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Zach’s hand tightened even ive a shit what you’ve heard? You’re so others miserable Maybe itJust go to class and stop elared at him for a couple of seconds Then all at once she huffed and span on her heel,along behind her

I stood there withto take in what Sandy had said about Zach in his old school Just as it that he didn’t want co mine for a second before he pulled back his shoulders and h the croithout another word

Alex’s grip loosened on ry face I winced, rubbing at my shoulder as the crowd started to dissipate He shook his head dejectedly "Oh yeah, you did so ith the ‘I’reed on," he stated, raising one eyebrow

I sed loudly "I thought so too," I hed dramatically "Looks like my self-defence lessons were a waste of ti ti it out to hed despite irl"

Chapter 20

Everywhere I went, whispering erupted around , who it was that had done it, was it Sandy, if it wasn’t Sandy then as it… I heard Zach’s name mentioned in connection to it too after what Sandy had said about hiest that I’d poisoned ain sympathy and blame Sandy because I was jealous that my boyfriend was in love with her One person even questioned if I even had a dog in the first place They weren’t even bothering to be discreet in their gossiping It was disgraceful

At lunchti their best to cheer me up and keep my mind off of the fact that I was centre of attention for the whole school I’d apologised to Charlotte and Beth for snapping at theht away Luke and Alex were sat with us too, both of theh it was nice to be surrounded by people, they did nothing to block out the stares and gossiping ofwas just too much for me to deal with Too much noise, too little air, too oing to the bathroo a dismissive hand at Charlotte as she went to stand too "I’ back down again and continuing with her sandwich Before either of the boys could protest and insist that one of them should come with me, I scurried away from the table and out of the lunchroom Once I was out of the hustle and bustle of it all I started to feel a little better, but I still craved fresh air and solitude

Instead of going to the bathroom like I’d said, I headed down the corridor and out of the side door The warh in content closed behind o the full hog and go and sit in the sunshine of the school field As I rounded the corner, however, I noticed that I wasn’t the only one that looked like they wanted fresh air and alone ti slow, lazy laps around the field I hadn’t seen hi out of the way of the gossip after Sandy’s co for a fewthat he was probably hot There was a vending machine back inside the door where I ca a bottle of water for him Once I had it I walked out across the field He noticeddirection and jogging towards me The frown on his face told me that he didn’t really want to seecheerfulness to rass with his foot

"Hey," he grunted in response

I held out the bottle "Bought you this"

His brows rose in apparent surprise as he hesitantly took the bottle out ofat the track "Why are you out here on your own? You could have eaten with ht not want to speak to h attention on you without fraternising with a scu" His tone was sad as he spoke and I instantly hated Sandy just that little bit more

I snorted at his explanation "Don’t be silly Besides, people are gossiping about me whether I fraternise with you or not, so ithis ar up to ed down so Is he okay?" he asked, cocking his head to the side as he looked atin my heart at the mention of Chester "He’s okay He’s at the aniht now," I replied "They said we can probably take hiood Glad he’s okay, he’s cute," he hed and sat down, crossing ht When you dropped arden So" My voice broke as the roaned and sat down next tosupportively "I’m sorry I should have coht before I left you I shouldn’t have just dropped you outside your house when I knew you were gonna be going in to an e

I forced a smile and used the sleeve of my sweater to dry the tear that leaked out "It’s fine, you weren’t to know that so" I tried to keep ht, but a sob uess I still feel like crap about it though I’aze met mine I could see little worry lines in between his eyebrows as he seeed away fro pain followed his touch "Looks like you got a couple of scratches when you were fighting," he ain

I nodded, shrugging disht in the ht like a girl and let her kick rin crept onto my face "That’s exactly what I said"

He nodded but didn’t answer He just looked at , but I didn’t knohat His eyes were so intense as he looked at me that I had to look away fro to read all of my secrets We lapsed into silence Zach’s thumb stroked the side of rass It was nice actually, cal that had happened in the last couple of days, it was nice just to sit there quietly in the sun and not feel the need to s have to co of my phone made us both jump and Zach to snatch his hand back into his lap as he turned his head and looked out over the field I sighed and pulled outwhere I was

Instead, the name DI Neeson flashed on oing to be about For some reason my mind flicked to Sandy Did she soht with her and now she was calling to scold me for it? I squirmed uncoreeted me "Good afternoon, Miss Preston I just wanted to let you know that the locks"

"Oh, oh right That’s good," I htly

"I have your new keys What time will you be home? I can meet you there," she offered helpfully

"Uo and visit Chester straight after school So h That would give us almost an hour with Chester which should be plenty of time because apparently eren’t allowed to take hiood for me I’ll see you at your house then" The line went dead before I could even ask if they had found anything or had progressed with the investigation Thankfully she hadn’tet back before everyone really did start calling o back inside I only said I was going to the bathroo to have to cancel tutoring for tonight I’rin crossed Zach’s face as he nodded "Tutoring’s cancelled? Whatever will I do with myself?" he joked

"Ju h filled the air as he nodded in agree up the now e in with"Have you eaten?"