Chapter Forty-Two: Connecting the Dots

“You made us wait all day, now you better spill about your date or I am just going to ask Gavin himself.” Holly said, taking a seat.

“Why does it matter how the date went? I had fun, Thomas had fun. Nothing else needs to be said.” I told her honestly, unscrewing the cap of my water bottle.

“Because Holly and I helped you get the date in the first place. The least you can do is tell us about it.” Sarah argued, “Like if I went on a date with Andy I would have told you.”

I rose my eyebrows to that, “Did you go on a date with Andy?” I questioned.

“T-this isn’t about me. It is about you,” She said, stuttering.

My jaw dropped open as I looked at Sarah with wide eyes. “Oh my God, you went on a date with Andy? And you didn’t even bother to tell us?”

“This isn’t about me!” Sarah argued.

“It is now,” Holly stated. “When were you going to tell us, you and Andy were a thing?”

Sarah let out a groan, tangling her fingers through her red hair, pulling at it. “We aren’t a thing and even if we were I would have told you.”

“Just like how you told us he asked you on a date?” I said, my voice laced in amusement.

“How about this, you tell us about your date with Gavin and I will do the same.” Sarah said, purposing a fair enough agreement.

I nodded my head, “That seems fair.”

“So are you going to tell us? Or are you going to keep stalling because lunch is almost over.”

I rolled my eyes at Holly then launched into my date with Gavin. I started right from the beginning to where I made the first move and kissed him- on the cheek, obviously. Which the girls groaned about… Then to the winning of the snake for Garrett to the end of the date where he gave me a goodnight’s kiss, but expected a little bit more.

I went into detail about the date, but I didn’t tell them about how I wished that I kissed him on the lips instead of the cheek. But, I wanted my first kiss with him to be special and even if I had to wait for it, I would. For the special moment with the idiot.

“That is honestly, one of the cutest things I’ve ever heard.” Holly said, sighing.

I rolled my eyes, “Well I am glad you think so.”

Sarah opened her mouth to say something, but her brown eyes directed their attention to the top of my head. I slowly turned around to see Gavin walking this way.

I wrinkled my eyebrows in confusion, he would usually sit with Ashley and them. Why was he coming this way?

My head snapped back to face the girls, “Why is he coming this way?” I blurted out, voicing my thoughts.

Holly scratched her head, looking at me in confusion. “To sit with you?” She said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I was about to say something else when Gavin’s presence interrupted me. “Hey, Nerd.” He said, plopping his lunch down on the table and taking a seat next to me.

I turned my head, rolling my eyes. I thought we were done with that name, “Hey Rainbow.”

He let out an amused chuckle, bringing his chair close to mine. “So…?” He said, as if he was trying to hint something at me.

“So…?” I mimicked back.

“How was your day?” He asked, trying to make small talk.

I gave a sarcastic smile, “Pretty good, until you showed up.”

He rolled his eyes, “I didn’t even insult you.” He said, opening up his lunch container and taking out a few fries, plopping it into his mouth.

“Were you going to?” I questioned.

He nodded his head, “Yeah. Most probably.”

I shook my head, “Well bud, I beat yeah to it.” I said, immaturely sticking out my tongue.

Gavin brought his head close to mine, resting his forehead on mine. “If I was you, I would put that tongue back into your mouth before it goes into mine.” He whispered, staring at my lips.

I gulped staring into Gavin’s dark brown eyes, ignoring the tingles running up and down my body.

“Alright!” Holly said, loudly causing Gavin and I to break apart. “I thought I was going to be able to handle on this cuteness. But, I just ate a salad. It was hard enough to get it down and I doubt anyone wants to see it coming back up.” She said, looking at the two of us with a look in her eyes that I couldn’t really decipher. “I don’t know about Sarah, but I am out of here.” She said, collecting her things and getting up from her chair, towards the exit of the cafeteria.

All three of us watched as Holly walked away, soon Sarah began collecting her lunch things too. “Your leaving too?” I asked, confused.

