Chapter 50 – November 1st

"Mr. Anderson would like to speak to you in his office," Ms. Flora told me as I closed my locker, taking a deep breath. Ms. Flora starts walking, and I followed her.

We arrived at the office. Ms. Flora sat down at her office table, writing something down on the paper as I look at her. She looks up at me and signals me to enter, and I nodded my head without uttering a word.

I walked towards Liam's door, ready to knock. The door suddenly opens, and I was face-to-face with Cayden. We looked each other in the eyes, and I broke off the contact first. I excused myself and entered his dad's office.

I sat down on the chair as his dad gestured for Cayden to leave us. Cayden closes the door. As I look back and taking a sigh, I look back at Liam, plastering a serious face.

"I know you're not that happy about the news of me marrying your mom and which makes you and Cayden step-siblings," He says as I continue listening without saying anything, "And I'm sorry."

"I love your mother so much," My expression gets soft, he stands up from his chair. He walked over and sat down on the chair beside me, "And I know you love my son."

"I don't," I said, trying to hold back the tears. I've been crying for almost a week now, and I'm trying my best to ignore Cayden for the past week, but sometimes, we just keep on meeting each other or cross paths. "Not anymore," I whisper to myself.

It's all over school the next day when Cayden and I broke up. Most girls are in a relief state, which earns them an eye roll from me because of how delusional they are.

Liam nods his head quietly and looks at me, "Then, I think you should still know that I need your approval about marrying your mother," He said. I looked at him, wanting to say no.

"My mom loves you. So much that she's willing to give up everything, and you love my mom. My mom and I don't quite get along sometimes, but I want to see her happy, even though that means letting someone miserable go from my life," I said, and Liam's expression saddens.

"I'm so sorry," He said, and I shake my head, plastering a sad smile on my face. Rather, plastering a fake smile to prove to him that I'm strong.

"Don't be. As long as you guys will be happy, then I'm happy. I just want my mom to be happy, once again," I said, and he smiles at me. He grabs my hand, "Thank you," he says, and I smile, fakely.

I stood up, walking towards the door. I twist the doorknob, opening the door to exit. I looked back at Liam and smiled, "I hope your son will learn what love means from you," I said as I left, trying to gather all of the courage that I have once pushed away from me.

I enter History class. Seeing students talking, as usual. But, today is different. I see something different. I saw Katie sitting on Cayden's lap from the corner of my eye as she keeps on flirting with him and laughing.

I looked at them; Cayden looks at me. There's something in his eyes that I can't explain. Katie looks at me with a triumphant look on her face, quirking her eyebrows at me and smiling evilly as I roll my eyes at her.

"What's up?" Logan says, sliding next to me as he flashes me a smile. I looked at him and looked up, then I looked back at him.

"The ceiling," I said as I placed my bag down, bringing out my notebook in History. I started flipping through some pages then Logan decides to snatch it away.

"You know. I never thought you'd be the type of person who's going to have very sensible humor," He says.

He stands up, and so did I. Trying my best to grab my notebook from him, but he keeps on raising it higher, out of my own reach.

"What does that even mean?" I asked as I jump, trying to snatch it, and finally, I grabbed the notebook from his hand. I look at him, his face a few inches away from my face. He smiles at me, and I blinked my eyes.

"Ehem. Excuse me," Cayden says as he passed between Logan and me as I roll my eyes and sit back down in my chair. "What's up with him?" Logan asks as I flip through the pages of my notebook.

"Probably got his panties in a twist," I said with a straight face, and I hear Logan starts snickering because of what I said.

"That's the kind of humor I need," He says as I look at him and flash him a sad but genuine smile.

I placed back all of my books and notebooks in my locker, ready to go home and lock myself in a closet forever. Once I was done, I decided to head straight to my car and drive, probably not head home.

It's currently 5:10 PM. After classes, I went to the library and decided to research some stuff about this school and some hidden background about the Andersons. I was about to walk down the stairs when I suddenly smell smoke.

I start coughing and followed the smell, even though it's terrible for my health. I arrived at the corner of the school and saw Cayden smoking cigarettes, "Aren't you aware that smoking is banned in this area?" I quirk my eyebrow at him.

He looks at me and continues smoking, "Right. May you have cancer and die," I said as I turn the other way around and start heading to my car. Why did I even speak up? I should've kept my mouth shut.

My phone vibrates, and I unlock it, seeing a message from Ethan.

Ethan <5:18 PM, Thursday> Are you free?

Ethan <5:18 PM, Thursday> Can we talk? Because I need to tell you something.

I unlocked my car and hopped in, putting the car keys in the ignition as I adjusted the vehicle's air conditioner. I start typing on my phone and sent him the message saying that I am free and that I'm up for his discussion regarding whatever he wants to tell me.

