The Unproven Theorem of You and I

chapter two - faltering breaths

[ dedicated to @sirenfatale ]

"Memories warm you up from the inside. But they can also tear you apart."

- Haruki Murakami

Chapter Two

           

            TRYING TO KEEP her expression stoic and unreadable, Elle walked down the school's front steps, crumpling the note as she went. It was no secret that Savannah hated her ever since the Choosing with John nearly two years back, and tended to distance herself from her younger sister whenever her friends were around, but what had happened today was taking it too far.

            Savannah practically disowned Elle. Publicly. With written evidence to show it.

            Had she no shame?

            Elle passed by a trash bin and threw the crumpled ball away. She hoped it landed on leftover lunch or a rotten apple. Because that was what she thought of Savannah right now.

            Deep breaths. In, out. In, out, Elle told herself as she walked down the pavement in front of the school. Dr. Harrison had said that strong emotions were bad for her health. They could cause strokes. Examples? Depression. Shock. Fear. Anger, for instance.

            When her brother's red convertible pulled up by her side, Elle was mostly cooled off. She shouldered her pack and slid into the shotgun seat, lips tightly pressed together, silent. She shut the door, and when she let go of the handle, her frail fingers were quivering with the emotion she was determined not to show on her face.

            Her brother read her anyway.

            "Savannah?" he guessed solemnly, shifting the car into drive and pulling away from the driveway. Elle clenched her jaw and nodded.

            "You know she's trying, Elle." He glanced away from the windshield and gave her a small smile. "Even though... she doesn't really show it."

            "She said I embarrass her, Levi."

            "She didn't mean it."

            Like John? Like how he 'didn't mean it' when he called me lame, compared me to his carefree friends, and pushed me off a helicopter seven thousand feet above the ground? Elle took a deep breath and faced her brother again. "You're babying me, aren't you? Just because I'm gonna die?"

            Levi slammed a foot on the brakes, barely catching the red stoplight in time. Behind them, several cars honked, annoyed. "I'm not babying you, Gabriella. And for the whatever-th time, you aren't. gonna. die." He punched the steering wheel at the last word. "Okay?"

            Elle nodded, suddenly afraid. Levi was a renowned soccer player known basically throughout the city, but he also had anger issues. She wisely decided to keep her mouth shut the rest of the drive home.