Its the end of the day and my nerves are getting to me. I sigh and walk to the parking lot to see Art.
"Opal." I turn around and see Jude. "Hey."
"Hi. Is something wrong?" He shrugs.
"I just had a bad feeling about something." My heart stops.
"What was it about?" Jude laughs.
"That's exactly it. I don't know. I guess I just got a bit paranoid about something and got worried about you." I bite my lip. "Are you okay?" I swallow hard.
"Yeah I'm fine. Just going to talk to Art." Jude nods.
"So, you're talking to him again." I nod. "Opal wait up a second." I stop and look up at Jude. "You're a good person. Just-" he swallows hard, "don't let what happened between us and Sam happen again. You're too good for that. Which is why I don't understand why you're even at the school in the first place." I smile.
"Jude, I'll be fine. Whatever happens, happens for a reason. Maybe you should learn to forgive yourself." I hug Jude and pull away with a happy sigh. "Well I'm gonna head off now. I'll see you guys later." Jude nods and walks in the other direction as soon as we get outside. I head to the parking lot and see Oliver in the distance. "Oliver!" He looks over at me with a smile.
"Hey Opal. How are you?" I shrug. "I get ya. I'm the same right now. But you're going over to talk to Art right? I'll walk you over there." I grab his arm.
"Maybe it's not the best thing." Oliver laughs.
"Trust me, it's not going to effect much." He pulls me through the cars and we meet up at Art's bike. "He must be talking to Mr. B or something. Hope you don't mind my company for a bit." I shake my head.
"No I don't mind. I'm just curious as to how you know Art." Oliver smiles.
"You'll find out soon enough." Oliver and o continue to make small talk until he sees Art in the distance. "Your boy is coming." I swallow hard and turn around to see Art with his hands in his pocket, walking towards us.
"Hey." He smiles down at me as he reaches us. I can't help but smile back.
"Hey." Oliver clears his throat and Art sighs.
"Opal, I'm assuming you've met this asshat."
"Rude." I can't help but laugh at Oliver's response.
"Yeah I have. I don't know everything though. How do you know him?" Art looks over at Oliver.
"Oli is my brother." I raise an eyebrow and look between them.
"Biological?" I ask. Art and Oliver both nod. "I don't see it..." Oliver laughs.
"We have the same mom. Different dads." I nod.
"Does anyone else know this?" Art shakes his head.
"Now the secret part." Art sighs. "Oli was the child of his mom and dad but I was the kid of my mom and her rapist." My heart stops.
"What?" I look over at Oli and he nods.
"Art is my brother, our sister and our mom loves him. It was hard on him to accept any of it though." I look over at Art and grab his hand.
"That's why I don't like telling people about my family. It's not because they hate me or gave me away or whatever story people say or lies I told. I couldn't stand the thought of being the abomination-"
"Art stop it." I say cutting him off. "Did you not hear Oliver? He loves you and so does your mom and sister." I hold his hand tighter. "You're not an abomination."
"Art never really told us anything. That's sorta why he's been 'troublesome' I guess you can say." I swallow hard. I need to tell him now....
"Oliver can you give Art and I a minute alone?" Oliver and Art both look at me with questioning gazes.
"Umm... Sure. I'll be over there." He says pointing in several different directions. As he leaves I turn to Art and my heart stops.
"Opal are you okay?" I feel tears forming.
"Not really." He pulls me into a hug. "I just wanna tell you I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?" And as he says that the tears flow. "Opal calm down." He cups my face and wipes a few of my tears.
"You've changed a lot." I manage to whisper out.
"That's because of you. Somehow you make me a better person."
"And that's why I'm afraid to tell you this. You're becoming a good person and I don't want to ruin it for you."
"Opal just spit it out. It's fine."
"We had sex." My heart stops and I turn to see Peter standing behind me. "It was my fault. I don't want you to be mad at Opal." Peter steps closer with his arms to his side. "So I came over to tell you and so you can beat the shit out of me." I look up at Art and see a blank expression.
"Art." He pushes me away and my heart breaks.
