The Mistake

Blackmail

"You're kidding me, right?"

Rolland shoved his hand in his pocket and adjusted his glasses while I glared at him. "Sorry, Sam. I asked Ms. Torres if we could be on seperate teams. It's just-"

He leaned in closer to me and his breath reminded me of rotten eggs. "I think Leah has the hots for Nick..." His voice broke at the end, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

Rolland sighed and took a step back, and I finally let myself breathe again.

"Rolland, she's your girlfriend. Why would you think that?"

He gulped and licked his lips. "We- we were making out... and she said his name by accident."

A laugh nearly escaped my throat, but I held it in and played it off as a cough. Poor guy.

"Wow... that's-"

"Yeah. I don't want her around that guy, and more so if we'd have to work with him for the whole week. Sorry again."

I sighed and lifted my hands up, waving him off.

"It's fine. I get it." It was far from fine. It was awful. My team bailed on me and left me alone to work with Nick. I couldn't even think about it right now, it annoyed the crap out of me.

"And remember, since there's only two of us on each team, she's giving both our teams extra credit."  He flashed me an honest smile.

Psh. Gee, thanks, Rolland. That makes it so much better.

***

Five am.

I glanced over to the time on my phone, the sudden brightness slightly blinding me for a couple seconds. I was still tired every day, and I haven't slept nearly half as much as a normal person should, but I haven't had any nightmares or sleeplessness the last couple of days, and that was a luxury I wasn't going to start taking for granted.

I stretched and yawned as I got out of bed, a goal set in my mind.

I changed into leggings and a cute workout tank with a crossed back, and tied my hair into a high ponytail.

Looking out at the clouds from my bedroom window, my eyes fawned over the dark grey clouds hanging over an orange streaked sky. It was beautiful, and it gave me the motivation to move my legs out of the door.

I ran to the top of the mountain, mentally preparing myself for what I was about to do. Ironically, I was actually going up to my safe spot to see Nick instead of being alone.

I took longer strides as the cool air nipped at my hair and tugged at my clothes. I dreaded seeing Nick and my palms began to get sweaty. I just wanted to get get it over with already.

The clearing was as peaceful and alone as usual. My eyes flickered around and scoured the whole area, resting finally on a brown headed figure.

Although it was my intention, for the first time,  to find him up here, my stomach still flipped around when I saw him, in the worst way possible. He was warming up and adjusting his headphones with his back to me as he glanced out to the wide view of the breathtaking city.