Becoming Better

Chapter 12 - Goldie

"Charlie, huh?" he said, considering her. "What's a nice girl like you doing hanging out with my psycho girlfriend?"

'Uh, what?' Charlie thought. What kind of guy calls his girlfriend psycho to her face? Charlie was so thrown off by his question that she didn't answer. This whole afternoon was getting weirder by the minute.

"Shawn, shut up," Mara smacked him. Charlie figured it was meant to be a playful punch, but it was a little too hard for that.

"I'm sorry Mara," Shawn apologized insincerely, putting out his cigarette. "You're not psycho."

"You're such an idiot you know that?" Mara said in response. "I bet you can't even spell psycho."

Charlie had no idea what was happening here. This was not like the normal flirting she saw in most couples. It was sort of... mean. Mara left them there and wandered off to go say hi to a group of kids standing nearby. Apparently she knew some other students at Beachside.

Charlie cleared her throat, trying to break the awkward tension. "Your name is Shawn, right?"

"Sure is," he said slowly. "So Charlie, how did you meet Mara?"

"I found her on the first day of school. I wanted to save her from the stress of figuring out Saint Peters," she explained.

Shawn laughed, but not in a nice way. "Oh, she doesn't need saving."

"Oh, no I didn't mean like, she needed to be rescued," she said quickly, not wanting to make it seem like Mara was some pathetic damsel in distress.

"Don't worry, I know what you meant, Goldie," Shawn said. He walked over to where Mara was now chatting up his friends.

'Goldie?' Charlie thought. He was obviously referencing her blonde hair. This guy was seriously weird. Handsome as hell, but weird.

Charlie followed him and joined the group as well. She tried her best to take part in the conversation, but the students at Beachside weren't exactly welcoming. After she tried and failed a few times to start up conversation by asking people questions, she decided to just stay quiet. Mara continued to be a weird mixture of sweet and mean with Shawn. Charlie was so relieved to get out of there when the bell rang.

Later that night she was on the phone with Wyatt, relaying the events of the day. When she got to the whole Mara and Shawn thing, Wyatt was just as weirded out as she was.

"It was like she was a whole different person around him," Charlie explained. "Plus, she was kind of rude to me beforehand. It was so strange."

"Yeah, I thought you said this chick was some meek little shy girl," Wyatt said, confused.

"Well, I didn't say that. I mean, she got beat up at her last school. And before this she has been really nice to me and all the girls."

"Yeah, still that's weird," Wyatt said. "Hey listen, I gotta go. I have to get up early for a water polo match tomorrow morning. I'll text you after and we can make plans for the dance on Sunday, yeah?"

"Ok," Charlie frowned, even though he couldn't see it. She didn't want to get off the phone. "Why does your school have to schedule water polo matches on Saturdays?"

Charlie could sense his smile when he realized she wanted to keep talking. He said, "They want to take away whatever life I have left, that's why. Sweet dreams, Char."

"Night." She reluctantly hung up.

Deep down Charlie knew she was relying on Wyatt to distract her from the fact that Cassius still had not called her. It had been over a month since she last saw him at Jake's party. Charlie had texted him once since then. She refused to do anything more because he hadn't responded. If she kept trying to reach out like that, pretty soon it would seem pathetic, and then he'd probably never call. He had been looking at her Instagram stories occasionally, which meant he wasn't completely disinterested. Sometimes she would post something just to see if he would watch.

Charlie laid on her bed and scrolled through her Instagram newsfeed lazily. She watched Taylor's story, and saw she and Alex decorating their float for the Homecoming game tomorrow. Charlie felt a slight twinge of FOMO, but was also relieved that she didn't have to stay late at school on a Friday night. She kept scrolling until Cassius' name popped up.

Her mouth dropped open in shock. It was a boomerang video of him kissing some girl. His arm was slung over her shoulder, and hers were wrapped around his neck. Charlie didn't recognize the girl at all. She watched in horror as the kiss played over and over, looping back and forth until the time ran out, and her phone moved on to the next story.

Charlie pulled a pillow over her mouth and screamed as loud as she could. 

***What do you think? Is it maybe a good thing that Charlie saw Cassius and a new girl, so she can start to move on? Or will it cause her to act out? Xx