Elena's POV
Class ended quite fast today. We were starting on a new project so Ms. Tillker talked to us about it and then for the rest of the period, she let us chill and relax. Most of the class was talking. I didn’t even bother wondering what Drew would do other than stare holes into my head. If he had destructive laser beams shooting out of his eyes, I would definitely be burning.
I didn’t know what to do so I decided to read a book. Besides I rather read an interesting book than stare into space.
A few minutes later, I could see Drew playing on his phone from the corner of my eyes. I let out a sigh when he finally stopped staring but even though Drew wasn’t staring at me anymore, I felt hatred radiating off of him. It wasn’t a nice feeling.
The bell rang and this time, it was me who jumped out of the seat and walked out of the classroom. Fast.
It was the end of the school day. It felt good to walk out of the school. Away from people who seem to hate you but you don’t know them at all. Away from people who accused me for Jamie’s death. Now, that made me struggle and it hurt me a bit but I didn’t let them get to my head.
I walked outside towards Liam’s car. I was looking around the parking lot for his grayish silver Honda Accord. On my oh so lovely adventure, I wandered around the parking lot probably looking like an old lost lady that had no clue where she was. Well, maybe not the old part, because I have nothing against old people. I love my grandparents.
Someone shoved past me, causing me to almost trip and do a face plant on the floor. When I steadied myself, I realized that it was Drew who pushed, I mean shoved pass me.
A wave of anger swept past me. I had no idea why but I was so mad. Was it the fact that he pushed me and never said sorry or was it because he seemed to hate me even though I did nothing to him? It was probably the latter.
What was his problem anyway? I then decided to yell at him which wasn’t exactly the best choice.
“What the hell is your problem!?” I screamed causing heads to turn around and unwanted attention. I was far too mad to notice this though. I usually let things like this go but as much as I don’t want to admit it, today wasn’t a great day. It was enough that Drew was staring at me hatefully but then when I walk in the hallways, even the people that are usually friendly to me had given me glares.
He turned around, annoyed. “What?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know.” I spat out.
“I don’t know.” I had expected him to at least sound a bit annoyed but he recollected himself and his voice came out surprisingly calm.
But that wasn’t my point. What was wrong him anyway? He stared back at me with such a bored gaze that it was getting me really annoyed.
A few seconds later which felt like minutes, he was still staring back at me with that same bored look and I was getting to the point where my blood was boiling and I was shaking with anger. He really got on my nerves.
I broke the silence. “Explain to me why you look at me like you hate me. I try to be nice and you ignore me. And now, you’re shoving past me?”
“I have my reasons.”
I scoffed. “You have your reasons? What reasons could you possibly have when you just came here? You don’t even know me.”
“No. you’re right. I don’t know you but I know something that makes me hate you.”
“What huh? Tell me a reason why you hate me.” I demanded, raising my voice a little.
“No. I don’t need to tell you anything,” He walked closer to me. “You may look innocent but you and I and I’m sure the rest of the school know what you did and that makes me hate you.” He said looking into my eyes with such disgust, I don’t think anyone has ever looked at me like that before.
He took a step back and what he said had just registered in my head. Anger bursted all over me. I don’t deserve to be treated like this. Hell, I don’t think anyone deserved to be treated like this. He doesn’t even know me but already hates me? I know what he was talking about. He thought that I was the one who killed Jamie. Sure I was really angry with him but I was really hurt. He didn’t know me so he thought that I killed Jamie. What about my other friends? Would they hate me too? The thought of this upset me.
“Why?” I whispered feeling defeated. I knew why he hated me but I wanted to know why he would think that without knowing my side of the story.
“Because you killed someone.”
By this time, a lot of people were gathering around us.
My jaw dropped because I didn’t expect him to say it so bluntly, and so straightforward since he was beating around the bush saying “you know what you did.”
Some cheerleader came up to me.
I think her name was Maggie or something. I recognized her since Jamie was on the cheerleading team. Jamie didn’t like her much since she was one of those snobby people that thought that she could always get what she wanted.
“You took Jamie’s life. You killed her.” She said emphasizing on the “you” part.
I was going to yell at her to tell her to stay out of this but then Drew stepped in.
“I hate people like you.”
Drew's POV
I got out of art class. Mad. How can she act as if nothing happened. As if she did nothing at all.
I went to the parking lot to get my car. That’s when I saw her. I shoved right past her not caring about what she thinks. I had enough with her little attitude, acting like nothing was wrong and she didn’t take someone’s life away.
“What the hell is your problem!?”
“What?” I said back kind of annoyed. I didn’t expect her to scream back at me. I didn’t really want to argue with her because I had to get home.
