Why She Jumped | ✔️

Chapter Three // Eight Days

C H A P T E R   T H R E E

"Listen here, bitch. You might think that you're some inspirational, depressed girl from tumblr who's all that, but I can assure you that you're not." Hannah Lodgeman, a.k.a some girl who makes me feel like crap, decided that today was a good day to push my buttons.

"Cut the crap with all this 13 Reasons Why shit, god... And now you've somehow got Grayson Anderson all over you? Did you bribe him or something? Pathetic..." I couldn't look at her. I'd probably start crying if I did. I just continued to stare down at the floor while the crowd around us grew bigger and bigger. Some people even had their phones out to record.

Of course, no one from the crowd stood up for me. Out of the few people who actually knew this was so, so wrong, none of them wanted to be that person. But then Grayson came back.

"No, Hannah. Amber didn't bribe me. I became her friend because she's a good person, unlike you. For some reason you find it fun to try and lower other people's self esteem, because you think that it just raises yours. You're just a heartless dick-chasing bitch who's for some reason obsessed with me, but just know that we'd never work out. Your ego is far too big, and your IQ is far too small." And with that, he grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the crowd, leaving Hannah speechless and frustrated.

"Are you okay?" He asked. Although I'm feeling slightly better than I was two days ago, I'm still hurt. "Yeah, I'm okay." I faked a smile. "Thanks for standing up for me." Before I knew it, we were in the school parking lot walking towards his car. "Where are we going?" I asked him. "Somewhere where we'll be alone. I have questions for you." In his grey eyes, I saw a glimpse of sadness, but it vanished so quickly that I couldn't tell if it was just my eyes playing tricks on me.

We ended up at Pineview Park. No one else was there. He led me to a bench next to a willow tree, and we sat down.

"Why do you do it?" He asked.

"Do what?" I knew what he was talking about, but I asked anyways.

"Cut... Why do you cut yourself?"

I faced down towards the ground, focusing on a section of grass that was taller and thicker than the rest.

"I don't know." I replied. The answer was stupid, but it seemed too hard to put into words.

"Amber... There's a reason behind it. Please, just try to answer." He pleaded.

I took a deep breath. "I guess I feel a sense of relief. It's like my stress temporarily vanishes and I can finally breathe and I just..." I couldn't finish.

"You don't deserve this. Any of it. You're too beautiful to hurt yourself like this. You're so... strong. For feeling this way yet still putting up with it for so long..." He stared into my eyes without breaking eye contact.

"But strong people can get tired too. And I guess I'm getting tired of living." I smiled sadly.

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter!!