Chapter Thirty-Two: Girl Meets Confrontation
Knock, knock, knock. I opened my eyes when I heard someone knocking at my door. "Who is it?" I asked. "It's me." They answered and I knew it was Riley. I got out of my bed and walked over to the door. I opened it and looked at my sister. "What do you want?" I asked her. "Remember you promised me that you would tell Maya today." She reminded me. If you're wondering what she is talking about, she's talking about the whole Chase thing. Riley made me a deal that if told Maya the problem then they both would be there for me when I told Lucas, because I haven't been able to tell him yet. "Oh yeah." I said. "Well she's here and in my room waiting for us." She told me. "So hurry up and get dressed.
I went into my closet and quickly got dressed before I followed Riley to her room. When we walked in I saw Maya sitting at the bay window. "So can anyone tell me why I am here earlier than I supposed to?" Maya asked. "Caroline has something to tell you." Riley blurted out. "Really?" Maya questioned, looking at me. "Yeah." I answered. "Why are you two acting like it's something bad?" Maya asked. I sat down next to Maya and Riley sat down beside me. "I know I should have told you earlier, but I didn't like bringing up." I started to explain to Maya. "So Riley made me a deal if I told you and I knew that it would be the best thing to have both of you when I tell Lucas." "Tell Lucas what? Are you breaking up with him? What did ranger Rick do? Do I have to mess someone up?" Maya asked me. "Lucas didn't do anything." Riley told her.
"So Riley knows?" Maya asked. "Yeah, because she comforted me after it happen." I answered. "Will you just tell me what happened." Maya demanded. "Okay, so you know I ran into Chase when we went to NYU to see Josh for you?" I asked her. "Yeah, I remember." Maya answered. "Well, he told me why he acted the way he acted when he came by. It was because he thought that since I was his sister's friend that I would come with. He realized it was also because he was jealous of Lucas. I told him that he should've known that I wasn't going to leave you and Riley. He realized that and he apologized." I told her. "What's so bad about that?" Maya asked. "It's what he said afterwards." Riley commented. "What did he say?" Maya asked. "He asked me on a date," Maya cut me off. "What?!" She exclaimed. "Let me finish." I told her. "Anyways, he asked me on a date and I told him I couldn't. For some reason he thought I said yes, but realized I didn't. I told him that I have a boyfriend and when I told him it was Lucas he asked me if it was the Lucas from Austin. When I confirmed it, he said then I could just break up with Lucas and now I'm afraid that he is going to do something to break me and Lucas up." Once again like every time I tell the story I could feel tear gathering up in my eyes.
"Oh, sunshine." Maya said as she pulled me into a hug. "Don't worry I won't let Chase do anything to hurt your relationship with Lucas." Maya told me and I smiled. "Why are you smiling?" Riley asked. "Because she didn't call him one of his nicknames." I answered. "I thought it wasn't appropriate for this kind of situation, but I can call him one of you want me to." Maya told me. "It's okay." I told her. "So when are you going to tell Lucas?" She asked. "I thought maybe on the same day as you. I thought the sooner the better before Chase actually tried to do something." I explained. "Well when you tell him I will be right there." Maya told me. "Me too." Riley said joining our hug. "I am so lucky to have you two." I told them. "We're lucky to have you too." They replied. "Well now we have to go to school." Riley said.
"It's not funny!" Riley snapped as we walked into school. "But it is." Maya and I chorused trying to keep our laughter in. If you're wondering why we're laughing, it's because on the way to school Riley tripped over her own feet and it was funny. But what made it priceless is I did the same thing, but instead of falling I did a flip and landed on my feet. Riley started to complain how it wasn't fair that I didn't get hurt and since she was paying attention she ended up falling once again. We were now standing by our lockers when my phone went off. I pulled out my phone and say that I had a text.
From: Chase
Are you thinking about me right now? Because I'm thinking about you.
