Chapter 82

Tessa’s POV

I woke up early the next morning, momentarily forgetting where I was. I forgot I wasn’t at Joseph’s house any longer. My heart was still hurting, for the ambiguous attitude Joseph left me with. It felt as if he was pushing me away and pulling me towards him at the same time.

The push and pull made me anxious, but I knew I still had to plant a smile on my face and get through today. I also had to figure out how to get through tonight.

It was Monday, which meant I had to get through his class without breaking down. I tried my best to brush the thought out of my head as I grabbed a clean outfit and went to take a shower.

Once I was done getting dressed, I looked at myself in the mirror. I wore a skirt that rested just above my knees and a black blouse with sleeves that hung just under my shoulders. I allowed my hair to freely fall around my shoulders but kept a ponytail around my wrist just in case.

I added a little bit of makeup under my eyes to keep them from looking red due to crying for so long last night. I looked fairly decent, and I was ready to walk to school.

But not before grabbing a pop tart out of the kitchen cabinet.

It took me about 5 minutes to walk to school. The campus was across the street from my new apartment, so all I really had to do was cross the crosswalk and then walk across the layer of green grass before reaching the campus grounds.

Students were piling inside by the time I got there. I was a little early. I wasn’t used to being able to get to school so quickly.

I was surprised to see that Ruby was already at our lockers when I arrived.

She gave me a timid smile when I approached, but I could see the questions in her eyes.

“I’ve been trying to call you. Professor Evergreen said you’ve been sick. I was worried,” she said, furrowing her brows together as she searched my face.

“I’m sorry. It’s been a weird few days,” I admitted. I couldn’t tell her the full truth, I knew that. But I also knew I needed to give her something other than a generic response.

“Are you feeling any better?”

“I am, yes,” I answered. “I found a new apartment and moved.”

Her eyes widened.

“What? Why?” She asked, keeping her eyes locked on my face.

“It was time for me to move…” I said, keeping my tone low. “It’s probably for the best. If word got out about my living situation, it would destroy the little reputation I have. Not to mention destroy everything Joseph worked so hard to achieve. I don’t blame him for wanting me to leave…”

“He kicked you out?!” She gasped.

I shushed her, not wanting any wandering ears to overhear us.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “But seriously, Tess… what happened? Did you guys break up?”

“I wouldn’t call it a break up because we weren’t together yet…Honestly, I didn’t even know what it was…” I couldn’t help but teared up a bit.

She threw her arms around me and held me close.

“I’m so sorry, Tessa,” she breathed, and I could hear her voice cracking as she spoke. “I know you liked him a lot. I’m so sorry you’re hurting.”

“It’s okay,” I said with a forced smile, pulling away from her. “I’m honestly fine. We are still friends. He’s still my mentor and helps me out a lot. He actually picked out this apartment and everything. It’s very close to the school. You’ll have to come over soon and check it out.”

“I foresee a movie night in the near future,” Ruby grinned, draping her arm through mine as we started to walk toward our classes.

“I could definitely use a movie night,” I agreed. “We could get some wine and order Chinese too.”

“Now, you are speaking my language,” Ruby chuckled.

We talked a bit more while walking to class. I told her about the publisher and how Joseph helped me with the contract. Ruby went on to tell me how she’s talking to someone new, romantically.

“Are you going to be okay tonight during his class?” She finally asked with a worried frown as we reached my first class.

“I’ll have to be,” I told her, sighing.

We hugged one last time before we went our separate ways.

…

“Tessa, over here!” Ruby waved me over to our usual lunch table with a few others that we typically sat with. “I was just telling Kayla about your new writing gig.”

Kayla was a pleasant girl that I would talk to occasionally. Not as often as Ruby though. Kayla had long red hair that she always left down, and I was super jealous of how beautiful and curly it was. She had large green eyes with long dark lashes. She also had freckles around her nose and cheeks, but she hates them, so she covers them with makeup.

Kaylas is a cosmetology major so makeup and hair were something she was very good at.

“Fable magazine, right?” Kayla asked with wide eyes as I sat down beside her. “That’s incredible. I love that online magazine. It literally has everything. Some people are so creative with what they write. I have no idea how you guys do it.”

“I’m nothing compared to Tessa,” Ruby said, taking a bite of her food that sat on the lunch tray in front of her.

Ruby’s lunch consisted of a turkey sandwich, a small bowl of fruit, carrots, and yogurt, the generic school lunch.

I grabbed a premade salad and a bottle of water. It was all I could really stomach right now.

“I’m actually a follower of her blog,” Kayla told Ruby. “I enjoy her writing very much. Her stories make it seem like she’s lived through one of them. But that’s impossible because they are fantasy.”

They both chuckled.

I felt like I was in a haze, just floating through the day.

“Tess?” Ruby said, touching my arm gently. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I think I’m just going to—” I began to stand and excuse myself, but then my eyes caught Joseph’s from across the cafeteria and my heart fell into my stomach.

He was eating his lunch and typing on his laptop.

What was he doing in the lunchroom? Typically, professors would eat in their offices, classrooms, or the teacher lounge. But never in the lunchroom with the students. He didn’t seem bothered though. He seemed busy on his computer and munching on his food occasionally.

A tight knot formed in the pit of my stomach.

“Tessa?” Ruby said again, following my eyes over to Joseph. “Wait. what is he doing here?”

“I’m not sure,” I answered. “But I’ll go find out.”

Before she could protest, because I knew she was about to, I went toward Joseph’s table. He was completely alone, so I knew it was safe to talk to him in at least a very quiet tone.

He lifted his gaze when he noticed me coming closer to him. His expression was hard to read but they stopped what he was doing entirely.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to keep my tone even and unbothered.

“Eating.”

My face warmed and I rolled my eyes.

“I meant why are you in the lunchroom? Shouldn’t you be in the teacher lounge or your office?”

“There’s no rule that says I can’t eat lunch in the lunchroom,” he told me casually.

I could see a hint of humor in his eyes, and I don’t know why that irritated me as badly as it did. Maybe because he could still find humor even while I’m hurting.

“Okay then,” I said, turning away. “Sorry to bother you.”

“I couldn’t concentrate in my office,” he finally said, stopping me from walking away.

I turned back to him with a frown.

“But it’s loud in here. How can you get any work done?” I asked.

“Sometimes the noise helps,” he explained. “My office was just too quiet, so I decided to come here.”

“I see,” I said.

He glanced at the untouched salad in my hands with a timid frown.

“Were you going somewhere?” He asked, raising his right bow.

I glanced at my salad and nodded.

“Yeah, I was just going to throw this away and spend the rest of my lunchtime in the library.”

“You barely touched your food,” he said, meeting my eyes. “You should eat more before you do anything.”

I went to say something in return, but he quickly kicked the chair closest to me from under the table, pushing it away from the table so I could sit.

He motioned with his head for me to do so.

My heart was beating so rapidly against my chest, I thought I was going to throw up. But I did as he said and took a seat. He went back to eating and working and I awkwardly ate my salad. He would steal glances my way to make sure I was eating.

I wanted to say so much to him, but I knew I couldn’t. Not here at least. Not while everyone was watching. I was already getting a few glances in my direction.

One in particular I recognized right away. Through the thick crowd of students, sitting at a table with his popular and rich friends, was Brian.

They were talking to him, but he wasn’t paying any attention to them.

He was staring directly at me.