Vance and I didn't speak about what happened on the roof after he came back into my room. Instead of him usually climbing under the covers beside me, he grabbed more blankets from the closet and folded them on the floor.
He slept on the ground next to my bed and didn't say a word to me after he bid me goodnight.
I wasn't angry, just confused. Did he regret what happened?
The next morning when I woke up, Vance was gone. After immediately making sure his clothes were still in the closet, I sat up and went to my vanity, looking through my jewelry box for a nice bracelet to wear with my outfit. I couldn't find it, so I just wore the silver watch Mom gave me last year for Christmas.
When I went downstairs, Mom had set the table with breakfast. It wasn't something I was used to. We sat at the table like a family. A real family.
When I walked to school-Jeremy refused to drive me because he was giving all of his friends a ride-and saw Bruce's missing poster on one of the streetlights I stood there, staring at it, for ten full minutes.
Now, I'm sitting in the principal's office telling the police officers about the last time I saw Bruce.
"I don't know," I shrug. "I hugged him, then went upstairs. That's it."
"You didn't hear anything strange after that, in your neighborhood? No speeding vehicle? No screams or shouts for help?"
I shake my head. "Bruce doesn't even live in my neighborhood," I tell them. Are they stupid?
"Right."
They excuse me and I walk, miserably, back to third period.
I sit down in my regular spot near the back of the class. Vance hasn't talked to me at all today. He hasn't even looked at me.
Good. My head tells me. He's a waste of time and effort.
Shut up.
Bruce was grabbed. He's probably dead by now.
I bury my face in my hands. What if this is my fault? What if Bruce was grabbed and it's my fault, and he knows it, and now he hates me?
Mr. White is explaining reptiles and how their cells differ from mammals. I hate science but I'm good at it.
When the bell rings, I swing my bag over my shoulder and start towards the door. "Miss Hoffman? Stay for just a moment, will ya?" Mr. White stops me. I turn around. Vance brushes past me, his eyes linger on mine for a split second before he walks out the door.
"Is something wrong?" I ask.
He hands me a sheet of paper. It's the assignement that we did at the beginning of class.
"64%." He winces. "That's not normal for you, Anna."
I study the page. "I'm sorry, Mr. White. My mind was elsewhere, it won't happen again."
"I'm sure it won't," he grins at me and I walk out of the class.
Vance is waiting for me when I walk down the hall to the cafeteria. "I heard that. The hell is wrong with you?"
I stay silent. I tutored Bruce when he was failing science last year. What would he say if he saw what just happened?
"Hey. Anna. I asked you a question."
"Oh, now you wanna speak to me?" I crumple up the assignment sheet and throw it in one of the trash bins.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You know damn well what I'm talking about."
Everyone looks glum in the halls. I'm not the only one who misses Bruce. His friends are all talking in a corner, sorrow expressions plastered on their usually bright, cocky faces.
"Anna, you're failing science?" Vance asks again.
"I'm not failing. It's one stupid assignment, Vance. Calm your tits."
We burst into the cafeteria, the loud doors banging against the walls as they open. Everyone looks at us before resuming their conversations. Vance is still beside me when I sit in my usual table in the back of the room.
"What was it about cold-blooded veins that confused you? Are you fucking stupid?"
"Am I stupid? Yeah," My voice rises with frustration, but I keep talking. "I really am. I let you stay in my home. I'm nice to you. You don't deserve it, but I am. I let you kiss me. Then, after all that, you just don't talk about it ever again? What's wrong with you-besides the obvious?"
He looks at me, eyes unreadable. I wait patiently for his response, intrigued to hear his excuse.
"You are stupid."
He gets up off the table and storms out of the cafeteria.
I laugh, disappointed-not with him but with myself-that I ever expected something else, like a genuine apology.
I look at the watch on my wrist, curious as to why I hadn't been able to find my bracelet. Come to think of it, everytime Vance slept over a piece of jewelry seemed to go missing.
After school, I walk home again. I stop by the Grab N' Go to grab a snack. I hand the employee behind the counter my cash. Vance is playing pinball in the corner. I avoid him and he doesn't even notice I'm there. I wonder where he gets the money to play, considering he has no job-that I know of-or a home.
