THAT TEEN LIFE

Chapter Six

Lily's POV:

It had been two weeks since Abbie lost the baby, and I'd never seen her look so terrible. She wasn't eating much, and she was always pale. My heart broke every time I saw her. On the days I wasn't working, I would go and visit her, after school. She hadn't been coming to school.

It was another Monday; lunchtime seemed to come quicker than any other week.

John and I sat down at our usual table, with Stephen.

"Lily," John whispered.

I looked at him, and then at Stephen. Their eyes were on something behind me, and I turned to see what they were looking at. Max stood there, just looking down at me, silently. To be honest, I had never seen him look so innocent. In all honesty, he looked like he'd been hit by a bus.

"Hey," he said, quietly.

"Max," I nodded.

"How's Abbie?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Why do you care? You got her into this situation, in the first place."

"I do care," Max's voice was so quiet, I almost had to ask him to repeat what he had said. "I am really sorry for what I did."

I wasn't convinced. "Well, if you do care about her – and I highly doubt you do – then why don't you go and see her, and find out for yourself?"

Max pushed his hands into his pockets, and shrugged. "I was kinda hoping you wouldn't mind telling me. I can't face her."

The incident, even though it had been Max's fault, had changed him a lot. He went from a flirty, outgoing guy, to someone completely different. He hung out by himself, most of the time, he was shy, now, and he always spoke really quietly.

"Well, you're gonna have to face her at some stage, Max," I said. "She's really hurt by all of this. She truly cared for you!"

Some people were staring, and I realized I was practically yelling at him. But, he deserved it! My best friend was suffering, because of this guy standing beside me.

"Yeah, I know," Max sighed. "I could kill myself for what I did to her. I don't know why I did it; I don't think I'll ever know why."

I stood up from the table, and pushed my face towards his, leaving only a couple of inches distance. John looked defensive, but I just held my hand up, assuring him it was all right.

I heard Max swallow hard, and his eyes looked sad. "Seriously, Max, don't be a child. Go to Abbie, and talk to her! You're such a coward!"

Max blinked hard, and turned his face away. Then I noticed the single tear that ran down his cheek.

"Okay, I will," he said.

"What?"

"I said I'll go and see Abbie," he said. "I suppose everyone's gotta face their mistakes, one day, so I might as well make it my time, today."

I folded my arms, suddenly feeling sorry for this guy. He looked genuinely full of remorse for what he had done to Abbie, and to be honest, I almost started crying, right there. But I couldn't.

Max covered one eye with his hand, and walked off. For some unknown reason, my heart suddenly quickened, and weird thoughts popped into my head. And, just as suddenly, I realized something that I would never have imagined possible. I was having a crush on Max! I looked back at John, and thought again about our kiss, the night Abbie was raped at the beach party.

I wasn't supposed to have a crush on Max...I liked John. He was so kind, sweet, funny, and perfect...everything Max was not! So why did I have this weird feeling?