Melody didn't end up going to school the following Monday, she also hadn't left her house since the incident. She was wallowing in self pity, and she wasn't letting her friends help cheer her up. Her phone had been in the same place on her nightstand for three days, and at this point there had to be at least one hundred text messages on it that she didn't want to read. The only thing she was concerned about was watching sad romantic movies, which only made her cry even more.
Luke wasn't taking things well either, except he had a more destructive way of going about it. He had been belligerent drunk throughout the weekend, and had done some questionable things. He woke up having to piece together the previous night, and the memories weren't all rainbows and unicorns. He woke up in someone's back yard one morning curled up next to some bushes, that had been his lowest point.
Luke hadn't talked to Ashton, because he was so furious with him, and mostly himself. How stupid was he that he couldn't see that Melody was the same girl from last year. He hadn't thought about her for such a long time that he didn't see that it was her. That was his own fault, but Ashton could have, and should have told him that he knew who Melody actually was. Now Luke looked stupid because his girlfriend wasn't exactly who he thought she was, and Ashton had her first. It wasn't that Melody was wearing makeup, it was that she really wasn't who Luke thought she was. Or was she? He honestly had no clue, and that's what was upsetting him the most.
What he did know was that he missed her, and seeing her cry sent pain through his chest. But he was angry, and stubborn so he didn't want to speak to her yet. When she didn't show up at school, Luke knew that she was hurting like he was, but he still couldn't bring himself to send her a simple text. Michael was the only person Luke had talked to about the situation, and he wasn't a huge help. He did tell Luke that he was overreacting, and he should just talk to Melody, but Luke obviously wasn't going to listen to that.
Lunch was beyond awkward, the usual group didn't know if they should sit together or not. As soon as Luke saw that Melody's friends were giving him death glares from across the cafeteria, he decided that he shouldn't sit with them. He took Michael and they sat at the end of the "jock's" table, Luke knew them since he frequently attended their parties.
Ashton was sitting with Nikki and Autumn, and Luke felt a rush of anger pulse through his veins. Of course he would sit with them, he was probably comforting Melody the whole weekend while Luke was a complete mess.
"You're turning into the actual red angry face emoji, please calm down," Michael .
Luke turned to his friend, "I'm fine."
Michael sighed, and popped a chip into his mouth, "That's bullshit," he said with his mouth full.
"I don't want to talk about this right now," Luke grumbled, focussing on picking apart his ham and cheese sandwich.
Michael obnoxiously sighed again, "You can't avoid Ashton and your problems forever."
Luke obviously knew this but he didn't want to acknowledge Michael or his truth at the time being. He continued his assault on his sandwich, he wasn't hungry so ripping the bread apart was keeping him entertained. Occasionally he would look up at Ashton, he didn't seem like his usual cheerful self. Which part of Luke enjoyed, but the other part felt bad because Ashton was still his friend.
Autumn and Nikki were worried about Melody, so after school they were heading over her house to check up on her and make sure she wasn't withering away in her bed. Melody hadn't been answering their texts, so they were taking measures into their own hands by letting themselves into her house. They both knew where the spare key was so getting in wasn't too difficult. Both girls trailed through the house until they reached Melody's room.
It was a mess to say the least, there were empty food packets everywhere. The curtains were closed, and the lights were off. The room pretty much resembled a cave, but Autumn nor Nikki commented on it. Melody didn't seem phased that they had walked into the room, her eyes were glued to her computer screen. Her hair was a rat's nest, and the bags under her eyes were apparent.
"Mel?" Autumn said quietly, trying not to startle her.
Melody shifted her eyes to where her friends were standing, but said nothing. She had barely spoken to her parents, and she definitely did not want to talk to Autumn or Nikki because they would make her talk about the incident. She in no way shape or form was ready to talk about Luke.
"Listen you need to get out of your room," Nikki sighed, walking over to the windows and drawing the curtains.
Melody's eyes watered at the bright light, she had been looking at her laptop for far too long. She shut her laptop and pushed it to the side of her bed.
"I don't want to," Melody mumbled, she wasn't ready to act all happy go lucky around people.
Nikki narrowed her eyes, "Tough titty, you need to come to school tomorrow."
Melody blinked a few times in surprise, "It's been three days, I'm allowed to still feel sad."
"You're allowed to feel sad, but sitting in your room for days isn't going to help you," Autumn chimed in.
"So we're going to pick you out a hot outfit, and you're going to wear it tomorrow and knock everyone dead," Nikki beamed, already getting up to search through Melody's closet.
