Read My Lips: Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Walking into school the next day was what you would call awkward.

I wasn’t sure whether Zach was going to turn up today so I was constantly looking around for him. Also, I was feeling tense with the whole Amy and Luke issue yesterday. People were whispering however today, it didn’t seem to be aimed at me.

Of course that made me happy. Nobody liked to be talked about. No one noticed me as I walked through the school, automatically making me feel more relaxed.  Having no attention of me already made me smile on the inside.

Rebekah wasn’t at our normal meeting place making frown as I arrived. I was alone once again which only made me feel that bit more scared. If Amy or Luke came up to me then I’d have no one to make me feel just a little bit safer.

Surprisingly it wasn’t Amy or Luke who came up to me as I stood alone. Nor was it Rebekah. It wasn’t any of Zach’s friends. No, it was Zach himself. A gasp left my lips as I stared at his face.

It wasn’t as near perfect as it normally was. Instead this time, his face was covered in bruises and cuts. His lip was bust and there was a fresh cut through his eyebrow that was already bleeding slightly. I went to raise my hand to touch his face before I stopped half way remembering that we weren’t together anymore.

I couldn’t nor would I comfort him anymore. He left me, he could comfort himself. Call me bitter, but he’d broken my heart.

Zach awkwardly ran his hand through his hair as he stood in front of me doing nothing but stare at my own face. His eyes were fixated onto mine, never leaving even when I looked away from his gaze. He wasn’t speaking so I took that as a hint that I had to talk first.

“What happened?” I asked bluntly. I wasn’t going to add anything else to that, at this moment that was all he was getting. It was all I cared about too, if I was being honest.

“Nothing. Just a little fight, nothing to worry over.” He answered, smiling slightly. I noticed the way he winced slightly as he forced a slight smile. He was hurt. And I was being too selfish to comfort him.

“Don’t lie to me.” I warned at him, adding a glare to show him that I was being serious. We weren’t together anymore; he didn’t have to lie to keep me ‘safe’. If something was wrong and it wasn’t a top secret then he could tell me.

He sighed, finally allowing his shoulders to slump. “Fine, I got into a planned fight but it’s still nothing to worry about.” Zach finalised.

“Nothing to worry about?” I questioned, staring at him in shock. “You’re hurt.”

“I’m not hurt, I’m fine,” He stated, he looked around the room quickly before turning his gaze back to me. “It’s nothing permanent, it’ll go away.”

“That’s not the point!” I almost shouted, moving forward and slapping his chest. I automatically regretted that action when I saw him flinch. It obviously wasn’t just his face that was hurt. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. But what is the point? I’m hurt? Boohoo, it’ll go away. I’ve had much worse. Oh, and stop shouting everyone’s looking.”

I rolled my eyes at his reply, I was only being concerned about his injuries and he was throwing it straight back in my face. Also, I didn’t care if people were looking. They could if they wanted to. “Well sorry for caring.” I scoffed, attempting to step to his left and leave.

Zach grabbed my arm, preventing me from moving any further. “I’m sorry. Today’s just not being a good day.” He apologised, shaking his head sadly.

“And you think I had a good day or few days for that matter?” I raised an eyebrow in question. Had he forgotten everything? Had he woken up with a case of amnesia or something?

He let out a sigh after he let go of my arm, allowing it to fall back to my side. “I know, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what just happened and I’m sorry for breaking up with you and leaving you. I’m sorry for every mistake I ever made when I was with you, I’m just sorry for everything.”

“It fine. I not care.” I shrugged, trying to look as uncaring as I possibly could. Time for my next approach; show Zach that I didn’t care.

“You sure look like you care.” He answered quietly. I was well aware that I didn’t look my best. Heck, I hadn’t looked my best since he ended things. I just didn’t have the effort to put into making myself look good when I had no one to look good for.

“Jheez, thanks.” I muttered, folding my arms across my chest, I didn’t know how else to answer him.

“I’m sorry for that too.”

Once again, I shrugged. “Why are you standing in front of me? Don’t you have somewhere to be?” I asked, knowing for a fact that if I asked what he was doing here he’d make some sarcastic reply about the fact this was school.

“I wanted to see if you were ok.” He answered, tucking his hands into his trouser pockets the best he could. He looked so uncomfortable it made me wonder why he’d even bothered to come over to me.