She nodded her head, “Yeah. I love you Ali, but I honestly don’t want to be a third wheel.”

“You’re not a third wheel!” I said, defensively.

“That’s what people say to others to make them feel like they aren’t third wheeling when they are.” Sarah said, with a smile on her face. “I’ll see you two love birds around.” She said, getting up from her chair and walking to the same way Holly disappeared off to moments ago.

“Well that wasn’t awkward at all.” Gavin said, trying to fill the awkward silence that was hanging in the air.

I shrugged, going back to eating my lunch. “So where were you during first and second?” I asked, taking a sip of my water.

“Garrett got sick, so I had to take care of him for the duration of the morning, then dropped him off at a close friend of mine who usually watches Garrett when I can’t. Considering the bastard of a father doesn’t care about us.” Gavin grumbled, staring at his fries.

I grimaced, it wasn’t something I wanted to hear. I stared at Gavin who was staring blankly at his food. I took a deep breath, reaching out and grabbing his hand, entwining it with mine. Gavin’s head slowly turned to look at his hand now entwined with mine, he turned to look at me a grateful look in his eyes.

I gave his hand a squeeze, turning back to finish up the last few bites of my bagel with the hand that wasn’t connected with Gavin’s.

Once I was done, I looked up my eyes scanning the cafeteria. I was finally soaking in all the people staring at Gavin and I. They whispered amongst their friends as they kept turning back to look at us, like we were on an art display.

When I made eye contact with a few students they turned around so fast as if they didn’t want to get caught staring. But, too bad I already noticed all the whispers and looks we were getting, which was starting to annoy me.

“Just ignore them,” I heard Gavin say, snapping me out of my thoughts. “They are just being nosey.”

“But, it’s kind of hard when you have so many people looking at you and you know that they are judging you.”

“I know what you mean. But, wherever you go people are going to judge you. It’s up to you if you want them to get to you or not.”

“But, I don’t want them to get to me.”

“Then don’t give them the satisfaction,” He said, his eyes scanning the cafeteria.

I nodded my head, not wanting to look at the people who were whispering about us. I knew that Gavin and I were going to be the talk of the school, even though we aren’t necessarily dating.

“You ready to go?” Gavin asked, plopping his last of his fries into his mouth and getting up from his seat. I nodded my head doing the same.

I shook off Gavin’s hand grabbing my empty water bottle and the remainder of the plastics walking over to the trash can and tossing them in.

The bell to third period rang in fifteen minutes and I wanted to get away from the whispers and stares as fast as I can. Once I tossed all the garbage away, I turned back to look for Gavin who along with others were staring at me.

“Are coming or not?” I asked, walking back over to him where he hasn’t moved.

His brown eyes scanned my face looking for some sort of answer. “Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?” He asked, quietly.

My eyes widened at his question, “Of course not!” I said, appalled.

“Then, don’t ever let go.” He said, grabbing my hand and entwining it in his. “Because honestly, I don’t plan to.” He said, a small smile appearing on his handsome face.

I grin made its way onto my face. It took all my might not to break out into a girly scream and a goofy dance for snagging up someone who was supposed to be a real butthole.

Hand in hand, Gavin and I walked towards the doors of the cafeteria. Not caring at the looks we were getting ever since Gavin came to sit with me instead of his usual group.

I turned my head slightly and caught eyes with someone I didn’t really expect or want to see at the moment. However, instead of glaring at me like the rest of the female population at this school. She was doing quite the opposite. Yes, she was staring at me, but with sad eyes.

“Wait,” I said, stopping Gavin in his tracks as I watched Ashley get up from her chair and run out of the west side cafeteria doors, I knew she was crying because before she turned around to flee I could’ve sworn I saw a tear.

“What are you looking at?” Gavin asked, whispering into my ear.

“A broken girl and most probably a broken heart.” I mumbled, not really wanting him to hear what I had just said. “I will catch up with you in Algebra. I’ve got to go do something,” I said, apologetically to Gavin. Shaking off his hand from mine and running towards the same doors Ashley had run out of a few minutes ago.