Melody had no say in the matter so she let her friends dig through her clothes to find something acceptable for her to wear. The girls had picked out a black high neckline tank top, a plaid pleated skirt, a jean jacket, a black pair of thigh high socks, and her black converse. Melody didn't mind the outfit, the black suited her mood.
"Bold lip, winged liner sharp enough to stab you know who," Nikki instructed Melody.
"Sure thing," she nodded, not caring enough to disagree with Nikki.
Autumn and Nikki hadn't made Melody talk about Luke, they figured that if Melody wanted to talk about it she would bring it up. There was no need to get her upset by forcing her to talk about it now. They decided watching Netflix was their best option to spend time with Melody, so that's what they did. They left when they saw that Melody had fallen asleep, they put her laptop away, and quietly snuck out of her house.
Melody didn't remember falling asleep but she had woken up early enough to take a shower, thankfully, because her hair was an absolute mess. After she had gotten herself ready she was giving herself a mental pep talk. She didn't know how she was going to make it through chem with Luke sitting right next to her. Before she could think of it too much she got into her car and drove to school.
She sat in her car in the parking lot for a bit, trying to calm herself down. When she accepted that she wasn't getting any calmer she left the safety of her vehicle, and made her way inside the building.
To: Icky Nikki
I'm at my locker please come
Melody basically had her head shoved into her locker, so nobody saw her, and she saw nobody. A few minutes later Autumn and Nikki were by her side, and she relaxed a tiny bit.
"You look good," Autumn complimented.
She might have looked good, but she was not feeling good. She was probably going to puke when she saw Luke, or Ashton, or even Michael.
"I want to go home," Melody whined, she wasn't ready for this yet. Even though it was ridiculous to miss school because of a boy, she couldn't help the way she was feeling.
She was absolutely dreading her first class, it would be the first time she had seen Luke since prom. When the bell rang for homeroom, her worry increased dramatically. She hoped that maybe he would be absent from school today, but there was a very slim chance there. When the bell signaled it was time for first block she dragged her feet as slow as she could walking to chemistry. Her heart was in her throat and she was trying to breathe correctly. She stepped into the room, and the first thing she saw was Luke.
He was looking down at the desk, his lips curved into a frown, and his brows knitted together. She took a deep breath and made her way over to her seat. She just wouldn't look at him and things would be fine.
Luke looked over when he heard the noise of a chair scrape the ground to see Melody. She looked tired, and nervous. He could tell by the way she was picking at her nails. She looked good today, her thigh high socks were his favorite part of her outfit. He wanted to so badly reach over and grab her hand and talk to her again, but he was still angry and he felt lied to. He looked away from her, and focussed his attention on their teacher.
To: Puke Hemmings
I can feel the tension
To: Puke Hemmings
You know that episode from Scooby-Doo when Shaggy cuts the fog with a knife that's like the tension in the room right now
To: Mikey
Literally shut up
Melody was visibly uncomfortable, she would switch between playing with the top of her socks, to picking at her nails, to bouncing her leg up and down.
Melody raised her hand, and Ms. Edmund nodded her head at her, "May I go to the nurse?" Melody asked quickly. She was already getting out of her seat, when the teacher gave her a nod. She rushed out of the room running her hands through her hair. She wasn't planning on going to the nurse, she just needed to get out of the room.
Luke felt awful, he felt physically sick. Seeing the girl he loved so upset was tearing him up. But he was so mad at her, he didn't know what to do. Talking it out would make sense, but he was so mad that he wouldn't be able to have a conversation without getting overly worked up.
Melody found herself getting through the day after chem, and at lunch she sat with Autumn, Nikki, and Ashton. Melody felt badly, because Ashton seemed really upset and it was her fault. Melody was quiet throughout lunch, and the only conversation that was being made was between Autumn and Nik. It was mostly just so it was so horribly quiet, they felt they needed to talk or the table would be too gloomy.
Melody had her next class with Calum, and she didn't exactly know how it was going to go. Anything was better than having class with Luke though.
"Hey are you-"
Melody shook her head before Calum could get out the next word. She didn't want to talk about it, and she wasn't okay.
Calum frowned, "I'm sorry, Melody, I'm here for you."
Melody nodded at his comment, she wasn't planning on having a heart to heart any time soon. She just watched the teacher, and the clock, and counted down the minutes until she could go home.
After leaving school, Luke was all torn up, he needed to talk to someone that would give him solid advice. The only person he could think of was his mom, and as much as he hated getting her involved in things like this, he needed her help. Luke trudged through the front door of his house, and found his mom sitting at the kitchen table reading a magazine and sipping coffee.
