The Cheater

"Hey, how's Hope," I ask Daniel. It's now Monday and Daniel came to school without Hope. After Chester and I dropped her off to Daniel, she settled into one of the rooms Daniel reserved for her. She seemed pretty glad that Daniel wasn't mad at her and let her stay with him.

"She's better now. She'll be resting for a couple of days though and I'll let her come back to school after she's completely healed," Daniel informs me. "I have to ask her teachers to give me her homework. I'll see you later, Spencer." I watch him speed off.

"He's just had a lot of coffee. He was up all night trying to find furniture for Hope's new room. He just wants her to feel comfortable and he's doing everything he can," Alexandra says, popping up next to me.

"I hope she'll feel better now." I walk with Alex to our first class of the day.

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"I've got bad news." David and I stand in front of Mrs. George's desk. She called us down to her room during lunch time to discuss the art project. David refused to tell me anything about what happened with the judges after I left. Now I'm starting to get worried that my absence made us lose.

Mrs. George gives us a very dissatisfied look and I'm already about to utter my apology to David. Then I see Mrs. George and David turn their gloomy looks to big smiles.

"Just kidding. You guys came in second place," Mrs. George says excitedly and David joins her in celebration.

"What? Really," I ask, still in shock. David shakes me by my shoulders.

"Yes, you silly girl! We won second place and get four years of paid tuition," he squeals in my face. I jump up and down with him, joining in on the celebration.

"We did it," I yell back at him. Mrs. George laughs at the both of us. Things are starting to look up.

"Alright you two. Get to lunch. I hear they have cheese cake today," Mrs. George instructs us and we walk out of her classroom, buzzing with energy.

"I'm guessing the judges really liked you," I tell David once we're out of the classroom.

"No, they really liked the artwork. I think they also liked that I didn't take all the credit even though my partner had to leave." David gives me a charming smile and starts walking to lunch.

"Wait, I have to get something in my locker. Come with me," I tell him. I got a gift for David to thank him for being my partner. It's nothing really big, but I got him a little trophy that says #1 partner and a cupcake.

I open my locker and David waits patiently for me to do whatever I have to do. I pull out the gift bag and hand it to him.

"What's this for? It's not my birthday," he says, eyeing me confused.

"Just open it," I tell him. He opens the bag and pulls out the trophy and box with the cupcake in it. He looks up at me with a little blush on his face.

"Thank you, Spencer." We turn to walk to the cafeteria, but pause when we see Chester walking towards us.

"Hey, we were just about to come to lunch," I yell over to him. He doesn't say anything and that's when I see the angered expression on his face. "What's wrong," I ask him, but he still doesn't answer. Once he's right in front of us, he sends a punch to David's nose.

I freeze in shock as David groans in pain, holding his bleeding nose.

"You're lucky I'm only breaking your nose," Chester growls out at David with bloody knuckles.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Why did you do that," I ask Chester, furious with him. He gives me an ice cold glare.

"You want to explain this?" He takes out his phone and shows me a picture. It's one of me and David in the pool. It was taken seconds before I pulled away from David and he was leaning in for a kiss. Obviously I know that we didn't kiss, but to Chester it looks like we did.

"You're the last person that should be mad about being cheated on after all the heart breaks you've caused in this school," David tells him. Is he an idiot?! Does he want Chester to punch him again? He knows we didn't kiss and he's riling Chester up.

Chester moves to go in for another punch, but I stop him.

"Chester, it's not what it looks like. I would never cheat on you," I tell him, totally flabbergasted that he'd think I'd do something like that. "David, go to the nurse." He was spilling blood everywhere and there's no telling how much blood he has lost. He sends one more glare to Chester and walks off.

"Why didn't you just go with him? You seem to care about him a lot," Chester says. I scoff at him with disbelief.

"Are you serious right now, Chester? You just punched him in the nose."

"Because you cheated on me."

"No, I didn't. I know what it feels like to be cheated on. I would never do that to you. Where did you even get that photo? Who sent it to you?" I'm on the verge of crying because I'm so frustrated. Why won't he just believe me?

"It doesn't matter who sent it because the photo shows me good enough that you were getting hot and heavy with another guy in a pool." Chester's breathing is fast and I can see how furious he is, but I'm even angier because he won't believe me.

"Isn't my love for you enough proof that I would never do that," I yell at him and punch him in the chest. He just continues to glare at me. "Don't you hear me, Chester? I love you," I repeat myself, tears falling down my face.

"You're such a bad liar," he says, shaking his head. "I'm done with, Spencer." He turns to walk away from me, but I hold him by his arm. He pulls away from me and walks off, leaving me in front of my locker alone.