30 Day Trial Period

3.9 Day Four: Lizzie

LIZZIE

After spending the last four days straight with Parker, her absence was as noticeable as a fresh rash. I kept checking the spot where she'd be lording over me. I'd look behind my shoulder, making sure I haven't missed her anywhere.

"Trouble in paradise?" Andrea asked when I stalled a little too long at my locker. I kept expecting Parker to just pop up and start talking. She usually approached new conversations like a jump scare.

"No." I glared at her and pretended to shift through the horde of papers at the bottom of my locker.

"There's no shame in breaking up," Andrea stated. She pushed up her glasses, maybe to get a clearer look at the crazed look in my eyes. "I mean, it wouldn't even be your shortest relationship."

"Don't remind me."

She referred to Mariah Wilson, who asked me out last year on a Saturday, took me to the military ball and then, broke up with me on Sunday night to get back with her ex-girlfriend, who saw us dancing together and remembered everything she was missing. She could have Mariah. Mariah always had something stuck in her teeth and I was too awkward to ever tell her, so the guilt nearly killed me.

I leaned my back against my locker and texted Parker for the third time today, asking if she was already at practice. I muttered, "I think I'm getting a taste of my own medicine."

Andrea rolled her eyes and laughed. "Okay, well, do you want to mope here more or do you wanna walk to practice together?"

"Mope." I frowned, dropping all my weight against the lockers.

"Have fun," Andrea sighed, raising her hands in defeat. She left me alone again.

Only my own reflection stared back at me, not a response, not a single sign of life from Parker. Maybe she did die. I whipped out my phone to ask Camille, who at least had two classes with Parker. She'd know... when did I figure out Parker's schedule? I shuddered. This trial thing was messing me up.

My phone finally dinged.

I jumped, holding the screen up. Parker did finally text back:

PARKER: [Sorry talk later]

My shoulders deflated. All the air knocked out of my lungs. That cleared that up. She really had no time for me today. My grimace twisted into a scowl and I chucked my cellphone into my backpack.

"What's the point of teaching me how to text all the time if you're not even gonna text me back?" I grumbled, so angry I could taste it. She gave me so much shit for ignoring her and she can't even spare two seconds to reply? And she canceled on me!

I pulled out my phone again.

Hiking my bag up my shoulder, I started drafting a huge paragraph about how being a hypocrite definitely got her dumped and how I wasn't going to stand for it, but I changed my mind. Instead, I did one of Camille's old tricks and simply texted:

LIZZIE: [fine]

One-word responses were regarded as a bad sign, at least that's the impression Camille gave me. Plus, she was going to need some ice for that burn, after I put that little period on the end. Camille would be proud. This way, I wanted to prepare Parker for our fight tomorrow. Hopefully, she came up with a better reason for ditching me than making the costumes. She still had all month to do them! So, it was more than that.