chapter 22
(VIP ticket thief)

the walk back from the amusement park to the hotel was fun. the whole group was talking and making jokes. chris was holding onto the dinosaur plushie he had won for dejah, she decided on calling it logan. once they made it into the hotel they decided to go into nick, matt and liv's room as their room was bigger so they could all hang out in there for a bit to record some stuff. they all sat together on the two beds, with the camera facing them all. nick taps matt on the shoulder, "do you want to talk about what you were going to say earlier now that everyone is here?" he whispers. matt thinks on the question for a moment before nodding slowly.

matt clears his throat, "before we start to record i wanted to talk to you all about something" he explains, gaining everyone's attention. he swallows hard, looking at the floor beneath him, "i still love abbie. i can't help it. just seeing her with jude absolutely breaks my heart because i know deep down that instead of jude it should be me."

chris immediately shakes his head, "we understand matt, we all do. but it shouldn't be you. you deserve someone better, who won't snake their best friend and betray you like that. just talk to her. have a real conversation about how you feel and really get your point across." he says, looking around the room for approval.

"and if she then realises that she's screwed up, which she will, don't take her back. it's going to be really fucking hard not to. it was hard for me to, but it's for the best." speaks dejah, rubbing matts back in order to help calm him down.

matt rubs his clammy palms on his shirt before running his hand through his hair. he still hasn't fully processed that he will basically never speak to abbie again. she was the one for him, and he was the one for her that's how it's always been. he couldn't see himself being with anyone else but her. "when i look into the future, i see her. and only her. i cant love anyone else." he begins, wiping away his teary eyes before they spill over.

"are you ready to talk to her?" asks liv. matt looks at her for a second. his eyes are full of unsureness, he doesn't quite know how to answer her question as he doesn't know.

"you have to be ready to talk to her." explains nate.

matt nods his head in agreement, "i'll talk to her in school on monday. hopefully then that will take away some stress off my shoulders. i've just got so much going on right now and it's driving me insane."

"yeah, we will all help you along the way. if you ever need us, you know we are right here." smiles nick, pulling matt in for a quick hug.

"anyways, let's talk about something else now. i'm done talking about abbie. she's stupid anyways" says matt, smiling a little bit. the whole group laughs and chris stands up to finally turn the camera on.

"okay guys, so we are now back at the hotel after that fun day. we went on loads of rides. apart from dejah. she chickened out on most of them" he says, smirking at dejah who's sat on the other bed opposite him.

dejah opens her mouth in shock and faces the camera "bro is acting like every time i 'chickened out' he didn't join me because he felt bad for me being scared" she says, exposing him. the whole time she was talking chris was staring at her. the way her face scrunches up when she smiles and how many hand gestures she uses when talking and how high pitched her voice gets when she's getting defensive. sometimes, he forgets that he's lucky enough to have her. she was all his. he had her all to himself. dejah looks at chris who soon snaps out of it, "see? speechless."

"more like in love." speaks liv, smirking at chris who's rolls his eyes.

"cut that part out please. the fans will go crazy-"

"keep it in." speaks chris abruptly cutting dejah off, "also, look what i won for dejah!" he says, completely switching the conversation so dejah can't argue about cutting that part out.

dejah covers her smile with her sleeve as she watches chris display logan to the camera. she is now the one watching him this time. the way he blinks hard as he's concentrating on the camera facing on the toy dinosaur, the way he's leaning over nate so he can show the camera and the way his hair is messy but still looks amazing. "isn't he the cutest" she says, grabbing the dinosaur from him. and for the rest of the video, she had him in her lap.

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dejah.doe44's public snapchat story

the next day at school was pretty boring for everyone except matt. he knew he had to talk to abbie today which was something he was looking forward to but yet was also dreading. he had planned everything out in his head that he was going to say, he just had to say it. once the bell rang to go to lunch, instead of immediately heading off to their lunch table. he decided to find abbie after class as he knew which one she was in. as he approached her classroom, a swarm of other students were exiting but he couldn't see abbie. he peeked into the classroom and there she was. she was staying behind class to talk to the teacher. he decided to listen in on their conversation.

"you said you wanted to talk to me after class? something was on your mind you stated." spoke mrs fowler. matt could hear abbie sigh before he could hear the sniffles that came straight after. it was pretty clear to him that she was crying, or was about to cry.

