Precious Sins ✓

Chapter 38: Heartbeat

Precious Sins

Chapter XXXVIII: Heartbeat

[Adrien's POV]

School for the next two weeks was an absolute nightmare. I dreaded going every morning. After finding out that my mom and Jackson broke up and that we would be moving back to our old house, nothing ever seemed right anymore. There were so many things that swarmed around in my head: my mom, Preston, Carter, my friends; those thoughts were always at the forefront of my brain, and now, I couldn't wake up in the morning without feeling sick to my stomach at the thought of going to school.

When I got to school that Friday morning, my heart was pounding fast and my breath uneven, I got stares. It seemed like a regular occurrence now, especially from all the seniors. I would get stares, some would whisper, and some even had the courage to call me names out loud. I tried my best to ignore the comments and stares, but it did nothing to ease my anxiety. It only just made it worse and I had to fight myself from fleeing the school altogether. My mom would get curious if I kept skipping school, and I didn't want her to know what was going on.

Because in fact, it was all my fault, so I deserved it anyway.

"Adrien?" I blinked out of my thoughts when I heard someone call out my name in a whisper, followed by a hand being placed on my shoulder. When I looked up from my laptop, Asher was looking at me with a concerned frown.

"You okay?" He asked me concernedly, and I nodded my head, flashing him a quiet smile.

"Ah...yeah, sorry. I just spaced out."

"If you're spacing out, obviously you're not fine," Asher scoffed lightly, "Preston still not talking to you?"

I frowned, "Why would he? If I saw him with someone else like he saw me with Carter, I probably would do the same thing he's doing..."

"Yeah, but Carter forced himself onto you. Therefore, I think you should try talking to Preston again. It's been a week, Adrien," Asher told me.

"I don't know. I...I'm just tired, okay? I don't want to do anything," I dismissed Asher's suggestion and looked back to my computer screen, struggling to sit still and focus.

Asher furrowed his brows at me, "you don't want to get Preston back?"

I didn't say anything, and instead of bothering to answer Asher, I focused my gaze on my half-written essay on my laptop. But I barely focused on the essay. I got lost in my thoughts while blocking out the world around me. I couldn't focus on anything nowadays, let alone schoolwork. I just didn't want to do anything. I didn't even want to be at school.

I could still feel Asher's concerned gaze on me, but luckily, he didn't say anything more and went back to his schoolwork.

***

When first period was over, Asher and I quietly walked side by side out of English and headed down the closest stairwell to the main floor. There were no art classes during second period, so Asher and I spent our spare in Ms. Sawyer's art room, talking and catching up on schoolwork. Well, Asher caught up on his schoolwork while I painted.

All I did was paint and draw nowadays. It was the only thing that could help distract me from everything going on in my life. I often spent hours drawing, to the point that I barely ever did my schoolwork anymore, and I was slowly falling behind. But I didn't really care; I couldn't focus on school so what was the point in wasting time in trying to focus?

"Ugh, these chairs are starting to get more and more uncomfortable each day," Asher groaned. He sat beside me on the stool beside mine, his homework sitting in front of him on the table as he rubbed his lower back.