Chapter 3

• Chapter 3
• Even though I went to bed early last night, I woke up with a throbbing headache. Mom wouldn't even let me stay home. She told me that missing a day of school because of a headache can result in serious consequences. In my opinion, she was overreacting. I could easily catch up after staying home one day. But she wouldn't listen to a single word I had to say. So, I had to suck it up and go to school.
• By the time it was lunch, my headache was a lot worse, especially since I sat behind Belle and her friends in my English class and they spent the whole period blabbing away.
• As I was putting my books in my locker, the six people decided to pester me again. I always dealt with it, hoping they would get bored and move on. That was never the case.
• "How was detention yesterday?" Devon asked.
• I didn't answer. I was not in the mood for them to pester me. Having a headache this bad would probably cause me to snap at them, which would make Belle's story about me 'ruining her life' more believable.
• "What's wrong?" Belle asked in a fake sympathetic tone. "Cat got your tongue?"
• "I'm just not in the mood to talk," I muttered.
• "Why?" Devon asked. "You feeling guilty for ruining Belle's life?"
• I wasn't able to contain myself. "I am not ruining her life!" I snapped before I could stop myself. I rubbed my head and sighed, hoping nobody was watching the conversation.
• "No wonder nobody likes you," Devon said. "You're so temperamental." His diss resulted in high fives amongst the six of them.
• "Just leave," I said, closing my locker.
• "Leave?" Belle asked. "You expect me to leave you alone after what you did?!"
• "I did nothing!" I repeated for what felt like the hundredth time. "What happened wasn't my fault!" Great, my yelling was causing my headache to get worse. There was no way I was going to be able to concentrate in the rest of my classes.
• "I'll believe that once pigs fly," Belle scoffed.
• "I don't care what you believe," I said. "I am seriously not in the mood for all of you to pester me. Go bother someone else."
• "And what if we don't?" Devon asked, taking a threatening step closer to me.
• "You'll regret it," a voice behind me said in a cold tone. I turned to see Grayson. Him always showing up while I was being pestered was a miracle. My headache was still getting worse and having Grayson here to tell Devon off made me feel a lot better. The headache wasn't gone, but I felt relieved.
• Devon immediately glared his dagger-like eyes at Grayson. "How many times do I have to tell you to stay out of it?"
• Grayson stepped between me and Devon. "I don't know. The same amount of times I have to tell you to leave her alone."
• "You're not all that, Grayson," Belle said as if it was an insult.
• However, Grayson didn't take it as one. "Thank you, Captain Obvious. I really appreciate the feedback. Now why don't you do me a favor and leave? Or I could beat up your boyfriend. Your choice."
• Devon scoffed, though I saw a hint of fear in his eyes. "You really think you could beat me up? I'd like to see you try."
• "Is that a challenge?" Grayson asked, taking a step towards his enemy.
• "Let's just go," Belle muttered, pulling Devon's arm. She must have thought Grayson would have pummeled Devon.
• Devon gave Grayson a sharp glare before the six of them left. Finally. I was free from their stupid and pointless pestering.
• "Thanks," I said to Grayson. "It's nice to have someone to have my back."
• Grayson shrugged as I rubbed my forehead after receiving a sudden sharp pain. "You okay?" he asked.
• "Not really, no," I said honestly. "I have this massive headache, but my mom wouldn't let me stay home. And the stress of school plus Belle and Devon is making it worse."
• "Then let's cut class," he said simply.
• I raised an eyebrow. "Cut class? I don't know... ."
• "I know this quiet café near the beach," he said. "It will help your stress level go down."
• "My mom will kill me if she finds out," I told him. Biology is the last class and that was one of the main classes I needed to become a doctor. If she found out I skipped that class, I'd most likely be grounded or dead.
• Grayson shrugged. "Then don't let her find out."
• "Doesn't the school call if someone misses a class?" I asked.
• "Yeah," Grayson said. "But the school doesn't start calling parents until around four, so when you're home, be by the phone and get ready to impersonate your mom."
