CONFLICTED

Chapter 20| Ella's kiss

"Okay," I exhaled in defeat, "but you need to–" I was cut short with a pair of warm lips on mine.

Her hands crept up my shoulder and I pinned her to the wall on impulse. She seemed to know exactly what she was doing as she initiated the slow torturing pace and the wanting was apparent when her hand crept up to my neck and mine circled her waist. I held her tighter to relish in the sin while it lasted. It was something I craved for so badly, like that desperate puff to an addict. The fight between what was right and wrong, the moment and the next, giving up logic for pleasure.

Same goes for Daniella as each lap of the tongue told me she wanted to show me something through the kiss? make out? whatever it was, and I caught up with her intoxicating pace while keeping her trapped against the wall.

But it was deep. Way too deep and I knew I had to stop. I sure didn't feel the same way being a certified fuckboy to a T. The only person who could have my heart was Anna. That part had been established.

"Wait, Ella–" I began as I drew back from her lips but then realized we were not the only ones in the quiet hallway.

I stared at Richard's pained look and there was Anna's look of disappointment. They had exited the computer lab only to find Daniella and I eating each other's faces off.

Without a word, Richard gave my shoulder a hard brush as he left for the stairs and there was Anna silently following suit.

"Shit! No, no, no..." I muttered in panic.

The school buzzer went off for closing period and the hallway began to get crowded. I left Daniella who stood by in shock and took to the stairs after them. Anna stepped into the female restroom after descending the stairs while Richard made his way to the lobby. I picked up pace and caught up with him.

"Richard, it's not what you think. It was a mistake, I swear."

It really was. I didn't know what came over me allowing Daniella to kiss me. It seemed right at the moment but it was a stupid thing to do considering that I knew my friend had feelings for her.

As I grabbed him by the wrist to stop him and address him properly, he turned on his heels and threw a punch to my face. It was so sudden that the next thing I knew, I found myself on the floor. I wasn't spared any second as he came on top of me and connected his fist to my face non-stop.

With my skills in combat, I could easily take him down even in my current position but I would never. In this case, I totally deserved it. His punches were not that painful anyway. His emotion drew the energy from his fist. I felt his weight lifted from me and I slowly sat up and wiped the blood at the corner of my lips, ignoring the gathering that had formed around us.

yay. I made a scene again.

"So much for being friends with a two-faced bastard. I hope you're happy now that you've gotten another girl to suck your dirty little dick. I told you I had real feelings for her but you go ahead and stab me in the fucking back? May we never cross paths again or I'll kill you myself." he seethed.

Paul was the one who held him back from me while Michael and Charlie tried to appease him. He stormed out of the lobby and the guys glanced at me with looks of disapproval before following suit.

Pissed to say the least, I swiped my bag off the floor and equally headed out to the parking lot. Too bad this was going to show up on the student facebook handle as the headlines tomorrow morning. I never begged for this much drama in my life but I just had to hang my dirty linen to dry in front of jobless rich kids with smartphones.

~~~

I was back in my room by four p.m and ten minutes into my arrival, I'd successfully turned my room upside down.

So far, I've bashed a chair against the wall into pieces, thrown the flower vase to the floor, flipped everything in the room and punched the wall until my knuckles dripped of blood.

It didn't take long before I heard banging on the door.

"Christopher, open this door!"

It was Aunt Lydia.

I cracked my knuckles one last time and turned to slide down on the wall, tugging my hair as I finally cried it out. My head throbbed like a bitch and my nose became runny.

They were pushing the door now, trying to kick it free since the incessant turning of the door knob had no effect on the lock.

melodramatic and pathetic...

The door finally gave in. Poor door. They broke it.

There was a spare key to my room in my father's. I wondered if they really didn't know that or just didn't stop to think of it. My father however, was yet to be back.

"What happened? My God, what happened to your hand? Are you alright?" she spilled out series of questions and tried to help me up.

"It's nothing, Ma. Don't worry about it." I mumbled.

"Let's go to my room." aunt Lydia said, giving a skeptical look to my broken knuckles that had blood trickling down my fingers now.

I followed her to her and my dad's room while granny called for a carpenter to fix the door.

Later on, my stepmom was helping me with a bandage on my bruises after sessions of wincing in pain when she cleaned it first with an antiseptic. She seemed to understand as she didn't ask questions. Just nursed my bruises and left me in the room.

After she left, I tried to keep my mind as blank as possible for several interminable minutes. Then I decided to switch position and lie on the comfy bed in a curled up manner like a baby until I dozed off.

I woke up to a gentle hand rocking me awake and Aunt Lydia stared down at me as I blinked my eyes open. I looked towards the window to the sky and sure enough, it was getting dark.

"Where's my father?" I mumbled, sitting up and wincing at the pain that jolted up my arm.

"He's not back yet. He called to say he would be home late."

I nodded, which was not a good idea as a dull ache triggered in my head.

She settled down beside me and I felt the bed dip down with her weight. She smelt of talcum powder.

"Now, may I know what this evening was all about?"

I stared at my bandage and didn't say a word.

"Fine," she threw her hands in the air and sighed, "don't tell me. I'm sure you'd figure it out yourself. I'm just going tell you one thing. Self torture or suicide does not do anything to suppress emotional inburst. So this was all for nothing." she motioned at my injured hand.

"I wasn't going to commit suicide." I countered in a raspy breath and a frown on my face.

"No, you weren't." she agreed.

what's that even supposed to mean?

"You know, you're just like your dad. Doing things to himself instead of dealing with problems."

I didn't think I wanted to hear any of my father's self harms.

"Maybe because some problems are just impossible to deal with."

"That's where you're wrong. I understand that teenage years are a difficult aspect of one's life even though some people would argue with that fact, but it's true. The way your whole adulthood will turn out is reflected in adolescence. Now, my point is, it's okay if you want to deal with problems yourself, I won't force it out of you. I'm just going to give you a free advice. The best way to deal with the hard times is to do your best in dealing with them while putting a smile on, and then leave the rest. There is always a calm after the storm but then you should learn how to dance in the rain."

She allowed a moment of silence as her advice sunk in. With this, I realized that she was a nice person. Too nice for my father or the drama our family had to offer. I promised myself then that I was going to make it up to her efforts at trying to pull this family together.

"That said, let's go down for dinner." she added cheerily and stood up.

I fiddled with my finger and followed out the room.

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