Why Me?

Chapter 8••Deep Breaths

||WORD COUNT: 1286||

//:The girl in the mirror is Maia Mitchell and she's actually who I picture playing Cailea. Also I chose Beside You by: 5sos because I feel like it sort of relates to Cailea and Ashton??? Idrk. Enjoy the story!!:||

Emily's POV:

"Excuse me, Mr. D? Can I um, go to the washroom please?" I ask politely. 

"Can this wait Emily? These notes are important." I shake my head no and give him a little look as if to say 'I'm a teenage girl asking to go to the bathroom. Do you really wanna go any further?' He nods and motions toward the door and I run out as fast as I can. I run to the large bathroom on the first floor and accidentally bump into Bridget.

"Did you get the-"

"The 'SOS' from Cailea? Yeah I did." She responds, knowing exactly what I was going to say. We both take a quick second to regain our breath seeing as we both just sprinted here from our classes. 

I look up to her and she nods so I take that as a sign to open the door and go in. 

"Cails? Where are you hun?" Bridget whisper yells.  That's when we hear the muffled sobs coming from around the corner. 

"Cailea? Cailea oh my gosh!" I exclaim when I see her. She's sitting cross legged on the floor leaned up against the stalls with her notebooks and stuff sprawled all around her. Her face is as red as a tomato and her cheeks are completely stained with tears. I haven't seen her cry this much since her mum. 

"Cailea what's wrong? What happened?"

"He-I. I can't take this anymore Em. I can't stay away from him." Bridget gives me a strange look but I ignore it and try to calm Cailea down.

"Just give it a few more days Cails. He'll let go and you won't have to deal with him anymore."

"Hold on. Anyone care to fill me in?" Bridget asks, a hint of annoyance in her tone. Just as I go to speak, Cailea beats me to it.

"You know what happened between Ash and I at the hospital and stuff. Well when I got to go home, Emily and I were talking about it some more and she suggested that I should just stop talking to, being around, even looking at or thinking about him and he'd eventually just pick up that I don't want him around." She finishes and then wipes her nose with the back of her hand. I cringe and get up to get some tissue from the stall beside us.

"Why would you want to do that? You guys are best friends." Bridget asks.

"Well at first it seemed like an okay idea but for the past little while, he's been at my house and stuff hanging with Cal and I'm trying not to see him or anything and then I come back today and I forgot that all of our classes are together. So now, this whole plan just seems impossible. And we were just talking in french and I realized that this is pretty stupid if you think about it." She laughs lightly but I can tell there's no real humor in it.
I'm not really offended that she thinks my plan was stupid, I'm more disappointed. I thought she was stronger than this.

"Okay well maybe you guys should try talking everything out instead of ignoring each other and trying to shove the problem away." Bridget suggests.

"Will you come with me and do it?" She asks us. I nod but Bridget gives her a sympathetic look.

"I know you might be a little scared to talk to him and I want to be there for you, but I think it'd be best if it was just the two of you. That way you can say whatever you want and it'll be out in the open and only you two will know what's said. You get what I'm saying?" Bridget reaches over and lightly rubs her arm for comfort.

By now I'm angry. First of all, Cailea pretty much insulted my plan, then Bridget has to come in and try and make things right and tells her to just talk to him. That's total b.s if you ask me. He hurt her, more than once. He doesn't deserve to hear another word from her ever again. But of course, I'm her best friend and I have to do what makes her happy even though it might not be right so I just sit and keep my mouth shut but I still drill holes into the side of Bridget's head with my eyes. They both sit up and hug for a few seconds before Cailea moves her arm inviting me into the hug.

"Alright well it's your first day back and we can't let your teachers think you've become a slacker. So let's get you cleaned up and ready to kick some academic ass!" I say in attempts to make her laugh but also meaning it. She did in fact laugh and Bridge and I help her off the ground and over to the sink so we can re-apply her makeup and fix her hair.

***

Cailea's POV:
After french, and the whole meltdown in the bathroom thing, I honestly feel much better. Bridget was right and I just need to talk to him. When we talked about the plan Emily had come up with, I realized how crazy and stupid it actually was. Ashton and I are- or were. I have no idea- best friends and this shouldn't be affecting me this much. It shouldn't be affecting my at all because it shouldn't be happening.

As my business teacher drones on about our upcoming assignments, my mind begins to wander and i start yo think of ways I could approach Ashton. After today, it's going to be even more awkward but it has to be done and I want it to be today or before Friday because if I keep putting it off, I'll never do it. I take out my phone and open snapchat and tilt my phone a little to my left so I can see what he's doing seeing as he sits a seat behind me. As per usual, he's sleeping so I quickly grab a piece of paper and the blue pen that was sitting on my desk and scribble down a quick note.

'Meet me at our spot at 4 tonight. We need to talk' - C

I neatly fold up the note and turn around to place it in his head of messy curls. Even though we're in a difficult spot, it's still fun to play stupid little jokes on him every once in awhile.

Mr. Peterson wraps up the lesson and tells us he'll finish explaining our assignment tomorrow, then dismisses us as the bell goes off. I grab my books and binder and stand up to leave. When I do so, I make sure to stand up quickly so that my chair hits Ashton's desk and wakes him up.
"I'm up! I'm up!" He shouts. I look back at him just as I'm about to leave and laugh as he watches the note flutter down from his head. 'This is sure to be fun' I say in my head as I make my way to my locker.

//:This chapter is sort of short but I'm also kinda busy rn so I'm trying to write and work on 3 culminatings for school. Does anyone else feel my pain? Oh lordy😧. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!! Thanks for reading and remember: don't be a ghost reader!! -Hannah:\\