Stay Strong

[11]

I confidently walk up to Laura in the halls and gently tap her shoulder. Jolting up, she turns around rapidly and places her hand on her heart. I can smell the fragrance of her shampoo as her hair whips around and drapes almost perfectly again on her shoulders. She has a slight smile on her face from being startled, but it soon fades as she knows it's me.

"You scared- oh, it's you" she says disappointedly. I don't know why she's surprised, she doesn't have friends anyway.

Ross that was rude, you're past that stage now.

"I know I'm the last person you want to see right now, but I just want a chance" I plead, practically almost on my knees.

"You or your friends never gave me a chance, why should I give you one?" she retorts, expressing a very good point.

"You shouldn't. I've caused so much damage to you in the past. But I'm asking you to try to" I reply, the guilt already building up again inside me.

"After what you did in school yesterday, I can't trust you to stay true to your word" she frowns.

"I did a terrible thing Laura. I earned your trust and then lost it but I'm truly sorry for not sticking up for you. Just give me a chance?" I plead again.

She takes a moment to think before sighing and nodding. "Fine. I'll give you another chance"

"Let's go somewhere tomorrow. There's this nice diner near my house we can go to if you like" I smile

She twirls her hair between her fingers and eventually caves. "Sure, sounds nice" she is probably lying, but as long as she's giving me a chance.

"I'll be at your house at 12, give me your number so you can text me your address" I instruct her in the nicest way possible.

She pulls out a tiny flip phone from her school bag and pushes it open. I smile and find it cute how she has a phone like that. She's different, but a good different.

We exchange numbers and she walks off immediately. No goodbye or a wave, she just scurries off to her lesson. This is the most confident I've seen her which surprises me; she's confident around me.

Laura's POV

I hurry off to hide the bright shade of pink flushing in my cheeks. I can't help but blush at the fact that I'm going out with a boy and got his number. Even though it being Ross, and in a friendly way, I actually feel happy with myself for once.

My mind tells me to be careful, but my heart tells me to take it easy. I'm confident around Ross, like I've never been around anyone before. Could this be a new chapter in my life?

...

Laura doesn't fret about what to wear like normal girls would on a date. Mostly because this isn't a date, but more because of who she is. She feels like she can be herself around Ross despite him being her bully only less than a week ago. Something is different.

She wears jeans that are slightly baggy on her and a plain tshirt with ankle boots. Simple Laura.

Ross doesn't fret either like guys probably don't for a date. Ross likes Laura but he couldn't say he's fallen for her just yet. He still has the past as a burden on his shoulders. He's one of the reasons why Laura cuts, how could someone ever live past that?

Ross is attracted to her in the strangest way. They're completely different but so right for each other. They share the same past, but different presents.

They meet as agreed as friends on a casual day out together. It couldn't be any more normal. They travel to the diner in Ross' car since Laura can't drive and stay for lunch.

The conversation however is quite awkward. They're not really friends so it's pretty much silent apart from the sound of cutlery clanging together.

"Thanks for giving me a chance" Ross begins a light conversation.

"It's okay" Laura nods and stares down at her food. It's hard for Laura to eat with company since she suffers from an eating disorder. That's one thing Ross doesn't know about.

"Are you okay? You've hardly touched your food?" Ross asks.

Laura gulps and rubs her temples. "Y-yes. I'm uh fine"

"You sure? if you don't like the food I can order you something el-

Ross is interrupted by Laura shooting up and running out of the diner unexpectedly.

"What? Laura!"

___________________

Uh oh

Bad start

Sorry for the super long wait

I'll make sure to update more frequently because I know you all love this story more than I do actually :)

Anything to please my readers!

Love you all x