Falling Slowly

Chapter Seven: Carefully Constructed

Chapter Seven: Carefully Constructed

Anya

I reached into my locker, searching for my government and English textbooks that were buried somewhere in the chaos of graded assignments, sheet music, and gym clothes. A desolate flyer escaped the clutches of my cluttered mess, gingerly landing near my feet. I picked up the light blue paper, my eyes scanning its content before crumbling it in my hands and discarding it. The flyer was a reminder from the student council of the upcoming Winter Formal.

 It was two months away and already it was the talk of the school. Rumor had it that it would be the most extravagant Winter Formal Velmont High had ever seen. The theme was kept under lock and key until the two weeks leading up to the dance. I heard from Taylor Kingly that the dance was being sponsored by one of the student’s father, who was generously donating a hefty sum. My guess was that it was Karla’s dad and was giving his little girl the best senior year ever.

“You’re breaking up with me?” Speak of the devil.

“You cannot be breaking up with me!” Karla shrieked, her voice resonating along the metal walls.

Everyone stopped what they were doing; turning their attention to where Liam and Karla stood in the middle of the hallway. The atmosphere was eerily still, waiting for the next sound to break through the intensely filled silence. I leaned my hip against the metal locker, tugging my cardigan around my cold body as I perked my ears to listen in on their conversation.

“I am,” he said.

“You can’t just break up with me,” she said again, stomping her foot like a petulant child. She huffed and puffed like the big bad wolf himself. “Is it because of her? Is that why? You’re seriously dumping me because of that disgusting piece of-”

I sucked in air, filling the stab of her words. She couldn’t be talking about me, could she?

“Save your breath,” he said. “It has nothing to do with anyone. We were never anything to begin with.”

“But we were beginning…I thought that you-”

He held up his hand, silencing Karla’s plea on her lips. “Stop groveling, you look pathetic.”

His words were sharp like a knife struck right through her heart. Her bottom lip began to quiver, the tears that brimmed in her eyes threatening to spill. It was no secret that I disliked Karla, but no one deserved to be publicly humiliated. My heart swelled with pity as I saw the walls she’d built slowly cave in, while Liam stood stoic like a Greek statue, cold and distant.

What was wrong with him? Why was he acting like this? Didn’t he have a heart?

“No, you’re pathetic,” she spat. My jumbled thoughts seized as I turned my attention back to them. “You think that sleeping with girls will make you numb. Well, you go it, Liam! You are a heartless bastard who will never be fully satisfied. Go find some other girl who will put it up with your daddy issues.”

Liam’s shoulders tensed, her words shattering the disinterested demeanor he’d so carefully constructed. There was a shift in his behavior like a pot of boiling water bubbling over the rim when it was left on the stove for too long. His gaze was no longer careless but guarded. They held each other’s intensely fused stares, neither folding.

Karla’s eyes burned a deeply rich evergreen that possessed the power to kill anyone that stood in her path by just a blink of her perfectly primed eyelashes.

Amber, one of Karla’s cronies, leaned into her leader – whispering something that caused Karla to slightly nod. She gave Liam one last deathly glare before turning on her heel – sauntering off towards the restroom with Amber and Whitney in tow; their heels clicking loudly on the linoleum floor.