When Summer Ends (11 page)

I sniffed loudly, swiping at my nose. “I don’t want to talk
about it. Thank you for the hug, I seriously needed that.” I forced a fake
smile and stepped back.

He smiled warmly. “Anytime, I’ll always be here for you.”
Nick really was a really sweet person. We were friends before we dated, not
best friends or anything, but we were fairly close. He was always someone I
could talk to. When we broke up we promised we would go back to that and still
be friends. I really hoped we could. “Come on I’ll drive you home,” he stated,
putting his arm around my shoulder and taking my bag in his other hand as he
led me towards his car. “You know, you look so attractive right now, Chloe.
Puffy definitely suits you,” he joked, smirking at me.

I laughed and slapped his chest with the back of my hand.
Nick always could lighten the mood. He grinned looking a little proud of
himself as he opened the car door for me, throwing my bag in the back seat. I
climbed in, and as he shut the door, I spotted Will standing by his car
watching me. He was frowning angrily about something. He climbed in his car and
slammed the door so hard I was surprised it didn’t smash the glass. He sped out
of the parking lot a split second later and Nick climbed in the driver’s side.

“Was that the new calculus teacher in that car? Damn, that
dude drives like a maniac,” he mused, laughing as he pulled out at a more
reasonable speed. He turned right heading towards my house.
Oh no! I can’t
go home yet. My parents will know I’ve been crying, and my mom won’t let up
until I tell her what happened. I’m not ready to talk about the break up yet!

“Nick, do you think I could come to yours for a little
while?” I pleaded, knowing his house would be empty. His dad worked a late
shift and didn’t get home until ten at night, and his mom had died about three
years ago of cancer. That was actually when we met, I found him crying in the
hallway after her death and we’d been friends ever since.

He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “Let me guess,
you don’t want to talk to your mom yet. Am I right?” He didn’t wait for an answer;
he just pulled into a side road and turned the car around, heading back in the
other direction, towards his house.

I smiled gratefully. Nick always had known me well. “Not
yet. I just need to forget about it for a little while. Are you sure this is okay?”

He nodded easily. “Sure, you can cook me some food. You know
I’m a terrible cook,” he confirmed, grinning. I laughed thinking about all the
times he had cooked for me when I went to his house after school. He wasn’t
just a terrible cook, he was disastrous.

“I guess that’s a deal.” I pulled my cell phone out of my
pocket, noticing that it was on silent. As I looked at my screen, I saw that I
had nine missed calls and two texts, all from Amy. I opened the texts:

‘Where
the hell are you? Is everything okay? Answer your phone or call me!’

‘I
can’t find you, I assume you went home. I’ll talk to you later. Call me as soon
as you get this message!’  

I sighed and sent a text back to her telling her that I was
fine but that I couldn’t talk right now. I promised to call her tonight instead.
Then I sent a text to my mom, telling her I was having dinner at Nick’s but wouldn’t
be late.

We pulled up at Nick’s house, and I climbed out, watching as
he grabbed our bags from the bag seat. “Come on then, master chef, let’s go eat
I’m starved,” he teased, heading towards the front door.

I smiled and followed behind him. I felt a little weird as I
walked in. I hadn’t been to his house since we broke up. I sighed and forced
myself not to think about it. I used to hang out here with him before he asked
me out so we really needed to get used to it again if we were to be friends. He
dumped the bags down and led us over to the kitchen, pushing me towards the
fridge gently as he stood behind me, resting his chin on my shoulder. I winced
when I looked in his almost bare fridge. A lonely pack of ground beef sat at
the bottom, luckily it was still in date.

“Spaghetti bolognaise?” I offered, grabbing it. I could
probably whip that up with what he had in his cupboards.

“Awesome!” he chirped, grinning happily.

While I set to work cooking, he put on the sports channel. We
didn’t speak apart from polite conversation. He didn’t push me for any details;
he didn’t ask me why I was crying or anything, which I was grateful for. When
it was done, I dished it up, also putting a plate on the side for his dad ready
for when he got home.