"Mom," Luke whined, to get her attention.
Liz looked up from her reading, "What's wrong?"
Luke sat down, because this was a long story and he was ready to get serious about it. After Luke had told Liz the basics he was ready for the advice, "So what do I do now?"
"You need to talk to her, and you need to talk to Ashton. You're angry with them both, but you need to clear things up and hear their full stories," Liz paused, "Luke, I know you love her so try to work this out. Just because she dresses differently than you thought, doesn't mean she's a completely different person."
"I feel like it was a lie, I feel like I don't know her," Luke mumbled.
"You do know her, she was the realest she could be without fancy clothes and makeup, you know the real her without all of that junk."
Luke nodded, she was right, like always. He needed to talk to both Ashton and Melody and sort things out. Luke thanked his mom and made his way to the door. He started the very familiar walk, that would only take him about fifteen minutes. He had that long to collect his thoughts, and calm his nerves. His hands were shaking slightly, he couldn't believe he was doing this so soon.
He jogged up the stone steps, cleared his throat, and rang the doorbell.
Melody opened the door with wide eyes, and a tub of ice cream in her hand.
"We need to talk."
---------------------------
HELLO I'M BACK!!! Left you with a cliffhanger yaaaaa that's right I'm mean. I hope this cleared up any confusion about why Lucas is mad, it's not that she changed her look, he just feels lied to ya know. Oh my oh MY DO I HAVE STORIES FOR YOU PEOPLE. Sit back grab a snack, and some tea or something because you are IN FOR A RIDE.
ALRIGHT, so I went to Punta Cana for my graduation trip. It was one of the worst decisions I have made in my entire 18 years of living. If your school is going somewhere with s-trip DO NOT DO IT DO NOT GO DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY. Ok so my week of hell ready here we go.
I left for the Dominican Republic sick as hell, like I was having hot flashes on the plane and my nose kept running and I was like wow this is dandy. So we get to the airport and I'm like lol yo wheres the beach. So we're going through customs blah blah all is well, and then everyone finds the liquor store because the drinking age down there is 18. It was a shit show. My friend and I were left watching everyone's suitcases while they bought alcohol, resulting in us almost not getting a seat on the bus to go to the resort we were staying at (i actually wish i didn't get on the bus).
So we're heading to the resort and I literally see a prositute getting picked up on the side of the street by a guy on a moped so I was like wow sick. So we get to the resort and I'm like ya this is ok this is nice, and then we have the laws laid down on us. Let me be clear the drinking age in the dominican republic is 18, aka we could buy alcohol, but s-trip goes lol no sorry since you're from the united states the drinking age is 21. Like lol excuse me thank you for adding a law to the dominican republic's set of laws but whatever.
So we get signed in and go to our rooms, I'm profusely sweating at this point because it's about 88 degrees with 70% humidity. So our room is nice there is air conditioning and it feels like antarctica. Wifi was $30 for the week and of course I bought it because I need the internet, but the wifi didn't work in our rooms but it worked on the balcony so you had to sweat if you wanted to get service. So I'm doing my thing and everyone is getting drunk from the alcohol they bought earlier and I'm like whatever I don't want to drink I'm good. So the first night wasn't so bad, except I lost my friend, and this is where the never ending spiral downward first starts.
The second day we found a bar on the resort that would serve us, so everyone is day drinking, and people are acting more drunk than they really are because resort drinks are so watered down it's insane. Anyway night time rolls around and I lose my friend again, and theres no service so we can't text each other like hey where are you. Come to find out (lets name these friends the one I have no idea where she is at all times is Clueless and the other one will be Coco I'll explain later) Clueless was with Coco but Coco abandoned her. So Coco comes into the room I'm in and I'm with some friends and we're all concerned for Clueless so we're like Coco where is Clueless, and she's like "I'M NOT HERE TO BABY SIT ANYONE I'M HERE TO GET DRUNK AND HAVE SEX" like woah Coco sorry that we thought you were a good friend but anyway, clueless finds her way back to our room later so it was fine.
TUESDAY WAS WHEN THINGS GOT REAL. So Coco was already on the outs with everyone but Clueless was up her ass a mile, and Clueless has never gotten drunk before but Coco was feeding Clueless alcohol which was not good because Coco kept leaving Clueless. SoO Coco got into a fight with her roommates because she had people in the room that STOLE MONEY FROM THE ROOMMATE $100 to be exact. So Coco decided she was going to leave the room, and Clueless decided it would be a good idea to have Coco stay in our room.
