Wrong Impression

26. Epic Fail

Angie stayed home and cried into her pillow for a whole week before finally manning up and facing the truth. She'd been fooled. He'd broken her heart. And that mean, unfair thing she'd said to him was maybe the only thing that touched him. So, in the end, she was glad she'd said it. Maybe he could get a small taste of how she felt. How broken and inappropriate.

She wouldn't let that asshole destroy her life and her faith in humanity. Of course, it wasn't just that. It was the matter of her friends too. Angie wasn't sure how much of what Ross and Lily said was true, but the fact that they knew and kept quiet and were friends with Tom spoke volumes about them. They weren't the type of people she wanted as friends.

In the end, hating him was the only way to survive. And it was so easy when she remembered what he did to other girls, what he'd tried to do to her. If he wanted to bang her, he could've at least been honest about it. Maybe it gave him some sick sense of power or something.

Her parents trusted that she'd had it rough and needed time to heal. Trusted that she knew better when it came to school. They just showered her with love and affection and it was enough to steel her against what was coming. Her trial with Collins, going back to school. Facing the crowd. She could do it.

But, it turned out she couldn't. Not for a whole month at least. She talked to Kay who tried to give her news about the backstabber, but she refused to listen. She never wanted to know anything about Tom ever again. Fortunately, though confused, Kay didn't push and seemed to believe her bullshit story that her mom was sick. And of course she could come back and stay when she was ready.

Angie almost felt bad for lying to Kay, but damn it, she was going to purge Tom out of her life whatever it took. It was the only thing keeping her sane, focused. And hating was so much easier than hurting over what happened, then weeping for her broken heart. Her heart would heal and the hate was already doing a good job at keeping it together.

After a month, she could not longer drag it out. She had to graduate and go on with her life, and for that she actually needed to finish her sophomore year. So on the one month anniversary of the day her heart was broken, she packed her suitcase and headed back to Tucson.

Kay waited for her at the station, asked about her mom, then kept her mouth shut. Angie was grateful, but could feel her friend was a little annoyed.

It was funny and a little ironic how they were both totally heartbroken. Angie finally got how Kay was feeling, why she cried so much. Though she'd make sure neither of them cried again. Life went on and they'd overcome it.

"Angie, look, I don't know what really happened..." Kay faltered as she parked the car in front of her house. "It's not okay, you know."

"You're right. You don't know what happened," Angie said bluntly.

"Don't you want to tell me?"

"No. Because when I wanted to and needed your advice, you were too worked up about Kyle to listen. Now it's late and it's buried and I don't want to talk about it."

Kay sucked air through her teeth and Angie regretted her harsh words, but Kay needed to pull her head out of her ass already.

"Fine," Kay mumbled. "But you should know that Tom--"

"Don't say his name!"

Kay rolled her eyes. "Fine. The Dark Lord gave his full statement for your trial against Collins. He won't be there."

A knot loosened in Angie's chest. She'd been secretly dreading seeing Tom at the trial. But this made everything so much easier.

"Which is more than you deserve seeing as you gave a shit about his," Kay said under her breath.