Chapter 29: XIII. Shun-1

"If a circle shuts you out, draw a circle around it." Marty Rubin ---- Chapter XIII - Shun I woke up the next morning to an empty house. Mom had left a note saying that she'd had an early consult so I was left alone with my thoughts. Once again, I slept like crap, and so I looked like crap. I tried my best with makeup but not much could hide bloodshot, sleep deprived eyes and bags that looked like freaking balloons. Despite how I felt, I was excited to go to school. I wanted to speak to Shea. I wanted to pounce on him and not get off of him until I had answers. I hated this past weekend. I hated it with every fibre of my being. I hated feeling helpless, and worthless, and goddamn lied to. I needed Shea to tell me the truth because my mom sure as hell wasn't going to. So long as Shea was ignoring me, Mom thought it was reason to celebrate. I barely nibbled on an apple before I grabbed my book bag and keys and headed to school. I didn't realise it was so early, but I was one of the first cars into the lot. I took one of the closest parking spots and waited. I was watching the entry drive way in my rear-vision mirror, just waiting for Shea's black truck to pull in. It was nearly eight-thirty when I finally saw Shea's truck pull into the lot. My heart leapt out of my chest as I threw open my door and grabbed my book bag from the passenger seat. Shea parked across the lot from me, and I was dodging and weaving between cars to make it over to him as quickly as I could. But I stopped in my tracks when I saw that it wasn't Shea who climbed out of the car. It was Cece and Jamie. Where was Shea? Disappointment filled me, but I then realised that I could still get answers from them about Shea. I would also demand to know why Cece hadn't bothered to reply to any of my messages over the weekend, as well. I wasn't in the mood for niceties. I adjusted my book bag on my shoulder and marched over to them. When they saw me coming, they exchanged a questionable expression before both of their eyes returned to me. I immediately noticed that Cece seemed really off. She was usually so chirpy and bright, but she seemed so solemn today. Even the way she was dressed was different. She usually wore tank tops, or something revealing her athletic figure. But today she was wearing dark sweats and an oversized grey hoodie. She honestly looked like she had been to a funeral according to the expression on her face. What the hell was going on? "Hey!" I called out, as soon as I was in earshot. "What the hell happened this weekend?" I demanded to know. "Shea hasn't spoken to me all weekend. You weren't replying either." I thought back to Mrs Eckhart slamming her front door in my face. "Even Zoey's mom refused to talk to me. Seriously, what the hell? Is Shea okay?" Why wasn't he at school, anyway? Why was Cece driving his truck? Jamie took Cece's hand and he squeezed it comfortingly, however, he didn't meet my eye. "He's okay, Sara," Cece told me quietly. She stole quick glances up at me, but like Jamie, she wasn't meeting my eye. My stomach was in knots and panic started to fill me. What was actually going on? What the hell was wrong with them? Jamie pulled on Cece's hand and she started to follow him towards the main school building. Cece looked like a different person. It was almost as if someone had possessed her body, as though she was reading from a script. I was dumbfounded for a minute before I continued after them. "Wait!" I cried. "Cece, what's wrong? What the hell is going on? You're not telling me something!" "He's fine!" Cece insisted, her voice still off. "You had better get to class. We're running late." Cece and Jamie took off then, walking at such a pace that helped them to disappear into the crowd of students all filing into the school. I wanted to cry. I wasn't to burst into tears and sob right there in the parking lot. Something was going on that they weren't telling me. Something was going on that they didn't want me to know. I hated this. I hated not knowing. I hated feeling helpless and useless. As I looked around me desperately, trying to find the face of one of Shea's friends so that I could beg them for information, I noticed that half the students were deliberately avoiding my eyes. People were diverting around me, purposefully avoiding me. What in the actual hell was going on? I couldn't give up on Cece. She was my friend. She had to tell me the truth. I took a few deep breaths and composed myself, ducking into the school and hurrying towards my locker to grab my books for Spanish. As I walked through the halls the same thing kept happening. People were moving away from me, like I smelled bad or something, deliberately altering their course to avoid crossing paths with me. I walked into the classroom and looked for Cece at our usual table at the back. But she wasn't there. It took my two seconds to see that she was sitting beside Liza at another table. They were deep in conversation. Either that or they were trying to appear deep in conversation to avoid me. Well, it wasn't going to stop me. I walked over to their desk and cleared my throat. Cece looked up at me, though her expression told me that she hadn't wanted to. She honestly looked like she was in pain. "You need to tell me what is going on," I instructed firmly. "Shea isn't talking to me. You're acting weird. Half the school is treating me like I have bad BO or something. Seriously, Cece, you're my friend." There was a begging tone in my voice. Hell, I was begging. Cece looked at Liza who was behaving just as oddly. Liza's shoulders were tense as she avoided my gaze. "Sara, I'm not … I can't explain, I'm sorry," she mumbled. She then turned her body away from mine, dismissing me. I couldn't believe my ears. Cece wasn't going to say anything further. I retreated back to my seat and pretended to listen through Spanish. But really, I struggled to take my eyes off of the back of Cece's head. Something weird was going on. Something bad, I feared. And they were all tongue tied by it. Was it illegal? Was that why it was so secretive? This suddenly felt so much bigger than my mom merely not liking Shea as my boyfriend. There was something bigger going on. And they were all in on it. It made me wonder if my mom was aware of this, too. Shea wasn't at school for some reason. Half the population were pretending as though I didn't exist. I needed to find out the reason for this before I went crazy. Cece completely ignored me in English, as well. I sat by myself and thought up creative ways of trying to find out Shea's address. I daydreamed through the rest of my classes, or rather I watched as people continued to ignore me. Even some of the teachers seemed to be avoiding my eye, but that could have been my imagination. I think by the time I got to lunch, I was feeling paranoid. Shea's table, sans Shea, was full as usual, but there was no invitation for me to join them. Their heads were all down, and they didn't seem as cheerful or enthusiastic as they had been last week. I decided to sit by myself on a small table down the back of the cafeteria. This was how I had expected it to be last week as the new girl anyway. I just hadn't expected for everyone to treat me as though I had freaking leprosy. I picked at my macaroni and cheese as I mindlessly flipped through social media. I found myself checking Shea's socials like a stalker, but he hadn't posted anything new online. I was so engrossed in what I was doing on my phone that I hadn't noticed someone join me at my table.