Breaking free (GxG)

Chapter 20 - Farewell gift

I hadn't slept at all. I couldn't sleep without Taylor by my side.

Instead, I spent the whole night crying, thinking and trying to call Taylor but she wouldn’t answer. I knew she was home because the lights remained on all night and my Range was still parked but I never dared going over there.

I thought that maybe I needed respect her space and give her some time to replay the whole thing in her head and give it some thoughts. Just like I had. And to be honest, I was scared. Scared of screwing everything over and over again.

I came to the conclusion that I indeed should have had been more attentive and caring towards her after we'd had sex. I understood why she'd felt neglected and disrespected somehow. I wouldn’t have felt good if Taylor had just made love to me and left me there. But I'd never meant to hurt her. Ever. Of all people, I would be the last one to use someone I loved just for sex. To disregard Taylor’s feelings. I just didn't understand why she hadn't said anything right away, she was always so spontaneous and honest.

When I stepped out of my car, I kept my head down and buried my hands in the pocket of my hoodie to start walking towards the school entrance as my head was filled with thoughts of Taylor.

I needed to fix this. Whatever this was. I needed to have a serious talk with her and apologize for my mistakes but she clearly had some explaining to do too. It was not like her to just leave me in the middle of a conversation. The last time she'd shut me out was in Los Angeles, right before she was to meet with her sister.

Was she facing some troubles or issues? A certain problem that would have put her in a bad mood and made her overreact?

“Miss Robert”, a man’s voice called so I raised my head and saw Mr Gordon beaming and waving at me from the office. I approached him with the same expression on and smiled tightly to display some enthusiasm.

“Good morning”, I said in a raspy voice that I never knew I had. Must be the crying.

“Are you okay, Brooklyn? You sound sick”, he said knitting his eyebrows worriedly.

“I’m fine. I stayed outside late last night so I must have caught a little cold”, I explained and shrugged nonchalantly. Good liar.

“Oh… I hope you get well soon. Do you think I can speak with you privately in my office?”, he asked in a low voice so I nodded and followed him as he guided me through the hallway.

He opened the door to let me in so I went to have a seat while he regained the other side of the desk.

“So, Brooklyn. I gathered you won’t be in condition to start your cheerleading trainings as early as usual”, he said blankly which I knew was an indirect question.

“Yes, I have a cracked rib so I’m forced to lay low and rest for a while”, I explained the most politely I could.

“How did you hurt yourself?”, he asked tilting his head slightly to the side.

“Some bad encounter”, I simply answered to avoid getting into details.

“Maybe it would be best for you to stay home”, he blurted out and cleared his throat as my eyes widened in astonishment.

“Can you please elaborate?”, I asked and raised an eyebrow challengingly.

“You see… Your popularity is causing a lot of distraction for the other students. I overheard that your classmates are very disruptive, talkative and unattentive. On top of that, I received tens of emails from several newspapers asking about you. And you’ve only been here for a day.”

“Your point being?”, I asked again.

“I think we need to find a solution to make sure everyone can keep on with their lives. It’s obvious that your status of celebrity is requiring you more and more time. Correct?”