Chapter 12

It was Monday morning already, and my insides couldn't stop churning at the endless possibilities of what could become of my conversation with Ace. He had asked to see me before class started, which meant that whatever we talked about would influence my entire school day.

As I slammed my locker in deep thought, I sighted a particular grey hoodie from the corner of my eye walk past me. Swiftly I flung my neck over my head, zoning in on the object of my interest.

"Carlisle..." I mouthed under my breath, as my vision landed on him, walking through the hallway as though it was nobody's business. He glided through the crowd like he was thin air, moving with no obstructions.

I shoved my phone into my skirt and turned to meet him, but got held back by the elbow.
When I turned to check who it was with such a hard grip, I was stunned to see Ace. He usually never picked me up at school, we just met up most of the time.

"Let's go." He told me, letting lease of my elbow, as he turned to leave, urging me to follow, not even giving me a hello or anything.

Everyone at the hallway who didn't have their eyes on me before, suddenly started to stare at me, giving me all this unneeded attention. I shrugged my shoulders and followed him, drawing down my grey skirt.

Which I made sure was knee length today.

We walked into the biology lab, thankfully no one was inside, not even the janitor. Ace closed the door behind us, which made goosebumps run across my arms, for fear of the possibilities of what could happen between us.

"You wanted to talk to me." I said, meticulously standing four feet away from him, breaking the ice in conversation.

He kept his hands in his pockets, hinting that the conversation would be short. Something I was honestly glad about, he cleared his throat his speak.
"Are you cheating on me with that guy from the other day?" Ace suddenly asked, sounding horribly mad at me.

My eyes widened in shock, shock that he could even think that way about me. "No! I would never cheat on you, and Carlisle and I are just..." I took a pause, unsure of what to call our relationship.

"Just what? He shows up out of nowhere and intrudes on us. It kind of makes me think you don't want me because you're already having him behind my back!" He accused, taking two steps closer to me, instinctively forcing me to take two steps back.

He scoffed at me, as he nervously ran his fingers through his hair, nodding his head in realisation.
"So you are seeing him, you lying..."

I was almost on the verge of crying right here and now, but something my homeroom teacher said to me, stuck to mind at that moment.

"And you? How do I know you aren't cheating on me too!" I snapped at him, refusing to be the only one picked on in the conversation.
My question really did take him by surprise, he stopped for a second and stared at me, frozen in shock.

"I could never cheat on you..." He started off in a lower tone of voice, defending himself.
"Really? You spend a lot of time with the cheerleaders after practice, you go to parties you don't invite me to. And for the past few days you've been ignoring my calls and messages. Compared to what you claim I've done, you sound far guilty." The words just wouldn't stop pouring out of my mouth.

Never would I ever think of talking back to Ace like this, but the boy with angry eyes in front of me was definitely not Ace. Or at least, not the Ace I fell in love with.

We both stood there in silence, staring at each other, just realising we were far from the people we thought we were. Things had definitely taken a turn, and I honestly believed this conversation was good for us.

"Then let's take a break." He chipped in, breaking the tensed silence with his clear cut words.

The words took me by surprise, it hadn't been all that long we started dating, and we were over by just the second week of school.
"Because if you can't be honest with me..." I took two steps forward, cutting whatever it was he was going to say to me.
"Fine. I think we need a break from this as well." Was my swift reply, I didn't realise when the words slipped out of my mouth, but there was no way in hell I would take them back.

Ace on the other hand stood there wide eyed, taken by storm that I actually agreed to this. If this wasn't a serious moment, I would have taken a picture.

"You understand that when I say break, it means we won't do all the couple stuff. I won't pick you up from your house, or invite you to parties or to go shopping. We won't be together anymore." He explained, going into details about what he meant by a break.

"Ace, if you still want to be friends we can, but for both our sales, let's keep off dating. Let's just agree not to see other people while we figure things out." And with that, I dashed for the door, disposing myself from the room before I changed my mind about this.

I did hear him call out to me, but I pretended not to hear it and kept on walking forward, fighting back the tears that welled up in my eyes.
My focus placed on ignoring him was so great, that I failed to realise when I crashed into someone's chest. Without having to guess, I could tell from the softness of the hoodie and the strong masculine scent exuded, that it was the reason why I just lost Ace.

Carlisle Stoll.

"Peyton?" He mouthed into my ears, stunned as to why I buried my head into his chest, crying into it.
"I think I just realised he never truly loved me." I voiced out my thoughts in a broken tone, nestling into him.

The thought crossed my mind, he hadn't apologised for trying to guilt me into making a decision I didn't want to. And he didn't try to fix the relationship either, rather he just wanted out.

"I'm so stupid." My soft whimpers turned into forceful punches, as rage took over the sadness dwelling in my heart. I started to send hard punches to his chest, forgetting he wasn't my personal punching bag.

It was expected that he push me away or even shout at me for assaulting him in broad daylight. What I didn't expect, was for Carlisle to wrap his arms tightly around my waist, bringing me closer to him

I parted my lips to say something, anything, I didn't care if it came out as a cry or just whispers. I just wanted the pain I was feeling to go away.

"You don't need to say anything, just use me however you like, I'm here for you Peyton."