YOU 1 [Charli D'Amelio]

Chapter 67.

I take the bus to the center of town where I know there are car lots. I wanted to wait and go further away from campus but I can't go another day without my own car. The salesman is a creep and he smells like stale cigarettes but I can't be picky any longer. After an hour of negotiating, I write him a check for the down payment and he gives me the keys to a decent 2010 Corolla. The white paint is chipped in a few places but I managed to talk him down low enough that I am willing to let it slide. I call my mother before I drive out of the lot to tell her I got a car, of course she says I should have gotten a bigger car and lists the reasons why. I end up pretending to lose service and shut my phone off. I glance in the mirror once and cringe at my tired appearance. I look terrible, my hair is tangled, my eyes puffy and my cheeks are still splotchy from crying earlier.

It feels amazing to drive my own car, I no longer have to depend on public transportation and now I can drive myself to my internship. I hope my cutting ties with Max doesn't effect it, I don't think it will but what if she is bored with just simply making me cry and does something to ruin it? Maybe I should talk to Ken and try to explain that Max and I are no longer.. dating? He thinks we are dating so I will have to come up with something besides, your daughter is the cruelest person in the world and she is toxic to me so I can no longer be around her.

I turn the radio on and turn it up louder than I would usually like but it does what I need it to. It drowns out my thoughts and I focus on every lyric to every song. I ignore the fact that every song seems to remind me of Max. Before heading back to campus I decide to go buy some more clothes, it is getting colder and I need some more jeans. I am growing tired of wearing my long skirts all the time. I end up buying a few new outfits to wear to Vance and a few pair of jeans, they are tighter than usual but they look good on me, and a couple plain shirts and cardigans. Addison isn't in the room when I return and I am glad. I really think I may need to look into changing rooms, I do like Addison but we can't continue to live together if Max is around. Depending on how much I will be making at my internship, I could get my own apartment and live off of campus. That would be ideal for me, my mother would lose it but it isn't up to her.

I fold my new clothes and put them away before grabbing my toiletry bag and head to the showers. When I return, Addison and Zayn are sitting on her bed. Great.

"Did Max ever find you last night?" She asks and I nod.

"So did you work it out then?"

"No, well yea I guess. I am done with her." I tell her. Her eyes go wide, she must have assumed she would sink her claws back into me.

"Well, I for one am glad." Zayn smiles and Addison swats his arm. Her phone beeps and she looks down.

"Tristan is here, we gotta go. Wanna come?" she asks.

"No thanks. I got a car today!" I tell her and she squeals.

"Really!" She says and I nod. "I will have to see it when I get back." She says and they head for the door.

Addison walks out but Zayn lingers in the doorway.

"Charli?" His voice is as smooth as velvet. I look up and he smiles at me.

"Did you think about our date?" He asks, staring into my eyes.

"I.. " I am about to reject him but why? He is very attractive and seems sweet. He didn't take advantage of me when he easily could have. I know he would be better company than Max, anyone would be honestly. "Sure." I smile.

"I was thinking..remember when you asked if I was going to the bonfire?" I nod. "Do you mind if I come along?" He asks.

"Yea that would be fine. I will be going with Liam and his girlfriend though." I don't recall Zayn joining in on the group teasing Liam but I just want to make sure he knows that is not okay.

"That's fine, he seems nice." he says and I smile.

"Well its settled then. I will meet you there?" I suggest. There is no way I am taking him to dinner at Liam's house.

"Sounds good. Thanks again for tonight." He takes a step closer. Is he going to kiss me? He wraps his hand over mine and brings it up to his mouth. He places one single kiss on the top of my hand, his lip ring is cold against my hot skin but his gesture is very sweet.

"Have a good night, Charli." he says and gets back into his car.

I am relieved that he didn't try to kiss me, even though he was good at kissing, I just don't think the timing is right. Now, I just have to think of a way to explain my companion for Friday to Liam.

Addison is curious about my time with Zayn tonight but I keep the details to myself. After I wipe my makeup off I finally climb into bed and sleep. The next morning Liam is waiting at the coffee house for me and I tell him about Zayn.

"Does Max know about this?" Liam asks.

"No, she doesn't need to. It is none of her business." I say a little too harshly. "I'm sorry, its just a touchy subject"

"Obviously": he smiles. "They must not be too close of friends if Zayn is taking you out to dinner right after everything with Max."

"Well no one actually knows that anything happened with me and Max, she kept it all a secret from her friends, remember?"

"Yea, I guess you're right. Just be careful." He warns me sweetly and I promise him that I will. The rest of the day zooms by and Liam doesn't bring Max or Zayn up again. Finally, it is time for Literature, I hold my breath as Liam and I walk in the room. Max is sitting in her usual seat. My chest aches at the sight of her. She glances over at me but turns back to the front of the room.

"So you went out with Zayn last night?" Max asks as I sit down. I was praying that she wouldn't talk to me.

"That's none of your concern." I tell her quietly. She turns in her seat and brings her face close to mine.

"Word travels quickly in our group Charli, remember that." She smirks. Is she trying to threaten to tell her friends the intimate times we have had? The thought makes bile rise in my throat.

I turn away from her and focus my attention to the professor. "Okay everyone, let's start off where we left off yesterday discussing Wuthering Heights." he says ands my stomach drops.

We aren't supposed to be discussing Wuthering Heights until next week, this is what I get for missing class. I feel eyes on me. Perhaps, like me she is thinking about the first time I was in her bedroom and she caught me reading her copy of the novel.

"So as we know Catherine and Heathcliff had a very passionate relationship, their passion was such a force in the novel that it ruined essentially every character's life around them. Some argue that they were terrible for each other and some argue that they should have married one another instead of fighting their love from the beginning." The professor says. "What do you think?" he asks us. Usually, I would raise my hand immediately, proud to show off my expert knowledge on classic novels, but this one hits too close to home.

"I think they were terrible for another, they fought constantly and Catherine refused to admit her love for Heathcliff. She married Edgar even though she knew she was in love with Heathcliff the entire time. If they would have just been together in the beginning everyone would have been a lot less miserable." A voice from the back of the room answers. I feel my cheeks heat up as Max looks at me before speaking.

"I think Catherine was a selfish, pompous, bitch." gasps are heard through the room and the professor scold Max before she continues. "sorry, but she thought she was too good for Heathcliff and maybe she was, but she knew Edgar could never compare to Heathcliff yet she married him anyway. Catherine and Heathcliff were just so similar that it was hard for them to get along, but if Catherine wasn't so stubborn they could have lived a long and happy life together." He says. I feel foolish as I begin to compare Max and I to the characters in the novel. The difference is that Heathcliff loved Catherine tremendously, so much that he sat by idly as she married another man, before finally marrying some else. Max does not love me that way, or at all so she has no right to compare herself to Heathcliff.

The entire class seems to be looking at me, waiting for my reply. They are probably hoping for an argument like last time, but I stay quiet. I know she is trying to bait me, and I will not fall for it.