And just like that my good mood is gone. I think Maya and Riley noticed my quick change in mood because Maya took away my phone and looked at the text. "That jerk." Maya commented. Riley looked over at my phone too, wondering what Maya was looking at. "Oh that's so not cool." Riley commented. Maya locked my phone and put it in my bag. "You have to tell Lucas." Maya told me. "Tell me what?" Someone asked. Riley, Maya, and I all turned to see Lucas with Austin, Zay, and Farkle. "Nothing." We all answered quickly. "It doesn't sound like nothing." Farkle said. "Shut up, Farkle." We told him. "What are you hiding from Lucas?" Austin asked. Once again I felt my phone ring and I quickly pulled it out.
From: Chase
You know it's not nice to not reply to a text. Especially your future boyfriend after you get rid of blondie.
I could feel my resolve breaking down and I know in a minute that Lucas is going to be able to read my emotions. "What's wrong with Caroline?" Zay asked. Probably because he noticed I was staring down at my phone. "Care, what's wrong?" Lucas asked. "Nothing." I told him. "I doesn't seem like nothing." Lucas retorted. "It's nothing." I snapped. I handed my phone and bag to Riley before I ran off. I could hear them calling after me, but I didn't really care. I ran to my secret hideout where no one would be able to find me.
Riley's POV*
The last thing I remember before Caroline ran off was her snapping at Lucas and handing me her phone and bag. I unlocked her phone and looked at the last text message she received.
From: Chase
You know It's not nice to not reply to a text. Especially your future boyfriend after you get rid of blondie.
I quickly showed the text to Maya before I turned off her phone so none of the boys could see it. I don't think they needed to worry about this until Caroline was ready to tell them. "Maya, Riley, do you know what's going on with Care?" Lucas asked, obviously worried about her. "It's not our place to tell you." I told him. "Yeah, Huckleberry, you have to wait till Care is ready to tell you." Maya added. "But I-" Lucas was cut off by the bell ringing. We walked into class and I walked over to my dad. "Where's Caroline?" Was the first thing he asked me when I got to his desk. "Chase sent her some texts and the boys were asking questions so she ran off, but she left her stuff with me." I told him. "Okay, let's just give her some time." My dad decided. I went and sat down in my seat.
"Riley, where's Caroline?" Austin asked. "I don't know." I answered not looking back at him. "You know what's wrong with her." He stated. "Of course I know what's wrong with I was the first one to comfort her after it happened." I retorted. "What happened?" He asked. "It's not place to tell you." I told him. "But Riley, my cousin is-" I cut him off. "Austin Friar (I decided to change his last name to Friar and you will understand why in a later chapter) he may be your cousin, but she is my sister and it's her business so she has to tell him." "Fine." He said. He turned to Lucas and whispered something in his ear. Probably what I just told him about Caroline.
"So let's talk about the elephant in the room." My dad announced getting everyone's attention. "So it's obvious that Caroline is missing and there's something wrong with her. Now I understand that Caroline doesn't usually skip class, but she has a reason. It's not my place to tell you and I don't want to hear you talking about it. Now on with the class." He pointed towards the board. "Secrets." "He's totally not making this any better." I whispered to Maya having to lean over Caroline's desk to talk to her. "I think he's doing this on purpose." Maya said. "But he wasn't expecting Caroline not being here." I added. "Yeah." She agreed.
"So secrets, everyone has them. Some people keep them to themselves. Others can't so they have to tell everyone. Secrets can hurt or help someone, they can help people understand what's going on in your life. Or you can keep it to yourself and become detached from the people who care about you. Countries are destroyed by secrets, relationships are strained because of them. Why do you think people keep secret?" My dad asked. I raised my hand. "Yes." Dad said. "Because said person could be afraid that someone could ruin something that they love. So they hold on to the secret." I explained. "But what if since the secret's not revealed that it causes more problems?" Lucas asked. "Well maybe the person has a good reason for not telling anyone." I retorted. "But don't you think they should tell the people that care about them?" Lucas asked. "She did, but there's one person she's afraid of telling, because she keeps getting text from the person that's going to attempt to ruin her happiness and she doesn't want to lose the boy." I snapped. Then I realized what I said. "Theoretically." I added.
