Broken

Chapter 8

Monday morning Ben and I walked into school hand in hand. Like every day, a few girls were giving me envious looks. I just ignored them. The school president was putting a sign up on the wall. When he left we went over to see what it said.

"The talent show. Sign up and audition on Tuesday at 3:30pm or Thursday at 4:00pm," I read.

"You should audition," Ben told me.

I looked at him. "No way."

"Why not? You have a great voice."

"Thanks but there's no way I'd be able to sing in front of everyone."

He sighed. "Okay. It's your choice. But I seriously think you should do it." We started walking again. As we walked I thought about if I should just audition or not. What's the worse that could happen? I don't make it? It's not that bad now that I think about it.

We stopped at my locker. "I changed my mind. I want to audition."

He looked at me. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm sure."

He smiled. "Okay. Cool." I put my combination into my locker and grabbed my books. I shut it and we headed to his locker. "So what song are you gonna sing?"

"Hey," I said as I sat down at the table in the lunch room next to Ben and Darren. Zac isn't here yet.

Ben put his arm around me. "Hey. We were thinking about going on a double date tonight. Do you want to?"

"Okay." I looked at Darren. "Who's your date?"

"Allison."

That shocked me. "Really? She didn't tell me you guys are dating."

"We're not. I just asked her on a date this morning."

"Oh." Zac came over and sat down next to him. "Hey. Guess what?"

"What?"

"Emily told me she likes you."

His face lit up. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. You should ask her out."

"I will!" He looked over at Emily who was talking to Allison. "Be right back." He stood up and went over to their table.

"Wow. Finally he's asking her out," Ben said. I laughed. He looked at me. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Then why'd you laugh at me?" He crossed his arms faking mad.

"What are you talking about?" I asked innocently.

He laughed. "You're lucky I love you."

I smiled. "I love you too." He smiled and leaned in. Just as we were about to kiss Darren ruined it.

"Get a room," he joked.

"Why don't you get a room with your pillow pet? I know you kiss it every night." Ben threw one of his french fries at him.

"Gross! It's my baby sister's!" Darren threw a piece of chicken back at him.

I laughed. "You guys are so childish."

"But you love me," Darren said.

"Back off! She's mine!" Ben grabbed my arm and pulled me to him.

I laughed. "I do love you Darren." Ben gave me a disbelieving look and I laughed again. "Relax Ben. I meant in a friend way."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Besides, I love you more."

"You better." He leaned in. "So can I get that kiss now?" I nodded and he kissed me. This time Darren didn't interrupt us. "Finally. I've been aching to do that all day."

"What about this morning?"

"Well yeah, but that was five hours ago."

"Oh. True."

Zac came back over with a smile on his face. "She said yes!"

"That's kind of obvious," Darren said.

Zac glared at him. "Shut up."

Darren opened his mouth to reply but I interrupted him to stop a fight from happening. "Congratulations Zac."

"Thanks. At least someone's happy for me." He glared at Darren again. Darren rolled his eyes.

The bell rang. I stood up to leave. Ben followed. "Where are you going?"

"Well the bell rang," I said in a duh tone.

"I know that but I meant why are you leaving without me?" I didn't say anything. Instead I just laughed and walked away.

"Harmony!" I turned around and saw Emily coming towards me.

"Hey Em. What's up?"

"Zac asked me out!" she said cheerfully.

"I know. He told me. Congratulations."

"Thanks! I'm so happy!" There was a short pause. "Now we'll get to go on double dates."

"Yeah, I know. Maybe even triple dates." She gave me a confused look so I continued. "Allison and Darren."

"But they're not a couple yet. They're just going on a date."

"Yeah, but I bet by the end of the week they'll be together."

"You're probably right." There was another short pause. "Well I gotta go. I'll text you later."

"Okay. See you." She walked away just as I reached my locker.

After school I was at my locker grabbing my backpack when I felt a pair of arms around my waist. "Hey beautiful. I missed you."

I turned around to face him. "You saw me at lunch."

"Yeah, and that was way too long ago." I laughed. "Come on. Let's go."

"Okay." I grabbed my backpack, shut my locker, and we started walking to the car.

"Where are we going for the double date?" I asked as I buckled my seatbelt.

"Bowling and dinner at Olive Garden."

"Okay. Great." We pulled into his driveway. He parked the car and we went inside and upstairs to his room. My phone vibrated. I opened the text and gasped.

-Where are you?

I dropped the phone. It made a loud booming noise as it hit the floor. Ben noticed and looked at me. "What's wrong?"

"Chase just texted me."

"What? Are you serious?"

"Yeah." I picked up my phone to delete the message but he took it away from me.

"Are you seriously gonna reply?"

"No. I was gonna delete the message."

"Oh." He gave it back to me. I clicked on the message again and deleted it. Then I went to my contacts and blocked him from texting me.

"There. It's deleted and he's blocked." I walked over to the dresser and opened the drawer my clothes are in. "So what should I wear on the double date?"