Impulse (Published)

Twenty-Five

In a way, I was happy I had such a stress reliever. It prepared me for the next events that were to come. Aryiana clung to Sage and I more than before and she felt as though she was being too needy, but we didn't mind. The fact that she was talking was what I was looking at. If she was quiet and shut down..thought that no one cared, who knows what she would do?

We stood in front of my locker as I gathered books, Aryiana gazed around and pulled at her rubber band; it stood out to me, like a red flag. She pulled it at school often in anxious situations and mostly during school in fear of seeing...him.

"What are you going to say to him?" She asks for the fourth time this morning, I close my locker and place my hands on her shoulders. "Are you sure you want me to talk to him? We can just go straight to authorities if you want." I ask her and she bites her lips and looks away, searching for him. "No. I want him to know that I won't be silenced. That he didn't win..." She pauses and looks over at me- but for what? Affirmation?

"He didn't win Aryiana." I say just so she can hear the echoing of my words. So it would sink in for her. We watch as Zachary walks over to Julianna Brooks locker, grinning wildly and stroking her arm slowly. Julianna giggles and grips his hand and Aryiana groans. "He doesn't deserve to be with Julianna....I do." She whispers and my eyes widen.

"He tried to tell me to back off of her and I said no, I thought she was pretty and apparently she's bisexual so I was talking with her. He didn't like that, he tried to convince me to go to a guy instead and I said I didn't like guys and then he..."

It took every bit of strength that I possessed to not walk over and grip his skll then bash it up against the sharp edge of a table

"Did you sleep with Julianna?" I ask and she nods. "At the party. I want to warn her. I don't want anything to happen to her. To any female Zachary tries to come on to." She whispers and I notice that Aryiana begins to pull viciously at her rubber band. "I'm going to approach her." She whispers and something bold takes over Ary and she walks straight for Julianna. She doesn't make any eye contact with Zachary. "Can I talk to you?" She suddenly says.

I immediately don't like the look on Juliannas face and she rolls her eyes and steps away from Zachary. I back up and give them space to talk and eye Zach. "What?" He asks and I bite my tongue.

You rapist. You filthy rapist. I want you dead.

I couldn't say any of it. Not yet. I look back over to see Aryiana turn back to me with a wide jaw. "What?" I aks in a hushed tone and she grips my hand and leads me away. "Aryiana what happened?" I ask and she leans over. "She doesn't believe me."

"What?" I practically scream.

"Zachary told her that I was unstable and was using my pregnancy from another guy as a cover up to being gay. And that I claimed to be raped for sympathy since Violet was in the hospital and I was no longer getting attention from being popular." She spits out the words like venom and my skin is boiling.

"I'm going to fuck him up!" I scream and turn my heel and she grips my arm. "No. I already know how this story ends." She whispers. "What story?" I ask and the bell rings.

She looks at me with hopeless eyes and a wounded soul. "The story I'll never finish writing..." She lets her voice trail off and she begins to walk up the stairs.

What was she talking about? "Aryiana, let's go home." I offer after her but she shakes her head. "I'm not going to run." She whispers and disappears up the flight of stairs. I turn my back to confront Julianne and Zachary but they're gone as well. I take that time to go to my class, but I can't concentrate.