Ruining Lives

Her. And Us.

My name is Camellia Montego, I am 17 years old and I like most books with a female protagonist I am in love with a boy. And because this book cannot get anymore stereotypical, my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer when I was 11. Liam Taylor is my best friend, or at least he was until he met Cheyanne Roberts. Of course she is pretty, popular, blonde, and perfectly imperfect. One might even say she is a plastic. But we can't call them that so let's call them a fake friend. This is someone who will only be "nice" to you when they need you to do their dirty work. This group consist of Cheyenne Roberts, Ashley Scorch, Sabrina Jane, and Brittany. Cheyenne is the leader obviously and Ashley is her right hand man and will do anything for her, mostly for attention. Sabrina supposedly studied abroad for ten years of her life and is just now in high school. And Brittany is a mystery she never told anyone her last name and for some reason it's not even on any class list or in the yearbook. She keeps mostly to herself but somehow made it in with them. Now that you know everyone let's continue.

When me and Liam were about seven we said that if we both turned 23 and weren't married then we would marry each other. Obviously we were joking but continued to bring it up for the next five years. Even our parents talked about it and when we turned twelve we had completely gotten sick of it and decided to drop it. We were still great friends if that's what you're thinking it's not like that. With everything back to normal we were less tense about the fact that we said that if neither of us were married we would get married. We soon forgot about it until a few months ago. Liam's girlfriend had just broken up with him and he was really upset. So being the best friend I was I got a pizza and some movies and went to his place. We hung out all night until he randomly said " Looks like we might be getting married after all.". This completely caught me off guard until I realized what just happened. I laughed along and eventually asked him what he meant, "You remember that?" I said. " Of course! I think about it all the time." he replied. At this point was totally caught off guard and my stomach started to churn. "I'm gonna go use the bathroom" I said almost slipping as I ran toward the bathroom door.

" Oh my god, Oh my god" I whispered to myself as I splashed my face with water. " I have gone completely insane!" I said a little too loud. I slowly walked out of the bathroom and resumed my seat on the floor. Just as I began to feel comfortable again Liam leaned down and whispered " Yes, you have gone completely insane!". I turned my head so fast I could have got whiplash and glared at him " Listening in other people's conversations is not very nice." I mumbled. He smiled at me and gave me a peck on my forehead, " It's not listening in if you're yelling for the whole world to hear." he whispered as he turned back to the movie. I slowly turned my head back towards the screen and just as I was re focused he jumped and screamed right in my ear. " WHAT THE HECK MAN?!" I yelled. " Sorry, I just wanted to scare you." he said as he sat back down. By the time we had finished the third movie we were both out cold and the next thing I knew it was Saturday morning.

The next thing I knew Liam had a new girlfriend and I was left in the dust. From then on he continued to bring it up over and over for the next three months. Until one day, I met James Lancaster. He had Raven black shaggy hair and beautiful brown eyes. Once we started dating Liam stopped bugging me. A few weeks later Liam and Cheyanne broke up. Liam didn't seem upset but neither did Cheyanne. He said that she broke up with him but he played it off as though nothing happened. But as soon as it ended they were back at it again and making everyone very uncomfortable. James and I were happy but as soon as I saw Cheyanne basically drooling over Liam my best friend since kindergarten I was suddenly outraged and almost straight up drop kicked her to the unknown planet from which she came. But rather than doing that I walked up to them and grabbed Liam by the collar of his shirt and dragged him into the hall " What the? What are you doing Cam?" he asked as if he hadn't just been heavily making out with his girlfriend for the past five minutes. " What am I Doing? What are you doing Liam?" I asked him. " I'm hanging out with my girlfriend?" he said as if it wasn't obvious. " Since when are you two a thing again?" I said. "Friday. Why?" he asked. " Because she is your ex and you are insane!" I said almost yelling. He walked away and left me sitting there with the stupidest look on my face.

 "I can't believe what just happened." I mumbled just when James walked up " What just happened?" he asked. Completely caught off guard I had to think for a moment before I responded. " I...Um.....I just saw a friend do something stupid...I don''t wanna talk about it right now." I replied. " Oh okay then." James wrapped his arm around my waist just as the bell rang. We walked to my car where he decided he wanted to drive today. " Hey! What are you doing?'' I asked. "I'm driving today. No arguing." he replied. So I decided to just get in the car and let him drive. As soon as we started moving I realized this was a bad idea. " Hey i'm really tired I might fall asleep." I told James as my eyes started to feel heavy. " That's okay baby. I'm just taking you home.'' he replied. The next thing I knew I was out cold. I woke with the jostle of the car as James put it in park. I opened my eyes still groggy with sleep and realized we weren't at my house. " Why are we at your house?'' I asked. " I thought you could come do homework with me." he answered. I decided I didn't feel like arguing and I did have homework I had to do. " Okay but I have to be back before 5:00." I told him. " I know, I know, you have work." he said. So we walked inside and sat down on his bed and pulled out our homework. "Do you want to start with geometry or physics?" he asked me. I didn't really have a preference and didn't want to do either so I answered "Geometry?" He nodded his head and pulled out his textbook and began to write the problems on a piece of notebook paper.

I was sitting watching as he did this when my phone buzzed in my back pocket. "Who is it from?" James asked. " It's from Liam..." I answered. When I opened the text I realized something bad was about to happen. " Hey can u come over?" was all the text said so I responded with " Why? What happened?'' I had an answer in seconds but I didn't have to ask. I already knew what happened. " Cheyenne broke up with me..." he responded. " She saw you with me this morning and thought something was going on between us and she dumped me." I felt horrible. It was all my fault this time. " I would but i'm with James." I told Liam. Another response within seconds. " Please Cam. I need you here." I looked up at James who I expected to be working on his homework but instead was staring at me. " What's wrong Cam?" He asked. "Oh it's nothing I guess. Cheyenne broke up with Liam again. He wants me to come over." I told him. A text. " Cam. I need you to come over now." I hesitated for a moment before responding. " Okay. I will be there in 15 minutes." I looked up at James who already knew from my facial expression what I had told him. " James I'm-" I started. " Just go Cam. I'll see you tomorrow." he snapped. I looked at him with bewilderment. James never snapped at me like that. Even when he was really mad. " I'll text you tonight James. I'm sorry" I said as I gathered my things and walked to my car. 

~

As I pulled into Liam's driveway I suddenly felt uneasy about being there. I got out of my car and walked to the front door which was unlocked. I stepped inside and was hit with the smell of alcohol. As I was walking up the stairs the smell grew worse and worse until I noticed that Liam was just lying on his back in his bed staring at the ceiling where he used to hang pictures of him and Cheyenne. When I looked up all the pictures were gone and strewn about the floor ripped in halfs and quarters. Some preserving her face and others cutting right through it. I started to realize what I had done. Just as I was about to speak Liam sat up in his bed and looked at me his cheeks covered in tears and a small empty smile on his face. " Hey Cam. Come here."