Chapter Thirty: Truth or Dare Stephanie returns to the living room to join Brooke and the others. She had found the bathroom and just washed her face. She sits beside Luke again but gives more space between them than before. She sees that Brooke is busy with Cole. They're whispering things into each other's ears and giggling. Well, Brooke is giggling. Steph thinks of an idea and pulls out her phone to text Brooke. Steph: Would you guys stop that? Brooke feels her phone vibrate so stops playing with Cole to pull out her phone. She gives Steph a glance after seeing that the text is from her. She unlocks her phone and reads the text which brings a smirk on her face. Brooke: Go get your own boyfriend. She looks at Cole but sees he's now talking to Luke so he hadn't seen the text. Steph groans when she reads Brooke's reply and that makes Luke shift his gaze to her. "Are you okay?" He asks. Steph covers her phone's screen. "Yes. I'm fine. Don't worry about me," she answers with a f
Chapter Thirty-One: Makeover It’s Wednesday today, four days since Stephanie attended that party. When she eventually returned home, her parents were asleep and she tried her best not to wake them. The game of Truth or Dare continued at the party. Aspen came back but didn’t join them in the game. She had this gloomy look on her face. The game went on with stupid, crazy dares and embarrassing truths. The game ended when - was it Mia - dared Chris to kiss Ivy. Chris had simply stood and walked away with Cleo trailing him. After he left, others didn’t continue the game - they had lost interest. On Sunday morning, her dad was kinda pissed that she was out that late but her mum calmed him down. Her mum on the other hand was happy, something about her beginning to behave like a normal high school teenager. Apparently, she wasn’t behaving like one before. Her father eventually let it slide after giving her a warning - if she stays out so late again, she would be grounded for the rest of her
Chapter Thirty-Two: Psychotic Ex Christopher walked into first-period class five minutes late and Mrs. Greene wasn’t pleased – as usual. The moment he entered the class, she had given him one of her glares and said, “Late again, Hayes.” “She’s talking like I come late all the time,” Chris mumbled under his breath. “What was that?” The teacher demanded. “Nothing. I’m sorry,” Chris apologized. “It won’t happen again.” “That’s what you said the last time.” “It’s for real this time,” Chris replied. “Next time this happens, I won’t hesitate to give you detention,” she said. “Now, go sit.” “Thank you, ma’am,” Chris said and walked to his seat. Detention, he mused. That should be her last name since she loves it so much. Mrs. Detention, it suits her perfectly well. It was only after he had settled down that he noticed Hazel isn’t in her usual spot. He looked around, wondering if she is seating somewhere else, because it was something she can do. Maybe she’s gotten tired of him and d
Chapter Thirty-Three: The Deal "Music?" Chris breaks the silence after driving off the school grounds. Steph shrugs. "Sure." Chris pulls his phone out of his pocket carefully with his eyes on the road. He extends it to Steph. Because she's facing the window, she doesn't see him. "Hazel," he says to gain her attention. That nickname, Steph muses as she faces him a collects the phone with a puzzled look on her face. "What should I do with this?" She questions. "Connect it to the stereo and play some music," he instructs. Steph stares at the phone. "You need to input your password." He tells her his password without hesitation. Steph narrows her eyes at him before inputting it and the phone unlocks. "You just told me your password," she deadpans. "So?" He glances at her. "I can change it and you should feel honoured." Steph rolls her eyes. "Okay...." Steph drawls and connects the phone to the stereo. "Play the first one in my favourites." She does and one of Drake's songs s
Chapter Thirty-Four: Suspended Chris enters the school's cafeteria and sights, Jason, almost immediately. He's sitting with Max at their usual table. He feels eyes watching him as they usually do. He has no intention of eating anything or staying. He's only here for one thing. Max sees him and smiles, expecting him to join them but Chris doesn't. He heads in another direction, making a beeline for Ivy's table. The table she's always at. With her puppet and boyfriend. Ever since they fell apart in sophomore year, he has avoided her like a plague. He pays no attention to her cause she doesn't deserve it. The breakup might have been easier on him if it was like Jason's case. Hayley, his ex-girlfriend started having feelings for someone else and felt it wouldn't be fair to string Jason along. But no, Ivy had to cheat. She cheated and broke his heart. She could have just told him she was no longer interested in the relationship but she didn't. He blames his dad for how he feels. If his d
Chapter Thirty-Five: Lie Instead of Brooke heading in the direction her boyfriend did, she doesn't. She heads in the opposite direction, exiting the cafeteria. She goes in search of Jason with the intent of asking him what all that was all about. She finds him close to the principal's office with Max, probably waiting for someone. She approaches them. "Hey. Where's Chris?" She asks when she's close enough. "He's still with the principal," Max answers. "What was that all about?" Brooke inquires. "You didn't hear?" "Not really. I couldn't make out what was being said. I stay away from Ivy as much as I can even in the cafeteria." "I guess they weren't as loud as I thought. Well --" He stops talking when the door of the principal's office opens. They all stare as Chris comes out. Jason speaks first. "What did he say?" Chris shrugs, as if not affected by the situation at hand. "I've been suspended." Jason looks up and lets out a sigh as though he was expecting this. "Isn't th
Chapter Thirty-Six: Truth Honestly, Chris has been thinking about what Jason said to him at the parking lot. "I think you like her," Jason had said. Does he? No. He doesn't. Just as he said, Hazel isn't his type. Or is she? No. He's pretty sure she isn't. He doesn't like her. Or does he? No, he doesn't. He stops his contemplation as he hears his mum's car pull into the driveway. She's home and that means it's time to face the music. All he knows is that she won't be happy. Which mother would be happy her kid got suspended? She'll be mad at him. He walks to the door and opens it for them to enter. He grins on sighting Emily and she does too. She hugs him. "Chris." "How was school, Em?" He asks, ruffling her hair even though he knows she doesn't like when he does it. She swats his hands away. "It was fun." Chris then shifts his gaze to his mum who has a blank look on her face. She shuts the door. "Emily baby, go drop your backpack in your room and wait for me," his mum
Chapter Thirty-Seven: I Love You "What's the first thing you like about me?" Chris moves even closer to her. "You really wanna know?" He smirks. "Yes." He smiles as he tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. His hand lingers there as he stares intensely at her. Steph feels weird with the way he's staring at her but she doesn't look away. Instead, she swallows the lump in her throat. His eyes darken as they move to her lips and he remembers how it felt like kissing her. He wants to feel like that again so he finds himself leaning in. ... ... Stephanie stands there -- frozen. The air around seems to have shifted and she finds herself recalling the one and only time she has kissed him. When he begins to lean in, she mentally panics. Her head yells at her to do something to stop what she thinks is about to happen. Do something Steph! Pull away, say something, slap him, look away, run away. Just do something -- anything -- to stop what's about to happen. You shouldn't let him kiss y