Life Of Bayla

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"What's wrong?"

That was the fifth time Aaron had asked that question. I'd try to tell him but my sobs would seep through and choke me with tears that I wouldn't be able to reply.

With shaky hands, I wiped my teary eyes and when I tried to speak, my throat constricted and hurt worse than a bitch. I winced as sobs racked through my body, making me shake on my spot on the floor.

I shut my eyes tightly as the tears streamed down my face. I couldn't even open my mouth to form a single coherent sentence without the weight of my grief anchoring me down.

"Shh, it's okay". Aaron shifted himself closer to me, pulling me into him and wrapping his hands around my trembling form. He placed his chin on my shoulder as he moved his hands soothingly on my back. "Let it out, Bay. It'll be fine. You'll be fine".

I don't think I'll ever be fine again.

As I clutched onto Aaron, my fingers dug into his shoulders. I shook my head as more tears ran down my cheeks, "Aaron, you were right. You and Cullen. You were both right..."

My body shook as a fresh wave of anguish surged through me. I couldn't even finish my sentence. I bit my lip so hard, trying to shove back the tears behind my eyes but they seemed to come out with full force, making my heart squeeze painfully and completely shutting off the words that wanted to roll off my tongue.

I tasted metallic liquid and realized that I bit my lip harder than I thought as I drew blood.

"Tell me when you're ready", Aaron cooed into my ears, tangling his hands in my hair and drawing circles on my scalp. "I'm here".

I drew in a shaky breath as I willed strength into my voice. I failed miserably as my voice came out weaker than how I felt. I pulled out of Aaron's embrace and looked him in the eyes through my misty vision. "You were right about everything. About Gaspard".

Aaron's jaw ticked. If he was pissed, he did a super good job at hiding it. "Go on, Bay". His voice was calm.

"You said Gaspard would hurt me and you were so damn right about it because he did. He hurt me and I feel so horrible". I sniffed, stowing back tears that threatened to spill. "Today at school, I saw tons of posters. They were on every goddamn locker and you know what was on it? A picture of me and Gaspard at yesterday's party". My voice hitched but I continued anyway. "I looked like a slut in that picture but I guess that was the whole point of snapping me in the first place. It was captioned Gapard's Little Whore and fuck, Aaron, everyone laughed at me. Some made nasty jokes, some pushed me to the ground and you wanna know the worst thing? He stole my diary last night and gave it to Ingrid who read the whole fucking thing to the whole fucking school".

I watched how Aaron's throat worked, Adam's apple swiftly bobbing up and down. His brows pulled together. "Ingrid? Ingrid Matthews? Was it him that planned all this? Gaspard?"

I shook my head. "Rania Parks. She had planned all of this. Ingrid, Gaspard and the rest of her gang were part of it too".

His brows knitted in confusion. He was trying to fit in the puzzle pieces.

I went on. "Some months back, I told you to take Rania back, remember?" He nodded. "It was because she had threatened to make my life miserable, make me pay for breaking you two up". Aaron tensed but motioned for me to go on. "She initially didn't go about her threat. In fact, I thought all was well in my world when she said we should be friends and bury the hatchet. I guess I thought wrong. And as you know, Ingrid traded me for popularity. We've already established that so she happily obliged to help out Rania with her master plan of making my life a living hell".