Read Online Complete Nothing by Kieran Scott - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Kieran Scott
Ads: Link
in the rearview. Maybe it’s me you’re sick of,” I spat, yanking my backpack straps over my shoulders.
Claudia glanced around. A few random packs of people were watching us and trying to look like they weren’t. I felt like such an asshole, and such a dork, and such a whipped loser. Yelling at my girlfriend in public about her not liking me enough? Was this how low I’d sunk?
“What?” she said shakily. “Peter. Come on.”
I glared down at her, my chest heaving angrily even as a tiny part of me withered and died. I didn’t hear her denying it. She wasn’t denying it.
“Whatever,” I said. “If you’re so psyched about starting your life without me, maybe we should just start right now.”
What are you doing? a tiny voice in my head screamed. What the hell are you doing?
Claudia’s face paled, then suddenly reddened. “Are you breaking up with me?”
Take it back! Take it back!
But I couldn’t. It was like I’d chucked a Hail Mary as hard as I could into the air and was powerless to stop it. I had to stand back and watch it fall.
And I was so angry. I’d never felt so angry. I just wanted time to stop, but it wouldn’t. It just kept going and going and going. Ihad no control over anything anymore, and it totally pissed me off.
“Why not? It was going to happen anyway, right? Now you can go hang out with Lance as much as you want and practice for your big audition,” I blurted. “Princeton calls!”
“That is so not fair,” she said through her teeth. “You know there’s nothing going on with me and Lance.”
“Yeah. Not yet, maybe,” I said. “But you can’t tell me you don’t think about it—what it would be like to go out with a guy like him. Somebody with a brain, somebody who likes the same things you do, somebody with a future.”
“You could have a future!” Claudia shouted, holding the stack of brochures up. “You just don’t want to be bothered. You’re so pathetic sometimes, Peter. For the great big football star, sometimes I swear you’re like some scared little boy.”
And there it was. What she really thought of me. Pathetic. She thought I was pathetic.
A few freshmen laughed into their hands, and my face burned. She shoved the stack of brochures at me but stood her ground, lifting her tiny chin, which, I noticed with a pang, was quivering awfully. At that point, though, I was too pissed off and humiliated to care. If that was what she really thought of me, then maybe I was doing the right thing.
I took the brochures and threw them into the bottom of my locker with a clang. This time when I slammed the door, I made sure it stayed shut.
“Well, I know one thing for sure,” I said. “My pathetic future is not with you.”
As she crumbled into tears, I turned around and speed-walked toward the gym.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Claudia
What just happened? What just happened?
I couldn’t breathe. I could barely see. Everything was a blur. The blue-and-white locker doors. The shred of paper on the floor. The yellowing caulk around the windows. I tipped my face up and tried to stop the flow of tears. The Marrott poster I’d toiled over yesterday afternoon glinted in the sun, mocking me.
Had Peter really just dumped me? Had he just called me a nag, accused me of liking someone else, said I couldn’t wait to get away from him?
Had I just called the guy I loved pathetic?
Oh God, oh God, oh God. This couldn’t be happening.
My hands shook. Slowly my gaze traveled along the faces around me. Most of them turned away as my eyes met theirs, as if that could make them invisible, erase the fact that my humiliation had come with an audience. The pulse in my wrists fluttered like the wings on a dying bird. Dying. I was dying. I was going to die. I wiped my face, then turned and slowly walked through the library entrance across the hall and over to the table where my chemistry notes were laid out neatly, ready to be organized into a lab report.
Are you breaking up with me? my
Claudia glanced around. A few random packs of people were watching us and trying to look like they weren’t. I felt like such an asshole, and such a dork, and such a whipped loser. Yelling at my girlfriend in public about her not liking me enough? Was this how low I’d sunk?
“What?” she said shakily. “Peter. Come on.”
I glared down at her, my chest heaving angrily even as a tiny part of me withered and died. I didn’t hear her denying it. She wasn’t denying it.
“Whatever,” I said. “If you’re so psyched about starting your life without me, maybe we should just start right now.”
What are you doing? a tiny voice in my head screamed. What the hell are you doing?
Claudia’s face paled, then suddenly reddened. “Are you breaking up with me?”
Take it back! Take it back!
But I couldn’t. It was like I’d chucked a Hail Mary as hard as I could into the air and was powerless to stop it. I had to stand back and watch it fall.
And I was so angry. I’d never felt so angry. I just wanted time to stop, but it wouldn’t. It just kept going and going and going. Ihad no control over anything anymore, and it totally pissed me off.
“Why not? It was going to happen anyway, right? Now you can go hang out with Lance as much as you want and practice for your big audition,” I blurted. “Princeton calls!”
“That is so not fair,” she said through her teeth. “You know there’s nothing going on with me and Lance.”
“Yeah. Not yet, maybe,” I said. “But you can’t tell me you don’t think about it—what it would be like to go out with a guy like him. Somebody with a brain, somebody who likes the same things you do, somebody with a future.”
“You could have a future!” Claudia shouted, holding the stack of brochures up. “You just don’t want to be bothered. You’re so pathetic sometimes, Peter. For the great big football star, sometimes I swear you’re like some scared little boy.”
And there it was. What she really thought of me. Pathetic. She thought I was pathetic.
A few freshmen laughed into their hands, and my face burned. She shoved the stack of brochures at me but stood her ground, lifting her tiny chin, which, I noticed with a pang, was quivering awfully. At that point, though, I was too pissed off and humiliated to care. If that was what she really thought of me, then maybe I was doing the right thing.
I took the brochures and threw them into the bottom of my locker with a clang. This time when I slammed the door, I made sure it stayed shut.
“Well, I know one thing for sure,” I said. “My pathetic future is not with you.”
As she crumbled into tears, I turned around and speed-walked toward the gym.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Claudia
What just happened? What just happened?
I couldn’t breathe. I could barely see. Everything was a blur. The blue-and-white locker doors. The shred of paper on the floor. The yellowing caulk around the windows. I tipped my face up and tried to stop the flow of tears. The Marrott poster I’d toiled over yesterday afternoon glinted in the sun, mocking me.
Had Peter really just dumped me? Had he just called me a nag, accused me of liking someone else, said I couldn’t wait to get away from him?
Had I just called the guy I loved pathetic?
Oh God, oh God, oh God. This couldn’t be happening.
My hands shook. Slowly my gaze traveled along the faces around me. Most of them turned away as my eyes met theirs, as if that could make them invisible, erase the fact that my humiliation had come with an audience. The pulse in my wrists fluttered like the wings on a dying bird. Dying. I was dying. I was going to die. I wiped my face, then turned and slowly walked through the library entrance across the hall and over to the table where my chemistry notes were laid out neatly, ready to be organized into a lab report.
Are you breaking up with me? my
Similar Books
