The Revenge of Delilah Nzimande

Seventeen

*DOUBLE UPDATE. READ CHAPTER BEFORE* 

On Sunday evening, I was knocking on the Moores' door. I expected the mom to answer, but it was Maddox's dad. I had to crane my neck just to look at his face. Now I knew where he got his height from.

He frowned as he stared at me. He actually looked pissed. I then guessed he knew.

"Good evening, Mr Moore," I greeted softly.

He grunted. So, he definitely knew.

"May I speak to Maddox?"

"He's not in," he quickly replied.

Maddox really didn't want to see me. This was harder than I thought.

"Sir, I know he's here." I dug into my back pocket and brought out a folded piece of paper. "I know he doesn't want to see me. So can you give him this letter? Please?"

Maddox's father sighed and pushed up his glasses. "You really hurt him, you know that right?"

I felt a twinge in my chest. "I know. I'm trying my best to fix that."

"Well, good luck with that." He took the letter from my fingers. "I'll give this to him after dinner."

I smiled. "Thank you so much, Mr Moore."

"Right," he said, then slammed the door in my face.

I stood there, pursing my lips at the white door and nodded. "Guess I deserved that."

I thought that after he read my letter, everything would be right in the universe. Boy, was I horribly wrong.

The next day, after school, I was waiting for Ember to take out the books she needed for studying and homework. We were talking about typical school stuff like how maths was getting increasingly harder each section when I saw Maddox making his way to us.

Ember continued to talk and rummage through her locker. I could only manage to reply with 'mmh, yeah, I get you' as Maddox got closer.

For once he wasn't walking with a hunched back. He looked taller, more confident. It was so attractive.

A zoo had seemed to find a way into my stomach. I hadn't felt that way since I first saw Jabu.

"Maddox," I muttered once he got close enough.

Ember stopped going through her locker and looked to her left where an annoyed-looking Maddox was standing. Her head whipped back to me.

"I'm just gonna go . . . Call me later, Dee," she rushed out. She bolted away from us as fast as she could.

We both watched her as she tried to 'casually' walk out of school.

"Your friends are weird," he stated, breaking the tense silence.

"I'm aware," I replied. I stared up at him. He was already looking at me. I cleared my throat. "So, did you read my letter?"

He tucked his hands into his pockets and sighed. "Yeah, I did."

"What . . . what do you think?"

"I still think you're an asshole, for one."

"I'm aware," I repeated, my tone monotonous.

"And it was probably the best apology I've ever received."

I started to smile, but what he said next stopped it from fully forming.

"But I need time away from you."

A shaky breath left my lips. "Oh."

"I hope you can understand where I'm coming from, Delilah." He scratched the back of his head. "You used me and I'm not in the right frame of mind to be able to get over that in a week. It's going to take time."

"I understand," I whispered, my head drooping.

"Don't take this as me hating you or never forgiving you. I don't think that I could ever do that." I looked up at him. He had a ghost of a sympathetic smile on his face. "You're a good person, Lilah. You just made mistakes that unfortunately involved me."

"I get it," I said, more assertive this time. "Guess I'll see you around, then."

"Yeah, maybe." He started to turn away. "Goodbye, Lilah."

"Bye, Maddox," I muttered, but he was too far away to hear me.

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My heart broke when I wrote this. It hits a little too close to home, but it had to be done!