We took the food into the lounge, watching some crappy
sitcom on the TV while we ate. After, we did our homework and then chatted a
little about his summer. He told me how his dad had taken two weeks off so they
went to visit some family in California. Apparently Nick had learnt to surf. It
was easy and comfortable, and actually managed to keep my mind off of Will for
a little while.

After a couple of hours he drove me home. “Thanks for
letting me come round, I really appreciate it,” I said, hugging him tightly as
we pulled up outside my house.

“No probs, it was fun and thanks for cooking I haven’t eaten
like that since we broke up,” he replied. His smile turned a little sad and I
felt awful for hurting such a lovely person.

“I’m so sorry about that, Nick, honestly I am.” I swallowed the
lump in my throat. We hadn’t actually spoken much over the summer, the
occasional friendly text but nothing else, so we hadn’t really spoken about the
break up.

He nodded. “Yeah me too. You think maybe I could get another
chance?” he asked, looking at me hopefully.

“Nick, I’m sorry I…” I trailed off, lost for words. I wanted
to tell him that I had a boyfriend, but that wasn’t true anymore so I couldn’t
say that. I wanted to tell him that I was crazy about our new calculus teacher,
but I couldn’t do that either. So I just sat there looking at him with my mouth
open probably looking like a complete moron.

He smiled, putting his finger under my chin and closing my
mouth. He leant in and pressed a soft kiss to my cheek. “It’s okay, forget I
said anything.” He leant further forward, gripping the handle of my door and
pushing it open for me.

I laughed at his obvious prompt for me to leave the car. “I
get the hint; I’ll get out the car now. Thanks again, see you tomorrow.”

“Night, Chloe,” he called as I walked up the drive. I waved
as I let myself in the house.

“Chloe? Is that you?” my mom called from the lounge.

“Yep,” I confirmed, tossing my keys on the sideboard and
walking into the lounge. Both of my parents we sitting there watching TV.

“How was your first day, pumpkin?” Dad asked.

I shrugged noncommittally. “It was all right I guess,” I
replied dismissively, not wanting to talk about it because I knew it would make
me cry again.

My dad cocked his head to the side, looking at me curiously.
“How come you went to Nick’s? I thought you were with this new guy, Will,” he
asked, frowning. I smiled weakly at the casual mention of his name. My dad didn’t
mind Nick, but he was a little apprehensive about meeting Will. That was
probably what his frown was for; he hadn’t had his chance to threaten him yet.

“Nick and I are friends,” I replied. I took a deep breath
before continuing, knowing I needed to say it out loud for the first time. “And
Will and I broke up today.” I shrugged, trying to pretend I was fine even
though my voice broke slightly as I said his name.

My mom gasped, immediately springing up from the sofa. “You
broke up?” she repeated, heading over to hug me.

I held up a hand to tell her to stop. “I’m okay, it’s fine,”
I lied. “I’m going to bed. See you in the morning.” I turned on my heel and
quickly headed out of the room, making a break for the stairs and the safety of
my room. When I got there, I flopped down on the bed face first, crying
uncontrollably again.

I couldn’t speak to Amy, I didn’t want to talk about it
again so I text her instead telling her about the split, but that I didn’t want
to talk about it and that I’d just see her as usual in the morning.

I turned my cell phone off knowing she would try to call me
back anyway even though I said I didn’t want to talk. Zombielike, I stripped
out of my clothes and headed to the shower, letting my tears mingle with the
spray as I let the water calm my tight and stressed body.

By the time I got out and headed back to my bedroom, Amy was
sitting on my bed. I jumped and squeaked from the shock. She just smiled sadly.
“Your mom let me up,” she explained, shooting me a sympathetic look. I nodded
and silently went to sit next to her; she grabbed the brown bag from the floor
and put it in my lap. I opened it to see about thirty bucks’ worth of different
candies and ice creams.

She held out a spoon to me. I smiled gratefully. “You know
you’re the best friend ever, right?” I asked, pulling out a carton and holding
it out to her.

