Through The Dark

14 - Olivia

14 - Olivia

I had been looking for Henry all day long. There were posters all around and I felt like drowning, I needed to see him so I could feel reassured.

I walked into the cafeteria and found him. "Hey," Henry said when he saw me standing in front of him.

He was in a big table with all of his football friends and some girls –all the people I called my friends here at school as well. I felt uneasy by the looks they all gave me as I stood in front of them. They had hungry looks, as if they were ready to take me down.

'Hey,' I said with a small smile. I could not help but feel my face light up at the sight of Henry. At least I still had him.

'How you doing?' he asked me. There was something about the way he asked it that made me straighten up at the sense of danger.

'Not good, babe. Have you not seen the picture of me that has been posted all over school?' I whined in a low voice, trying to keep the conversation just between the two of us.

I tried to hug him in seek of comfort but he inched away just before I could. I frowned but my face quickly turned blank and white when I saw the knowing smirk on his face. It was until then that I understood his question was rhetorical. Something felt incredibly wrong and I sensed dread take over my right away.

I had considerably shrunk in size and I was slightly trembling again. There was too much shit being thrown at me at the same time.

'Oh, you mean the picture of you at the bridge?' Henry loudly questioned. Everyone leaned in and I felt bile rising up my throat.

'Henry...I would like the conversation to be private,' I muttered demandingly. I hugged myself tightly as I tried to motion him to go somewhere else.

'Who do you think leaked the photo?' Henry McKinley scoffed.

He looked like he was dying for me to ask, to say anything. His friends started laughing out loud while looking down at me. I felt something churn in the pit of my stomach. I heard a gasp and recognized it to be Emmalyn's and felt my head spin around crazily. She had not lied. It was not her. I wanted to turn and look at her, but knew now was not the time.

'What?' I mumbled in a thread of a voice. I hugged myself tighter.

'Yeah, we are over, babe.' Henry fist pumped a friend and I just shook my head, as if denying the fact.

Why would he be so cruel to me? For popularity? For acknowledgement? It just made no sense. We were the perfect, golden couple –at least in the public eye. What could I have done that he could want revenge in such a horrible way?

'No...' I breathed out in response after a few seconds. I was not even looking at him anymore. I was looking down at the floor and panting as if I had just run a marathon. I was an expert at this feeling; I knew that I was having a panic attack. 'But...but it was Emmalyn,' I stubbornly countered.

I was not as shocked at Henry acting the way he was acting right now, but I had been so convinced that Emmalyn had taken the photograph and made fun of me with the entire school, not Henry. It was hard for me to wrap my head around it.

He inched towards me mockingly. 'Who?'

'She was there. She was the only one that was there.' I was fumbling by now, unsure of how to act.

'No, I was driving by when I saw you.' The satisfaction with which he said it made me want to beat him senseless, and I would if I were not feeling so numb and cold inside at the moment.

'And you took a picture of me instead of helping me?!' I questioned with a shriek. I was starting to react, and I felt fucking pissed off.

He shrugged carelessly. 'I found it hilarious, sorry.' His laugh echoed through the cafeteria. 'Such a pretty and rich girl trying to kill herself. Poor her. Sounds like a made up story if you ask me.'

I turned to look at him once again. But there was no denial or confusion in my eyes anymore. They were full of hatred, indignation and every other emotion I had kept bottled up inside for who knew how long. 'You dickhead! I was trying to kill myself and you took a fucking picture of me?!'

Everyone's eyes were on us now.

'And I was taking a girl home,' Henry added with a smug smirk. Like what he did this Monday was discover the cure for cancer or how to end with world hunger. 'So yeah, as I said before: we're over.'

I frowned and took a couple of shaky steps back. 'You...no...but Emmalyn...' she rambled.

Emmalyn cut in right then, from behind me I suppose, and grabbed my arm, dragging me out of the place. 'If only your dick was as big as your words, McKinley,' she shouted as she flipped him the bird. 'And what's up with the rest of you?! The show is over, get back to your own pathetic lives!'

She shoved the doors open so we could get out of the cafeteria. She did it on purpose, so they would slam back closed after she and I were out. She wanted to send a message, was my guess.

It was not until we get to the parking lot that she let go of my arm. She was gripping it so hard that she had left a red mark on it but that was the least of my concerns right now and I supposed the least of hers too. The air felt tense. It was warm outside, but the warmth was choking us at the moment.

'Thank you.'

The words caught me off guard and I raised my eyebrows, surprised. Emmalyn was looking at me. She was probably shocked as well.

A suffocating and awkward silence fell upon us. I was feeling mortified for the scene inside. My mind was racing with ideas and terrible thoughts. I had punched Emmalyn for something she had not done to me. I had been humiliated in there and nothing better or comforting waited for me at home. There was no home. I felt disoriented and hopeless, and I could tell Emmalyn desired to say something, anything to make me feel better. It tortured me even more.

'Do you wanna go to get some ice cream?' she asked out of the blue.

'What?' I stared blankly at her. I was still quite flustered and hazy from the cafeteria scene. I could not keep my eyes focused on her. I blinked a couple of times and finally processed what she had asked. Ice cream was supposed to make one feel better, right?