Off to Neverland

Off to Neverland (39)

Chloe stared me down, and all I wanted to do was disappear. She could tell that something was wrong with me, and she had been staring me down all day, which was her way of asking me what the hell was up.

I didn’t show up for lunch, and I nearly ran to each class so I wouldn’t run into Jack. I didn’t want to tell her, but she was one of my best friends… And Jack was her cousin.

“Jack told Emma that he loved her and I overheard him.”

Chloe looked at me as if I was insane, but I didn’t blame her. I really did feel insane. I had been going crazy all weekend, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if I looked like I was mentally unstable.

“I’ll kill him!” Chloe shrieked, getting everyone in our last period to look over at us, and everyone looked like they thought both of us were insane. She then ducked her head closer to mine, whispering, “I’ll kill him! I really will!”

I wouldn’t stop her. If that was what she was expecting me to say, then she was wrong. I really didn’t think I would stop her if she was really going to kill him. Honestly, I probably would have rooted for her.

“How are you feeling though?” Chloe now asked, finally calming down as she stopped plotting the murder of her cousin. “That must have been really hard to go through, Ivy. I feel so bad for you.”

I shrugged, trying to act as if it didn’t bother me at all, even though it still really hurt me whenever I thought about it. It had barely even been three days, and I hadn’t had my heart broken before, so I didn’t know how long this horrible feeling was supposed to last.

“I feel… empty, really,” I told her truthfully, not even trying to lie to her about it. “I would have told you earlier, but I just… I didn’t want to talk about it.”

Chloe reached out, patting her hand on my shoulder. “It’s alright. I understand how you feel. I’m just glad that you told me.”

I nodded, and we didn’t talk about it for the rest of our class. And when the bell rang, I knew I had to get out of there as quickly as I possibly could unless I wanted to end up seeing Jack…

I didn’t have Eli or Cassidy in my last period, which meant I had to walk to Claudia’s car on my own. Chloe was in my last period, but since she lived at the school, she walked in a completely different direction from me.

Jack knew where my last period was, and he knew where Claudia picked me up. I had to be really quick if I wanted to avoid seeing him at all.

When I finally got to the front of the school and saw Claudia’s car, I was relieved that I hadn’t seen Jack yet. I was sure that I had gotten out of seeing him all day, and I was actually really happy about that. I still didn’t have the guts to talk to him yet.

When someone suddenly grabbed my arm, I nearly spun around and kicked them. I knew who it was, and I wanted nothing more than for him to just let me go and let me run away from him.

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked, his grip on my arm firm. “You left Chris’s party without telling me, you haven’t talked to me all weekend, and you left biology right after you came inside. Is something wrong, love?”

“Don’t call me that,” I snapped, ripping my arm from his grasp and straightening out my shirt. “I am not your love.”

“What are you talking about?” he questioned, now obviously confused over what I had just said.

I looked away from him, not wanting to speak. “Just leave me alone, Jack.”

“You’ve been making me go crazy all day,” Jack informed me, actually looking like he was worried and concerned. It took all my power not to laugh right in his face.