Now before this happened I was with the girl that got money stolen from her and I was standing near a towel rack that had a bathing suit on it and the girl asked me to give it to her so I picked up the bathing suit, and out of no where Coco decided to ram into me like a bull and push me into the towel rack and snatch this bathing suit out of my hands. Obviously I didn't know it was Coco's bathing suit but whatever.
So later on that night Coco thought she was staying in my room haha wrong Coco, so Clueless walks into the room before Coco because Coco was off having sex somewhere anyway, Clueless was like oh Coco is staying in here. So my other roommate got very mad and started yelling at Clueless and she was like oh ok I'll tell Coco not to stay in here, so we got that sorted.
BUT THEN as we're all having arguments with Clueless I noticed these red dots on my legs and they kind of look like chicken pox at first, so I start going into panic mode. So of course I'm like ok I'll go ask the s-trip staff because they should know what's wrong with me so I track down a staff member and I'm like dude my legs, and she looks at them and she's like oh yeah weird rashes happen down here and I'm like hm are you sure this is not BED BUGS, and she's like nah fam you don't have to worry about that.
Haha SIKE, next day we get a FUMIGATION NOTICE slipped under our door, it's hella sketchy like "lol hey we're fumigating in the next 24 hours good luck finding out when and enjoy your vacation!" So my friend's dad calls the resort and they say "fumigating mosquitoes" now I'm not stupid you don't fumigate mosquitoes. So now I'm like fam this is bed bugs what else would they be fumigating for? I have bites on my legs and this is so sus. We also asked s-trip what they were fumigating and they were like "oh wow they're fumigating? they only do that in the hallways" the hallways were an open area, like it was just the outside so why would you fumigate that, and when we told them they were fumigating the rooms they were like "oh we don't know what's going on" like nice why are you here if you don't know what's going on. So I'm texting my mom like lol I want to go home.
Now we're later on in the week the bug bites on my legs have progressed into massive itchy things, and I'm sun burnt and not having a good time. So I hear that Coco has been doing cocaine, hence her name is coco. Not once just to try for shits and gigs, but multiple times. Clueless is literally her butt buddy, they're like attatched at the hip and she's like no way Coco didn't do that. Like uh yeah Clueless she did because I have a valid source. So theres that.
So now the girl that had gotten money stolen from her got alcohol stolen from her, which mad her very angry. She found out who stole it and she went into their room and flipped their mattress and poured coke on the ground (not a big deal you can clean this). In retaliation the boy that had his room messed up broke down this girl's door (kicked it in) broke the dresser, the lamp, flipped the bed (i think?) and really just messed up the room. So her and her roommate had to get relocated.
You would think the boy that trashed the room would have gotten kicked off the trip but no he stayed, he was also in jail for raping a girl and he was doing cocaine on this trip as well. So s-trip was like we'll have staff with him no big deal and if he drinks we'll send him home. Lies, there was no staff with him and he was drunk for the remainder of the trip.
Also my friend who can not handle alcohol for the life of her stumbles into our room, while I'm crying one night. I was not having it I was crying to myself because I hated punta and I wanted to go home. So I'm sitting on the balcony and she goes into the bathroom, and this girl sits on the toilet and decides that puking into our LITTLE TINY barrel would be a good idea. This barrel had one of the things you step on to open it so apparently she took her foot off of that and threw up on top of the barrel and on the ground. So she cleans it up with a towel and throws it over the balcony, we called it the yak towel.
S-trip was HORRIBLE. So I get home after a 2 hour flight delay in new york, and i'm like yes this disaster is over. So I go to the doctor the morning after I come home and I'm like so what are these bites on my legs and she goes "bed bugs" and I'm like haha awesome. So we get that squared away and I'm like ya this disaster is over with.
Nope wrong. I can't eat anything because when I do my stomach feels like it's being stabbed. This goes on for almost a week so I got back to the doctor and I've lost ten pounds since I went to punta and 5 more pounds since I last visited the doctor. So I'm like dude what's up with my stomach I went to punta cana I had drinks with ice cubes in them, and they're like yo you have a stomach parasite and I'm like wow great. So I get these antibiotics and they made me feel literally crazy and now it's all over with. So that was my disaster vacation
That was so long but like it's a funny story so if u read it ur cool and u know about my life now. I honestly think the Author's note is longer than the actual story oops...
Thanks for all ur love and support u guys are my favorites!
-Amanda