Elizabeth's POV
My blood sugar was back to normal, but neither one of us moved. It's like we were afraid to break the silence. After sitting there for what felt like an eternity, Chris and Jackson walked in. We both quickly got up off the floor just as they walked into the kitchen.
Chris raised his eyebrow at us, "Hey Tanner, watcha doing here?"
"Liz went low and called me needing help."
"I called you?" I don't remember calling him. I thought I called Chris.
"Yeah.."
"Oh, I was trying to call Chris. I guess that explains why you showed up and Chris didn't bust down the door in a panic."
There was an awkward silence as everyone just stared at each other.
"Okay well I'm going to order pizza for dinner." Chris said.
Tanner's POV
Dinner was beyond awkward. Jackson kept glaring at me while Chris was lost in his own thoughts. Liz had decided to go back up to her room to eat. I still can't believe that Jackson was best friends with Liz's brother. I'm Jackson's new neighbor and I'm so glad my mom made me go next door and introduce myself. As horribly embarrassing it is to be 17 years old and introducing yourself to your new neighbor, I felt like a 5 year old, it managed to put Liz back in my life. Thankfully I had driven myself to Chris' house. I couldn't take the awkwardness any longer, so I decided to leave.
"I have some homework to do, so I'll see you guys later." I said while standing up. "Thanks for dinner Chris."
"No problem man, it's good to have a new face around here. Come by anytime."
Once I got home, I tried my hardest to concentrate on my homework, but that wasn't happening. I couldn't stop thinking about Liz. Something bad happened at her appointment last week and I had to figure out what it was. As creepy and obsessive as that sounds, I know what she's going through. Being diabetic is complete hell and listening to people who don't have it talk to you like they know what it's like is horrible. Like Liz, I was diagnosed at a very, very, young age. Everyone's battle is different -
My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on my door. "Who is it?"
"It's me."
"Come on in." I look up from my desk and see Jackson leaning against my doorframe.
"You need to stay away from her."
I looked at him with a confused expression. "What?"
"You need to stay away from Lizzy."
"And why would I do that?"
"Look, I don't know who you think you are. You've only been here a few weeks and getting on me or Chris' bad side will not help you make friends. Lizzy's special, she's not like normal girls, okay. I don't know what makes you think that you can just strut into town and get all cozy with her, but you need to stop."
"You like her." I deadpanned. I've picked up on his constant teasing, the way he looks at her, and the way his eyes brighten when she comes in the room. Wow, I sound like a girl.
"That's not the fact. The fact is, that you need to stay away from her." He stated before turning and leaving.
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Elizabeth's POV
The next few days Chris continued to bug me to tell him what happened at my appointment. I was still moping around and not really talking to anyone. Jackson and Tanner would even try to get me to talk, but I still wouldn't. It was weird though, Jackson and Tanner wouldn't come at the same time. They did once and I thought someone was going to lose their head. The tension in the air could've killed. It's about 4:30 in the afternoon and my stomach was demanding food, so I was sneaking out of my room to get some. Sadly, my attempt to not be seen failed. Chris had all his friends over, like always. It was Jackson that saw me first. He's been pretty friendly lately and it's creeping me out. Jackson came into the kitchen while I was making a cheese quesadilla.
"Hey Lizzy."
"Hi Jackson."
"Soooo, how's life been up in Lizzy Land?" Jackson starting calling my room Lizzy Land when I refused to leave.
"Just peachy." I said while punching some numbers in on the microwave. 30 more seconds and I would be back in the safety of my room.
What he did next, I never would've thought he would do. He walked up behind me, and hugged me.
"Jackson let me go." I groaned.
"Nope, not until you tell me what's wrong."
I tensed at his words. No one knew yet. "I'm not telling you so please leave me alone." I said through gritted teeth.
"No can do."
I stood there awkwardly in his arms trying to think of a plan. Then it hit me; do what every girl is told to when in trouble.
In once swift movement, my heel connected with Jackson's no-no zone and he was on the ground.
"WHAT THE -" He couldn't even talk he was in so much pain. Ha, take that.
"I told you to let go of me." I said matter-of-factly.
The sounds of his pain caused the other guys to come into the kitchen. That was my sign to leave. Thankfully, I managed to escape before the other saw me.
"Dude, what the hell are you doing on the floor?" I heard Chris say.
"You're sister has very boney heels." He said with some struggle.
I chuckled and returned to Lizzy Land, as Jackson calls it.
About 15 minutes later, someone was pounding on my door.
"Open the door." Ugh, it was Jackson.
"No can do."
"If you don't open the door, I will break it down."
Who is he, my father? I ignored him and continued watching TV. The next thing I know, my door flies open and there stands and angry Jackson. Hooray.
"What."
"Don't 'what' me Elizabeth." Oh shit, he used my full name.
"Don't tell me what to do." The look on his face told me that I pushed him too far. I've only seen him this mad when someone insults his family.
He began to shout at me. "YOU HAVE TO STOP THIS. IT'S BEEN TWO WEEKS AND YOU'RE SHUTTING OUT EVERYONE WHO CARES ABOUT YOU. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO -"
"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH AND EVEN IF I TOLD YOU, YOU STILL WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND, OKAY. SO PLEASE JUST LEAVE ME ALONE."
At this point Tanner and Chris had joined us.
"I CAN'T EVEN BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND BECAUSE YOU WON'T TALK TO ANYONE"
"SO WHAT?! IF I TOLD YOU, OR ANYONE, IT WOULD ONLY MAKE IT WORSE - "
"HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT? WE CARE ABOUT YOU AND WE WANT TO HELP YOU, BUT DAMN IT YOU WON'T LET US!"
"BOTH OF YOU STOP YELLING!" The yelling stops as we both look at Chris. "Now, I don't know why you're shutting us out Lizzie, but I have to agree with Jackson on this one. We just want to help you, but you have to let us in. We're here for you. You don't have to go through this alone."
"I don't want or need any sympathy, okay. You guys wouldn't understand and don't understand so please just leave me alone!!" I push past the guys and storm out of the house. I start walking and just keep going until I reach my secret spot. I found this spot when I was little. It's a little cave type area that's just a few minutes into the woods by the neighborhood park. No one knows about this place, but me.
I sit here for hours, just staring off into space. I've thought about a lot of things and cleared my mind a little bit.
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At some point I fell asleep. I wake up and it's now pitch black outside. I walk out of the cave a little bit, but it's too dark to try and find my way back. I swallow the panic that's building inside me. I check my pockets and thankfully I grabbed my phone before I left. I have a ton of missed calls and texts from everybody. I look at the time to discover that its 3:14am. I've been gone for hours. I use the flashlight app on my phone to navigate my way out of the woods. Karma must really be out to get me because my phone dies and now I'm stuck in the middle of the woods.
"If only there was a full moon tonight." I think out-loud. I stand there and debate on whether or not I should try to keep going or just stay where I am until sunrise. In the middle of my debate, I see a light. It's pretty far away, but there's someone or something out there. I decide to start walking towards it. It's not as far as I thought, and pretty soon I find myself standing back at my secret hideout. Standing in the entrance to the cave, is the one and only Tanner.
"Hey."
"I didn't know that you knew about this place."
"Of course I do, well sorta. You told me all about it one day at the study. I walked all around the neighborhood trying to find you when I remembered about this cave in the woods you told me about."
"That was so long ago. I can't believe how much you remember."
"I've never forgotten about you, Liz."
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Soooo I finally posted another chapter. I feel like this story kinda sucks, but it's my first one so oh well, i'll learn eventually