Charlie’s POV
Ace Caldwell was sitting in my room, as if it were his room.
My pet cat named Cinnamon was curled up beside him, purring as Ace scratched behind his furry ears.
He wore his usual pitch-black clothing and his hair was slicked back. And those eyes. Those velvet green eyes looking straight into mine. I swear I could just melt.
Charlie, Focus!
“I believe it’s your turn to take care of Harry.” He pointed to the potted plant on my desk, which now had ‘Harry’ written on the front.
“I’m surprised it’s still alive.” I voiced my honest opinion, dropping my messenger bag onto the floor. I took a seat on my bed, resting the crutches beside me.
“What are you still doing here?” I wondered.
He scratched the back of Cinnamon’s left ear. “I wanted to apologise.”
Did those words seriously just come out of Ace Caldwell’s mouth?
I raised my eyebrows.
“I’m s-sorry about being a jerk.” He said, drunk and sincerely.
“Are you drunk?”
“Just a smidge.” He said with squinted eyes.
I scoffed.
“Aren’t you going to apologise to me?”
“What?” I chuckled.
Oh, right. I did punch him in the face earlier on. I’d almost forgotten about that.
“Right, Sorry for punching you in the face.” I mumbled.
“Huh? I didn’t catch that?” He put a hand behind his ear.
I rolled my eyes before repeating myself.
He laughed, continuing to pet Cinnamon.
I nervously fidgeted with my crutches. It was uncomfortable having him in my bedroom, but at the same time, it was oddly calming?
It made zero sense to me.
“Do you have a marker?” He broke the awkward silence.
What the hell does he want with a marker?
“On the desk, why?” I replied.
“No reason.” He stood up and walked over to the desk, picking up the first marker he could find.
He walked back towards my bed and knelt down onto the floor.
He pulled off the marker’s lid with his teeth before holding my leg firm and writing something on my cast.
“What are you writing?” I asked, threatening to kick my leg away from him.
“I’m just signing your cast.” He smirked.
After a minute or two of him drawing on the cast, I looked down to see the masterpiece.
He wrote his name and drew a tiny doodle next to it…. of me?
My face fell angrily.
“You did that drawing of me in science class?” I gave an accusatory tone.
“Did you like it?” He smiled.
“Oh yes, I love when people make fun of me.” I said sarcastically.
“I thought it was one of my best works.”
“You’re so annoying!” I shoved him.
“And you are funny when you’re angry.”
“I think you should go.” I said.
For a moment, a tiny sliver of a moment, I thought that he might’ve secretly been a nice guy. But no, he wasn’t a nice guy. He was just like Joey, only Ace didn’t use homophobic slurs to tick me off. No, he just drew pictures of me that made the entire class laugh at me. He just called me annoying nicknames like Charlotte and Connard.
“It was only-” He nearly stumbled over.
“I said go.”
“Fine.” He took his leave.
Good riddance.
~
“Ace Caldwell signed your cast?” Ella asked the next day as she was preparing to sign her own name.
“Oh, yeah.”
“That’s weird. What, are you guys like friends or something?” She pressed.
“No. How could I ever be friends with a narcissistic idiot like him?”
I took a sip of bottled water.
“How’d you get home yesterday?” Clayton wondered with suspicion.
“Uh, I walked.” I lied.
“You did a thirty minute walk on crutches?” Ella laughed.
“No, I walked to the parking lot and got picked up…. by an Uber.” I doubled down on the lie.
“Okay, then you won’t mind showing us your app.” Clayton reached for my phone that was currently in my hands.
I managed to keep a tight grip on it.
“My phone is dead.”
“What was the Uber driver’s name?”
“R-Ricky.” I responded.
“So why did your mother call us, worried because you didn’t make it home until an hour after school ended?”
“Because Ricky was a terrible driver.” I prolonged the lie, again.
“You’re a filthy little liar! Tell us where you were.” Ella demanded as she handed the marker to Clayton.
“I can’t. Sorry.”
“At least tell us that you were with a guy.”
I didn’t answer.
“Oh my god! He was with a boy!” Ella beamed, even Clayton smiled as he wrote his name on my leg cast.
“Does he go here?” Clayton wondered.
“I can’t say.”
“Did he kiss you?” Ella added.
“No.”
“Not even a peck?” Clayton raised his eyebrows whilst Ella made kissing sounds with her mouth.
“Can we just change the subject please!” I groaned, both physically and mentally.
“What are we talking about?” Tom appeared behind us, giving Ella a kiss on the cheek. Ryan followed behind him, giving me a sly smile before looking away.
“Charlie has a secret boyfriend.” Ella announced to the world.
I scrunched my entire face with embarrassment.
“We’re not dating.” I explained, trying my best not to look at Ryan. “We just went on a date.”
“Who was it?” Tom wondered.
“He won’t tell us.” Clayton sighed.
“Oh, I know. Let’s play a game of guess and if we guess it, you have to tell us!” Ella said, proceeding to guess.
“Was it Kyler?”
“No.” I rolled my eyes.
“Was it Felix?” Clayton wondered.
“Who the heck is Felix?” Was my response.
“What about that senior guy, Henry?” Tom took a guess.
“Definitely not.”
“Was it a teacher? Is that why you’re being so secretive?”
“Ella! Oh my god.” I shook my head in disbelief.
After guessing about twenty other names, they finally accepted defeat, but not before Ella swore that she would find out who I went on a date with.
If I’m being honest, she kind of scares me.
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