"Riley what are you talking about?" Lucas asked me. "Can we get back to the lesson?" I asked my dad not wanting to answer Lucas' question. "Riley, what are you talking about?" Lucas asked again. "Nothing, it was just an example." I lied. "Yeah, ranger Rick, it's nothing important." Maya told him, helping me. "Anyways." Dad said gaining our attention, but I could feel Lucas staring at the back of my head.
The bell rang and everyone got up to leave I tried to hurry up and leave with Maya, but we were stopped by two people. Maya and I looked up to see Lucas and Farkle, we tried to leave the other way, but Austin and Zay were blocking the way. "What's this?" I asked. "Riley, you and Maya know what's going on with Caroline and you need to tell me." Lucas said. "Of course we know what's going on with Caroline. She's my sister." I replied. "And she's one of my best friends." Maya added. "But we're not telling you what's wrong with her." We told them together. I looked past Farkle and Lucas to see Caroline walking towards her locker.
"Keep them looking over here or else they are going to see Caroline." I told her. "Will you just tell Lucas what's going on with Caroline?" Austin asked. "It's not our place to tell." I told them. "But she's our friend too." Farkle said. "And she will tell you when she wants to tell you, but it has to be her not us." Maya said. "Okay." They all said. "Wait why are you giving up so easily?" I asked. "Because we see Caroline." Zay answered and made their way towards Caroline.
Caroline's POV*
I walked towards my lockers in hopes that Riley put my phone and book bag in there. As I was walking to my locker I saw Lucas and Farkle standing in front of Maya and Riley. Who had Austin and Zay behind them. I hoped none of the boys saw me, but I wasn't having good luck because Austin and Zay saw me. I looked away and continued to make my way to my locker. "Caroline." Someone called out. I turned around to see everyone walking towards me.
"Is there something that you need?" I asked them. "Why weren't you in class?" Lucas asked me. "Maybe I didn't go to class because I didn't want to be question by the four of you." I answered. "Can you just tell me what's wrong?" Lucas asked. "Not here." I told him. I started walking towards the auditorium and I knew that they were going to follow me. "Here's your phone and bag." Someone said to me. I looked to my right and saw Riley. I took my phone and bag from her. "It's kind of my fault that he's being persistent." Riley told me. "No you probably just made it sound like a personal situation and that's why." I told.
We finally reached the auditorium and I sat down on the stage. Everyone followed suit and waited for me to explain. Before I could start explaining my phone went off. I unlocked my phone and read the text.
From Chase:
I can't wait for us to be together. We both know you made a mistake when you ran out before telling me you would break up with Blondie, but I know you are so we can be together.
Someone took my phone out of my hand and I saw Maya put it in her pocket. "No more reading his texts." She told me. "Who's text?" Farkle asked. "I guess I have to tell them." I said to Riley and Maya. "You'll feel better afterwards." Maya told me. "Are you going to tell us what's going on?" Austin asked. "Fine." I sighed. "Lucas do you remember Chase?" "Your brother or Jenna's brother?" Lucas asked. "Jenna's brother." I answered. "Yeah, I remember him." He replied. "So when Riley, Maya, and I snuck out to NYU when Josh was taking us home I bumped into Chase. He asked me if we could talk and I agreed. We went to a cafe and he explained why he acted the way he did when he came by. I told him I wasn't going to leave Riley and Maya and he understood that." I explained. "What's so bad about that?" Lucas asked.
"The bad part is how their conversation continued." Riley told him. "He also told me that he acted that way because he was jealous of you. Then he asked me on a date." I paused waiting for Lucas to freak out, but he was silent so I decided to continue. "I told him no, but for some reason he thought I said yes. I told him that just a boyfriend and told him was Lucas. He said it didn't matter and I could just break up with Lucas." "I'm sorry, but did you say he told you to break up with Lucas?" Zay questioned. "He's also been sending her texts." Maya said.
