Amaryllis

"back up and leave me alone"

As she hurried down the hall, books clutched to her chest, someone bumped into her, and she dropped her things. She crouched down to pick them up, and no one helped out. Out of the three thousand people at her school, she was entirely alone.

Suddenly, a weight fell on her chest, and she felt she couldn't breathe. She rushed to the bathroom, locking herself in a stall. She sat on the seat, taking deep breaths, head in her hands. The bell rang, and although she had never been tardy a day of her life, she didn't move.

It didn't take long for the tears to come.

The room was dark except for some lit candles.

"I've been waiting for you, Jeremiah." Miah heard a voice say from the bed. His vision adjusted slowly, and he saw a girl laying stomach down. Her face was almost impossible to distinguish, but her bright red hair was almost glowing. There was only one person with hair that color.

"Amaryllis?" Miah said, contempt clear in his voice.

"I love it when you say my name," Amaryllis purred. She started to get up, and Miah could see that she wore nothing but a lacy black bra and underwear.

"Uh, where are your clothes?" Miah said uncomfortably.

"Do you like it?" Amaryllis asked, spinning around slowly, her hair covering her face.

"Not really," Miah said.

Amaryllis laughed. "I know you want me, Jeremiah. I see the way you look at me. I want you too. I need you!"

And with that, she launched herself at him, grabbing his face and sloppily kissing him. He stood still, shocked. Then he began to detach her from him. "I don't know if you're drunk or something, but I am not interested in you. So I'm just gonna go, and you should put some clothes on." Miah turned around and started for the door, but she blocked him.

"Wait!" She grabbed his hand and placed it on her breast. "You know you want me!"

He pried his hand away. "I don't want you, and I will never want you. So back up and leave me alone." And with that, Miah left the room, slamming the door.

"Jeremiah! But I love you! I need you!" Amaryllis cried desperately.

That was the video that was uploaded to Youtube, that was shared on hundreds of social media accounts until almost nobody hadn't seen it at their school. It had been masterfully edited to sound like Amaryllis, to conceal her face.

But it wasn't Amaryllis. It was Lila. However, only six people knew this, and three had been paid a lot of money to stay quiet.

Maybe it wasn't the most realistic video, but no one cared. Everyone was so desperate for gossip and drama. Amaryllis didn't have many friends, and the ones who did talk to her knew it would be social suicide to defend her. So no one did.

Miah had a feeling everyone knew it wasn't Amaryllis. They all knew the bright optimistic Amaryllis with her nose in a book. She would never be so assertive, so pushy, so bold. But in high school, reason didn't exist.

The video destroyed Amaryllis. When Monday came, almost everyone had seen it, and those who didn't soon did. She was no longer the happy radiating girl she used to be. She now walked with her head down, and often didn't show up to classes. She was completely alone.

Miah felt a little guilty, but he had bigger problems to worry about. When he had come home hungover on Saturday, his dad had flipped. He took everything away from Miah- phone, computer, tv- and even called Coach Logan and told him that Miah would not be allowed to run track that year.

Miah went on self destruct mode, exploding and taking everything down with him. The foundations of his house shook with every scream, and Miah knew it was a matter of time before the roof caved in on them, so he packed up his clothes and went to his mother's house.

His parents had gotten a divorce two years ago, and Miah's relationship with his mother had been unstable since then. It was difficult to look at her the same way since he was the one that caught her cheating. Now she lived happily with her new husband, and Miah was bitter and refused to create a relationship with his stepfather. To make matters worse, Miah's mother was pregnant again.

But Miah had had nowhere else to go, and his mom took him in with open arms. She gave him her old laptop and bought him a new phone, but she couldn't do anything about the track situation. As much as Miah begged, Coach Logan would not budge, and told Miah that he had to prove he was responsible before he would even consider putting him on varsity.

Miah was miserable. He felt trapped, like his dreams of a scholarship had just disappeared within his hands.

The only time he felt okay was at school with his friends. They made him smile and laugh. Miah even started dating Lila. He didn't really like her much, but she was pretty and good enough company. He just wished she wasn't so physical. All she ever wanted to do was make out.

He still ran with Kiernan. He pushed himself harder than ever before, letting all his misery and anger motivate him. Kiernan kept saying Coach was an idiot to not let him on, especially when they only had two juniors on their track team.

Miah hadn't talked to his father. He tried to call his mother's house, but Miah always ignored him. The hatred he felt was too potent to be confronted. He had nothing to say to his father.

Miah knew it was insensitive, but he just didn't see how Amaryllis's situation was worse than his. Yeah, some silly little video spread about her. So what? Miah's future was basically ruined.

She really needed to get over it.