The Mistake

Seen

"Detention. Both of you." My eyes went wide. Nick was unbothered; he sat calmly beside me as the principal stared us down. "I've come to expect this kind of behavior from you, Mr. Carter. But you, Miss Rosewood," he turned towards me and it sent my heart racing. "Are not a face I expected to see here, especially with him."

"Sitting right here." Nick muttered, smirking.

"I'm so sorry, but I- I wasn't trying to cut class, we just lost track of time."

"That's what the bell is for, Ms. Rosewood. And this young man is notorious for regularly skipping classes, you wouldn't want to be associated with him would you?"

"Still literally right here." Nick pointed out.

"Of course I wouldn't, sir."

"Okay, now you two are just doing this to hurt my feelings." I rolled my eyes at him.

"I promise it won't happen again." I completed.

"Good. I'll take your word for it." He gave me an approving nod. I sighed in relief. "But you still have detention."

***
The bell rang, and the students started pouring out of classrooms.

"Oh come on, Sammi, lighten up." I continued my walk of shame back to my locker. "You act as if you've never gotten detention before."

"You're right, I have. Twice because of you, actually."

"As much as I'd love to take credit for the first time, it was actually your clumsiness that made your shirt get caught to your locker." He teased.

"Yeah, but you made me beg for help, and if you had just helped me out I wouldn't have been late." I countered. "So thanks for that."

"You're very welcome." He pat me on my head and gave me a proud smile. I rolled my eyes and shrugged him off. "Careful, do that too much and your eyes will get stuck."

"Sorry, it comes naturally after being around you too much."

He stopped walking and laughed as he turned me around to face him, holding my arm. His laugh was rare and contagious and genuine, I smiled nervously. "And here I thought the horrible things you said to the principal about being associated with me were just for show."

I chuckled. "What?" I shrugged innocently. "He's right. I don't want be associated with you."

"Oh, Sammi, " He smirked in anticipation, holding my gaze. "I think you're a little too late for that."

I knitted my brows together in confusion, Nick nodded towards the hallway and I turned. And then I understood. My skin got prickly when I saw the sea of people staring at us as they passed by, staring as Nick still held my arm. They were whispering and raising their brows  and texting. My heart caught in my throat.

I looked back to Nick, feeling sick to my stomach. So many thoughts flickered through my mind. I could already imagine everything they were saying. I couldn't believe I'd never really noticed that I was constantly seen with Nick. Emily was right, they probably thought I was his flavor of the month. Another girl to throw away when he's done. Black spots were appearing out of the corner of my eyes. No, no.

"I need to go, um, to my next class. Don't want to be late again, right?" I forced a chuckle and walked away from his grasp on my arm in a quick pace, not before catching the concerned look on his face.

"Sammi-" I heard him say as I walked away. It was going to happen again, I could tell. I stumbled into the bathroom, bumping into a few girls on their way out who cursed at me in what sounded like korean.

I entered a stall and closed the door, letting myself sink down into the floor.

***

I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror as the warning bell rang. Two minutes' worth of a panic attack didn't sound like much, but it left me feeling empty and exhausted. I rinsed my face with shaky, clammy hands. I took a deep breath and walked to my next class.

My gut clenched when I walked in and found a glare mixed with hurt catch my eye for half a second. It felt especially awful because it was an expression I'd never seen on him before. But Alex didn't waste another second on me when he heard someone call out his name. My blood boiled when I saw who it was. He flashed a smile at her that didn't quite reach his eyes, walked from our usual spot where we sat next to each other, and sat down next to Emily.