Backstreet Boy

|Chapter 33: An Invitation|

Isabella

School had commenced yet again.

This was the final term for everyone. We had a few weeks until exams would begin, too, and then after those, we'd be graduates from high school.

"It's not really believable, is it?" mused Lizzie aloud, staring dreamily off into the empty space to the side of me, which, because we were in homeroom, just so happened to be the peculiarly clean walls for a high school.

"I know," I breathed. "I need to talk to Mrs Philip in class."

This caught Lizzie's attention. "Have you got a detention you're trying to get out of?"

It was a rarity for anyone in Marble Valley to get a detention in school. Sure, there were occasions and exceptions, but taking into consideration that all pupils should have been brought up properly with manners and respect, there shouldn't be any detentions being sent out to any pupil. People talk about schools having a bad boy or bad girl, well, we don't necessarily have one. If we did, they would be carted off straight to South District High.

"No," I said, "I had a business meeting Friday about my designs. They said after my exams are out of the way and it's the summer, then we can focus on actually producing my clothing line."

Lizzie frowned. "You don't seem that excited."

"It's a dream come true," I protested. "I'm thankful for my opportunity. But with everything that's going on with Jason," I lowered my voice, "that seems to take the thrill from everything else."

"What are you even doing with Jason, Is?" She seemed somewhat apologetic to query, but nonetheless, she did.

"Well, we're-" I stopped short when I realised that I didn't even know what we were doing.

"Dating? Friends with benefits?" she offered.

"Neither," I murmured shamefully. "I don't even know what we're doing."

The bell sounded to indicate that it was the end of homeroom. Lizzie and I gathered our bags and slung them over our shoulders. We ambled out of homeroom together and then departed in the next corridor down to go to our separate lessons. My lesson was Textiles where I would be granted the opportunity to discuss my new clothing line that is going to be produced in the summer.

When I had told her about it, she smiled and said, "That's great, Isabella. You have a true flair for designing clothes so it's great. I'm proud of you."

"Thank you, Mrs Philip."

I had hung back after the lesson just to talk to her so she gave me a note to hand to my next teacher to inform them of why I'm actually late. As usual, the teacher took the note off me, glanced it at, discarded it to the bin and then gesticulated for me to sit down. I did so next to Lizzie.

It wasn't until lunch when the norm perished and Miles marched up to me. He was alone. Sometimes passing in the corridor, he would be with his friends, sporadically immersing himself in conversation with another. On the other hand, there was also times when he'd strut around with his friends but he wouldn't converse with others.

This time, he stopped right in front of me and said, "We need to talk."

It seemed a bit like déjà vu when I had spoke those words to Miles several months ago when I came to the verdict that we had to come to an end. There was no more zeal in our relationship and instead it just seemed forced and wrong. This time, I don't know whether I was prepared for what was about to occur because it was Miles and given everything with Jason, God only knows what he wants with me now.