Broken

• Chapter 105 •

The rest of winter break is spent binging shows and training with Ashton. Mom has gone off the crutches and started walking normally again. Things are kind of tense between Ashton and me, but I've been listening to my mom's advice and avoiding my feelings altogether. It's for the best.

Today, I wake up torturously early. And I am not excited about going back to school. At all.

"Morning," I tell dad as I pour myself a cup of coffee.

"Good morning. Glad to be going back to school?" he teases.

I want to throw my cup at him, "Ecstatic."

He laughs, "At least you'll get to see your friends." I bite my lip, "Right, yeah..." And Adrien...

Dad gives me a knowing look, "Oh, right. The break-up."

My eyebrows furrow, "How do you know about that?" He shrugs, "I was eavesdropping on your conversation with your mom."

I roll my eyes, "You're turning into mom."

"Hey, that's what happens when you spend all your time with someone. But I gotta tell you, baby, I don't agree with the advice she gave you..." he tells me.

My heart sinks. Shouldn't he be on her side, telling me to avoid boys altogether? His phone rings and he groans. "Agh. I gotta get to the studio. We'll continue this chat another time. Have a good day at school. Do your best and don't talk to boys," he tells me as he plants a chaste kiss on my forehead and darts from the kitchen.

I smile to myself, I'm so lucky to have him.

___________________

"Aya, get off me."

She won't stop hugging me. "No," she whines.

I laugh and shove her off, quickly wrapping my arms around Hana. "How are you guys? How was your break?"

"Boring, honestly," Aya says. "Same," Hana nods. "What about you? How was the party? Did you finally put out with Adrien?" Aya waggles her eyebrows and Hana grimaces.

I snort, "Um. You guys missed a lot."

"Spill!"

I groan, "I can't be fucked right now. We gotta get to class."

Aya nods, "My house after school?"

"Sure."

___________________

"Oh, I am just so happy to have y'all back, really," Ms. Shanice mumbles sarcastically.

I smirk, I've missed her. "Y'all gonna start on individual projects for me today," she goes off on an explanation of a short project we're all required to do.

"Hey," I turn to Ashton when she gives us the green light to start. "Hey," he shrugs. "Don't forget we've got training after school," he says as he jots something down on his notes.

I groan, "Can we take a raincheck? I've gotta go to Aya's."

"You can't skip a day. I'll take you to Aya's when we're done," he tells me sternly.

I roll my eyes, he just wants to see me suffer. Even though I have been getting more pain-tolerant to the workouts, and working out actually feels good now. Ew, right? Who am I?

"I hate you," I mumble.

He smirks, "I hate you too."

Small butterflies erupt in my stomach, and I try not to smile. I meet Adrien's gaze as I am, and he looks hurt. Knots start forming in my stomach and my face falls. The guilt is eating me up. He quickly looks away, pretending he wasn't looking at me in the first place.