Where The Ice Gives Way (Charlotte and Blake) novel Chapter 232

Where The Jeebives Way

Chapter 232 Not That Girl

Jessica

Charlie shared something special with me last night.

He took me to a place I knew meant a lot to him. He showed me pieces of himself, even if he wasn’t ready to talk about all of them. I thought this was the part of our story where we stopped skating around each other and finally admitted we were becoming more than just friends.

So I’ll say I am a little more than confused when I see him coming across the yard at school, and instead of waving back, he ducks his head like he didn’t

see me at all.

Then he cuts to the right, choosing to avoid the main entrance and me altogether.

“What was that about?” Annabelle asks, clearly seeing what I saw.

“I… don’t know.”

“Well” She hooks her arm through mine. “His loss is my gain.”

I let her drag me toward the doors, but my eyes stay on the place Charlie disappeared.

It doesn’t make sense.

Last night, he was different. Quiet, yes, but not cold. Sad, but not closed off. He let me sit beside him. He let me lean into him.

Now he is acting like I’m something he needs to dodge before first period.

Boys are confusing… And Charlie Pierce is apparently trying to turn whatever this is, into an Olympic sport.

We get to our lockers, and Annabelle is already talking animatedly about homework, Emily’s hair, and some girl in our history class who has decided she is

now the leader of our group project.

try to listen. I really do. But then Charlie walks past at the end of the hall with Blake beside him, and my entire brain turns into a stupid little spotlight.

He doesn’t even look at me. Not once. But Blake does.

ľ

Only for a second, but he sees me. Then his gaze shifts to Charlie, and something passes over his face that makes any stomach twist

Charlotte appears a moment later, tucked close to Blake’s, side, her hand wrapped around his. When her eyes find mine, she gives me a small smile s

kind, but also sad.

Great. Apparently everyone knows something I don’t.

I make it through the morning by sheer force of irritation

Charlie avoids me before English He sits two rows away during maths even though there is an empty chan near me there. He jokes with Theo, laughs when he is supposed to, and keeps his attention carefully aunted anywhere but me

So that is it I am done. After lunch, I catch him near the side corridor by the gym before he can escape outside

At Ranch he is the Aut not wils

1:51 pm

Chapter 232 Not That Girl

He stops so quickly he almost trips over his own feet.

He turns around, and the second he tooks at me, I know he knows exactly what he has been doing.

“Hey,” he says.

I lift a brow. “Hey?”

His mouth opens, then closes, and I wait through the stretched silence.

“Are you avoiding me?” I ask.

He winces. “No.”

I simply give him a look.

He sighs and looks down. “Maybe.”

Well, that stings. I fold my arms, trying to keep my voice from breaking. “Did I do something wrong?”

His head snaps up. “No. God, no. Jess, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

‘Then why are you acting like I have a disease?”

His face tightens, and for a second, I think he might actually answer me, but then he looks away.

‘I’m not trying to hurt you.”

‘That’s not the same as not hurting me.”

I don’t know what happened after I dropped him home. I don’t know what he thought about, or who he spoke to, or what scared him enough to make him

ook at me today like I am something he should run from.

But I know I do not like being treated like a mistake.

“I thought last night meant something,” I say, softer now.

“It did.”

His answer comes too fast for me to ignore, and I’d be lying if I said I was unaffected by all of this.

Charlie rubs both hands over his face and lets out a breath. “That’s the problem”

I stare at him “That it meant something?”

“Yeah.” He drops his hands and looks at me again, and there is so much there that my nitation falters “No I dont know i’m making thus worst

I wait for him to continue To give me more to give me anything I can hold onto that tells me I’m not cracy for thinking last night meant something

3:51 pm

Chapter 232 Not That Girl

Recepe we have fun together, I know we do. We talk about anything and everything, or at least I thought we did. Now I’m standing here wondering if maybe I’m the only one who was actually being horrest.

I like Charlie.

I have since the moment I first saw him, and yes, I’ll admit his auburn curls, green eyes, sharp jaw, and broad shoulders were the first things that caught my

attention. I’m only human.

But they weren’t the only things.

I see his heart.

I see the way he cares about the people he loves, like love is not just a feeling to him, but something he protects fiercely. I see his passion. His drive. His

humour. I see the way he tries to make people laugh when things get too heavy. I see the way his whole face changes when Charlotte walks into a room, like

some part of him is always checking that she is still there, still safe.

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