The voice echoed faintly in the back of Abigail’s mind. There was something about it that seemed excruciatingly familiar to her, but she couldn’t quite place it. She racked her brains, running through the name of all the guys she knew. But however hard she tried, one person’s face kept intruding her thoughts- Jake.
“Get out of my head” She muttered.
She continued to run through names in her head. Matthew...no. Eric...no. Evan- Jake. Get. Out. She thought.
“I will not.”
Abigail almost jumped, had she really said that out loud? “Jake, what are you doing here?” She tried to sound as annoyed as possible.
“Look, I care about you Abby, please open up” His voice sounded much closer now than it had been. Abigail could see his shoes from under the crack between the bottom of the bathroom stall door and the floor.
“Liar.” Her voice was hard. “You said you didn’t want to care about me.”
“I never did.” Jake’s voice seemed pained, “Please, can we at least talk?”
“You did say it. In a note.” Abigail replied, the anger and hatred building up again. Silence met her words. And then:
“You mean this one?” From her side of the door, Abigail could hear a sound as if someone was unraveling a piece of paper. A crumpled note, written in Jake’s own hand-writing was sliding towards her from under the door. But she didn't pay it any attention, her mind had found its way back to the reason that they had been fighting in the first place, the whole reason for the note.
“Come crawling back to me after you lose your girlfriend, huh?”
“That’s not it at all Abs.”
“Of course not.” She had to try hard not to cry.
“Read it.” Was all he said in answer.
“No.” It was hard to keep up her strong, defiant tone.
“Then I’ll read it to you.” He seemed to stump Abigail with these words; what did he mean?
“Hey Abs. You know that fight this morning in French?” He began. As he recited the note, Abigail closed her eyes, just listening to his voice. And for a moment, it was as if all her worries, all her burdens, had disappeared. But her new overly-cautious mind and heavily-guarded heart wouldn’t let her forget what had happened so easily. So when he had finished, Abigail replied with a scathing remark:
“Memorized that so you could say it to my face, didn’t you?”
“No! How can I make you understand?” Although Abigail couldn’t see him, she could tell that he was running his fingers through his hair in frustration. But she wouldn’t give-in that easily, so she just sat and waited for him to continue.
Interpreting her silence correctly, he took a deep breath before speaking.
“When I saw the note on the ground by your locker that day, I realized two things: You had read it, and it had hurt you. So that night, and the nights following, I made myself read it because every time I did, I would be reminded of what I had done. Mild as the note had seemed to me, I had hurt you, and I couldn’t just forgive myself for that.” Abigail was the silent one this time.
YOU ARE READING
(You are Never) ALONE
Teen Fiction"Sometimes, when you're trying to find yourself, it takes more than just yourself to do it." It's a story about love, about hardships, about hope, but most of all about finding yourself especially when you never thought it was possible. Because ever...
