BLEAK

Chapter Twenty-One

21

"Hey! Lauren!" Sam's voice followed me after school on Wednesday.

I spun round and faced him, halting to a stop and almost making two Year Sevens crash into me. Sam, in all honestly, was an extremely good looking guy but never took advantage of it and never, ever, strung a girl along. Actually, I'm not sure he'd actually had a girlfriend.

"Sammy!" I shouted as he walked up to me, rubbing his eyes.

Like everyone who had been round Cameron's last night, our eyes were sore and heads hurt. I even saw Freddie falling asleep in Music third period.

Ella and Crew had stayed behind for some Geography project they needed to work on and, as I don't take geography, staying behind and doing nothing for two hours didn't fill me with glee.

"You alright, Samantha?" I asked, blinking rapidly to help myself not fall asleep. I had literally had three hours after reading till four a.m.

Sam glared at me and jabbed the soft spot under my ribs, making me double over, "Yes, I'm fine, but you might not be,"

"Uh oh, what's happened?" I asked.

Sam grabbed my shoulder and steered me out of the gates so we were out of view of the school building. "Carter."

"You what? That prick who turned up to Cameron's last night?" I asked defiantly, not pleased that his name was being mentioned.

"Well, yeah. We were at lunch, right, and next thing you know, he starts discussing how bangable you are," Sam looked at the ground, rubbing the back of his neck. "Cayden was there and he must've just snapped because he gave the evillest death-glare to Carter ever."

"Okay," I said, processing this. "So why might I be ever so slightly screwed?"

Sam sighed. "Cayden punched his jaw when he wouldn't shut up. Carter then exclaimed that you were being flirtatious with him."

"YOU WHAT?!" I shouted, mouth hanging wide open. How could someone be such a self-centred arsehole?

"Hmm," He still didn't look me in the eye. "So, obviously, the rest of us stood up for you. Saying that you've never looked at any of us more than friends except for Cay. But he just stormed off, probably looking for you. I haven't seen him since then, he wasn't in P.E."

I groaned and put my face in my hands. "So Cayden believes I-Love-Myself-And-Making-Everyone-Unhappy-Carter and not you guys?"

Sam nodded slightly. "I'm really sorry, Lauren. We tried..."

"It's fine. I'll call him," I smiled gently at Sam. "Thanks for the heads-up."

Sam didn't reply. His eyes were already wide open and staring behind me.

"What?"

"You're not gonna like this..."

"What?"

Sam grabbed my shoulders and spun me round so I could see what he was looking at.

Cayden and Keeley. Cayden and Keeley flirting. Keeley giggling, Cayden looking sexy as always.

I clamped a hand over my mouth to stop the vomit that was threatening to make an appearance.

"Lauren?" Sam whispered.

Tears were forming in my eyes. "That fucking bitch." I cursed.

Soon, the hurt was over-powered by hate and anger. What sort of skank does that? Didn't she try and offer her congratulations just yesterday?