When Summer Ends by Katy Wormald (the speed reading book txt) 📕

that Cole was getting mad at them too. Aiden ran to me as soon as he saw me and held my hand, he whispered that Declan had showed up ten minutes ago, accusing me of being inside with Cole.

“I think he’s pretty drunk too.” He told me when we neared the guys, and by the looks of it he was. Declan was stumbling all over, and saying strings of words that didn’t even make a complete sentence. He wasn’t even wearing shoes!

Cole pulled me behind him when Declan noticed I was there. I think Cole was worried that Declan would turn nasty any minute, and so was I. He had a look that I’d never seen before. A look that shiver. He fixed his eyes on me and started mumbling something that was no doubt more insults.

“What’s he doing here?” I asked Cole, completely ignore Declan.
“He thinks me and you are- you know. He wanted to come see for himself I guess.” Cole told me not taking his eyes from Declan for one second.

“Jodie, what's going on? You won’t answer any of my calls; you stayed with him last night, and now your here at 5 in the morning! Man, I never out you down as that type of girl.” Declan spat at me, after a second failed attempt to get anywhere near to me.

Thankfully Jamie and the twins were next to me now too, with Cole still in front. The any bystanders it would look as though we were the ones causing trouble, all lined up against Declan. But he’s the one who turned up in the middle of the night drunk.

“Oh just get lost Declan, its none of your business what I do, you made sure of that when you cheated on me.” I shouted over Cole's shoulder. I was actually quite surprised that Declan could hear me over Cole's yelling at him to get away from me.

“Right, like you wasn’t with him before I went with Amber. You’re just as bad as me so don’t act so hard done by.”

“I didn’t do anything! I loved you, why would I cheat? Me and Cole are a friend that’s all. I'm not you I would never cheat on someone I loved.” I shouted back at him, suddenly furious. I’d done nothing wrong here and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let start accusing me of things that weren’t true.

“Just get back in your car and go to Amber.” I told him crossing my arms and standing next to Cole, who had put a hand on my shoulder. It wasn’t until he did this that I realised I was crying.

“I may as well, at least she know what she’s doing. She’s not some little tart like you.” He slurred back at me. Wow, that stung a bit. The only guy I’d ever been with, the guy I’d lost my virginity to, now judging me because of it! I shook my head at him, unable to say any words.

“Leave. Now.” Cole told him, and I knew he wasn’t messing around anymore. He took his hand from my shoulder and squared up to Declan, who look as though he had no intention of leaving yet.

“You can have her; she’s not worth anything to me now.” Declan said looking directly at me. I turned away and put my head on Jamie, I would have put it on one of the twins’ but they were back at either side of Cole.

I saw Cole clenching his fists and I knew what was coming next, but Declan didn’t. He just stood there, bad mouthing the two of us over and over. Completely ignoring Aiden when he told him he better go. I saw Cole raise his fist and looked away quickly. I buried my head into Jamie as I heard the sharp snapping noise of Cole’s fist connecting with- what I assume- was Declan's face. I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed that that was it- hoping they would start brawling on the lawn.

I peeked out to see Declan stumbling towards his car, shouting and swearing more things. Although I couldn’t see what damage Cole had caused as his back was turned. Even though Cole was a little shorter than Declan, he was defiantly more built, and I knew he probably worked out a few times a week. Declan was snow driving away, and was soon out of sight. And although I was glad it was over, a small part of me wanted to run after to him and make sure he was okay.

“Come on, I’ll get you home.” Cole told me, and I gave the other a hug and promised to see them at school in about two hours. We walked silently to his car, and drove the short distance to my house. Neither of us spoke until the car came to a stop outside my house.

“Is your hand okay?” I asked Cole, feeling somewhat responsible for what had just happened. If I wouldn’t have become friends with him, then none of this would have happened and me and Declan would have still been together, I knew inside though that I'd made the right choice in choosing between them.