"yeah. i have no one else to talk to and you're the only teacher in this school that i trust. i've been going through a lot lately. i've been getting bullied a lot in school because.." she says, pausing before continuing her sentence. she knew what she had done was wrong hence the pause, "because i betrayed the people i love for someone that i also love, my boyfriend. atleast i think i love him. sometimes i think he's the one, then other times i don't think he is." matt could hear the struggle in her tone of voice and how she stuttered on most of her words. "i've just been feeling lonely recently, and i miss my friends. the ones i left for him. but now i don't know if that was worth it"

matts heart was beating out of his chest. he wanted to burst into that room and give her a hug and let her know that he still loves her. but he can't, he knows he has to let her go but he just can't. no matter how hard he tried. he can't stand to listen to their conversation anymore so he walks away. he walks towards the bathroom and shuts himself in one of the stalls. he doesn't know what to do with himself.

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chris
where ru? everyone's at the table

me
i'm sorry
i couldn't do it

chris
do what?

me
talk to abbie
i tried my best
i couldn't
i'm sorry

chris
it's okay don't worry abt it there's always another time
where ru we can talk in person

me
i don't want to talk in person
i js wanna be alone rn
we can msg tho

chris
ru sure? i think it would be better if we spoke in person
everyone on the table is worried abt u
do u want to ft?

me
no thank u i don't want ppl around me to hear what i have to say
thank u tho for caring

chris
np man
now what's up
what happened

me
i went to abs class after mine
abbies*
n she was in the classroom w her teacher
she stayed behind to talk to her abt her worries
n she was saying stuff abt how he regrets what she did n how she misses us all and she doesn't know if jude is the one and was worth loosing us.
she was crying man
i couldn't listen to it anymore so i left.
i can't talk to her rn i'll end up taking her back

chris
oh shit that is some heavy stuff man i'm so sorry u had to hear that
u did the right thing by leaving before u said something u would regret.
i'm beyond proud of u man.

js talk to her when ur ready to talk to her
take as much time as u need honestly

me
thanks chris
i js need to think for a bit n then i'll go talk to her. i'll let u know how it goes
ily man

chris
ily 2
seen

matt put down his phone and he was now left alone in the stall to his own thoughts.

☁︎︎☀︎︎✿

"are you okay chris? you've been texting matt for a while. what's happened and where is he?" asks liv, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

chris puts his phone down and looks at the table full of concerned people, "he just wants some alone time, he will be fine" he ultimately says.

"poor matt" frowns dejah, "if i could take all of matts pain and give it myself just so he doesn't have to go through any of that i would do it in a heartbeat. he's such a genuine and sweet guy. he deserves better." she speaks in such a genuine manner.

"yeah, he will be fine. we've got him. anyways, i still need to somehow sneak you all vip tickets. but i need some help from someone." he asks, looking around the table at everyone who basically all shake their head.

"if we get caught, i'll kill you. but i'll help you" sighs dejah, still wondering wether or not this will be a good idea.

chris smiles and takes her hand, "cmon. let's waste no time. let's do it now" he says, practically dragging her away from the table.

the pair giggling together at the adrenaline of them potentially getting caught could be heard from a mile away. all they had to do was sneak into the coaches office and get the extra vip tickets. chris was going to be the distraction while dejah gets the tickets.

chris proudly walks into his office, "good evening. how was your day sir?" he asks, looking at his coach dead in the eyes.

confused, he raises an eyebrow, "good evening chris. what can i do for you? have you been practicing real hard for the upcoming game on friday?"

chris looks over his shoulder to see dejah frantically searching around his office for the tickets. he couldn't refrain from laughing so a slight giggle slips out. the coach begins to turn around to see what chris was laughing at, "YES! yes i have" he quickly says, grabbing his shoulder, "working, so incredibly hard. not just myself but i've been training everyone too."

the coach slowly takes a seat, "that's promising. i knew i could count on you chris, but was there something in particular that you needed?"

chris swallows, trying to find a quick response in which he probably should've thought about before he came, "uhmm, yeah sorry i've just been so stressed about the game i've forgot what i came here for." he says, rubbing his sweaty hands on his thighs, tapping his phone to see if dejah had messaged or not. "ah yes, i came here to talk to you about the game actually. i was just wondering if you would be attending as i would like you to see bryce's performance in the game."

the coach squints his eyes suspiciously at chris. he knew something was off as he knew for a fact that chris knew he would be attending, "chris. i have attended every single one of my teams games since i became a coach, of course i'm going to be there. why are you asking me this? are you trying to hint something or do something? there's something you're not telling me" he questions, seeing the shift in the atmosphere. it was now tense and chris was looking guilty.

he hears a notification come from his phone and he frantically checks it and as he expected it was dejah telling him she got the tickets. chris puts his phone down and looks at the coach, "no. i just wanted to make sure you were coming. anyways, i best be on my way