Once I was out of the cafeteria doors. I ran towards the closest bathroom, the same place where I knew any girl would go even if they weren’t crying their eyes out.

I pushed open the doors to the bathroom, automatically hearing sniffling coming from one of the stalls. I also noticed two small girls who were most probably freshmen doing there makeup in the mirrors.

“Do you guys mind?” I asked, walking over to the door to where Ashley was behind.

“No we don’t mind.” A blonde girl answered back, not bothering to look at me because she was too busy applying some mascara.

I wrinkled my eyebrows in confusion, “I meant do you guys mind to leave?”

The blonde girl turned to look at me a nasty look on her face as she glanced at me head to toe. “This is a bathroom not a crying facility. So you can do the hell you want and I will do what the hell I want.” She hissed at me.

My eyes widened. Never in a million years would I have thought somebody would talk to me like that, besides Ashley. Nevertheless, I was not going to let a freshmen sass me.

“Listen here blondie.” I said, getting her attention. “You have five seconds to leave this bathroom, before I make your life living hell. Got that?” Repeating the words that Ashley had said to try to scare me off one time.

I was not in the mood to deal with this girl’s shit and it wasn’t just because I was on my time of the month, but also because I was tired of being pushed around.

“Whatever,” She said, closing her makeup case as she walked out of the bathroom with a red head chick in tow.

I rolled my eyes, the situation felt too familiar.

I turned around knocking on the door of the bathroom where Ashley’s sniffling had now started to become less frequent. “I know you are in there.”

I heard her sniffle, “If it is the person who caused me to cry my eyes out. I would rather not talk to them.” She said, snapping.

“You aren’t going to scare me off.” I told her honestly. I wanted to fix this situation with her, there was only three months left of school left and I wanted to make my last few months of high school memorable. Not, picking a fight with everyone who crossed me.

“Like how you scared those freshmen off?”

“You heard that?”

“I am not deaf.” She said, in a duh tone.

I let out a sigh, running my hands through my brown hair. “Look? Are you going to let me in or not?”

“What do you think?”

I took a step back from the bathroom stall. Ashley was in the handicapped stall, so it had more than enough room for me to crawl under, since she wasn’t planning on letting me in. I mentally shuddered, trying not to think of how dirty the floor is.

“This better be worth it,” I said, getting on all fours and crawling under the door.

I heard Ashley shriek, as I got up from the floor dusting of the imaginary dust off my jeans. Once I was done, I noticed Ashley against the wall of the bathroom, her mascara staining her cheeks.

“You probably didn’t hear me before, but I didn’t want you to come.”

“I heard you, but I ignored you.”

She clenched her teeth. “So why are you here? To rub it in my face that you finally got Gavin? Well congratulations, you stole the one guy I truly cared about.”

I tilted my head, walking over to her and taking a seat beside her, leaning my back against the wall. “You care about him?”

She looked at me, annoyed. “Didn’t you hear me? Of course I care about Gavin. I love him.”

I sucked in a deep breath. I did not expect her to say that from all things...

It was quiet and tense for a few minutes after Ashley’s confession, “Sorry.” I muttered.

“Whatever, I guess he just didn’t love me, like how I love him. Even though, I gave him everything.” She said, bitterly.

I turned my head to look at Ashley, “You know… Sometimes everything isn’t what the person is looking for.”

“Of course you can say that. After all, Gavin is head over heels in love with you.”

“How would you know that?” I asked, interested to know what she means.

“He looks at you differently than any other girl that he has ever been with, including me.”

“How does he look at me?”

“With love.”

I scratched the top of my head, not knowing how to answer that. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Then don’t say anything,” Ashley replied, wiping away her tears.

I listened to her, not saying anything for a few minutes when I realized something.

“I know Gavin is not the reason why you dislike me so much.”

“No, he is the only reason.” She said, trying to be honest. But, I knew she was lying.

I shook my head, “No. Gavin is just a link between you and your father.”

I watched as her blue eyes widened. “W-what are you talking about? You know nothing about me and my family. So stop fucking acting like you do.”