She didn’t seem to let this go that easily though. “Don’t act like you don’t know.”
“I don’t know.” I answered clueless, pretending like nothing just happened. I knew that it would anger her if I acted like I did nothing wrong. You may think that I was acting like a jerk but my day was going nice before I met her.
“Explain to me why you look at me like you hate me. I try to be nice and you ignore me. And now, you’re shoving past me?”
Ha, be nice yeah right. “I have my reasons.”
“You have your reasons? What reasons could you possibly have when you just came here? You don’t even know me.”
“No. you’re right. I don’t know you but I know something that makes me hate you.”
She raised her voice. “What huh? Tell me a reason why you hate me.”
“No. I don’t need to tell you anything,” I walked up to her and looked at her with the most hatred and disgust I could gather. “You may look innocent but you and I and I’m sure the rest of the school know what you did and that makes me hate you.”
At first, anger was swimming through her eyes but then it just filled with hurt. “Why?” She asked me softly. I felt a little bad but that didn’t stop me from what I was going to say. She should feel guilty about it. Not walking around the school as if nothing happened.
“Because you killed someone.”
Some cheerleader then came up out of nowhere.
“You took Jamie’s life. You killed her.”
I stepped up and said the words that were in my head since I met her.
“I hate people like you.”
That’s when Elena broke into tears and I saw her run.
A part of me told me that I was too harsh.
Another part of me told me that I did the right thing.
For all I know, I was feeling something, a really strong nagging feeling in my heart.
Guilt.
Elena's POV
I saw Liam running towards me. I wanted to go home. I wanted him to make my day better. I wanted him to tell me something that would make me laugh. I wanted the pain to go away.
Before I said anything, he told me to wait. I stood there still crying as I saw him disappear into the crowd that I just came out of.
Liam's POV
I was leaning against my car wondering what took Elena so long.
I was just going to text her when I saw her crying and running out from a gathering crowd.
Something was wrong. I knew it.
I ran towards her. Actually, I was heading to the crowd from where she came from. I knew what happened. It was probably some jerks that accused her of killing Jamie. I told most of them the real story after the accident but some people just didn’t believe me.
Elena was right in front of me trying to say something but when she opened her mouth, I told her to wait.
Angry, I ran towards the crowd finding the people who accused her.
I saw this boy I didn’t recognize but I knew it was him because he was in the middle and his face was full of guilt.
I punched him straight at the jaw with all I had. I was at rage that he made Elena cry like that. Nobody should hurt her like that. She didn’t deserve it.
“Why did you do that?! Do you even know how much pain she went through after Jamie’s death?! Jamie was her best friend. Her best friend! It was some drunk driver who caused the accident. The drunk driver killed Jamie. Not Elena! Don’t even accuse her if you don’t know anything!”
Shocked faces started to form on people’s faces. Wow, now they believed me because I was angry? The boy’s face was filled with shock even more guilt. I would’ve punched him again but Elena was upset and I needed to soothe her. I ran back to Elena to find her on the floor still crying. My heart hurt when I saw her so torn and upset.
“C’mon, let’s get you home.”
I grabbed her wrist lightly to pull her up and led her to the car.
Elena's POV
Liam was hugging me as I sat on his lap crying. I leaned my head on his chest and my tears soaked his white t-shirt but he didn’t seem to mind since he didn’t say anything.
“I miss her so much!”
“I know Elena. I know. It hurts me to see you like this.” He told me softly while stroking my head.
“Do you think that it was my fault? Tell me the truth Liam.” I said looking up at him with my red puffy eyes. I needed him to tell me the truth.
“No, I don’t. It wasn’t your fault. It was the drunk driver.” I searched his eyes to see if there was any doubt or if he was lying but saw that he was telling the truth.
“I know but what if I slowed down or drove faster? It wouldn’t have happened.” I cried more knowing that I could’ve done something to change what had happened.
“Don’t cry. You didn’t know that it was going to happen. Jamie wouldn’t want to see you like this. She would be upset. You don’t want to make her upset right?”
I shook my head.
“Let’s just get you home okay?” I nodded.
I got up seating myself back on the passenger seat and wiped away my tears. Liam was always there for me no matter what.
“I have no idea what I would do without you.” I whispered so quietly even I had trouble hearing myself. I didn’t hear him say anything so I guess that he didn’t hear me.
A few seconds later, I thought I heard him whisper back “I don’t know either.”
That made me smile even though I wasn’t sure if he actually said it or if I imagined it since I wanted to hear him say it.
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Here's chapter three! I have like 13 total reads now :D. That made me smile a lot! Whoever's reading this, thank you for taking your time and giving my story a chance. Leave a comment?