His Name Is Trouble

26. Toxic.

Chapter 26: Toxic.

"Are you going to the after-party?" Adam asks me.

"Not another High School party." I groan.

"It's not a High School party." He says and I roll my eyes at him.

"Then it's what?" I ask him.

"It's a pre-college party. You know, the last party with the whole class before we go to college." Adam says, slinging his arm around my shoulders.

"Whatever." I say, letting out a sigh.

"Well, I gotta go take pictures with my family now. See you at the party." He tells me before he hurries off.

"Congratulations." I hear someone say behind me. I turn around to look and I see Stephanie standing there with her baby in her hand. They named him Drew.

I realize that the person who spoke wasn't referring to me, they were congratulating Stephanie.

I watch closely as Zachary calls Stephanie over to him and they take a picture together.

That should be me and him, but it's okay. Maybe this is probably for the best.

"Whatcha looking at?" Ashton asks me as he stands beside me.

"Beautiful weather today, huh?" I ask him.

"Would you like to smoke pot with me?" Ashton asks, showing me the bong he hid inside his graduation gown.

"I'll pass." I tell him.

"Suit yourself." He says, about to walk away from me.
"You deserve better than watching him be happy with someone else." He adds before walking away.

I think he's right. We go round and round in this toxic circle. I think we're better off without each other.

My cousin Megan calls out my name and I run to meet her. I give her a warm hug as she laughs.

"You came." I say, smiling.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." She tells me.

Megan is my cousin on my dad's side. She's twenty-one and a neuroscience major at Harvard. She's kind of a big deal in my family. Every parent wants their child to be like her, every teenager wants to be her.

"How's Harvard?" I ask her.

"Boring as usual, but I wanna talk about you." She says with a smile on her face.

"I heard you got shortlisted for Bradford." She says.

"Yeah." I say, looking down at my shoes.

I actually picked Bradford because Zachary was gonna go there. It's the best school for sports in Chicago. I was going to follow him and become a Journalism major, but now that everything's turned to shit. I don't even know if I want to go to college.

"What's wrong?" Megan asks me.

"Nothing. We should really get going now. My mother invited so many people to the house and I bet they're all waiting for me." I tell her and she nods.

Andrè parked the car in the school parking lot, so we had to walk there. It's a long walk but we finally make it. We get into the car and Andrè starts driving.

"So, tell me everything. How's Spencer?" She asks me.

"Oh, we broke up when I moved here." I tell her.

"Oh, that's a shame. I really liked him." She says, frowning.

"Yeah." I say awkwardly.

"So, how's that boy that almost killed you....um what's his name? Levi? Lacrosse? Lennon?" Megan guesses.