valerie begged her mom not to say anything to the school or anyone, after that. her mom promised her she wouldn't after some convincing, and left valerie alone to 'rest' although, valerie wasn't going to nap or anything, because the second her mom walked out of the room, her phone buzzed, and not only was she upset, she was now annoyed.

   the big 3
vic :))
val you okay?
i didn't see you at school today

valerie scoffed, throwing her head back.

                                     the big 3
dani 🦦
we should hangout
my house

valerie looked at her phone with a dumbfounded look. the response she wanted to give them was a bit harsh, and maybe that's exactly what she wanted to be, but she wasn't going to say it right now.

                                 the big 3
valerie
i seen y'all
you seem to fine without me, so i'll pass

almost immediately the two responded, but valerie put her phone on do not disturb, and put on music. she had already said enough to people today, and so for the rest of the things she had on her mind, she wrote down in her notebook. she always wrote her ideas, thoughts and opinions, even if they didn't actually matter.

                                        ———

again, she was dreading going to school. but even more because this time she had to see victoria and daniel, after what she said last night and then ignored them.

with a sigh, she looked at herself in the mirror, about ready to grab her backpack and walk out her room to meet maddy outside, when her mom walked in.

"uh.. you don't have to go to school today. i'll let you miss, but after this no more, okay?"

valerie smiled, more than happy to miss. she nodded, thanking her mom and plopping down on her bed. tomorrow she would go back to school with ashtray, so she was fine.

after a couple minutes, she got up and slowly walked to her moms room, lightly knocking on the door and then peeking her head through the crack. "hey mom..."

valerie moms head raised, she sent her a look as if she was waiting for her to tell her whatever she wanted to.

"can i go to ash's?" she asked, rocking back and forth.

"ash?" her mom questioned.

"my boyfriend." valerie reminded her, shaking her head with a laugh.

"oh, yeah, that boy.. i guess." her mom said.

valerie smiled, "thank you! i'll text you." and jogged down the hall, out of her house, waving bye to her dad on the way.

she knew ashtray was gonna be at the store today, and the walk there wasn't too long, so she didn't send him a text that she was gonna show up.. plus he thought she was in school.

and his reaction to her not being in school, was exactly what she expected.

"yo— whatchu you doin not in school?"

valerie rolled her eyes, "why do you care so much about me being in school ?"

ashtray mocked her, "because you don't need to be skippin for no reason." that wasn't the real answer, but he told her that anyway.

if he was being honest, he knew she wasn't more for her future and herself than she said, he didn't want her dropping out, getting in trouble too much, and becoming someone she isn't.

valerie just shrugged, throwing herself down next to him. "told my mom, and she let me skip so.."

"told your mom?" ashtray turned to her.

valerie sighed, not wanting to go into detail, but doing it anyway. "she told me she was going to take me to counselor, and i started crying and telling her everything, so she let me skip today." she said blankly.

ashtray stuck out his lip, not knowing how to respond to that, so only did, with a nod.

"sooo, what have you done all day?" valerie asked, and the two quickly went into a conversation about things they could do in the future, for dates, or just when they hangout instead of staying at ashtrays house or the store all day. even if valerie enjoyed doing just that, it would be fun to switch it up.

                                      ———

when valerie got home and saw maddys car in the driveway, she had expected her to know everything, because her mom would most likely tell maddy. so instead of walking straight to her room, she walked to maddys. she knocked lightly, but didn't hear anything in return.

this confused her, because she knew maddy was home. so she put her ear to the door, and heard quiet crys.

out of instinct, she pushed open the door and went to comfort her.

valerie froze when maddy flinched as she tried to rub her arm, "maddy... what happened?"

maddy just shook her head, continuing to cry as she was curled up into a ball. "i'm so fucking tired, val."

valerie was again confused, but just nodded. "im sorry, maddy."

maddy repeated, "i'm so tired of it."

it. valerie immediately guessed it had something to do with nate, since whenever maddy chased cassie at her house, she said that same thing to kat.

valerie wasn't good at giving advice, and she didn't really know how to show affection to people who are crying, so she just continued to rub her arm and whisper things that she thought we're good in that moment.

maddy eventually sat up, wiped her eyes and gave valerie a hug. "i love you, you know that?"

valerie chuckled, "yeah, i love you too, maddy."

she waited a few seconds to pull away, and then valerie asked again, "what happened?"

but just like before, maddy shook her head. "just... stuff, val."

the fact that maddy didn't want valerie knowing, made her suspicious. but valerie wasn't going to pry because of the state maddy was in, so instead she left her alone and began thinking the of one millionth things nate could've done.

somehow, she would find out.

AUTHORS NOTES:

the next two days i'm going to be really busy so i won't be able to update, but after that i PROMISE i will update more. i'm going to try to finish this book by the end of the month, but if you have any ideas plsssss tell me 🙏🙏🙏