We sat up eating ice cream until both of us felt sick then
she finally fell asleep just after midnight. I closed my eyes too and prayed
for sleep, but it didn’t come easily. All I could think about was Will and how
handsome he was. When I finally fell asleep at about four in the morning all I
dreamed about was him and the fun we had, how he could make me laugh and feel
special.

By the time morning came my head was pounding, and I felt
like death warmed up. Amy was trying to brighten me up by doing my hair for me,
straightening it and pulling it half up. I plastered on a fake smile even
though I kind of felt dead inside. She already knew I didn’t want to talk about
it so she didn’t ask at all which I loved her for.

The drive to school was awful. With every passing second I
got closer and closer to seeing him again. I just prayed I could hold it
together for his class and not burst out crying in front of everyone.

When we pulled into the parking lot, I spotted his car immediately.
As I walked past it, I had the strong urge to kick it or throw a stone through
his windshield as payback.
But for what? What had he actually done wrong,
apart from not having feelings for me? Nothing.

I sighed and went to my locker, storing my books as if on
autopilot. I nodded along with the conversations going on around me, pretending
I was listening and interested.

“Mr Morris!” Emily suddenly called excitedly from my right.

My breath caught in my throat as I glanced in the direction that
she was looking in. He was walking towards us looking so handsome I could cry.
He had on jeans and black T-shirt with a cream shirt over the top, left
unbuttoned. I bit my tongue hard enough to draw blood. I hadn’t prepared myself
for this; yes I expected to see him in his class, but not just randomly popping
up in the middle of the hallway.

He stopped when he got to us and gave everyone his trademark
smirk; I noticed his eyes didn’t even pass in my direction. “Morning, girls.”

I swallowed the blood in my mouth and forced myself not to
cry. Emily twirled her hair around her finger as she looked at him. “I listened
to that song you said was your favourite. I’d never heard of One Republic
before, but that song was amazing,” she gushed, fluttering her eyelashes.

Will nodded. “Yeah it’s a good song; you should listen to
some of their other stuff too.” He smiled back at her and I was suddenly unsure
of which one I wanted to punch the most, Emily for flirting with him, or Will
just because he was my teacher and had ruined everything we had going over the
summer.

I looked down at my feet trying not to let the tone of his
voice affect me. They carried on talking about some stupid group that I’d never
even heard of. Unable to stop myself from looking, I dragged my eyes off of the
floor to see that Emily had moved slightly closer and had her hand on his arm.

Oh crap, this is killing me. Why can’t he just go away?
Why is he standing there talking to my friends about music? Does he not know
how much this is hurting me?

“Chloe, there you are!” someone called.

My head snapped up in the direction of the voice and I saw
Nick walking towards me, grinning. “Hey,” I mumbled as he stopped at my side.

“You left your notebook at mine last night,” he told me, digging
in his bag and pulling it out for me.

As I took it I noticed that Will’s hands were in tight fists
for some reason. “Thanks. Wouldn’t have been too smart of me to go to class
without that would it?” I joked, shrugging and smiling weakly at Nick.

“Want to go out and get some lunch offsite today?” he asked.

I thought about it.
At least if I’m not here I won’t be
running into Will all the time.
“Yeah sure, sounds good, but you’re buying.”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t I always? Surely it’s your turn.”

I shook my head. “You buy, I cook, that was always the
deal,” I countered, sticking out my tongue at him.

“Miss Henderson, you can’t leave site today,” Will stated, looking
at me annoyed.

I frowned. “Why not?” I asked confused.
I’m a senior, I
don’t need permission to leave site for lunch.

“You have detention at lunchtime.”

I gasped.
What the heck is that about?
“No way! Why?
What am I supposed to have done?” I challenged, glaring at him.

Will raised one eyebrow, seeming unaffected by my angry
glare. “For leaving my class without permission yesterday,” he stated. “And if
you keep disrespecting me like you are right now it’ll be lunchtime detentions
for the rest of the week too.”

Oh my goodness, what an asshole! He knows why I left his
class yesterday, and he can’t cut me a little slack? What did I even see in him
anyway?
He turned on his heel and walked off. “Son of a bitch! What a freaking
asshole,” I ranted, throwing my bag down roughly thinking he was out of
earshot.