Broken

• Chapter 64 •

"My dad wants to meet you."

Ashton is silent, I can feel his panic on the phone.

"Um. Why does he want to meet me?"

I sigh and pace around my room. "Because you saved my life. He wants to thank you," I tell him half of the truth.

He remains silent for a beat, "No."

"Why not?"

"I said no, Clementine. Anyway, I gotta go. Bye."

He hung up on me.

This boy actually hung up on me.

My jaw drops to the floor. I roll my eyes in frustration, this has been an emotionally draining night. I sink into my bed, eyes leaden from fatigue. I shoot Eric the hundredth text of the day before shutting off my phone and drifting into a dreamless sleep.

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"Akshfienf, I missed you!"

I grimace at Aya's butchered attempt at saying Akshatha's name. I scooch over on the bench to leave some room for Ashu, she sighs and plops down beside me.

"Dude, we've known each other since second grade. Are you ever going to learn my name?"

Aya shrugs, "Nope. Why do you have such a complicated name?"

I laugh. "Aya's just dyslexic. You have a beautiful name," I tell Ashu.

Aya laughs and Ashu sighs, "Anyways. I'm having a small gathering at mine tonight. You guys should come," Ashu tells us.

Aya, Hana and I exchange shrugs, "What time?"

"Around seven, whenever. My parents are out of town," she tells me.

"Guys holy poop, it's almost Halloween!" Hana shrieks as she actually checks her calendar to see if she's free.

"Holy shit, Hana. Say shit, please. Just once," I beg.

Hana huffs, Aya and Ashu snort. "I'm so fucking excited! I have my costume already!" Aya claps her hands in excitement.

Ashu nods in agreement, "Kate throws the best parties, it should be great. ANYWAYS, as I was saying. You guys in for tonight?"

"Who's coming?" Aya asks her.

"Arin, Adrien, Dustin, Eric, Isabella, and you guys if you wanna come. It's a small thing," she shrugs.

My heart sinks, "Eric's coming?"

She turns her head to me and nods. "That's what Isabella said. He's back from his vacation or whatever today," she tells me.

My heart aches, he hasn't returned any of my calls or texts. I hope everything's okay.

"Sure, yeah I'm in. I could use some fun."

And I need to see Eric.

Ashu nods at me and turns to Aya and Hana, "You guys?"

"I'll be there," Aya tells her.

"Sure. I'll come," Hana shrugs.

"Cool, see you guys there," she tells us as she walks off towards Arin.

The bell rings and I sigh, not feeling like learning this early in the morning.

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"Alright, I'm going to hand y'alls tests back. Some of y'all failed real bad, like wooh. I don't know what ima do with y'all. But three of you got full marks. Ima call you out on your success," Ms. Shanice smiles as she adjusts her glasses and pulls out our test papers.

My heart thuds rapidly, what if I failed? Fuck. I knew that test was too easy. I must've been one of the ones who failed! Fuck fuck fuckedy fuck.

"Alrightyyyy. Ashton, Clementine, and Isabella. Congratulations, you have brains. The rest of you... Well, let's just say we'll work on it," she presses her lips into a thin line. I collapse in relief.

I turn to Ashton, and he seems annoyed that she told the entire class his score. I nudge him, "Congrats, smart-ass."

"Speak for yourself," he scoffs in an irritated voice.

I narrow my eyes at him, I can't tell if he's serious or not. What's up his ass lately? I roll my eyes and decide to ignore it. I don't want to deal with his PMSing right now.

___________________

"We need to finish our project," I corner Ashton at his car after school.

We got some of it done yesterday, but we need to finalize and brush it up.

His focus is on his phone. He releases a deep breath, "I can't tonight, I'm busy."

I see Kate making her way towards him, oh. He's hanging out with his girlfriend.

I clear my throat as something ugly pokes at the pink folds of my brain and shrug nonchalantly, "Tomorrow? I can't do tonight, either. Hanging out with Adrien and some friends."

Oh my fucking God. Did those words actually come out of my mouth? I feel my cheeks blazing up and it takes everything for me not to cringe and bury my head in the dirt. I sound like a fucking third grader.

What the hell was that, Clem?

Ashton gazes up at me from his phone with a funny look, "Um, okay... Tomorrow's fine."

Kill me now. Just do it. Please, dear God.

Recover, Clementine. RECOVER NOW.

"My place?"

Ashton freezes up, he gives me a doubtful look, "Are you trying to get me to meet your dad?"

"No!"

Dad specifically told me he'd hunt him down and force him to meet him this morning if I didn't let them meet.

"My parents are going to be out all day tomorrow with interviews and stuff, so they won't be there," I assure him.

And it's true. I just don't feel like going back to his house until I've moved on from what happened. But I don't feel like telling him this. It feels like he's drawing back and becoming distant again, and I kind of don't want him to. But I'll never tell him that, either.

He's hesitant, and just as he's about to give me a response, he's interrupted by a pair of lips. Kate's lips. She laces her fingers through his hair. My stomach drops, and I turn from the spectacle.

They break apart, "You ready, babe?"

Ashton looks disoriented, "Er. I was kind of in the middle of something—"

To my surprise, Kate turns to me and breaks into an ear-to-ear smile. "Hi, Clementine! How are you?" she sounds cheerful. Which means Ashton probably didn't tell her I spent the week at his house.

I press my lips into a thin line and nod, "I'm fine, Kate. You?"

Her smile is dazzling, "I'm fantastic! Come on, babe. We have a lot to do," she immediately turns her attention back to Ashton.

Ashton gives me a half-glance and turns back to Kate, nodding his head. Kate climbs into the passenger seat and immediately blasts Liam Payne's Bedroom Floor. I cringe, as does Ashton. Is she aware he sucks?

He gives me a tight-lipped nod before climbing into his car, "See you tomorrow."