39



even after begging her mom to let her stay home one more day, valerie's mom forced her to go. valerie was scared a new rumor had spread, or even worse, she'd see him.

getting ready for school, she must've looked in the mirror at least twenty times. before, she was okay with how she looked and her body and everything else. but now, it was like she didn't know what to wear, what people would think about it and what she looked like.

so she decided on sweatpants and a hoodie, it wasn't what she'd usually wear but it was comfortable, and covered her.

as she got out of the car with maddy she took a deep breathe, keeping her head low so she could avoid the stares she always got. maddy wrapped her arm around her little sister, "you okay, val?"

valerie looked up at her, "yeah, just tired."

maddy hesitated, but shrugged. "okay."

and they parted ways, valerie making her way to her locker like usual. she opened it and sighed, leaning forward as she already felt like leaving.

"val!" she heard, making her jump until she turned and saw her best friend.

"oh, hey, vic." valerie smiled.

"are you okay? i know you said you didn't feel good, but you never wear sweatpants to school." victoria raise an eyebrow.

"yeah, just tired." valerie lied again.

victoria slowly nodded, as val quickly changed the topic. "where's dani?"

"don't know, haven't seen him yet." vic shrugged.

valerie nodded, troy and roy catching her eye. she knew xander was a sophomore, the chances of seeing him are low, but there's still a chance. she walked faster to her class, saying goodbye to victoria.

since class hadnt started yet, she pulled out her notebook she always kept around her. she always wrote her feelings and thoughts in there because she hated talking about those things in person to people, and she drew in it too.

Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  β€”β€”β€”

walking out of her fifth period, she saw a group of people gathered in the halls. she furrowed her eyebrows in confused, every one was being loud and she couldn't see what was happening.

she pushed her way through the group of people, to see a fight. it didn't catch her eye that it was ashtray in the fight, until he turned to the side and she saw that diamond tattoo of his. her eyes widened, and looked closer at the other person. her heart dropped when she realized it was xander. she felt sick, just by the sight of him.

she watched as the principal broke up the fight and forced both of him to his office. her and ashtray made eye contact, before she slowly took a step back and walked away.

she walked to the bathroom, pushing the door open and going in a stall. she felt like having a nervous break down. she'd never seen xander before, why was he just popping up all of a sudden?Β 

she hadnt realized how long she'd been sitting in the stall, the scene at the park replaying over and over in her head, until her phone buzzed.

                                        lover 🫢🏼
lover 🫢🏼
yo
meet me at your locker

she got up, wiping her face with a sigh and going to her locker. she played with her fingers as she stepped in front of ashtray. "hi."

"i'm suspended, told fez i'd walk, wanna go wit me?" he asked her.

she let out almost a breath of relief, before nodding and following behind him out of the school days. "so, how long are you suspended?"

"three days." he told her.

three days without ashtray there with her? fuck. "i can stay with you for the three days." she suggested.

"you don't need to be skipping school." he furrowed his eyebrows.

"and why not?" she crossed her arms.

"because you'll get in trouble?" he shrugged.

she rolled her eyes, looking over at the side of his face that was red, and down to his hands that were also red, and.. bloody?

"you made him bleed?" she gasped.

he looked down to his hand, "guess so."

after a couple minutes they both arrived to his house, and she forced him into the bathroom before fezco could lecture him.

"valerie, im fine." he swatted her hands away when she tried to clean his hand.

she glared up at him, making him huff and give her his hand. she put alcohol on a cotton pad, and gently dabbed his knuckles.

"you shouldn't have fought him." she spoke.

"what?" ashtrays face scrunched in confusion.

she glanced up to him, "it'll bring attention to you, people talk, ash."

"i don't give a fuck. i thought that's what you wanted me to do, and he deserved that shit." he kept his eyes on her.

"that's not what i wanted. i justβ€” i don't know.." she sighed.

she put his hand down, and looked up to him. "i'm done."

he put his hand on her waist, pulling her into a hug. she froze for a second, making her mentally curse herself for even thinking of xander when it was ashtray hugging her.

"are you okay? and don't lie to me." he whispered.

she took a second to respond, the true answer was too much. "i will be."

he kissed her forehead, before they both walked out of the bathroom and fezco gave his lecture about how ashtray shouldn't do stupid shit like that, even if he did it for a good reason. valerie and ash walked to his room, laying in silence before she spoke up.
"no one knows at school, right?"

he turned to her, "i don't think so, ion know."

she nodded, taking a deep breathe. "have you ever sing song ditched or like.. threw rocks at peoples windows?"

his eyebrows furrowed, "what the fuck kinda question is that?"

"just curious." she chuckled.

"i haven't. have you?" he asked.

"ding dong ditched, yeah. it's fun, the adrenaline." she shrugged. she paused for a second, before sitting up and a big smile, "we should, like, right now."


AUTHORS NOTES:

new fav 🀭🀭🀭🀭
new pfp too (sorry jaden)

Comment