Chapter 31 Off Course…. He doesn’t Care!

Chapter 31 Off Course…. He doesn’t Care!
Elowen BENETT 
The door slowly creaked open.
Tasha stood in the doorway like she owned the whole damn school, her glossy lips parting in shock before twisting into a deep frown. Her eyes darted between me and Alaric, narrowing like she’d just walked in on a crime scene. The single bulb overhead flickered once, casting weird shadows across her perfectly contoured face.
“What the hell is this?” she snapped, voice sharp enough to cut glass. She stepped inside, letting the door click shut behind her. The tiny closet suddenly felt suffocating, like the walls were pressing in. “Alaric, what are you doing in here with a low-life like her?”
I flinched at the words, my half-eaten sandwich suddenly heavy in my lap. Heat flooded my cheeks again, worse than in the hallway. I wanted to say something—anything. Tell her to back off, that this wasn’t what it looked like, that I wasn’t trying to steal anyone. But my throat tightened the way it always did when people like Tasha turned their spotlight on me. I glanced at Alaric, hoping for… something. A word. A look. Anything.
He didn’t say a word.
Alaric just sat there on his bucket, long legs still stretched out, blue eyes fixed on some spot on the floor. His jaw was set, that faint bruise standing out under the dim light. The silence stretched, thick and heavy. Every second he stayed quiet felt like confirmation. Like he agreed with her. Like I really was just some pathetic girl who didn’t belong anywhere near him. My stomach twisted into knots. The warm flutter from earlier? Gone. Replaced by something cold and heavy.
Tasha’s frown melted into a smug little smile when he didn’t defend me. She flipped her hair over one shoulder, stepping closer until her designer boots were inches from my sneakers. “See? Even he knows it. You’re nothing, Bennett. Just some sad charity case who keeps sniffing around where she doesn’t belong.”
I swallowed hard, fingers digging into the plastic wrap of my sandwich. Still, Alaric said nothing. He didn’t even look up. The quiet was worse than any insult she could’ve thrown. It burrowed under my skin, making my eyes sting again. I blinked fast, refusing to cry in front of her. Not here. Not like this.
Tasha turned back to him, her voice softening into that fake-sweet tone she used when she wanted something. “Babe, you know I only say this because I care. Girls like her… they’ll drag you down. Stick with people who actually understand your world.”
No response from Alaric. Just the faint rustle of his fingers tapping against his phone. My chest ached. Part of me had hoped... stupidly, that the shared sandwich, the soft chuckle, the way he’d told me to sit… meant something. But this? This was the Alaric I knew best. Distant. Unreadable. Letting the world spin however it wanted while he watched from the sidelines.
Tasha’s eyes flicked back to me, triumphant. “Since you’re still basically Alaric’s little servant or whatever pathetic arrangement you two have going on, you can make yourself useful. I left some stuff in the cheerleading storage area—my spare pom-poms, the good water bottle, and that new crop top I need for practice. Go get them. Now.”
I stared at her, disbelief mixing with the burn of humiliation. “I’m not—”
She cut me off with a laugh. “Oh, come on. You want to be part of this world so bad? Earn it. Or are you too scared even for that?” Her gaze slid to Alaric again, expectant. Waiting for him to finally speak up, to tell her to lay off, to stand up for me even a little.
Nothing.
The silence pressed down harder. Alaric’s shoulders stayed tense, his expression unreadable. He might as well have nodded along with every cruel word. I felt smaller than ever, shrunk down to nothing in that dusty closet. My knee still throbbed from the fall earlier, a dull reminder of how the day had already gone to hell.
“Fine,” I muttered, pushing to my feet. My voice came out steadier than I felt. I didn’t look at Alaric as I brushed past Tasha. The door swung open, and I stepped into the hallway without another word. Behind me, I heard Tasha’s satisfied hum, followed by the low murmur of her talking to him. I didn’t stick around to listen.
The walk to the gym area felt endless. Lockers slammed in the distance, voices echoed, but everything blurred together. I kept my head down, replaying the scene in the closet. Why hadn’t he said anything? Was I really that insignificant to him? The questions gnawed at me, mixing with the worry I still couldn’t shake about his “family stuff” and that bruise on his jaw. But caring about Alaric was clearly a one-way ticket to heartbreak. I needed to remember that.
The cheerleading storage room was tucked behind the main gym. I could hear the squad practicing even before I reached the double doors sharp claps, counts called out in unison, the thump of feet on mats. Pushing the door open, the smell of rubber mats and sweat hit me.
A few girls were running through a routine in the main area, their ponytails swinging perfectly. I spotted the storage door off to the side.
I walked up to a couple of cheerleaders near the edge of the mats, trying to keep my voice even. “Hey, um… Tasha sent me? She said there are some things in storage—pom-poms, a water bottle, a crop top?”
The girl closest to me, a tall blonde with perfect eyeliner, looked me up and down and burst out laughing. “Tasha sent you? That’s hilarious. What, are you her new errand girl now?”
Her friend joined in, smirking as she adjusted her skirt. “Look at her face. She actually came. Pathetic much? Does Alaric know his little shadow is doing Tasha’s dirty work?”
Heat crawled up my neck. A few more girls turned to watch, whispers spreading like wildfire. Someone muttered about “the hospital stalker” and another giggled about my fall in the hallway. I kept my eyes on the floor, cheeks flaming. “Can you just show me where the stuff is? Please?”
They made a big show of it, rolling their eyes and dragging their feet, but eventually one of them pointed me toward the storage room. “Hurry up, loser. We don’t have all day.”
Inside the cramped storage space, I rummaged through bins and shelves, grabbing the sparkly pom-poms, a fancy insulated bottle with Tasha’s initials, and a folded crop top that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe. The items felt ridiculous in my arms—like carrying proof of how low I’d sunk. The girls’ laughter followed me as I emerged, echoing off the gym walls.
“Careful with those,” one called out. “Wouldn’t want you to drop Tasha’s precious things and make her mad.”
Another added, “Yeah, run along, servant girl. Maybe Alaric will throw you a bone later.”
I bit the inside of my cheek hard enough to taste blood, heading for the exit. My knee protested with every step, but I pushed through. The hallway outside the gym was quieter, a brief relief. I just needed to drop this stuff off and find somewhere—anywhere—else to hide for the rest of lunch. Maybe the library. Or the bathroom. Anywhere but near Alaric or Tasha or anyone who thought they knew my place.
I rounded the corner near the vending machines, arms full, mind spinning with everything that had happened. The image of Alaric’s silence burned brightest. That quiet agreement. It hurt more than the fall, more than Tasha’s words. Why did I keep letting him get under my skin?
Lost in thought, I didn’t see the foot jut out until it was too late.
My sneaker caught, the world tilting for the second time that day. Books and pom-poms and the water bottle flew from my grasp as gravity yanked me down. Panic spiked in my chest—this time there was nothing soft to land on, just hard tile rushing up to meet me.
But before I could hit the ground, a strong hand grabbed my arm, fingers wrapping tight and steady, pulling me back from the fall.