Thin Line- Charlie Dalton Love Story

Chapter 26: All Is Out and Unwell

{Charlie's POV}

Betrayal. It hurts. Looks cool on TV. But it hurts in reality. This better be the last time something like this happens to me. Experience learned, once is enough. The one thing I dreaded was the explanation I had to give my friends. Humiliating shit. I'd have to tell them that none of it was real. It was real to me but not for her. I'd have to relive all the experiences again and word them out with a smile on my face and tell lies like "Oh I never liked her either".

And so it was true. All of them gathered in the corridors before curfew. They all smiled and cheered for me for my spontaneous gesture in the assembly. I went to the bathroom to rinse my face and all the shame along with it. The boys all gathered around me expecting a little story time.

"Val's reaction was sure gold!" Meeks said.

"Right! I mean that kiss... oh I never knew you could be so romantic Nuwanda." Knox teased.

"Come on. Tell us what happened after you met up again!" Todd insisted.

They all looked at me with their big bug-like eyes. Like boys who've just seen a pair of tits for the first time. Though, in all honesty I know that this was true for half of them. Once they had read my sorrowful expressions, they looked puzzled but sure enough to know that I wasn't in the mood for talking. Yet, they still goggled at me, waiting for a word.

"I'm only gonna say this once. And I want no comments on the subject. None at all." I said.

They all nodded in return.

I took a deep breath and said rather quickly, "It was all fake. For her."

After I had said that, I left for my dorm. They can do with that little information what they can. I don't care what happens now. The only thing I had started to care about in this world turned out to be fake. The knife in my back sure seems real.

God, I'm doing metaphors. I must really be depressed.

The next morning came and Cameron had done his duty to wake me up for school. But this time it was not appreciated. I told him that I would catch up with him but my plan was to stay in bed for eternity. I did not want to be near Valerie in English today. Or any other classes we share. Or any other place for that matter. I was sure that Valerie would be perfectly capable of attending school as if nothing had happened. She's brazen enough to do that.

I took a fake temperature to give to the nurse to get an excused absence. Knox, Neil, and I broke our dorm thermometers years ago so we could get away with skipping school with a very high fever. And sure enough, it works like a charm. Every. Single. Time.

I returned to my dorm after I had shown the well proven evidence of my fever. That's what I told him. I actually got dressed and left the school. A little outing I call 'drinking your problems away but it's okay because you're by a river'. I took my bag of stashed alcohol which was perfectly hidden under a loose floorboard beneath my bed. It didn't bother me that the drinks were all way past lukewarm now, I thought maybe it being warm would have a kick to it. I took some money from my drawers and some from Cameron's as well. I did leave a note saying I took his money so it's not stealing. I snuck out of school, which is extremely hard in the daytime especially when school is in session. After having successfully escaped Hellton, I flagged down a cap and rode it all the way to White River.

{Valerie's POV}

I know I'm probably the last person you want to hear from but that's life and life isn't fair. I should know that. I didn't sleep the entire night. I kept thinking of ways to mend what I had broken. I even thought of blaming the whole situation on my years of built up trauma from parental physical abuse. I brushed off the idea as soon as I thought of it. I wasn't that messed up.