Ghosted My Onlinemate Chapter 06

Ghosted My Onlinemate Chapter 06

Two months later.

I cracked the top ten in our class.

The looks I got were complicated.

Surprise, mostly.

And a subtle undercurrent of “someone like her can actually do well?”

I kept my head down. Didn’t look at anyone.

Elias was still number one.

But I’d stopped caring how close my name was to his on the rankings.

After school that day.

I walked out of the classroom.

At the end of the hallway, someone was leaning against my locker.

Elias.

He saw me come out and straightened up.

“Sienna.”

“About what happened,” he started, his voice a little rough. “I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“Yvette… hitting you.”

I blinked, then laughed.

“That’s ancient history.”

“I’m apologizing on her behalf.”

“You don’t need to apologize for her,” I shook my head. “She already did.”

“I know, but I—”

“Elias.”

I stopped walking and turned to face him. “Let it go. It’s done.”

He looked into my eyes, his expression unreadable.

Elias didn’t say anything more.

I turned and walked away.

Stepping through the school gates, the late afternoon sun landed warm on my shoulders.

So this is what it feels like to not love someone anymore.

It didn’t hurt that much. Didn’t burn with resentment either.

I just felt like there was nothing left to say.

Second semester of senior year.

The days flew by like someone had hit fast-forward.

Elias and Yvette kept breaking up and getting back together. I didn’t go out of my way to follow it, but classmates talked.

One day they’d be eating lunch together. A few days later, word was they’d had another fight.

The next week, Yvette would show up asking Elias for his math notes.

I listened.

Like hearing a story that had nothing to do with me.

Because it didn’t.

Eventually, I heard they’d broken up for good.

I didn’t know why.

I didn’t care.

One week before the final qualifying exams.

I organized all my textbooks and notes, stacking them one by one into a cardboard box.

That notebook was at the very bottom.

I pulled it out and flipped to the page with the essay tucked inside.

Elias’s handwriting had faded a little, the edges of the paper yellowed and brittle.

I stared at it for a few seconds.

Then I pulled the page out and tore it up.

The pieces drifted into the trash can, light as air.

Like they’d never existed.

After the last exam.

My mom was waiting outside the school gates, a bottle of water in her hand.

“How’d it go?”

“Okay, I think.”

“Come on. Let’s go home. I made your favorites.”

I climbed onto the back of her old sedan.

Wrapped my arms around her from behind, my cheek pressed against her back.

The wind blew her hair into my face.

I closed my eyes.

Three years of high school. Over.

Five years of unrequited love. Over.