Raindrops hit the windowpanes as the storm thickened. Antonia was anxious as she had planned to talk to Samuel after stalling for a few days. Antonia took a deep breath, figuring out what she was going to say. Samuel had been suspended for three days of school before being transferred to the school district's high-point program for a week. Antonia ran her hand through her hair, thinking of what to say next. He was going to return tomorrow, and her parents were preventing her from seeing him. She had already messaged him to call things off, but he wasn't putting up with it. Antonia was trying very hard to isolate herself from the friend group. She intentionally acted cold towards Samuel's attack on Josiah was the talk of the school for a whole week. Even when she went to the mall, she didn't set foot in the music store. She kept stalling from talking to him on the phone or seeing him in person secretly. She didn't want to hide herself from what was going on. She needed to accept what happened and the type of person he was. A message was delivered and she picked up her phone. It was just Nicole asking her to check out her mailbox to see if her package came in. Antonia rolled her eyes and opened her chat with Samuel. Her thumb danced for a bit before typing out her message. She didn't know what to say and thought he needed to next her first. It had been about three days since she last called him, and she felt terrible. She was internally fighting her own thoughts, knowing she was hurting him more that she didn't talk to him.
She took a seat on the corner of her bed. The black sheer canopy wrapped around her, looking down at her phone. Antonia finally gave in and texted him to see if he wanted to call. She waited for him to respond and saw her phone began to ring. She slid the screen to answer, "Ay, love. How are you." A sign of relief was heard over the phone. "Hey darling. I could be better. Wot's to you? You've barely responded to my texts. You've been throwing weird jabs at me." Samuel leaned against the wall in his room. He was talking in a bit of a hushed tone so that his mother wouldn't hear him. Antonia slowly played with the fabric from the canopy. "There's just a lot going on-" "What's on your mind love? You know you can tell me? You just told me that you thought it wasn't working out." He was now outside on the balcony leaning over. He lightly shook the box of cigarettes as he waited for her response. Antonia felt like if the situation wasn't done at that moment it would keep dragging on. "Can I just tell you in person? Like after school where we can talk to each other. Do you come back tomorrow, right?" Antonia heard the punk take a deep breath over the phone. "I don't work on Thursday. We can have a conversation about this then. Is that a go?" She rubbed her face, "Yeah that works with me." She couldn't tell him over the phone, but she knew that had end it before things could get any worse. "Sam… Are you going to be in class tomorrow?" Samuel let out a bitter laugh. "Oh, she hates me." He could tell that she now felt different about him. He was in denial when she first texted him but just wanted to hear it from her in person. At this point it was clear to him that she didn't want to be around him. "Well, when I enter I have three days of in-school suspension. Then I got back to class." He toyed lighter as the cigarette was placed between his lips. "Okay then… I'll see you maybe tomorrow in the morning." He hated the conversation. It felt like he was a dog being kicked out in the rain. "I want to see you. Even if you don't want to see me." "I do want to see you," she softly responded. She stood up and walked to the window. She opened the blinds a bit to see the backyard. She reminisced about the night she first snuck out with him. She gently smiled and sighed, "Sam, I hope I'm not pulling your leg." He rolled his eyes at her comment, "Ya love. No issue. You're totally not stomping on my emotions and acting flaky." His dry response made her feel more uncomfortable than what was already going on.
There was a long pause in their conversation. It was a painful moment when their heavy breathing was heard from each other. For some reason, she couldn't truly tell him right then and there why she wanted to end it. She had done it when several guys before. And it was quick too. But she still found herself attached to him and didn't want to hurt his feelings. "Are you mad at me?" She quietly asked him as she turned bad to her bed. A loud clap of thunder echoed through the house. The lights turned off and it became dark. Antonia left her room to look down the hall. "Sam did you hear that? My lights just shut off. Wow, that was mad!" The goth laughed hysterically as the adrenaline soared through her body. Everyone in her house called out to one another."Sam? Did you hear me? ...oh" The phone service was lost. Antonia was now just looking at her screen background and frowned.