The Only Ugly Thing About This Breakup is Me

1

(Hello, everyone. I just want to say that the first five chapters make me cringe but I literally have no clue on how to make them better, but I do swear that my ~writing~ gets better once it hits chapter six, but don't expect too much. I guess. Anyway, here it is.)

Jasper and I were walking home from a pretty long day at school when he stopped all of a sudden. I turned around and smiled at him, thinking he got distracted by a squirrel or something. I reach my hand out so he can grab it.

"Melissa," he said, his face serious. "This isn't working out."

I dropped my hand and felt my smile fade. "What do you mean, J?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. With his other hand, he gestured at the both of us. "This, Melissa. This isn't working out."

I squinted my eyes at him, not following him. I tried to read his expression then looked around me, as if the answer was going to be somewhere on the road. I returned my eyes to look at Jasper but he wasn't looking at me.

"You mean walking home?" I asked as a clap of thunder sounded somewhere nearby.

It scared me a bit, but Jasper looked as unaffected as ever.

He raised his chin up and looked me squarely in the eye. "No, Melissa." He sounded annoyed. "This. Us."

There was another clap of thunder and I cringed into myself. "What-- what are you talking about?"

"I'm breaking up with you." BOOM! Thunder clapped again, and it sounded closer. "I'm sorry."

"What---?"

"Melissa, look," Jasper started, but he didn't continue.

"Jasper, what are you trying to say?"

Jasper opened his mouth to say something but then he shook his head. "You and I, we..." He stammered and I could feel my heart beating faster and faster.

I just stared at him, my thoughts racing.

All he did was close his eyes and take a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, he looked me right in the eye. He opened his mouth to speak but the only thing that came out of it was a loud shrieking noise.

It sounded like... an alarm. An alarm? What?

Another clap of thunder boomed that sounded really close made me jump. The next thing I knew, I was sitting up on my bed, my heart pounding.

Outside, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled. Was there still school today? Usually, my mom would tell me to stay before she left for her shift, but she didn't today so I guess I had to go to school.

As I was getting ready, I made myself take a deep breath. My chest hurt when I did and I put a hand over it, trying to calm myself.

It was all a dream, Melissa. Just a dream. I told myself. Not real. Just breathe.

When I felt I was calm enough, I took another deep breathe. It didn't sting as much, and my lungs felt lighter, if that makes any sense.

But as I continued to get ready, I couldn't help but feel like something bad was going to happen and I just couldn't shake the feeling off.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

When I finally got to school, it felt like it was raining cats and dogs. The lightning and thunder were relentless, and the wind was howling like crazy. The hallways were slick with water as students started coming into the school. It wasn't as crowded as it usually was, and I figured that some kids just decided to stay at home.

I was beginning to regret even going to school today, but once I saw Jasper at the end of the hall, I knew there was a ray of sunshine on this rainy day.

"Hey, Mellie." He greeted when I slowly walked up to him.

He gave me a small smile when he saw me penguin-walking towards him. He raised an eyebrow and I stuck my tongue out at him. "I don't want to slip and fall, you know?"

Jasper just rolled his eyes as he took books from his locker.

"Nice hair," I told him as I studied his profile. His hair was flat, slick with rainwater. "Got the whole wet look going on."

He rolled his eyes and shook his head at me making droplets of water sprinkle my face.

"Jasper!" I gasped, trying to shield my face with my hands. "Stop it!" I demanded between peals of laughter.

He grabbed my wrists and brought them down and shook his head at me some more. I leaned away and he finally stopped, giving me a small, mischievous smile.

I took this opportunity to stare at him. Sure, he and I had been together for a while, but I never got tired of looking at his face. At his cute hair, and his cute eyebrows, and his cute eyes, and his cute...eyebags?

I inched my hand towards his face. "Are you tired, J? You don't look like you got enough sleep."

"I'm fine," he said dismissively as he leaned back. He let go of my hands and turned away coldly.

Where did that even come from?

My confusion must have been clear on my face because Jasper regained his composure and sighed.

"Sorry," he said. "I just stayed up all night trying to finish up homework and I didn't even get to finish it."

"Okay," I said slowly.

"I'm just, um," he stammered and scratched his hear. Uh, oh, that ear scratch... what was going on?

"I'm just going to the library to finish them up, okay? Sorry I can't walk you to class today."

"It's okay," I said, but he was already walking away. He didn't even look back.

It wouldn't have bothered me any other day, but because of my dream this morning, it just...

For some reason, some part of me really believed that Jasper was going to end things with me. I guess it believed it so much because why else would I dream about it? I mean, it never made sense, him and I. But it happened, and we were okay right now, weren't we?

The sound of the bell ringing brought me out of my thoughts. I was right outside my classroom door, but that was the moment my legs decided to bail on me. I slipped and landed on my butt and I was sure it was going to bruise.

When I got up, my butt felt cold and when I reached over to brush my jeans off, I felt wet fabric.

Man, I thought to myself. Today was going to be a long day.