I pass the pawn shop on the way to my street. I notice something familiar in the window. I stop and peer at the object.
My bracelet. Sitting in the window of the pawn shop. Next to it, my silver chain necklace. On a rack full of rings, the ring Mom got me for my birthday.
All of my jewelry that I'd noticed had gone missing, sitting in the pawn shop. I stare for a full minute before barging inside, ignoring the Be Back in Five Minutes! sign hanging on the door.
I ring the little bell on the front counter ten times. A middle-aged man comes out the back. "Didn't you see the sign, kid? What d'you want?"
I jerk my thumb to the window. "The jewelry. Who brought it in."
"Be more specific."
"The gold bracelet with the diamonds along the sides. The rose-gold ring with the pretty little flower. The silver chain!" I'm nearly shouting.
"That's confidential."
"Damn you and your confidential bullshit! That's all mine, I need to know who brought it in."
"Some kid with blonde hair. Blue eyes. Real angry, came barging in, nearly broke the door."
Of course. It all makes sense.
I want to scream. I bust out of the shop, nearly breaking the door a second time.
He is such a dick. More than that. There isn't a word in the english language to describe him, the fucking thief. I stomp, angrily, back into the Grab N' Go. I run right up behind him and give him a good shove. The pinball game rings once and he turns around, angry at the person who'd just interrupted him. He has his fist raised.
"You stole from me?! On top of completely being a fucking... dickwad?! This is... what the fuck?!" I shout in his face.
His face freezes. "What?"
"I fucking saw them. In the pawn shop. You really have no fucking..." My throat gets stuck on words. "...you're a greedy, selfish bitch!"
"No, I don't... I never-"
"Don't lie to me!" I yell, shoving his chest hard, once more. Everyone in the shop is staring, but I don't pay attention to them, instead focus on the pathetic boy in front of me.
"Don't-" shove. "-lie-" shove. "-to-" shove. "-me!-".
"Can we not do this here?" He murmurs.
"I thought we were good! I thought we were friends!"
"Oh, yeah?!" He's raising his voice now, too. "You're the one who said you wanted nothing to do with me. Do not switch this shit up." He shoves a finger in my face.
"I thought we were over that, though!"
"You said you hated me."
"Now, I do. I really do. I meant it last time, but it was just temporary. Now, you can fuck yourself for all eternity. I can't believe I let you trick me into thinking we were good, that we were just fine."
"You've known me for less than a week, calm your tits." He scoffs.
"You did not just pull that card."
"Oh, jesus fuck, Anna. What, so you thought we were friends? That we were fine? That we'd hold hands and skip?"
My eyes burn. He's right. I've known him only for a few days and I've already assumed we were the best of friends. I always do this. I always get comfortable too quickly.
"You're a fucking coward," I spit.
"I am, but at least I acknowedge that fact instead of denying it. You're just as big of a pussy as I am."
"You stole from me," I remind him. "That level of cowardice is unreachable."
"You're too uptight," he groans.
I blink at him in disbelief. Uptight? I'm being too uptight? I let him sleep under my roof while he strutted behind my back.
"You were only ever the slightest bit of nice to me because you needed a place to stay."
"You'r right," he agrees.
"And you hated Bruce because you thought that he would make me realise that he's better than you, more well deserving. You hated him because I would love him and not you. But you never really cared about that, about love, about what I felt. You were just worried that would make me kick you out."
"You're right," he says again.
"You're probably the reason he's gone."
"What?!"
"Yeah. You heard me."
He shakes his head and studies me. "C'mon. You don't actually think I'd really..."
My expression doesn't change. "I'm not that fucking insane!" He shouts.
I cross my arms. He shakes his head again. "Unbelievable. You are unbelievable." With that, he storms out of the store.
I stare at him as he walks out. The pressure of his eyes staring me down is gone, as is my concern for his safety anymore.
I hate Vance and nothing can or will ever change that. Not this time, not anymore.
I hate him with all of my heart.
word count: 1700
a/n any suggestions to add in the next chapter? ++critism is appreciated.