To Love the Rain

Chapter Four

Melody left me standing in the middle of campus, surrounded by the slowly moving masses of sleepy eyed students stumbling to their morning classes. Judging from the number of students wandering the open campus, it was almost time for first period. I clenched my fists at the thought of her retreating figure, a strangled sense of something clawing up my throat like bile.

"Hey!" A bubbly voice invaded my thoughts, immediately flipping my mood around.

I smiled.

"Hey," I greeted back, a small grin tugging at the corner of my lips.

Alex, my self-proclaimed best friend, grinned at me behind a pair of thick rimmed glasses. She had called them 'hipster glasses', and that was what all the cool kids wore now. She looked exceptionally pretty today; dressed in a beige sweater and skinny jeans with her hair pulled back into a ponytail, she looked like the front-page cover of a magazine. I managed to fight off the blush rushing to my cheeks in the nick of time.

I had known Alex ever since I was little as well.

Except, every single memory I've had with her was freaking awesome. For as long as I could remember, she had always been the prettiest girl in the class to me. And for some reason, she decided to be friends with me- my best friend. I guess in a way, she was. Because in our sleepy little town, where baby cribs and pacifiers were shared before two, toys covered in saliva and dress up dolls were exchanged before eight, family road trips and multi-night sleepovers were swapped before thirteen, and a childhood together was spent before seventeen, she really was what I would call a best friend.

She lived down the street from my little apartment, and we were literally crib mates. Our moms were friends, and their moms before that and their moms before that. Apparently, this was a generational thing, which I didn't find about until a couple years into our friendship. Maybe it was the fact that my mom absolutely adored her, or maybe it was because I thought she was quite possibly the prettiest girl alive, all I knew was that she could make me smile like no one else could. Call it sappy, or whatever you want, but she was probably the person I looked forwards to seeing most in school.

"How's your leg?" She gestured at my left ankle.

I nodded fervently. "Uh huh. No, yeah, it's great! It doesn't hurt anymore, at least."

She raised an eyebrow.

Internally, I winced at the familiar action I was just agonizing over. Alex and Melody, day and night- they were like polar opposites, I realized with a start.

"Okay," I lied through a forced grin. "Maybe it still stings a little."

Her eyebrows furrowed together, cutely I might add.

"It's been hurting for nearly two weeks Merce! Are you sure you don't wanna go check it out again? I mean, it can't hurt to be extra careful dude." Worry slipped into her voice as she looked me over, and my smile turned genuine for the first time today.

"Yeah I'm good. Thanks, Lexy." I grinned back to reassure her I was fine. If I did have a sprained ankle, I probably would've went just to see Dr. Monroe anyway. Even now, the good doctor still let me watch TV whenever I came into his office. However, ever since my last... visit, things have been pretty strange. I generally tried to avoid any mentions of the hospital, or think about that day in general.

She rolled her eyes at my childhood nickname for her.

"Well come on! We've got first period in..." She checked the watch I gave her for her 16th birthday. I grinned internally, suddenly happier for some reason.