JUDAH's POV :
I got my very first B on an exam yesterday.
It was... weird. I never cared about these things, never even gave it a try. But for the first time in my life, I was told that I could do better. People believed in me. People thought I was worth something.
These people were non other than Blondie and her friends. I mean, they just wouldn't lay off my case. Gabe assigned himself as my personal study partner, Hallee kept me busy helping her out with the set for the play, and Blondie... well, we still did a lot of practicing on our own.
Ha-ha.
All these people, they didn't even know me, but they seemed to care a lot about my well being. Blondie didn't even remember me. But her and her friends believed in me anyway. So finally, for the first time in years, I gave school a shot. And it turned out that I wasn't a total dumbass after all. Which I must
TAYA's POV :"Where the hell is he?" Hallee was literally screaming at the whole auditorium backstage."None of us can reach him," Gabe answered.It was performance day and it was chaos. Judah didn't show up for the call time and we waited and waited, and he never came. We tried calling him, we looked everywhere for him, but none of us could find him."He's not picking up my calls either," I said as I threw my stupid phone on the dressing room table."Guys, we're fifteen minutes away. What should we do? Should we cancel—""We can't cancel the freaking show, Patrice!" Hallee yelled at our stage manager.“Do we have an understudy for Jack?” Gabe asked.“We don’t have enough people in the theater club,” Hallee hissed. “So no, we don’t have an understudy,&rd
TAYA’s POV :"Taya, do you want to be my girlfriend?" Blake’s hand reached for mine and his eyes were tender and pleading.This were the words I had been wanting to hear all year long, but now that I had heard it, I didn’t even know how to respond."I..." my throat closed up and I looked like a deer caught in headlights.My eyes darted to Judah who was talking to Gabe and Hallee in the background. Judah noticed that I was looking at him and he looked right back at me. I figured that he would throw me his signature cocky smirk, but he didn't. His lip stayed in a straight line and then he looked away."Taya?" Blake said again and I turned my face back to him.Blake's face was just naturally handsome, his ocean blue eyes were begging with me, and yet I felt nothing. I never wanted to string Blake along. I wasn't attracted to Ju
TAYA's POV :Judah just stared at me for the longest time without saying a word. There was something about him, his face was downcast, which made me even more self-conscious about this whole thing."Should I?" I repeated my question again when he wasn't responding.Please say no. Please tell me to stay.He kept his head down and took a deep breath. Then he looked up at me with a dejected look on his face as he said, "You... should go,""What?" I gaped, but my voice came out in a whisper."I said you should go be with him," he repeated himself, his tone was cold and flat.I was still waiting, thinking that he would say something else, or say that he was joking. But he just stood there with a dead serious expression.After everything that happened between us, could it be that Judah didn't f
TAYA's POV :I was bawling my eyes out and Blake was driving around for a while. We stayed mostly in silence, and Blake would throw worried glances at me every so often. We were driving around for a while, and when I finally stopped crying, I noticed that we were already on the other side of town. We had arrived at the Harrison Resort, the place where Blake took me on our first date."I didn't know where to go, so..." he trailed as the car reached the lobby entrance."It's okay, this is fine,” I gave him a weak smile. “I just need some air,""Taya, whatever it is that's making you so upset, you know you can tell me, right?"I nodded my head lightly, but I wasn't speaking still. I didn’t think it was fair to unload on him about Judah. So we sat there in silence for a few minutes. I was already tired of crying at this point, so I started wiping my
JUDAH's POV :"Fuck! This isn't working!"My fist slammed to the nearest wall and my eyes scrunched in pain. My head was spinning and I was staggering all over the room, hitting the furniture all around me.After our talk and Blondie took off running, it was as if she took my sanity along with her. I couldn't blame her for leaving though. I said some pretty shitty things to her.I wanted her to leave me alone and that was what she did. But when I saw her took off with Blake in his car, for a split second there I wanted to bang my fist on the car window, telling her to get off.But I had no right. She was way better off.After she was gone, I was left with this void and anger. I was mad — at myself, at the world, and at everything else. There was so much anger in me and I was desperate to numb the pain, so I headed over to Castr
TAYA’s POV :My eyes widened in shock and my breath was stuck in my throat as I read the screen.Judah Calling...I debated with myself, whether or not I should answer him. It was 2.30 AM right now. What could he possibly have to say to me at this hour?But against my better judgment, my thumb swiped across the screen and I pressed the phone to my ear."Hello?" I said in a whisper, careful not to wake Blake up.The person on the other line didn't say anything, but I could hear him breathing.Judah? Why are you calling me? – I wanted to say, but I didn't say it.I couldn't sleep. Thinking of you. – I imagined hearing him say it, but he was just quiet.There were no words being exchanged. Just empty breaths in the air. An
JUDAH’s POV :Sitting inside the cramped bathroom stall, I found myself drifting in and out of consciousness. With the drugs steadily flowing in my system, I felt warm and nice. So much so that I was taken back to that day where Blondie and I went to the cliff."You wanna know what drugs feel like?" I asked her once.I waited for her to respond, and she nodded her head slightly. I leaned closer, and she thought that I was going to kiss her again because her eyes fluttered shut. But instead, I pulled her in my arms and secured her tight."They feel like a long, warm hug," I murmured as I buried my head deep on the nook of her neck.Blondie was frozen in shock as my body was being pressed up against her, my chest was heaving up and down with my breaths. Slowly, her hands then went to my back, holding onto me there. She
TAYA's POV :"Dude! Where exactly are you? Your mom's been calling me and I've been covering for your ass all day," Hallee was yelling at the top of her lungs as soon as I picked up her call."I know, sorry," I whispered as I tiptoed away from the bed. "I'm with Blake,""You're with who?! What? How did that happen?""It’s a long story. I'll tell you later," I shushed her quickly as I stole a glance over to Blake, who was still sound asleep.It was almost 5 in the afternoon now. After we got up in the morning, Blake and I ended up staying around the resort, enjoying a wonderful brunch, spending some time at the beach, before returning back to the room to take a nap. He looked so peaceful and I couldn't help but notice his gorgeous features as he lay there sleeping."Is everything alright? You just up and left last night and you told your