• "I still don't know... "
• Grayson sighed. "Stop over thinking things, Flower. I do this all the time and I've only been caught once or twice."
• "Alright, fine," I said.
• Grayson smiled. "Great. Let's go." He lead me outside of the school and towards his car. I honestly felt a bit nervous skipping school since I had never done it before. What if Mom found out? What if I ran into my parents or Tony? What if...
• Grayson snapped his fingers in front of my face, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Flower, stop over thinking."
• "I wasn't over thinking," I lied as we got into his car.
• "Remember when Mr. Pierce said that you're not the best liar a few days ago?" Grayson asked. I nodded. "He wasn't lying."
• Grayson started up his car and pulled out of the school grounds. "I haven't skipped before, so don't blame me for being nervous."
• "But if you over think too much, you're headache could get worse," Grayson pointed out.
• I sighed and leaned back against the seat, knowing he was right. I decided to just relax, clear my mind, and enjoy the thirty minute drive to the beach.
• "Grayson," I said after a few minutes if silence. "Why are you being nice to me?"
• "What do you mean?" he asked.
• "Belle convinced everyone at school to turn against me," I said. "So why not you?"
• Grayson shrugged like he usually did. "It might be the fact that Devon is taking Belle's side and I hate agreeing with him. Or maybe because I know something happened between you and Belle and it won't be fair to assume Belle's side of the story is true."
• I frowned at the memories suddenly rushing through my head. My headache was starting to worsen at the memories, so I began rubbing my temples in attempt to soothe the pain.
• "Is the headache getting worse?" Grayson asked.
• "Yeah," I said. Stupid memories... Stupid Belle... Stupid Ben... "The stress of having Belle around is making it horrible. I can't say exactly what happened, but I will say that she blames me for it."
• "When did this thing happen?" Grayson asked.
• I didn't mind him asking. As long as I didn't have to talk about the specific incident, I was fine. "In July. During summer vacation." I started rubbing my forehead again as the memories came back. "I need these memories gone. I tried everything, even a psychologist. Nothing worked."
• Grayson raised an eyebrow. "A psychologist? Wow. What happened must be pretty bad."
• "Yeah," I said quietly. "It was."
• Nobody said anything after. It took a few more minutes before Grayson parked by a café near the beach. Less than half a dozen cars were parked there, giving me some hope that I'd be able to have some peace and quiet.
• Grayson and I walked into the café. I immediately fell in love with the delicious aroma filling the air. It was a mix between freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and brownies as if they were fresh out of the oven. I had to try my best not to drool.
• While looking at the menu board behind the cash register, Grayson turned to me. "So Flower. What do you want? My treat."
• "You sure?" I asked.
• He nodded. "Yeah."
• I ordered a chocolate chip cookie -mainly because of the smell- and a latte while Grayson just ordered coffee. Sitting down in the café was definitely helping my headache go down. I knew it wouldn't completely leave, but not having a massive headache put me in a better mood.
• Grayson must have noticed because he asked me, "Feeling better?"
• I nodded. "A bit. I guess having a break from school was all I needed."
• "See?" Grayson said. "I told you."
• "Well thanks for taking me away from the school," I said. "I haven't hung out with a friend since Belle turned everyone against me."
• "So you two were friends?" Grayson asked.
• I nodded. "Yeah. Best friends. Almost sisters. We had been since kindergarten. But now, she hates me... ."
• "If you want, I can beat up Devon for you," Grayson said.
• I furrowed my eyebrows. "We were talking about Belle..."
• "I know that," Grayson said. "But I don't hit girls and since Devon is her boyfriend and a complete ass, it's the next best thing."
• "Yeah, I doubt that would fix everything," I said. "Besides, nobody knows exactly what happened. Not even Devon. He just thinks I did something wrong because his stupid girlfriend said I did."
• Grayson shrugged. "Suit yourself. I'd probably beat him up sooner or later anyway."
• The bell above the door dinged, signaling someone walking in. I just thought it was a normal customer. I was so wrong.
• "Poppy?"