Ethan <5:21 PM, Thursday> Great. Meet me at the Local Coffee Shop in less than 10 minutes.

I turned off my phone, placing it back in my bag. I was about to reverse my car when suddenly, I hear a knocking at the back window. I turn around and saw Logan waving and smiling. He looks like a creep. But a cute jerk.

I rolled down my window as he walked towards where I am, "Hey," he says as he grabs the sling of his backpack, refraining it from falling on the ground. "I know now what happened between the two of you."

I gave him a questionable look as he took a sigh, "It might have something to do with... me," He says as my eyes widen in disbelief.

"What are you talking about? And what do you mean it has something to do with you in it?" I asked as he looks at me, thinking of the right words to say. "What is it?" I asked once again as he took another sigh.

"About you and Cayden... How about you and I go to the Local Coffee Shop, have some coffee, and I'll explain it to you?" As I stare at him, he says and decided to look at him with a hint of curiosity in my eyes.

"That's funny. I'm going to the Local Coffee Shop too."

"Ha! What a strange... world... we live in," He says, pausing in between lines. I nodded my head slowly, still looking at him with a hint of curiosity.

"I actually can't today. I'm going to talk to someone in private but in a public area but... if you would like, we can just go there... tomorrow?" I said as I raise my left eyebrow at him, and he suddenly flashes me a smile.

"Sure thing. I'll see you there after school," He says, and I smile at him. I rolled back up my window and start reversing my car, ready to head south and go to the Local Coffee Shop to meet Ethan.

Sometimes, I find myself falling for Ethan repeatedly for different reasons that I can't seem to explain, and sometimes, I find myself being attracted to Logan for his generous and kind ways. The way he acts towards me is making me flutter.

Or maybe I shouldn't be thinking about it too much because he might be acting like that to everyone, and I just haven't realized that until now.

I arrived at the Local Coffee Shop. I hopped out of my vehicle and locked my car, hearing the vehicle's sound that makes a 'beep' in less than a second. I entered the Coffee Shop and was always met with the same smell of freshly brewed coffee.

I sat down on a chair and waited for Ethan to arrive. As I wait for him patiently, I scrolled down through my Twitter Feed, seeing everybody tweeting about Cayden and me being broken up, which is still a big issue in our school.

I logged out of my Twitter, bored and tired of seeing all of the tweets about him and me. I scrolled down my Instagram Feed, seeing beautiful pictures of Amelia and Noah. I'm still wondering if they are dating or not. I don't even know what's their relationship status or, rather, friendship status.

"Hey," I hear a familiar voice say. I look up and saw Ethan smiling down at me. I stood up from the chair, turning off my phone at the same time and placing it on the coffee table.

"Hi," I said as I smile at him. We both sat down and looked at each other. "Do you want to get something first?" I asked him, and he nods his head while he continues to plaster the same smile at me.

I waved my hand in the air for the waitress to come and take our orders, "Hi, I would like to get an Iced Caramel Macchiato," I said as the waitress writes it down on a piece of paper. I looked at Ethan, waiting for him to say his order.

"Just a fresh mint lemonade," He says as the waitress leaves the both of us to make our drinks. I look at Ethan, intertwining my fingers as I rest it on the coffee table, sitting properly and looking a little more formal (only the expression).

"So, what is it that you would like to tell me?" I asked him. His smile slowly fades as he takes a deep breath. "Is it about your depression again?" I asked, and he shakes his head.

"Remember when I told you that Alissa and I broke up?" Ethan says, and I nodded my head as I look at him intensely, maybe a little less than intense. Oh, the irony. "It's because of one reason."

"What's the reason? Does she know the reason why?" I asked, and he nodded his head without uttering anything. The waitress comes to our table, placing our orders in front of us. I smiled at the waitress as she leaves.

I took a sip first from the coffee I ordered, my favorite go-to drink. "She...S-She does," He says, stuttering in between words. I stopped sipping my drink, noticing how nervous he looks right now.

I held his hand that was resting on the coffee table. There's one thing that I didn't feel when I touched his hands, and that is the electricity, which means that our friendship won't turn into more than something, which is actually fine by me.

I have moved on from him, but sometimes, I just do fall for him. Like, really. "Calm down, I'm here to listen," I said as I plaster him a genuine smile to keep him calm.

He takes a deep inhale, looking at our hands. He looks up at me and exhales the breath that he was holding. He opens his mouth, thinking if he is hesitating to tell me something or not. He gulps down the lump that was stuck in his throat.

His expression turns from happy to sad as he plasters me a sad smile, "I'm gay."