Chapter 24
*Victoria*
I finally arrive home, my legs burning from the long walk from the school. My eyes feel puffy and dry from wiping away the tears.
"Why are you..." she pauses as she looks me over. "What happened?"
"It turns out you can't trust anyone these days." I say. "Caleb and his friends had a great time insulting me lowering my self-esteem."
"What do you mean? I thought you and Caleb were friends."
"Yeah, he had us all fooled. His friends called me a slut and crybaby, and he thought it was the funniest thing ever."
"I'm sorry sweetheart. You don't deserve all of this heartbreak. If it makes you feel any better, I've signed a contract for my own fashion line. I move to New York in two weeks. I know that you've just gotten settled here after our move, but you're more than welcome to come along with me. If not, I'll pay the mortgage on this house and you can stay here, while I pay rent in New York. This line will give me more than enough money to do both, so don't worry about anything."
"That's great mom. I'm really happy for you." She deserves this more than anyone. She's sacrificed a lot for her fashion line. I'm just happy she was still able to accomplish her goal in life. "I'd love to move to New York with you. What's a couple months in a new school?" I shrug. "It's not like I have many friends here. Charlie will be disappointed, but I'll keep in touch with her. I'll be graduated and on my way to college in no time. And I was actually thinking of applying to NYU."
"Perfect! I don't think I'd be able to leave you here alone anyway." She takes me into a tight hug and places a kiss on my cheek. "I guess we should start packing."
*Aaron*
My knee bounces uncontrollably as I sit nervously in my potential lawyer's office. My mother sits beside me. She bites her nails, something she only does when she's worried or nervous.
"Mom, what if we can't afford a good one?" I ask.
"We'll figure something out, don't worry. I refuse to let those people take Sophie from us, even if it's weekly or bi-weekly. Who knows what kind of damage they could do to her."
I told my mother what Grace's parents did to her and ever since, she's been on my side. She's just as worried as I am.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." A woman says, coming into the room. She takes a seat behind the desk and pulls out a note pad. "I'm Kristine Daniels. I understand that you're here to talk about custody of your daughter. What is the exact situation?"
I told Kristine about Grace's nine months without a family and how her parents want to take Sophie away from me.
"Have you thought about why her parents want to see Sophie? Perhaps they really want to be involved in her life."
"Are you saying we should just hand her over?" my mother asks.
"I'm just trying to make sure you're absolutely certain that you want to fight this in court."
"We are absolutely sure." My mother says. "I refuse to let them ruin my grandchild like they did their daughter."
"Alright, then I'll do everything in my power to help you keep her."
***
I walk into school on Monday and meet up with my friends. They all talk with each other except Caleb who looks glum.
"What's with you?" I ask him.
"I'm such an idiot?"
"Well I could have told you that." I laugh. "What stupid thing did you do this time?"
"I screwed things up with Vicky. She thinks I'm an even bigger jerk than you!"
"I'm not a jerk! I had good reason to break things off with her. Besides, I thought you two are just friends?"
"We are. Well we were. Connor finally realized that Vicky wasn't going to give him the time of day and he tore her apart. He called her a slut and a crybaby. He said that you dumped her because she's a child and because she wouldn't sleep with you. And I stupidly laughed at his insults. Now she doesn't trust me. She thinks I was just using her."
"Were you?"
"No, off course not! I actually kind of like her. I mean, you've always known I think she's hot, but it's different getting to know her."
"She's my ex. You can't go out with her. We made a promise not to date each other's exes."
"I know, I know. It doesn't matter anyway. She hates me now."
It's strange seeing Caleb so upset over Victoria. They hardly talked before the breakup and then all of a sudden they were close friends. It makes me uncomfortable and a little jealous.
Familiar bouncy brown curls catch my attention and I see Victoria walk by. She walks more confidently compared to the last couple of days where she dragged her feet. She even looks adorable again. Her sweats are replaced by dark skinny jeans and her baggy sweatshirt is replaced with a cute red Christmas sweater. She's back to her normal self.
"Well there she is if you want to talk to her." I say.
"No. She told me not to even look at her. She doesn't want to see me."
"Fine, then I'll talk to her for you."
"Wait!" Caleb reaches out to stop me as I approach Victoria, but I dodge him and he grabs air.
As she reaches into her locker for her things, I lean on the locker beside her. She pauses and slowly closes her locker. She looks at me with furrowed brows.
"Yes?" she asks.
"Mind telling me what's going on with you and Caleb?"
"Nothing." She sighs with disgust. "It's none of your business anyway."
"Look, I know that you hate me. I hurt you and I'm sorry, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you. I want us to at least try to be friends."
"I don't want to be friends. I want you and your hurtful friends to stay away from me."
"You can't avoid us forever. At some point we're going to cross paths."
"You'd be surprised."
The bell rings and without another word, she heads to her first class. I sigh as I watch her leave. She used to be so sweet and loving. I guess this is what happens when you've been hurt one too many times.
*Victoria*
At lunch I pick an empty seat at the back of the room. This is where I used to sit before my life got so messed up. I want things to go back to the way they were. I can get close to that in New York when I don't really know anyone. I'll have a clean slate.
Two trays are placed across from me as Caleb and Aaron take their seats at the table. I groan in frustration.
"What do you want?" I ask them harsher than I thought possible. "I told you to stay away from me."
"I tried to tell him." Caleb says with a shrug.
"What's really going on in your head?" Aaron asks. "Just lay it all out on the table. How do you really feel? We can take it."
"What is this, an intervention? Why do you care?"
"I told you, I care about you still. That can't just go away. And Caleb is your friend too."
"No, he's a liar." A hurt expression crosses Caleb's face and I feel a little guilty from my outburst.
"I never lied to you. I say this from my heart, I really thought we were friends. And I never meant to hurt you the way I did the other night. I made a stupid, stupid mistake and I wish more than anything that I could take it back. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you."
"Connor is a jerk." Aaron adds. "We all know it, even him. When he gets upset, he hurts someone else so that he doesn't hurt so much anymore. He took his anger out on you and that was wrong of him."
"Well none of it matters because I'm leaving anyway." Aaron and Caleb both furrow their brows. "I'm moving to New York with my mom. Her fashion line got accepted and there's no reason for me to stay behind, so I'm going with her."
"But you're just getting settled into this school after two years!" Aaron exclaims. "Why move now?"
"Because there's nothing here for me."
"What about Sophie?"
"You won't let me see her so there's no need to stay for her. She's probably forgotten about me anyway. She has her mommy now."
"That's not true. She asks about you all the time. You can see her if you want."
"It'd be best if I didn't. She's already began to separate herself from me. It'd only make it worse."
"What can I say to get you to stay here?"
"Nothing." I shrug. "I'm moving and that's the end of it."
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Hey guys. Sorry for the long wait. I should be able to update a lot quicker now that school is out. I've completed my finals, I've mostly recovered from the car accident I was in, and now I'm able to finally focus on my writing. This is the first part to this chapter because it's after 10:30 and I have to get up for work at 4:00 haha. So hopefully I'll have the second part up tomorrow!
Please comment, vote, and/or fan (follow). Thanks!! ;-)