Matches | √

Chapter Fourteen

dazzle | amaze or overwhelm

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3/4/17

"MAELEIGH WINTER REPORT to the office," a woman's voice cracks over the high school intercom speaker.

My feet bring me to an abrupt halt in the crowded hallway at the sound of my name being called to the office. Confusion slides through me slowly before I turn on my heel and head the opposite way of my class.

Once I make it to the front of the school I push open the glass door to the office and walk up to the woman at the front desk. The same woman who once gave me donuts from Asher. The memory warms me and pisses me off all at once. But that's Asher to me; he sets me aflame but makes me want to punch him in the face all at the same time.

"Hi," I greet the older woman. "I'm Maeleigh," I tell her as a puzzled expression paints my face.

Pity instantly fills her gaze as she lets out a deep sigh. "Oh dear," she begins and the confusion that filled me before begins to twist and morph into something deeper.

"What?" I ask as fear fills my shaky tone.

"Your uncle just called," she tells me. "Your grandfather has passed away," she informs me with clear sadness in her eyes only emphasized by her thick-rimmed glasses.

"What?" I question again though this time it comes out with a small chuckle. I don't have an uncle, and my grandfather passed away when I was toddler. So her words are making absolutely no sense at this moment.

"He said he was going to pick you up out front, I guess it happened pretty fast," she says trying to comfort me though her words do nothing since I'm sitting in a stage of muddled disbelief. "Here's the message," she says before handing me a small piece of paper as if she sensed me not following along with her words.

My eyes scan the note she handed me, but the words are basically a regurgitated version of what she just told me. So the message offers me no other insight as to why I'm being told a grandfather I don't have is dead and an uncle I don't have is picking me up from school.

I'm about to tell this lady that she has the wrong person, and that she misunderstood the man on the phone who called. I'm about to step away and leave to head back to the rest of my classes for the day. But something stops me; something holds me back from speaking my thoughts. A voice deep inside me whispers to follow along. To play along with whatever lie this is.

My face twists in fake sadness. "Oh no," I say awkwardly, not the best when it comes to flat out lying, especially to adults. I've never done anything like this in my life. I've never even cut a class. But the adrenaline beats through me wildly knowing that if I follow along I won't regret this.

"Oh you poor thing," the older woman consoles with a tilt of her head. "Here's your pass, and you're excused from your classes for the rest of the day," she tells me, handing me my slips.

I nod in appreciation while also trying to keep a somber look over my face. "Thank you," I murmur out.

I quickly leave the office, my head still a mess of pure confusion at this random situation I have somehow weaved myself into. With a single shove I push my way through the front doors of the high school and walk down the steps for my eyes to land on a single Jeep. A single person.

My body stops with a jerk, and my stomach twists before dropping as nerves begin to eat away at me.

My feet lead me over to the one person I've been avoiding, but for some reason can't seem to stay away from for too long. The one person who I know isn't good for me, and yet when I'm with him everything feels good.