The Heartthrob Won't Leave

Chapter Twelve (New Chapters)

"I'm going to the bathroom" Stella turned her head at Blake's words, nodding her head in understanding. Blake got up, stepping with her shoes where she once was sitting, and starting to push her legs through the opening between the bench and the back beam.

"What on earth are you doing?!" she stopped at the voice, turning to look at Zac. Stella turned as well, a raised eyebrow.

"I'm going out this way" she responded simply "I'll disrupt the other people if I step down"

"Those people won't mind if you get in their way for a second-" Zac claimed, watching her slip further between the wood planks "Blake, that's dangerous" she held on tightly, keeping herself anchored. Now standing, her feet on the step and her hands gripping the edge of the back support, she glanced down, realizing a drop of almost two stories below her. And the only thing stopping her from falling, was a pair of cheap skater shoes without any grip. She swallowed for a moment. But, this was her only option, in order to give the least amount of people upset with her presence.

"Don't worry" she assured, "It's just a little bit down"

"Blake, that's a forty-foot fall" Zac claimed, leaning over the back support.

"It'll be fine" she assured, taking a breath and letting a single foot slip, hanging in the air, stretching her arms as she moved down, begging with her entire being that she would feel some kind of support emerge under her foot if she just stretched far enough. And to her luck, her dangling foot managed to come into contact with one of the metal beams, making her let out a soft sigh of relief.

"Blake, be careful" she looked up where her hands still gripped the edge of the sitting plank, meeting his bright blue eyes. It was always a unique experience seeing a new side of a person. In the time she had known Zac, He always seemed like a carefree soul that went and did whatever he pleased. But, at that moment, Zac almost had a look of worry on his face for her, one Blake had never seen before, and that also made her heartbeat increase under her ribcage. Zac...cared for my safety? It wasn't her first time making a feat similar to this one, so it wasn't long before she had climbed down gripping the beams, and letting out a sigh of relief when she finally felt the stability of real ground under her shoes. 

With one last goodbye to the others, she made her way toward the school building. But, looking down the nearly empty halls, she couldn't find the bathroom anywhere. There was a moment when she stared down the hall, it was almost bare except for a few of those girl cheerleaders leaning against the lockers and talking, laughing with one another. Blake's first thought was to ask for directions, but her paranoid mind was quick to dismiss such a possibility. They would do nothing but look down on her, just like everyone else did. So, she found herself pushing open the heavy front doors, once again meeting the sight of the bright blue, sunny day. She sat down, pressing her back against the building, just staring ahead at the view of the parking lot in front of her. She hadn't known how much time had passed when she just breathed, staring ahead, but not really visually looking at any of the scenery, too taken by the emulsion in her own mind to even care.

"This is an interesting bathroom" she was startled by the sudden words in her ears, looking up at the sight of Zac in his buttoned back shirt. She looked down at her hands in her lap, almost feeling ashamed. It was another moment before she felt as he dropped down to her side, leaning back against the wall as she was, their shoulders only inches from one another. Now, he was right where she was, looking ahead at the same scenery. Not in a thousand years did she ever believe that this would ever happen, even talking to him seemed like a feat too high for her to reach, let alone sitting with him like this, only the two of them, especially him sitting next to her and not the other way around.

"I'm sorry" she glanced at him suddenly at the words he said, meeting his eyes with her own.

"Sorry for what?" she asked, feeling confused

"Well, for not sitting next to you on the bleachers" a thought of realization came over her mind.

"That's silly, people don't care about small things like that very much" she responded quickly, feeling her cheeks redden slightly.

"But, I know you are not a normal person" his words made her eyes widen slightly in surprise "I should have made it easier on you to be here, and for that, I'm sorry"

"Making sure I'm comfortable isn't your job" she responded in disbelief "Stella is the one that's your girlfriend, you're job is to make her happy, not me" that was the moment when he turned his head to face her features.

"Girlfriend? That's a way of putting it I suppose" he muttered, leaning his head back on the wall tighter, almost in thought. "Stella is one strange girl, that's for sure"

"What do you mean?" Blake asked, looking up to see his face.

"She's unpredictable-" he turned his head, looking down at her "One moment she can be kind, and the next, she's a raging bitch. It's like a switch inside her brain that she can turn on and off with her own free will" He leaned over slightly, holding Blake's gaze "Sometimes I wonder if the person I know is nothing but a facade, it's like she wants to make everyone believe she's better than them" Blake sighed, glancing up at the cloudless blue sky for a few moments.

"I would never have Stella as my girlfriend" her eyes widened at his words, but she didn't pull her eyes from the sky. "Because I have no idea who the fuck Stella even is" A silence fell between the two, but for some reason, despite what was said, Blake didn't feel like it was an awkward silence. In a way, his words made her realize that she wasn't the only one struggling with what was real and what was fake.

"Why did you come here?" Those words were what pulled her gaze from the scenery, looking at him. She wondered for a moment if she was unwelcome, if he had hoped she hadn't come. "To this game I mean, you're obviously not enjoying yourself at all. So, why come at all?" Blake sighed, smiling slightly at his words, quick to grab at the grass with her fingers and pluck at it.

"Well, I'm not very good at saying no" she responded simply. "Besides, I was never very comfortable with Stella doing things like this on her own, meeting these people she doesn't really know. It always made me uneasy for her"

"You're a good friend Blake" she met his eyes, smiling weakly to reassure him of her words. It was sudden when she let out a soft yawn, covering her mouth with her hand to mask it.

"Are you tired?" he asked, keeping his eyes on her weak frame. Despite in the moment that Zac seemed to care, the last thing Blake wanted to do was bombard him with the logistics of her plaguing nightmares that ended in four hours of sleep a night and waking up with sweaty chills that almost made her feel sick.

"A little I suppose, I didn't get much sleep last night" she responded softly, wrapping the edges of her sweater tighter around her frame

"Why is that?" he asked. But, before she could even open her mouth to give some reassuring fake sentence about how the noise of her brother through the walls kept her up, their silence was interrupted.

"There you guys are!" Stella turned the corner, startling Blake slightly with her suddenly loud presence. She was surrounded by Jack and a few strangers wearing the same attire as him, she suspected other members of the soccer team. "Damon will be here soon to pick us up" Stella claimed, directing the words towards Blake. A new wave of dread spread across her mind, forcing herself to get up and let out another yawn.

"Sorry, Stella-" Zac's words made her turn her head, looking at him "But, Blake and I already have plans" taking those words in and letting her brain interpret them, repeat them multiple times, and realise what had just come out of his mouth, Blake's eyes widened considerably. She couldn't believe it, still wondering if her ears had suddenly malfunctioned. Stella looked between the two of them, and Blake could tell the look of confusion on her face, and almost...anger.