, I whirled around thinking it was either Ethan or Kaleb wanting to feed me with more of their shit which I had enough but it wasn't.

It was Elle, dressed in a navy blue blazer over a white shirt which she topped off with a red bow, her mid-thigh skirt hugged her curves in all the right places, and her heels showed off her enviably long legs.

The girl stood rigid, arms crossed and lips pursed into a thin line while looking at me with her head tilted back a bit. Just from the body language of her, I knew she wasn't in a good mood.

"Where is Ethan?" Elle pulled me from my thoughts, causing my brows to pucker.

It came to my attention that she had a stack of envelopes in her hand. "I don't know," I answered.

Elle wore a skeptical expression on her face. "You mean, you didn't come with him?"

"No."

"No, what?" she pressed.

I groaned because her attitude was beginning to tick me off. "No, I didn't come with him."

"And did he happen to be at your house again last night?" she came out with another question, moving her face closer.

"What?" I asked back confusedly.

Elle uncrossed her arms and moved them to her hips. "You know I hate it when I have to repeat myself."

"No, he didn't come over to my place," I told her with sincerity.

Elle wasn't convinced. "Yeah, right."

I found that acceptable. I didn't expect her to believe in me directly after what Ethan and I had done to her. Once you lie to people, they wouldn't be able to keep trust in you and it'll be hard for them to believe you anymore.

"Hi, you guys are invited to my birthday party," Elle said to two passing seniors and handed the envelopes over to them.

"Elle, I swear he wasn't," I spoke a second later with more force. "Did you guys get into a fight again?"

Elle shook her head at me. "Why is that always the first thing on your mind? You make it sound like you'd wish for it to happen."

"Stop talking nonsense," I hurriedly said and my reaction silenced her.

Turning on my heel, I joined the flow of students as they headed to the first-period class. Elle followed me, handing out the invitation cards to the crowd in the process.

"Are you okay? You seem kind of upset at me for just asking a simple question," Elle inquired.

I cocked my head to the side and caught her gaze. "I'm fine. It's just whatever is the issue between you two, leave me out of it."