“It’s fine; it was only a tap any way.” Cole said smiling and turning his hand over. Silence washed over us both again, but I think we were both fine with it. We just sat smiling as we looked out of the window. Closure, I though. I’d defiantly gotten some from seeing him.

“Thank you.” I told him, looking at him looking forward.

“Jodie, you should know by now that I'm never going to let anyone treat you like this, so you may as well stop apologising.” He smiled, showing off his perfectly white teeth.

Something inside me stirred. I knew I had feelings for Cole, but its only now I'm starting to think he could return them. I contemplated leaning forward and kissing his lush lips, but I was still getting over Declan. I could use Cole as a rebound, even if what I felt for his was real.

We hugged for a moment longer than friends should and I climbed back up the tree and into my bedroom to a waiting Romeo. He was sitting on my bed wagging his tail. I laid back in bed and looked at the clock, just over two hours until I'm at school, so instead of going back to sleep (which I doubted I'd be able to) I got a long hot bath and thought about the night.

Cole, Declan. I don’t know what to do any more.
Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty One

I took a few deep breaths and walked inside the school door, I'm already late- by fifteen minutes. Cole had texted me a few minutes ago asking where I was and that the new of our ‘late night meeting’ (his words, not mine) had spread across school. Great, just what I needed. The hallways were bare as everyone was already in first period so I could avoid the rumours for a little while longer, which is the reason why I’m late.

Not that I told Mrs. Densil, the office receptionist, that though. I explained that my bus had been running late, making me miss the bell, and just over twenty minutes of class. She handed me a late slip, without even looking up, and got back to typing away on her computer. Stuffing the slip into my pocket I walked to my English literature class, which I shared with Cole.

I tried not to think about the few times me and him have gotten, well, a bit more than friendly. Neither of us have deliberately done anything to attract the other, it just seems as though whenever it’s just the two of us, we could end up just a few centimetres apart, with our lips almost touching. Luckily, something has happened each time to stop us making that mistake, but sadly, its a mistake that I wanted to make.

At least some part of me did. A huge part of me screamed for my lips to meet his, to wrap my hands around him and not let go, while another- more logical- part of me told me that I was only feeling this was because me and Declan had just broken up. I wanted to feel as though someone wanted me again, to feel like I didn’t care about Declan or what he had done, and that I could just move on. So, I decided to wait until Declan is out of my life completely to talk, or act, on my feelings for Cole.

I paused at the class room door, noticing how Cole was sitting at the back with an empty seat next to him. So, swallowing the small lump in my throat, I walked in and sat beside him. Mr. Briggs, an English teacher sub that I had quite often last year, raised an eye brow at me. I waved my slip and he nodded without saying a word, or even coming to check the slip. Cole shrugged beside me and smiled in my direction.

“So class, as I haven’t been given any work for you to do, and you haven’t started any assignments yet, you can have this as a free period, so long as you do actually work.” Mr. Briggs told us, and practically everyone cheered. I zipped up my bag that I was just about to take my books from and looked at Cole.

“You wanna go sit outside?” He asked me noticing that practically everyone in the class was watching and whispering about us. I nodded eager to away from everyone and followed him outside. Just as I thought, not another person was out here. Most likely because the chilly morning air was still lingering, and it looked as though it could be another day full of rain.

We sat at a small two-seat table that was covered by a gazebo-type-thing. I wanted to tell him how good he looked in his tight black T shirt and black ripped jeans, or how good the watermelon cologne that he had on was. Instead I sat there and smiled shyly to myself for even thinking those things about him.

“Have you heard the rumours yet then?” Cole asked as he pulled out a small brown paper bag from his backpack. He slid it over to me, and I looked inside, realising that it had the DVD I brought over to his the other day, as well as a pink lip gloss that I must have left there.

“Thanks I didn’t even realise I’d left them.” I told him and applied some of the gloss to my lips. I realised after a few seconds