Of Love And Hate, You Were My Greatest Mistake

Of Love And Hate, You Were My Greatest Mistake ~16~

“Who’s going first?” Ms. Lewis looked around the classroom eagerly. “Any volunteers?”

“ME!” Amanda hopped up and practically ran to the front of the room. They had just finished the warmup a few minutes prior, and the class was now in seated in rows against the back wall. “I’m ready.” She shook her hands and hopped up and down, closing her eyes in focus.

“She must be the most hyperactive person I’ve ever met.” A girl beside Laila muttered.

“Pretty much.” Laila smiled at the girl. They had never spoken before but she seemed nice enough.

“Whenever you’re ready.” Ms. Lewis grabbed her mug of coffee from her desk and took a seat among the students.

Amanda launched into her monologue, making every word completely believable as a character completely unlike herself. When she was finished the class applauded her and she happily retook her seat beside Laila.

“That’s my girl!” Caleb exclaimed, affectionately clapping Amanda on the back.

“Who’s next?” Ms. Lewis called. 

Caleb hopped up just as quickly as Amanda had. He took his place at the front of the class and performed his monologue flawlessly. From there student after student went, until finally there was only Laila and Jace left.

“I’ll go.” Laila volunteered. She slowly stood and made her way to the front of the class. Her eyes caught with Jace, who sent her an unnerving smile. She pulled her hair from the ponytail it was in and ran her hands through it a couple times until it fell freely around her face. She took a deep breath and briefly closed her eyes, deciding she would focus on Jace for this monologue. Not that it had anything to do with him, but it would be fun to make him uncomfortable for once rather than vice versa.

“Whenever you’re ready.” Ms. Lewis urged, much the same as she had with every other student.

Laila opened her eyes as she felt the character take over, landing a hardened look on Jace. “I hope you know what you did. And I hope you realize that I loved you. Did you even think about that for a second?” She took a deep breath, trying to fight back the building anger. “I love you, and I don’t think you even care! No, don’t interrupt me.” She snapped, her gaze turning to a steady glare. “No, you know what? I don’t fucking care, Zack, I don’t care anymore. Don’t touch me.” Her glare faltered as she took a frantic step back, as though he had actually reached out to grab her. “I love you, and don’t even try to to tell me I’m lying. Don’t bullshit, I’m NOT lying!” Her voice was steadily rising as her eyes bore into Jace’s, who was looking more and more unnerved, as if every word she was saying were true. “But that didn’t stop you, did it? It didn’t make you keep it in your pants long enough to tell me it’s over.” She seethed, her hands clenching at her sides. “You couldn’t even give me that, the fucking dignity to break up before you fucked around with that other girl, with that slut. You didn’t even hesitate.” She lowered her eyes as she ran a shaky hand through her hair, and when she looked up her eyes were brimmed with tears. “Can you honestly say you didn’t mean to hurt me? Can you really, honest to god look me in the eye and tell me you care when you went and did that?” She paused as the first tear fell, staining her lips with the taste of salt. “No. Stop it, Zack. Just stop. I know you don’t feel bad, I doubt you even care. If you cared you wouldn’t’ve done it.” She wiped away another tear as it fell, her voice quivering as it filled with raw emotion. “If you cared, you wouldn’t have fucking cheated! God,” She threw her arm down, averting her eyes as tears began to flow freely down her cheeks. She turned back to Jace with a fiery glare, “I hate you,” The words came out in a whisper before her voice began to steadily rise, “I love you so much but I fucking hate you. I always will. And you’ll always regret this. I hope you ALWAYS regret this.”