Passionate Exchange

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Brody lays back on my bed with a groan, "are you two finally ready yet?"

"What do you mean two? I've been ready for the past twenty minutes." Penny huffs, giving me a pointed look. I grin sheepishly.

Did I take longer than usual to get ready? Yes. Did I enrol Penny to help me pick out an outfit? Yes. But do I regret it? No.

I'm taking Melissa's advice and going to the charity game that the schools holding. I don't feel confident about it but I'm trying to. From all of the research that I've done consisting of reading books and watching movies, it's normal for people to dress up to show their ex-boyfriend what they're missing. In this case, he's not my ex-boyfriend but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to move on from this. If that means dressing up, trying to show him that I'm doing fine without him, then I'll give it a shot.

I decided, with the help of Penny, to wear a denim mini skirt that was shoved in the bottom of my closet, a knitted green sweater that I'm relying on to keep me warm, and my trusty black boots. I can't lie, Penny did a good job of styling me. I even applied more makeup than usual, not much though. I don't want it to look like I'm making too much of an effort. I don't want to raise any suspicions.

I grab my leather jacket off of the hook on my door and we all pile into Penny's car. It isn't long before we arrive at school. I'm already sweating so much that I'm seriously considering using a whole can of deodorant.

Trust me, it isn't from the heat. Brody had his window rolled down most of the way. I'm sweating, my heart is pounding, and my head is spinning from nerves. There's only one reason I'm nervous right now and that's seeing Archer.

I know I live with him, but this is different. He hasn't been home a lot, so I've managed to avoid him but now that's not the case. We usually sit towards the top of the bleachers. He always sits towards the bottom, meaning he'll be directly in my line of sight.

"Quick, we're going to miss the game!" Penny exclaims, grabbing our arms and dragging us forward. Brody and I exchange confused glances. What does it matter if we miss at the most two minutes?

We sit down as the game starts. Penny's eyes are on the field at all times, but I find mine straying every so often to the back of Archer's head. He's watching the game intently but doesn't shout motivational remarks at the players as some people do. He simply watches, his face void of any emotion.

I find my eyes narrowing as I continue to watch him. He doesn't look bothered by what he did to me or plagued by the thought of it all like I am. He seems to have gotten the easy way out of it. He gets to decide for us both and forget about it whereas I have to live with that decision he made, refraining from yanking his door open in the night and giving him a piece of my mind.

Does he even feel the slightest bit of regret?

"I'm going to get something to drink; does anyone want anything?" I ask, using this as my excuse to escape. I know I'm outside, but I feel like I'm suffocating. I need some space.

Penny shakes her head slightly not once taking her eyes off the ball and Brody replies with "no, thank you." I give a curt nod before shuffling my way past the people to a quieter area of the school.

I rest my head against the cold brick wall, allowing my eyes to fall closed. You've got this, Madison. Melissa told me to not let him stop me from having fun and my dad told me to not let him ruin my happiness. I agreed to do both.

I breathe in and out slowly. "I can do this," I repeat to myself over and over again.

He's getting on with his life not even sparing me a glance and I'm here leaning against a wall alone trying to convince myself that I've got this. This is wrong. I can do this. All my life I've wanted a friend who'll be by my side through everything. Now I've got two. I wanted to travel and now I'm in Portland. I wanted to experience new things and I have. Some of the things I experienced didn't turn out so well, Archer being one of them, but I'm glad I did.

I need to stop focusing on the bad rather than the good. There have been so many positives in the past five months and I shouldn't take them for granted. I've done things I'll never forget and met people who I know I'll be friends with for a long time.

"I've got this," I announce to no one in particular with a smile that doesn't quite meet my eyes.

I open them feeling ready to brave being around Archer again, just in time to see Scarlett sauntering past. She flicks her fiery red hair over her shoulder and smirks at me with an evil glint in her eyes.

I roll my eyes. She's one of the people I'll be glad to leave in the past.

I take my seat next to Penny and Brody with the water that I got from the vending machine before unscrewing the cap, taking a large gulp of it. It's half time and the two teams are tied. Penny's still watching the players as if it is still going on, but I pay no attention.

That is until my phone vibrates in my pocket. I reach for it only to realise that Penny's doing the same thing. Was it my phone or hers? I could have sworn it was mine. I look around me, noticing that almost everyone has their eyes glued on their phones.

It's probably a school-wide announcement. They do those sometimes.

I peer over her shoulder to see what it is only to find Brody doing the same thing. What I see isn't what I was expecting at all. Rather than a letter from the principal, it's a photograph. I don't get the chance to see who sent it before she taps it with her finger, and it takes over her screen.

My heart drops once it hits me what it is. My mouth instantly dries despite drinking water only moments ago. This can't be real, can it? How would anyone have even got this?

The photograph is of Archer and me when he took me to one of the places from my scrapbook. He said we could go anywhere I wanted, and I chose there. We're sitting on the bench with the owl painted on it, my head resting on his shoulder. Our hands are intertwined.

My eyes widen but I can't take them away from her phone. I blink a few times to check that what I'm actually seeing is true. Penny and Brody, the two people that I've been hiding it from, are looking at a photograph of me and Archer. Not just any photograph, a photograph of us acting a lot closer than friends.

I recoil back as Penny slowly turns her head towards me so she's looking into my eyes. Her phone's lying flat in her palm. She grips it tightly. "Penny," I start, needing to salvage this.

"Is this real?" She demands an answer.

Tears spring to my eyes from her words. I gape at her, my mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. That's how I feel right now. I feel like someone has taken me out of my safe, comfortable world and ripped all of the air out of me.

I clench my jaw and try my hardest to string a sentence together. "Penny, I, it's not what it-"

"Is this real?" She repeats, her voice unnaturally calm.

I glance to Brody for help, but he's staring back at me blankly. He's waiting for me to confirm it too. They're both waiting for me to admit that I've been lying to them all this time. They're waiting for me to secure my doom.

I gulp. "Yes, it's real. But if you just give me a second to explain-" She stands up abruptly, slicing my pained sentence in half.

"How could you not tell me this?"

I look around me, hoping that someone will jump out and reveal that this was all a joke. But all I see are faces. Tons and tons of them all looking at me, waiting to witness my downfall. This is their entertainment.

"I didn't know what to do. Please, can we just talk about this?" I beg.

She shakes her head. "No."

She starts walking away from me and I scramble to fix things. "I get that you're angry, but you'll understand if you just-"

"Understand?" She practically screams causing me to flinch back. "You're pathetic." Her words hit me hard.

She looks like she has more to say, and I pray that she doesn't say it. Not here, not now. I can't handle it anymore. Her mouth stays closed. She glares at me one last time before spinning on her heels, storming away.

"Brody," I trail off hoping he'll understand.

"I should go with her." He points behind him before following her away from me.