The Elements Trilogy: The Secondaries

Chapter 14: Ice

A tray was plopped down next to mine at the cafeteria, and I looked up in hopes of seeing Skylar. Instead, it was Stacy. "Hey," he said, grinning at me.

I simply nodded, a little disappointed.

"Expecting someone else?" Stacy lifted an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Well, hoping for someone else."

"A girl?" Stacy smirked.

I let out a little laugh. "Yeah. Although I screwed it up big time with her." I sighed. "And I think she's interested in someone else,"

"Ah, that sucks. What was her name?"

"Uh..." I struggled to remember Skylar's fake name. "Addison?"

"Are you asking or telling me her name?" Stacy said quizzically.

"Her name is Addison," I said confidently. "What about you? Got a girlfriend?" I frowned. "A boyfriend?"

Stacy choked on his Pepsi. "No, no boyfriends here. There is this one girl though. Well, sorta."

"Only sorta?"

"Well, I haven't seen her....in a long time," he rushed to finish. "But I miss her. A lot." He looked down at his food. "We only dated for about 3 months, but we fell in love."

"What happened?" I asked.

"We broke up last year, when my, uh...my brother died. And than a month later I came here. I haven't seen her since."

I grimaced. "That's rough, buddy."

"Yeah, well." Stacy viciously stabbed at French fry with his fork. "Does this Addison girl intern here?"

"Who now?" I asked, forgetting about Skylar's fake name.

Stacy frowned. "Addison? The girl you messed it up with? Does she intern here?"

"Oh! Yeah, she does. In genetics. Why?"

"You should go after her. Tell her how you feel. Win her back. You said she was interested in someone else?"

"Oh, Stacy, I don't know.."

"Hey, Harry. Listen. You love this girl, right?"

"More than anything." I admitted.

"Then prove it to her. Tell her to forget about that other guy, and go back to you. After all, you did love her first."

I nodded slowly. "Yeah...yeah, you're right." I glanced down at my watch. 12:30. I knew exactly where she would be.

************

I burst through the door of the simulated ocean room and pressed the drain button on the control panel. Within seconds, the water was down, and a soaking wet Skylar was revealed lying on her back.

"Harry?" She sat up confused. "What are you doing?"

"Well, I think I may have saved your life for starters."

She scowled, and looked away. "I can breath underwater."

I stopped short. "Really? That's so cool-anyway, I need to talk to you."

"What about?" She walked past me, and began wringing out her hair with a towel.

"Us." I blurted out.

Skylar froze. "Harry, there is no us. There hasn't been an us for a very long time."

"I know that," I said breathlessly. "But there could be an us again. We're supposed to be soul mates."

"Yeah, and I'm supposed to quit hacking into Tony's Facebook account and stop posting 'I'm gay', but we both know that's not going to happen."

"But why can't it?" I pleaded.

"Because I really like hacking into Tony's account."

"Not that!" I said, exasperated. "Us! I mean, I understand you might still be upset over Jamie, believe me, I get that, I mean, you still wear the ring for proof..." I trailed off. My breathing slowed, and I felt like I had been punched in the gut.

She was no longer wearing the ring. "Why did you....what made you...?" I no longer seemed to be able to form complete sentences. Then it hit me. "Chester." I whispered.

She gave me a sad smile. "Yeah. Chester."

"God, he's like twice your age!" I cried.

"He's only 6 years older than me!" She shot back. "And for your information-" but that was all she got out before I kissed her.

I pinned her up against the wall, and I kissed her. For a split second, I felt her kiss me back. For a split second, she was MY Skylar again. MY Skylar, who loved Star Wars and comic books, who ate way to much for someone of her small size, and who swore way to often. MY Skylar, who would often call me up at two in the morning, because she had a bad dream, or simply because she missed me. For a split second, everything was perfect. But only for a second.

Her hand laid flat against my chest, and with a flick of her wrist, I was shoved backwards. I landed on my ass, and her cheeks were burning. "You don't get to do that anymore," she stammered. "Kissing me like that, i-it's not your job."

I got back to my feet and looked her dead in the eye. "It's gonna tear my world apart to see you with him. Because I've been waiting, all this time to finally say it. But now I see your heart's been taken, and nothing could be worse. Baby, I loved you first. Had my chances, and I've been where he is standing. That's what hurts the most. Sky, I got so close but now you'll never know."

Skylar frowned at me. "Did you just quote One Direction at me?"

I swallowed hard. "Maybe."

Skylar took a step forward, looking murderous. "Maybe you should've thought about those words before you left me for that FUCKING, NO GOOD WHORE!"

My cheeks burned, but I let her continue to berate me. "Do you have any idea what that did to me?! My boyfriend of three years, publicly dumping me for the biggest slut in the school?! Not to mention the very same girl you made fun of everyday for three years straight! Dammit, Anderson! I wanted to kill myself!" Skylar sobbed. "I tried to kill myself because of your asshole decisions!"

I couldn't bring myself to look at her. My cheeks were burning and my throat was locked up. "I'm sorry," was all I managed to get out.

"Yeah, well sorry won't take away the scars, now will it?" Skylar said quietly.

I heard the door slam shut, and when I looked up, I was alone. I stayed in that room for a long time, the whole while debating whether or not to jump in the water myself.