Remedy

Traitor

That next week at school, Scarlett was sitting in the cafeteria eating lunch with her friends Jessica and Victoria. Scarlett glanced across the room to see Alexa and Kayla immersed in a conversation. Instantly she felt her heart hurt because in that moment she remembered what it was like to be that close to Alexa and always be gossiping about something. As much as she hated to admit it, she missed her best friend. Jessica and Victoria were best friends already, so Scarlett always felt like the third wheel.

Jessica said something to Scarlett, but the teen was too busy reminiscing to hear.
"Hello? Earth to Scarlett," Jessica said and snapped her fingers in front of Scarlett's face.
"Sorry, did you say something?" Scarlett asked as she looked to Jessica.
"I said, were going to go to the library to work on some homework. Do you want to come?" Jessica repeated.
Scarlett peered down at her half eaten sandwich and shook her head saying,
"No it's okay. I still have to finish my lunch. I'll meet up with you in history after."
Jessica gave Scarlett a smile and then her and Victoria got up and headed out.

From across the room, a boy, Matthew, was watching Scarlett and her friends. When he saw the other two leave, he took that as his chance to talk to Scarlett.

Matthew was quite tall and he had curly brown hair and green almost hazel eyes. He walked over to Scarlett with his lunch and asked,
"Do you mind if I join you?"
Scarlett looked up from her phone and shook her head as she gave him a warm smile.
"I'm Matt," the boy said as he took a seat.
"Scarlett," she told him.
"I think you're in my history class. Do you have it next period with Mrs. Jones?" he asked.
Scarlett nodded and said,
"Yeah, I thought you looked familiar."
He chuckled a little and said,
"Do you think you could help me with the homework?"
"The homework that's due in fifteen minutes?" she asked him for clarification.
"Yeah I got most of it done," he told her.

Once the school day was over, Scarlett went to meet Jameson out by his car. He drove her from school to work on the days she was scheduled to go in. Jameson was a senior and he and Scarlett became pretty good friends.

Right as Scarlett reached Jameson's car, Matthew walked up behind her and said,
"Hey I was wondering if I could get your number? Maybe we could work on homework together sometime?"
Scarlett smiled and said,
"Sure."
She put her number in his phone and handed it back to him right as Jameson approached the car. Jameson was more of a big brother figure to Scarlett. Their relationship was similar to that of siblings.
"I'll text you," Matt said as he got his phone back. She smiled at him and then got in the car.

"Who's your new boyfriend?" Jameson asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.
"He's not my boyfriend," Scarlett told him and looked out the window.
"Okay," Jameson replied in a disbelieving tone.
"He's not. We just did homework together at lunch," Scarlett told him and glared at him.
"Sure," Jameson said in the same tone as before.
"Besides, I don't want a boyfriend. I don't think I could handle that commitment right now anyways."
Jameson was aware of Scarlett's addictions and knew she meant that.
"I know, I'm just teasing you, Scar," Jameson told her. She just rolled her eyes at him.

Alice was also at work that day, but her bus drops her off there. Her and Scarlet have talked a few times, but not much. Scarlett talks to Poppy the most out of all her half siblings since she's sees the girl once a week for piano.

As the weeks went on, Scarlett and Matthew have been spending more time together and quickly became best friends. They would spend hours talking on the phone or he'd pick her up in his car and they'd drive around listening to music. They'd do homework  together every night, whether they were physically together or not. Matthew opened up to Scarlett about his parents and older siblings and how he felt like his parents liked them more and how that affected him. Scarlett then felt like she could trust him and told him about her past and her history with drugs. He was very accepting and understanding of Scarlett's past. In all honesty, Scarlett missed having a best friend and someone to talk to about everything and that's all she saw Matt as. However, Matthew was starting to have feelings for Scarlett.