You're Mine, Always and Forever

73

I spent the rest of the week and the weekend in my house ordering takeout. I didn't go to cheer, I didn't visit Olivia and Liam like I usually do and my phone was obviously blowing up with texts and calls from Lexi, Liam, Olivia, Luke, Ben, Aiden and him.

I don't think I can explain in words how I feel about what happened at the visit. I thought he respected me. "He knew that this was bothering me and the entire time instead of telling me who the person is, he keeps it to himself. Who knows how long he knew about it," I rant to Rosie who looks up at me from her position on my torso. "It's not even his secret to keep! And how could he lead me on and make me believe that it was mom and watch me blame and accuse her about it when deep down he knew the entire time!"

I slumped back on the couch and picked up my phone to reveal a call from Lexi.

"Alexis, before you attempt to make me leave my house-"

"Don't even think about calling me that!" She whines and I rolled my eyes. "Can you at least be my wing woman cause I wanna go to the gym?"
"Lex, it's a Sunday...and I'm tired." I groaned. "Well too bad cause I'm coming to pick you up anyway." She finished and hung up before I could argue back. I lifted Rosie off me while muttering profanities under my breath about wanting some Crunchy Nut.

15 minutes later I was dressed and sitting on my vanity seat, tying up my hair. I stared at myself in the mirror and cocked my head to the side slightly at my reflection. My skin was a lot paler and my eyelids had gone thinner. I have no idea how that even possible. I got out of my seat and walked to my living room. I grabbed my purse and keys before locking the door and heading downstairs. I was sitting in my car and shortly, Lexi hopped in with a wide smile which
instantly faltered at the sight of me.

"It was that bad?" She asked quietly and I nodded. "But you have to come back to school. You've missed way too much, It's senior year and also, you need to catch up on your studies because next week I wanna go out for my birthday!" She squealed. That's right, Lexi's birthday is in April and every year, as much as I hate the day, I'm dragged out of the safe walls of my room and out into the dark streets.
"Can't you just have a house party or something?" I complain as aim driving to the gym with Lexi glued to her phone. "Alexis?"

"Don't call me tha-"

"Then maybe put your phone down and listen to me for one second." I said and she scoffed.

"Noah must've hurt you bad huh?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat at the sound of his name before nodding. "Today, you have to get over him" She said proudly before I cut it short. "I'm not speaking to him, Lexi. We didn't break up."

"But you're not happy, and I want you to be happy. Where's your favourite place to be?" She asked as I turned the street and thought about it. "The dance studio." I whispered to myself. "Cool, so just go to the dance studio." She said and I shook my head.

"It's not that simple."

"It really is. If you love to go to the dance studio, then go to the dance studio. There's places all over town. I'm pretty sure you'll find one."

I shrugged and turned off the engine. We both got out and threw our bags over our shoulders and entered the gym. We chilled in the changing room for a while and taking pictures.

And I was sitting in the corner, Lexi was doing squats and I raised an eyebrow at the row of boys watching her. They were sending winks in our directions every time she turned around with a grin on her face. "Umm, Lexi? Why are we actually here? What about-?" I asked and she sighed. "I-I-I just need to forget about him." She answered and I nodded.

There's something she's not telling me and I'm gonna find out what it is.

**************************

"Maddison wake up!" I groaned and opened my eyes to find Lexi standing dressed next to what I think is Skylar.
"Who invited you in?" I mumbled and Lexi waved the spare key in my face and I snatched it out of her hands. "You need to stop inviting yourselves in my house." I said sternly before getting out of bed and marching to my closet. I chose a tube top with a pair of black jeans and a pink leather jacket before grabbing my toiletries and heading to the bathroom.

I showered and got dressed and I was straightening my hair when I was looking through Snapchat. I opened Noah's story and he was in, L.A.? I cocked my head to the side when I saw a picture of him outside a tattoo parlour. I rolled my eyes.

"Do whatever you wanna do then." I said to myself before shutting off my phone and pulling the plug off. I stepped into my black boots and went downstairs. There was a vase filled with flowers with a note. Lexi and Skylar were eyeing it as if it was going to explode any second. "What is this?" I asked. "Noah told me to leave it here when he came this morning, but he looked like he was going somewhere." She said confused. "He's in L.A." I muttered.

"Who's umm, Noah?" Skylar asked as I looked up from my phone. Rosie was still sleeping soundly in her bed. "He's my umm, boyfriend. I think you met him already." I said before waking to my cupboard and pulling out a pack of Oreos.
"Let's go." I said and we left my house and locked the door.

**************************

"Good morning, students. Here are your morning announcements. Our annual Halloween dance is coming up! Followed by the Cheer Winter Championships which are held for all the teams in Florida. Hopefully, we'll take the title for 5th year in a row!"

An erupt of applause echoed down the corridors and I leaned against my locker playing with the ends of my straight hair.

"I thought we were in April." Skylar mumbled. "Our school is kinda obsessed with Halloween so we do a second dance before the end of the school year." I explain and she nods.

"Let's hope that our cheer captains, Alexis Walker and Madison Thompson can help us take that title! Anyway, that's all for morning announcements."

The bell rang shortly after and I slung my cheer bag over my shoulder and walked to the studio with my phone gripped in my hand. Nothing really happened yesterday after we went to the gym. We went out to eat I went home and cuddled with Rosie.

I mainly didn't want to come into school today because I would have to face Mia and Victoria. What they did was so out of line that it filled me with rage every time I thought about it, but was replaced with immediate sorrow when I thought about how I blatantly accused my mom about it. I felt a little connection between us when Noah told me what actually happened, it sort of gave me hope that maybe she will change.

I pulled open the door of the dance studio and put on a track that I created by myself but never thought much about it. It was a mix of sad piano with a violin. I pulled out my pointe shoes from my bag. They were a Christmas present from Noah's mom that I never used.

I turned on the music and closed my eyes. I let the music carry me across the dance floor and I finally felt as if I could breathe. The anger, fear, sadness and guilt washed away from me as I glided through the floor. The music stopped and I breathed in agony as I saw a girl with dark hair standing against the bar with a stack of sheets and a smile on her face.

"Can I help you?" I breathed out. "The famous Madison Thompson, am I right?" She said in a clear voice with a hint of sweetness to it. I nodded in response. "So you're a dancer as well as a cheerleader? Wow." She said and she walked towards me with her laced up knee high boots clicking against the floor.

"I'm Gracie. Gracie Brooks."
"And I'm, well, you know who I am." I replied. "I guess I'll see you around, Madison." She said and disappeared through the doors. I cocked my head in confusion and walked back to where my bag and phone was situated.

"She's weird but you'll get used to her." Someone said. I whipped my head again to find something that shocked me just as much as Gracie's appearance.

Sorry for the bad ending, I didn't really know how to end this chapter😂.