"Give me her phone." Lucas demanded. Maya handed Lucas my phone and he gave it to me. "Unlock your phone." He told me. I quickly unlocked my phone before giving it back to him. After a moment I saw Lucas calm façade start to break. When did these start?" He asked. "I got the first one this morning." I answered. "You should have told me sooner." He said. "I know, but I didn't know when to tell you." I admitted. "Well now we have to something about Chase." Lucas said. "And we'll help." Riley told him.
"We have to have him meet you somewhere that you feel safe and where we can be without being suspicious." Farkle explained to us. "How about Topanga's?" Austin suggested. "That's a good idea I mean my mom will probably be there and Care's parents can be there too." Maya said. "Okay, I'll text him." I said as I took my phone away from Lucas.
To: Chase
Chase, can you meet me at Topanga's? We have a lot to talk about.
Not long after I got a reply from him.
From: Chase
Sure, I can't wait to see you.
"He'll be there." I told them. "Okay, do after school we will confront Chase." Lucas said. We all got up walked to class. I was hoping that class was going to take my mind off of the whole situation.
School was finally over which meant we were going to Topanga's to meet Chase. I told everyone it wasn't necessary for them to come, but they told me that since they're my friends they want to be there for me. When we got to Topanga's we sat where we usually did and waited for Chase. Right now I was freaking out because I didn't really want to make a scene, but I have a feeling that Chase might do just that. "Caroline, calm down." Lucas told me. "You're going to be fine and we're all here for you." Riley told me. "And look my mom's here and so are your parents." Maya added. I looked over by the counter and saw my mom, dad, Auggie, and Maya's mom. "Yeah, I feel a little better now." I said.
"Chase is here." Riley told me. I looked towards the door and saw Chase walking in. "Here goes nothing." I muttered to myself. "Chase over here." I called out. Chase turned to look at me and flashed me a smile. "Hi Care." He greeted. He grabbed a chair and brought it by me since everyone took the seats around me. "Hi." I greeted back. "So you wanted to talk to me?" Chase questioned. "Yeah. We need to talk about what happened that night and the text you have been sending me." I told him. "What about them?" He asked. "I don't know why you think you and me are going to end up together." I told him. "But Caroline, you've had a crush on me since forever." He replied. "Chase when have I ever had a crush on you?" I asked him. "What are you talking about?" He questioned, confused. "Just because I may have told your sister once that I thought you were cute does not mean I have a crush on you." I told him.
"But it's obvious that the reason why you ran is because you were embarrassed that I found out about the crush you have on me." Chase replied. "I have never had a crush on you." I told him. "Yeah, you do, but you're just waiting for the right time to tell Blondie that so you can break up with him. I understand that." Chase replied. "What part of she doesn't have a crush on you don't you understand?" Maya asked, putting herself in the conversation. "Who are you?" Chase asked her. "I'm Maya, one of Caroline's best friends. One of the reasons why she didn't want to go with you." Maya told him. "Well Maya, you can stay out of our business since it has nothing to do with you." He told her. "Actually it has to do with us since she's my sister and her best friend." Riley piped up.
"What's it with your friends not knowing how to mind their own business?" Chase asked me. "Technically it is our business since you won't leave our friend alone." Farkle told him. "Maybe you're the one who needs to realize that you need to leave Caroline alone." Austin added. "Yeah, chasing after a girl who doesn't want you isn't cool, it's just sad." Zay commented. "Wait, brought all of your friends here?" Chase asked. "Oh, no they wanted to come." I corrected him. "The only person I wanted to come was my boyfriend." "So where is the cowboy?" Chase asked. "The cowboy is sitting right here." Lucas said, speaking up for the first time since Chase showed up. "So I understand that this is between you, me, and Caroline, but the good thing about having friends is that they will have your back no matter what."
"So are you going to tell me to leave your girlfriend alone?" Chase asked. "Obviously that's not going to work since you didn't care that Caroline had a boyfriend. So telling you to leave my girlfriend alone is kind of pointless. But there is one thing I am going to tell you. That is if you keep trying to chase after Caroline while she is in a happy relationship then you're just going to end up hurting her." Lucas told him. "How do you know that she even wants to be with you?" Chase asked Lucas. "How about the fact that she told Lucas she is lucky to have him in front of all of us?" Maya suggested. "That doesn't mean that she is always going to stay with him." Chase said. "Oh come on, ranger Rick is harmless. He wouldn't hurt a fly never the less break Caroline's heart." Maya retorted.