“Well, I fine. Do you need anything else?” I questioned bluntly. I was praying he said no because I didn’t know how much longer I could stand looking at him before I lost it and broke down.

Zach stared at me for a while, appearing to be in deep thought. He looked like he was thinking of something to say just so he could talk to me for that bit longer. It was like we’d just met and he was attempting to stay near for that extra minute. The way you do when you talk to your crush.

“How’s Rebekah?” He finally spoke up. The question was so unusual that I raised an eyebrow in response. That wasn’t something you asked your ex, was it?

“Go ask her yourself.” I snapped. If he was so concerned about how she was then he could go talk to her instead of asking me.

He looked slightly taken back by the way I’d snapped at him. “Sorry. Just trying to make conversation.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry too.” I apologised. He could ask about Rebekah, that didn’t give me a right to snap at him. It still didn’t make sense as to why he was asking his ex about her best friend, but that didn’t give me the right to snap. Maybe there was a valid reason.

“It’s just that I saw her talking to Jake and I thought they were on good terms again.” His response shocked me. Had Rebekah finally built up the courage to talk to Jake? I hope she had because she deserved to have some answers to settle her mind. She also deserved to be happy.

Then it hit me. Was Zach only talking to me because he’d seen Rebekah and Jake talking? “Is that why you talking to me?”

“Is what the reason I’m talking to you?” He asked, looking confused. A frown took over his face, his eyebrows knitting together.

“Rebekah and Jake.”

“What? No. I’m talking to you because I wanted to see how you were holding up.” Zach replied, shaking his head as he spoke.

“Why do you even care? You left me.” I really wasn’t doing what I had planned and showing him that I didn’t care. I was being bitter towards him which obviously showed him that he had hurt me.

Part of me wanted him to see how much he’d hurt me yet there was also that other part of me that wanted to show him that he hadn’t affected me and that I could move on.

Yet there was also the fact that we’d only been broken up for a few days and nobody could move on from a breakup that fast. Especially when it’s the first relationship you’ve ever been in. It was my first heartbreak and I could only guess that this one would hurt the most.

“I still care about you.” He muttered looking down at the ground awkwardly. At the moment though, I didn’t care if he cared about me or not.

“Cool,” I answered simply. There wasn’t anything else I could think of to say. “So is your face ok?” I asked wanting to make sure that he was fine before I finally walked away from him.

He nodded. “Yes, I said it was nothing. It’ll go away soon; a few painkillers and I won’t feel anything. It’ll just be ugly to look at.”

As much as I wanted to tell him that it didn’t make him look ugly, I refrained. That would be taking a step towards flirting with him and I was still planning on taking the ‘I don’t care’ route. To tell the truth, I did still care about him and I probably always would but I refused to show him that.

“That all I wanted to know. I going now, bye.” And with that, I never bothered waiting for him to reply before I turned around and walked off, leaving him watching where I was previously stood.

---

“And you just walked away from him?” Rebekah asked, as we headed along the path.

It was currently the end of the day and I was walking half way home with Rebekah before she turned the opposite way to go home.

“Yeah. Like I said, I trying to show him that I’ve moved on and that I not care,” I shrugged, kicking a small pebble that was on the floor in front of my feet. “Anyway, Zach said that he saw you and Jake talking.”

Her cheeks tinted red which could only mean that Zach was telling the truth. “Yeah, we talked things through and we’re going to give it a try. We’re taking it slow though!”

“No need to defend yourself.” I giggled at her defensiveness of Jake. She could see him if she wanted to. One, It had nothing to do with me if she wanted to be with him or not and two, they weren’t even together when he did whatever he had done.

Rebekah let out a small laugh. “Sorry, I just didn’t want you to judge me.”

“Why would I do that?” I asked, frowning. I wouldn’t judge her. I’d been in a relationship with Zach, judging her would be unfair.

“Just with what went on and everything.” She muttered. With my hearing still not been a hundred per cent clear, I struggled to make out what she was actually saying.

“What?” I asked, only actually hearing parts of the sentence. She was talking too quiet for me to hear what she was actually saying.

“I said, I thought you would with what went on and everything.” She repeated louder this time.

“Oh. No I wouldn’t do that.” I assured her as we both stopped walking at the corner of the street.