I raised my eyebrows at her, “Ashley. I am sorry about what happened to your dad. Everyone is.”

“I don’t care, he was a rapist.”

“He was still your father.”

She turned to look at me, tucking a strand of her dyed blonde hair behind her ear. “Who told you about my father?”

“No one.”

“That’s bull.” She said, snapping.

“Okay. Someone, but trust me. I am the only one who knows.”

“You and the rest of the world.” She said, sarcastically.

“They don’t know the whole story.” I said, honestly.

“But they know a story.”

“Listen-"

“No. You listen, just stay out of my way and I will stay out of yours. Because honestly you are dead to me.” She snarled, narrowing her blue eyes at me.

“You honestly can’t be blaming me for my father winning the election? So what? They voted him for President instead of your dad. Ashley it was seven years ago, let it go.”

“You don’t understand. If my dad had won to be President instead of yours, maybe he wouldn’t be six feet under.”  

“You are not blaming me for your father’s actions?”

“I am not blaming Oprah, am I?” She yelled loudly, sarcastically.

“Look, Ashley. I am sorry, what part do you not get?” I asked, raising my voice. “What happened to your dad is honestly heartbreaking and I do not know how you are still standing here today. But, you can’t blame me and my family for your father’s actions. I am sorry you had to see him do what he did to Gavin’s mother and many other women. But, he wasn’t going to be a good President in the first place. Anyone with eyes could see through him, he was a sick man. God only knows how he became leader of his party.” I said, my voice starting to quiver. “I am not blaming you at all, but your father left two wonderful boys without a mother. He drove Gavin’s mom to suicide.”

“How’d you know that?” She asked, tears streaming down her face.

“I connected the dots.”

“My dad was in love with Gavin’s mom.” Ashley whispered, her head resting on her bare knees.

“But, she wasn’t in love with him.” I said, finishing her sentence.

I watched as Ashley closed her eyes, “I am sorry.” I heard her whisper. “I am so sorry, Alice.”

I nodded my head, even though she wasn’t looking at me. I don’t know if I can forgive her, but maybe she can learn to let go.

“I know you might think that you and Gavin only have each other, because you guys are links to your parents. But, you aren’t. I am sorry that your dad had also committed suicide, that’s not easy for someone to deal with when they are thirteen years old. But, Ashley there are loads of people willing to help you overcome what you went through. Even me.”

I got up from the floor, as I watched her look at me with said teary eyes. “I am sorry.” I turned around unlocking the bathroom stall door.

It was not easy walking away from Ashley when she was like this. But, I knew she wanted to be left alone with her thoughts.

I felt a tear roll down my cheek. As I quickly wiped it away. I was crying not only for Ashley’s father and Gavin’s mother. But, for what Ashley, Gavin and even little Garrett had to go through when they needed there family the most.

*****

Hello Lovelies,

THE SECRET IS FINALLY OUT! I hope everyone got it! No one guessed what Ashley’s big secret was. And if you did not understand it was that Ashley’s father was also running for President seven years ago. The same time Alice’s dad had run. Big shock, Alice’s dad had won and Ashley’s father had turn into a sick man… He continually assaulted Gavin’s mom- finally driving her to suicide, causing Ashley’s dad to take his own life as well. It was really hard for me to write because this chapter was very touchy and sad on rape and suicide and breaks my heart whenever I hear about these topics… So basically most of my heart is all over this chapter.

So… I know I haven’t updated in like 22 days, almost a month… But guys before you go inboxing me when I am going to update CHECK MY MESSAGE BOARD I SEND OUT MESSAGES. I told you guys it is not my number one priority and that October has been really hectic. So hope for updates on weekends and if I don’t do one, there is so many other wonderful books out there! Most of the reason I did not update was rude people- which there was a lot. And school. Thank you to all the people who stood up for me- I LOVE YOU! <3

This is dedicated to @EFFAT8982 for the lovely banner on the side or top!

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Xoxo_mysteriousgirl