The Rest Is History | ✓

11 | the denial

The next morning, I came out of the shower, ready to start my homework in the dorm when I saw Kate and Angie sitting on my bed, looking at me with their lips pursed.

I raised an eyebrow. "What's the matter?"

Kate spoke first. "What's going on between you and Archer?"

I frowned. "What? What makes you think something's going on?"

"Well, a few people saw you two dancing at the ball yesterday. What was that about?!"

I closed my eyes. Ugh, of course people would see us and start a rumour mill. What the hell was I thinking, going over to him like that?

"Nothing's going on, I swear. I just walked over to him and asked him to dance as a form of an apology."

"Apology?"

"Yeah, he had waited for me while I was getting ready for the ball yesterday. Plus he also helped me out with Ms D'Angelo's work. But as we were approaching the hall I didn't want people to think we were going together, so I left him abruptly and went inside. I could see he was a bit hurt, and I felt guilty afterwards. So..."

"So you danced with him?" Angie asked, her lips turning up into a smirk. "Viv, you could've just apologised to him and left it there. Instead you went ahead and danced with him too. I'm telling you, your feelings are still there somewhere."

Kate nodded along.

I glared at them. "No, of course not! You think after what he did, I'll still have feelings for him? He's an arsehole, that's what he is. I was just feeling bad yesterday, especially since he'd helped me out. Otherwise I'd never have danced with him, god no."

"Keep telling yourself that." Angie winked and returned to her homework. Kate gave me a Cheshire cat smile and blocked out all sounds of my protests with her headphones.

An interrogation was not how I'd imagined my Sunday to begin with.

°

I didn't see Archer all of Sunday. To be honest, I was still a bit hurt over the way he'd abruptly left me in the middle of the dance, just like that. It was... embarrassing. It made me even more aware of my stupid decision to ask him to dance. I shouldn't have done it at all. And then he'd just left me and gone back to his friends, without any second glance.

"I can't do this," he'd said.

I shook my head. There was no point in mulling over his words and ruining my Sunday. No point at all.

The next day, after class hours when I went inside the study to begin the five-hour ordeal of sitting with the Head Boy, I abruptly stopped in my tracks.

Archer was already in his chair, doing his work.

I stared at him for a second. It wasn't like him to come before me and begin his work. But I didn't let myself stand at the doorway for long, and went inside, ignoring him as much as I could. I wasn't going to give him the time of day.

I could feel his eyes burning holes into my back as I set my bag onto the desk and took out some sheets of paper. I sat down and started writing. All the while ignoring the pair of brown eyes constantly staring at me.

After a while, I heard his voice. "Are you ignoring me?"

I stopped writing. "Why would I ever ignore you?" I asked in the most sarcastic tone possible. "You're my best friend in the whole universe."