Broken

• Chapter 35 •

"Minty!"

I squirm uncomfortably, I was hoping to get out of the house undetected.

"Where are you going?" dad calls out after me.

"Out. I have a project to work on," I open up the front door to leave when dad clears his throat.

I sigh and turn around to face them. "Are you okay?" dad squints.

"Will you be home for dinner?" mom inquires.

An ugly thing begins bubbling up inside of me, I can feel myself growing agitated. "I don't know, can I go now?"

Dad makes a weird face, "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing."

"Try to be home for dinner. It's family night on Saturdays," mom chirps cheerfully.

I snort. "Family night? That's rich, don't you have any interviews or galas to attend to?" I snap and immediately regret it when I see the flash of pain in her eyes.

I cower my head in shame and go to open the door. "CLEMENTINE CHARMANT."

Dad's tone is one not to be reckoned with, I cringe. He only uses my full name when he's upset. I don't mean any of it, I'm just emotionally unstable and I'm letting my anger out on her.

"Apologize to your mother right now. We don't talk to each other like that, what's gotten into you?" dad is furious.

I sigh, "I'm sorry."

Mom looks guilty. "It's okay. You've got every right to be mad," she scratches the top of her head and hesitantly looks up at me. "Come home for dinner? I think we need to talk," she pleads.

My heart sinks, talk? What does that even mean? I don't want to talk. I press my lips into a thin line and nod once, bolting out the door in a flash.

___________________

I'm already ready to fight Ashton when I walk into the library, but I surprisingly find him there. He's reading a book at the back of the library. I didn't know he read. At least he showed up, that's good.

I walk up to him and nod, "You showed up."

He rolls his eyes at me and puts an earbud in. I frown, my eyebrows knit together in frustration, "Did you decide on anything?"

Nothing.

I clench my jaw, I'm on a short fucking fuse. "Well here are some options," I reach into my bag and pull out three different articles, slamming them on the table in front of him.

He doesn't flinch or react much at all. Finally, he sits up, not even bothering to glance at them before saying, "No."

"What the fuck do you want to do it on, then?"

He stands up and walks over to a bookshelf, flipping through pages of a random book. "Did you know, during World War II, the crew of the British submarine HMS Trident kept a reindeer from the Russians aboard their vessel for six weeks?"

I frown, "Are you trying to be funny?"

He glances at me with an aloof expression and steps towards me, as though he's about to tell me a naughty little secret. "Hitler also had a shit fetish," he whispers.

That's it.

"ASHTON."

His eyebrows rise in surprise, "Quiet down miss Noodlemort, we're in a public library."

I can feel the blood simmering in my veins, "Okay. I have had it with you and your stupid attitude. I don't know what the fuck is up with you or what your problem is with me. Quite frankly, I don't give a fuck," he seems amused.

"I don't want to be working with you any more than you adore me, but guess the fuck what? WE DON'T HAVE A CHOICE," I notice the librarian frowning at me and I calm myself a bit, clenching my jaw.

"Now you can either keep being a fucking prick and make this hard on both of us, or grow the fuck up and TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK YOU WANT TO DO THIS FUCKING PROJECT ON. I'M NOT FAILING BECAUSE OF YOU," screaming again, Clem.

"This shit is due in three weeks! We're supposed to be a week's work in, and we haven't even chosen a fucking topic yet! So how about you stop making my life a living hell and fucking decide what you want to fucking do so we can fucking split the work and stop wasting time!" I'm out of breath.

I look up to meet his gaze, expecting him to be laughing or have a cocky grin on his face for finally getting to me, but he isn't. His expression is unreadable, he remains quiet. I let out a bitter laugh and shake my head, walking towards a table and pulling my laptop out to find a fucking topic.

Ashton goes off somewhere, and I don't really give a fuck at this point. I can talk to Ms. Shanice and tell her the situation, maybe she'll let me work alone—

THUD.

I jolt up in surprise when Ashton drops a stack of articles on top of the table. I look up at him questioningly. "I liked your idea of drug abuse. But I want to do it on drug abuse in the celebrity world, to be more specific with our topic," he tells me.

"When did you finally make this decision?" I'm surprised at how quickly he's gone from being a dick to an actual student.

"A week ago," he shrugs.

I frown, "Then why the fuck have you made me run around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to find topics?"

He rolls his eyes, "You annoy me."

I squint in disbelief. I'M the annoying one? I decide not to comment and let it go. At least I finally got through to him, and we can start getting some actual work done.