Rebekah glanced around the street before looking at me. “Are you sure about walking down there by yourself? There are all those alleyways; I don’t want you getting hurt.”

I smiled at her thoughtfulness. It made me happy knowing she cared if I was safe or not. “I be fine. It still light, I doubt there would be anyone risking doing something and getting caught.”

“Are you sure?” She questioned, worry was still etched on her face.

“I be ok, you go home.”

With that, we said our goodbyes before I turned and headed down the alleyway and towards my house. Considering it was winter and December, it was still pretty late out. Although it was light, it was still freezing.

There were still snow showers every now and then, meaning the ground was still slightly covered in snow. The cold air nipped at my face as I headed home. All I felt like doing was getting into bed, putting on a good movie and having a nice hot cup of coco.

Hushed whispers came from the little alleyway to my right making me slow down and extend my time getting to that specific entrance. I turned to look, seeing a two bulky guys stood there, hoods up, heads bent towards each other whispering.

I couldn’t hear what they were saying so I just stood there staring as if that was going to help me understand the words that were coming from their mouth. Leaning slightly to the right, I tried to strain the best I could to hear anything.

It was like they sensed me. Both of their heads snapped towards me and their talking stopped instantly. I froze in my place, not knowing what to do. Do I stand there and wait for them to say something or do I run as fast as I could until I knew I was safe again?

My thoughts seemed to make up my mind for me as the men began making their way towards me. Not knowing what I was supposed to do, I didn’t move. I just stood there, waiting.

“What are you doing?” The man on the right demanded. His voice was harsh and stern, as if he needed an answer from me.

“Nothing?” I frowned, shuffling on my feet. I looked to my left debating whether to just take off and run. But what happened if they were too fast for me and they caught me?

The man on the left took a step closer to me, so he was now standing right in front of me. “You were obviously doing something.”

Shrugging, I once again looked to my left. I was willing for someone to turn the corner and scare these guys off. I could feel the panic welling up inside of me, I was scared and there was nothing I could do.

“Can I go?” I questioned my voice quieter than I hoped it would me. I didn’t want them to think I was weak and vulnerable, that would make them think that they had an advantage on me and I didn’t want that at all.

“Can she go?” The man chuckled looking to his partner at his left. “No. Wait until I tell Zach about this one.”

My heart automatically jumped in my chest. Zach? My Zach? He’s not your Zach! My mind shouted at me. None the less, it was still that name that made butterflies appear in my stomach regardless if I wanted them to or not. “Zach?” I whispered.

“You know Zach Danvers?” The man on the right asked, seemingly shocked. His eyes widened slightly allowing me to see how grey they really were. They somehow managed to enhance how skinny his face actually was.

I nodded slowly not understanding where this conversation was going. What did Zach have to do with any of this?

“How do you know him? Hey, Paul, she knows Zach.” The man on the right smirked towards who I’d now learnt was called Paul.

I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to answer that or not. Why was he questioning me over Zach? “He was my boyfriend.”

“Your boyfriend?” Paul smirked. He pulled his hands together, cracking his knuckles as he tilted his head to the side.

“Ex boyfriend.”

Paul smirked again to his partner. “I think we have exactly what we need.”

The man smirked back. “I think we do.”

“Can I go now?” I asked I didn’t know whether to be scared or confused. At the moment, scared was slightly over ruling confused.

“Sure you can sweetie.” Paul smiled. An obvious fake smile.

I didn’t want to see if they were going to say anything else, I automatically turned around and speed walked off.

I’d never experienced anything like that in my life and I didn’t like it one bit. But then again, who liked being stopped by two random men questioning you about your ex-boyfriend. Certainly not me.

My mind was all over the place as I headed back home, my thoughts were all over the place and they somehow all ended up back on Zach. Was he in some sort of trouble? Was that how those two men knew him? Did he need help?

Then the image of his face today popped into my mind. He was in trouble and I knew it. He was in trouble and there was nothing I could do because I didn’t know the extent of trouble he was in, how he was in it and what he was doing.

I’d never felt so hopeless towards him.

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A/N: I've been back at school for two weeks and sixth form is already killing me slowly.

The amount of work is ridiculous. I don't need homework from every teacher for just 1 subject-.-

Anyway, that's the reason for the limited uploads in the past like 3 weeks.

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