Addicted to Meth

Another chapter from Abby :)

(oh and yes, i am from South Africa! Pretoria to be exact)

Chapter 33

The days dragged on slowly after the night of the party. The results were out, I'd somehow managed to pass my finals and the winter vacation and holidays were a breath away. The mood got festive fast and I hated it. I tried to avoid Keegan in school but that was easy, he wasn't at his usual table at lunch and I couldn't help wondering if he was okay. And I hated for thinking that way.

News of our possible break-up was all over the school and a lot of people seemed relieved after hearing the news. Like the world had returned to normal and everything in the universe was back in its place. Those who'd asked me if it was true, I told them it was. What was the point of lying, anyway? Sure the gossip would be less but what if Keegan heard that I said we were still together?

I sighed, prodding my untouched salad with a fork. As if Keegan would ever listen to gossip. Besides, I doubted any one had the guts to say anything about me or him when he was nearby, especially after what happened with Mark at the restaurant which by the way had everyone whispering too.

I was seated at the cafeteria, alone today. Elena had gone off looking for Mark and I'd let her. She was trying to be as supportive as she could about my break up but what was the point of making her stick to me like a bubblegum? Ethan was off to comedy club, his new found love supposedly.

I closed my eyes and all I could hear was Keegan utter, "I need you..."

I couldn't help it, I did it almost instinctively. I glanced over at his usual seat, empty today as well, on the other side of the surprisingly a deserted cafeteria. It was the last day of school anyway and many had left earlier to get their holiday underway. I didn't expect him to be there, he probably stayed away on purpose because of all the hurtful things I'd said. It'd been a week since we ended things.

"Mind if I sit down?"

I glanced up. It was Kyle, Keegan's younger brother. I grimaced, wondering how I missed his entrance and approach when the cafeteria door was in my view. I didn't want to talk to him, his wasn't very high on my 'like' list but I shrugged anyway. He must've taken that as a yes and sat down next to me.

He looked kind of weird, but that was how he always looked anyway. He didn't seem like those drug junkie types, he looked quite normal, but I didn't really know if I was glad about that or not. Did he know about Keegan and me? Was he here to tell me 'I told you so'?

"If you're here to gloat," I put my fork down, "don't bother."

"I'm here to say you're way better off now, so congrats," he answered almost immediately.

So he'd practiced what he'd say, huh?

"Don't bother about that either," I looked away.

He leaned over the table to get into my view, "seriously Hale. You're lucky to get out before things got serious."

So he didn't really know the reason for Keegan and I breaking up, there was no way Keegan would tell him and I wasn't going to either. Keegan probably didn't talk about it to any one...

"He isn't coming to school," I tried to sound casual, "why?"

He shrugged, obviously a little ticked that I'd spoken about his brother, "he doesn't get out of that room of his, got fired from his job too."

I flinched at that. So he was taking the break-up harder than I thought he would. It almost made me hope maybe I did have a place in his heart and he did love me.

Stop it Hale, don't kid yourself. If he did love me he'd have to tell me and I wasn't going to pine away waiting for that to happen no matter how hard that was.

"You know, in a way, I was kind of jealous when you two got together," Kyle mentioned it like it was a small piece of random conversation.

I knew he hated that I was with Keegan but jealousy? If this was his weird of saying he liked me, he would be the next one to be punched by me.

He noticed my look and smirked, "I didn't mean it that kind of way."