Angela

Angela- Chapter eight

We embrace, me and George together. Revelling in the warmth of each other, the smell of his lemony breath, the feel of his chest muscles tense and amazing underneath mine. I forget about Elise and her blackmailing, it's just me and him together, nothing else matters. But when we pull away she is there, ready to pounce as she does so often. But she actually does something even worse, she flicks her hair, she winks. My heart implodes, the fireworks expand inside my head then devour my brain, eating inwards into my soul, the only one who loves me and cares about me is being taken away from me. The pain is so real and immediate that I actually double over, my face screwed up with agony, the fireworks louder than ever before. Eating me up. I wobble and dark spots cover my vision but strong arms steady me. George will always be there for me, the fireworks vanish. He picks me up in his strong arms and I lean against him, breathing raggedly until the fireworks dissolve into nothingness. I catch a glimpse of Elise's face, wild with anger and annoyance. Good, George is mine. She storms off, leaving both of us together, we are safe in our own private bubble. But when we're not together, that's when the real trouble starts.

"You've got a boyfriend, Angela!"
Bianca descends on me the moment I enter maths class, questioning me about George, I want to ask her how she knows about him but I already know. Elise.
"So what?" I retort, anger bubbling inside me. She doesn't even care about me anymore yet she expects me to tell her everything.
"Don't give me that, Angela, Elise told me all about it and she doesn't lie,"
I want to shriek yes she does! And shout and rant and rave at Bianca, my anger must register on my face because a flash of real pain crosses Bianca's eyes.
"But, but Angela, you're one of my best friends,"
"One of!"
I answer spitefully, she's always before said that I was her best friend. But now Elise is, I'm just one of. Not her best friend, oh no, I'm not good enough for that!
This time anger engulfs Bianca's face,
"How dare you, I can choose whoever I want to be my best friend and it's not you, you're horrible to my real best friend and I get that you've had a bad past with her but can't you see? She's changed, she's another person now. She's moved on, and it's time you did the same,"
The pain is so bad that the fireworks physically drag me down, I fall down onto the linoleum floor and bang my head hard. While my ears ring with the physical and emotional pain I hear guilt clinging to my ex- friend's voice,
"Angela, oh my God are you okay?" She reaches down to help me up but I brush her hand away and clamber onto my feet, aware of the entire form watching me, and storm off into the forest again.

I am conscious of the heavy footsteps chasing me as I bolt through the trees, tripping over logs and wincing as thorns and low hanging branches snag my long hair. Although their pain is nothing compared to the pain I have weighing me down about how badly my best friend has been manipulated. And about how I've been abandoned again. I'll try to outrun her but it all in vain and I know that, Bianca's the best runner in the form. Eventually she just jumps in front of me, the guilt drained from her face and replaced with yet more anger.
"Don't you dare run away! You're being really out of order here Angela!" She shouts, her voice broken as if she's about to burst into tears. I subtly rub the back of my head hoping to get a guilty response from her, but she ignores it. Grinning at some tree nearby, it's not until Elise steps out from behind it do I realise.
This was planned all along.
By ex-friend and my worst enemy advance on me, Bianca looking like she's about to burst into tears any second now and Elise, who is currently in the process of replacing her malevolent grin with an sad smile.
"Oh, Angela. Please you have to give me another chance!" She cries out, fake tears running down her cheeks. It's all acting, but I'm not joining the scene.
"No," I'm impressed at how tough and merciless my voice sounds, how courageous I am, I almost feel proud. Until I hear Elise's equally merciless voice.
"Fine,"
Then two hands shove my stomach, I twist and turn, the world lapsing. Turning into slow motion again, a rush of fear and exhilaration pulses through me and my body suddenly feels lighter than air. I twist and the world distorts into a blurred image, the trees as small as tiny Elise, Bianca and Elise running away. Both as tall as trees. Tiny black spikes piece the side of my face and creep towards the centre of my face, then everything goes black.