Innocent

Chapter 1

I had Biology first thing after homeroom. I headed to class and found James already there, sitting in the exact same seat he was sitting in yesterday, listening to his iPod. I headed over to him.

“Hi, James,” I greeted him.

He glanced up at me, surprise that I was talking to him. I was surprise that he heard me through his music. Maybe he didn’t have it up so loud. “Hi.”

I sat down beside him. “What are you listening to?”

He switched off his iPod and took out his earphones. “Simple Plan.”

I smiled at the Canadian band he mentioned. “They are an awesome band.”

“Yeah.” He put his iPod away and took out his textbook. I could tell he didn’t really want to speak.

I left him alone. I didn’t want to force him to talk to me if he didn’t want to.

But as days past he began to talk to me and surprisingly we started hanging out after school. We mostly hung out at the local park or stopped by this pizza place. James never liked the idea of going home and always tried to stay out as much as he could.

Everything was going so well between us until the day it all ended two months after we started hanging out. The moment I saw the flashback in my head, I immediately blocked it out.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a soft knock coming from my door, followed by mother’s voice.

“Ellie, sweetie, are you okay?” I heard Mom say.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I answered back.        

“Why don’t you come back out here and continue watching television with us? Daniel didn’t mean to upset you. He is just trying to protect you.”

Protect me from what? Protect me from something James has never done? Protect me from something James would have never thought of doing and would have never hurt me? I wanted to say, but knew it would be no point.

“It’s okay, Mom. I’m just going to stay in here.”

My mother accepted my decision and walked away.

I continue to lay there thinking about James. I decided to go for a walk rather than lying here and thinking about the incident. I wasn’t hungry, but I decided to head to the pizza place where James used to hang out. I grabbed my wallet, phone and iPod, climbing out the window. I didn’t tell my family where I was going. If I did, my parents would make sure Daniel comes with me. I didn’t want him to come.

I arrived at the pizza place and ordered the usual that James and I always get – pepperoni pizza and Coke. We always shared the pizza. Now that he isn’t here, I still get the same order, but since I couldn’t eat a lot of it, I would take it home and eat it later.

I stood at the register, waiting for my order when I heard my name being called. I glanced over at the person who had called me. It was Alicia and her group of friends. We have been friends since junior high. Well, we used to be friends. I remember how much she hated me when I started hanging around James. It was some kind of a school rule that us students made that we don’t ever talk to James Waters. I was the first person to break the rule. After the incident, Alicia and I just drifted apart. She found a new group of friends while I decided to be a loner, forcing myself to forget what happened but it’s so hard to forget. We haven’t spoken to each other at all once we finished school. She goes to college in New York now. It’s the summer holidays so I guess she is here in L.A. seeing family and friends. I know the fact that she isn’t here to see me. I could have gone to college myself but just didn’t care about my education after James was sentence to juvie. I try to find so many ways to prove he is innocent, but nothing I say works. Instead I just work as a waitress at a café.

Surprisingly Alicia waved to me. She was even waving me over to the table. I recognise some of her friends from high school but had no idea who the others were. I wasn’t sure why Alicia was even bothering to say hi to me. She has been a total bitch to me when I wanted to be friends with James. She didn’t even support me after the incident.

I turned my back to her, not wanting to speak to her at all.

“What a bitch,” I heard her say behind my back to her friends.

I turned to look at her. She smiled at me while some of her friends were laughing. I wasn’t sure what they were laughing at, but I knew it was something to do with me. I turned away and tried to ignore her.

“You know, I’m glad James Waters did what he did to her,” I heard Alicia say. “I reckon she deserved it.”

I didn’t dare turn around to face her. I could feel tears starting to fill my eyes as I tried to block out the memory. I was so glad when my order came. I couldn’t stand to be here any longer, listening to my ex-best friend talk about James. I hated hearing all of the disgrace and shameful comments people say about him. They don’t know anything about him or what happened.

Grabbing the order, I walk towards the exit. I walked quickly down the street towards the park that James always go to and stay there before we go home. It was dark and not many people were around. I looked everywhere around me making sure no one was following me. I was the only person there.

I headed to the empty playground. James and I liked sitting inside the tunnel when no kids were playing on the equipment. We would sit here for hours and chat, eat something and listen to music until we had to go. Sometimes on weekends we would stay out so late staying here until midnight. I get into trouble for returning home late and often get grounded. But for James, his dad abuses him. I’m the only one who has seen James’ bruises. He wears long sleeves to cover his arms. He even has burns from cigarettes on his arms. If he doesn’t come to school then I know something serious has happened and we don’t see each other until school is over since I didn’t like the idea of ditching school. James didn’t either, but sometimes he had to so the school couldn’t question him with the bruises.

I opened up the pizza box and grabbed a slice. The pepperoni smelt great. I chewed it slowly, wondering what was going to happen once he returned home. I could imagine how the community was going to react. They were going to treat him like dirt. They will spit on him like some kind of animal. His parole was in two days. I was half glad he was coming out of jail. The other half I wasn’t looking forward at all with the way he was going to be treated by the community.

I ate three slices. When I could no longer eat anymore, I headed back home before someone discovered me missing and calls the cops. That has happened once. Since the incident my parents has become so overprotective, same with my brother. I’m not even allowed to step out of the house by myself or allow to be at home alone. Most of the time I just sneak out so I didn’t have to stay indoors and still have a bit of my independence. I didn’t want to be treated as a prisoner. Anyway, I snuck out at night to come to the park without telling my parents and they called the police. They found me and sent me home.

The thing I hate the most about my family is that I can’t have any contact with James at all. I disobeyed them. I kept contact with James by letters. I got my own post box so all of James’ letters could be sent there. If it got sent to my house, I’m sure my family will throw them away. They wouldn’t even give me a choice if I wanted to accept his letters.

I might check the mail box tomorrow. Getting a letter from him would surely put a smile on my face.

I climbed through my bedroom window.

“Where have you been, Ellie?” I heard my brother’s voice in my dark room.

I didn’t answer him. And when I didn’t, Daniel switched on the light. He leaned up against the wall, crossing his arms across his chest. His blue eyes showed anger and a bit of worry in them. Crap.