"I need to be alone." This didn't sound like Art but the words came out of his mouth. He starts his bike, hops on and speeds off without a helmet.
"Opal-"
"Peter why did you do that?" I ask not turning to look at him.
"Because I was afraid Opal. Art is a dangerous guy." I scoff and turn to Peter.
"He's changing Peter. I could have handled it."
"But what if you couldn't have?" I wipe my tears and shake my head.
"That thought didn't cross my mind because I knew I could have." I walk past Peter to find Oliver. When I finally find him, I pull him away from his friends. "I need your help. Art ran off and I need you to help me find him."
"Ran off? He hasn't ran from anything since he was like 12." He scans my face and grabs my arm to write something down. "I guarantee this is where he will be. Go here, be careful because it's a dangerous place-" he pulls out some cigarettes from his bag and hands them to me, "and give him one of these when you find him." I smile and nod.
"Thanks Oliver." He nods and I run to Tyga.
"Hey girl, what's up?" I catch my breath.
"I need a ride again." Tyga sighs with a smile.
"Am I just your Chauffeur?" I can't help but smile back at her. "Hop in and tell me where to go." I get into Tyga's car and show her the address on my arm and we head off.
~~~
Tyga drops me off at the corner and heads home, I didn't think a place like this existed in New Mexico. It was a large abandoned building overlooking the town. I walk to the front of the building and open the door. "Art?" I walk in and start going up the steps, I take out my phone and use the light from that to see where I'm going. "Art?!" I yell. I continue up the steps until I reach the end of the stairs. I try to open the door but it wouldn't budge. "Come on!" I yell as I try to push it. I kick it out of frustration and it opens. I see Art standing in front of me.
"What are you doing here Opal?" I swallow hard.
"I needed to see you."
"Well I don't want to see you right now." He was ready to close the door when I pulled out the cigarettes. "Oliver told you didn't he?" I stay still just staring at him. "Can you not give me the sad puppy dog eyes?" I look down and I feel Art grab my wrist. He closes the door behind me and walks me over to a camera overlooking the town.
"Oh my god." I get closer to the camera but I get nauseous. "Oh my god." I pull away from Art in a staggering motion.
"Opal be careful!" Art grabs me and pulls me to his chest. "It's dangerous up here." I look up at him and he pushes me against the wall and he walks to the camera. I let him do his thing for a while and when he takes a few puffs of the cigarette I finally speak.
"Art can you talk to me now?" He sighs and looks over at me.
"What do you want me to say Opal. That is literally what-" He stops speaking and turns away.
"What Jessica did." Art leans against the railing. I exhale slowly and walk over to him. I grab his hand and look at him, avoiding the fear of falling around me. "I'm sorry Art. I wish I could say I wanna take it back but I don't want to." Art scoffs and starts to pull his hand away. "Because I did wrong like Jess, but look-" I grab his face. "You didn't hurt me." His gaze softens. "You had every right to hurt me, hurt Peter. But you're changing." Art sighs and grabs my hands from his face and sets them on the railing.
"I want to hurt Peter. Even worse, you being here makes me want to hurt you." My heart aches. "I'm not a good person Opal."
"I don't believe that for a second."
"You don't have to believe it. It's fact."
"Where is it a fact Art? Mr. B and his wife believe in you, your family believes in you... I believe in you. Why is it so hard to believe in yourself?"
"Because I know what I'm capable of." Art looks down and a gust of wind blows causing me to topple over. I grip the railing right but I feel like I'm falling. "Opal!" I look up and see Art holding me. He pulls me away from the edge and we sit on the floor. "Are you crazy?!" I look over at the railing to see its gone. I could have fallen... "You didn't even try to grab onto anything! Are you an idiot?!" I look back up at Art.
"I didn't realize I was falling."
"What?!" I swallow hard.
"I felt like I was falling, but I didn't realize it was actually happening. It was like a dream. My mind was aware but my body wasn't." Art pulls me into a hug.
"You're such a fucking weirdo." I can't help but close my eyes and cry.