"Guys stop there's no point in arguing with him." I told them. "Chase, you're the brother of one of my friends, but that's all you're ever going to be to me." "So I have no chance with you, no matter how hard I try?" He asked. "Yes." I answered. "Fine." He said and he stood up, but I had a feeling this wasn't the end. "But I hope you know that I blame you for it. I don't care what I said in the past. I said those things so you would like me, but we all know that it was your fault. If she hadn't have met you then she wouldn't be in the ground and my parents wouldn't have to go to the cemetery on her birthday. So while you say no to me, I just hope you remember what you caused." Chase told me. I could feel all the feelings I had about what happened to Jenna coming back. "Yeah, you should feel guilty, but you have no right to cry over her. It's your fault and you should have to live with that. Just like it's your fault that your family's dead. Because they were coming to see you because you didn't want to leave your friends again. It's always your fault that someone in your life ends up dead." He continued on.
I got up and slapped him across the face. "Don't you dare bring that up. You don't know how I feel and you don't have the right to tell me that I should feel a certain way. Don't you think that I already think that it's my fault, but the fact that you think so too doesn't really help me. You know you have no right to act like this just because I rejected you. News flash Chase, but life moves on and you need to learn to move on to because you are the only one who has resentment over it. So what if I have a boyfriend. It shouldn't matter to you, so get a life. Everyday I feel guilty because I do think I am the cause of their deaths, but I have to throw a smile on my face so I don't worry the people that care about me who are still alive." I screamed at him. By now I was sobbing and it was hard to get the words out. I felt someone wrap their arms around me and made me sit down. "I think it's time that you left." I heard my mom say to Chase.
"Care it's okay, he's gone." Someone told me. "Well that was something different." Zay commented. "Not now Zay." Austin told him. "Sorry." He apologized. "Care are you okay?" Riley asked. I looked up to look at my sister. "I'm fine." I answered quietly. "You don't look fine." Maya commented. "It's just that him actually blaming me for what happened with Jenna brings back a lot of thoughts I had during that time." I explained. "And like I told you the first time, it wasn't your fault and you need to get those thoughts out of your head." Lucas told me. "Wait Lucas knows about the Jenna thing?" Riley questioned. "Of course I know. I was there to comfort her." Lucas told them. "I mean after the incident happened she refused to leave Austin." "You really need to tell us what happened during your year away." Farkle commented. "One day, but not today." I told them. "We understand." Austin said. "I'm going to walk Caroline home." Lucas said. "You don't have to." I told him. "But I want to." He replied. He helped me up and grabbed our bags before we walked out after saying goodbye to everyone.
The walk wasn't long and we reached the apartment very easily. "Thank you for walking me home." I thanked him. "No big deal." He replied. "Are you going to be okay?" "You mean minus the thoughts I am going to have, the nightmare I'm going to have and the memory I am going to keep or do you mean with that?" I asked him. "Of course I mean with that." He answered. "I think I will survive." I told him honestly. "If you need anyone to talk to you can call me and I will answer." He told me. "I know, but I have a whole family here." I replied. "But do any of them actually know?" He retorted. "I having a feeling my mom and dad due because I think my real parents told them about what happened." I answered his question. "Fine, but I want you to talk to me first." He said. "Are you jealous of me talking to my parents about this before I talk to you?" I asked him, slightly teasing him. "No, I have no idea what you are talking about." He said. "I think you are jealous that I might talk to my parents first." I teased as I unlocked the door to the apartment. "Just go in your apartment and take the nap I know you need." Lucas told me. "Bye." I told him giving him a kiss before I walked into my apartment. "Bye." He replied before I closed the door. I went to my room and changed into some comfortable clothes before I got in my bed and tried to take a nap. Hoping that what today did wouldn't affect me that much.