"Teresa's POV"
I woke up the next Monday morning with a feeling of anticipation about seeing Henry. Two days had gone by since I've talked to him. I didn't do my normal visits to his house or send him a good morning text, I did nothing but mope around and put my mom in an even more uncomfortable position because when she tried to ask me about what happened, I lost my temper and blew up at her. It was our first fight as daughter and single mother. She had kept her space from me for a while, knowing that was just all I needed.
I lazily dressed for school and walked downstairs as the dim sky started to change its brightness.
Mom had already left for work. The refrigerator held no message like it usually did when she was gone, so she was either still aggravated with me, continuing to give me space, or carrying on her goal of finishing a well overdo photo assignment.
The bus had arrived just on schedule and I somehow made it through homeroom and History. My curiosity on whether or not everyone would be back in school today after the three nights of partying at the Lost and Found were immediately answered as Lola and I had to trample through the crowd of bodies that hovered in the hallway on our way to our lockers.
By the time that I had gotten what I needed, it only seemed like the traffic got worst. I was sickly bothered of fending off jocks with shoulders wider than my entire body. Why did they find it crucial to mimic a fight, or throw a football just inches above everyone's head?
When Lola and I had finally found our ways to the lunchroom, my already threating bubble had burst when me eyes landed on Henry who was seated with the jockeys, including Hallie. In the afternoon, when the hallways were packed with people trying to make it on time to their classes, their group would be the one in everybody's way. They would stand there, in a gigantic circle talking and horse-playing and goofing around. Teacher didn't bother trying to get them to keep moving, because they wouldn't listen.
I hadn't realized that I was staring until icy blue eyes had met mine. Hallie titled her head to the side like she always did, her blonde hair was in it's legendary style. She furrowed her eyebrows together and looked back at Henry, she grabbed his face and pulled in, landing her lips on his. I had wondered when she would realize I wasn't trying to play hooky with Henry. He was my friend, and that was all he would ever be.
Lola progressed onto her story about her mother, but I had only started to tune in. "Caleb was kind of upset that you left so early." Lola changed the subject once we entered the lunch line. I snatched the last tray from the ben as I continued to follow the decreasing line.
"I'll explain happened when we get to the table." I mumbled closely to Lola's ear.
I had made an attempt at trying to go a different way without passing Henry, but it was basically impossible. I kept close by Lola side as we grazed passed his table. I could feel his eyes on me, but I promised myself I wouldn't look. Right as we were about to make the rest of our journey towards the patio, Hallie's voice rang out into the cafeteria.
"First try at alcohol is always hard. You'll get it next time Teresa." Hallie smirked as she had switched positions onto Henry's lap. Lola and I both turned around as we were met with an echo of laugher. Henry didn't laugh though, but he did keep quiet. I felt my chest pull in tighter to my body and my heart ring out. Lola gripped onto my forearm and lead me out onto the patio.
"What was that all about?" Lola asked once we were seated.
"What was what all about?" Caleb looked between the two of us, his eyebrows furrowed in curiosity.
"Remember last Friday on way I left so early?" I started.
Both Caleb and Lola nodded. "Henry's friends put vodka in a drink that he offered me." I looked down into my hands as I spoke. My appetite had clearly gone away.
"What?!" They both dropped the food they were eating and looked up at me with worried faces.
"Are you okay?" Lola said, reaching for my hand. "Why would you take a drink from those assholes?" Caleb questioned me at the same time.
" I thought it was just some weird drink they wanted me to taste and I was so stupid and vulnerable enough to take." I played with the strand of hair that fell out of my ponytail. "I was stupid enough to believe in Henry, but I always had, but I never will again."
Lola's face was engulfed in a fury red, "SO Henry told my chica to drink the drink even though he knew something was wrong with it?" She asked she used her point finger to take out her frustration.
I nodded my had. "Desearía que nunca hubiera hecho eso cuando termine -." She continued to angrily speak in Spanish as she shot up from her seat and stormed off into the cafeteria.
"I got it." Caleb followed after her, picking her up in his arms just seconds away before she got there. Caleb carried her out, but she was still kicking and asking him to let go.
"Don't Lola, what is done is done." Caleb dropped Lola back onto the ground.
"I'm done with him Lola, for good." I assured her, she side glanced at me, taking back her seat.
"No, you're not. You're mad at him today, but in a few weeks, you'll be back to being bestie with that perra again." Lola huffed. She avoided my eye contact throughout the rest of lunch. She was right. As much as I wasn't ready to admit it, Henry and I would figure this out. I didn't want to completely exit his life because of his trust in me. He trusted that I would help find his mom and that was exactly what I wanted to do.
***
I stabbed at my pork chop and stared at it as it hung loose on my fork.
Why can't you leave my mind? I thought. I took a small nibble of my pork chop.
"Not hungry honey?" My mom asked, as she was in the middle of slicing hers up. She had cut her hair shortly before dinner. It made her look a lot older and tripped me out every time I looked up at her.
"Fine, just not hungry." I replied, plopping my food back on the plate. My mom and I were just starting to get over our argument on Friday. She had thought that I had now had enough space and was ready for me to fess up.
"What ever happened on Friday before I picked you up?" It felt like my mom was poking my side with hot metal, trying to get the words out of me.
"I told you mom, me and Lola had gotten into it and that was all." I lied. I rather it be that than telling her that her daughter had drank her first sip of vodka.
"Okay." She huffed. I could hear her shaking her head as she gave up on trying to talk to me.
The chime of the doorbell had held off the lecture I felt my mom was about to preach. "I've got it." I said. I grabbed the napkin off my lap and wiped my mouth. I didn't even consider who could be at the door, but instead I open it with no thought at all.
Henry.
His hair was curly, and he was dressed in different clothing. His eyes stared back into mine, giving me one of his famous pearly smile.
"Hey." He spoke, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Hey." I hesitated. A chilly wind had blown from behind Henry, sending a shiver down my spine. Henry was the last person I wanted to see after the stunt he pulled on Friday and not stopping his girlfriend from humiliating me today in lunch.
"May I come in?" It was like his voice had an automatic yes to any question he asked me. I didn't want to say yes, I wanted to shout at him, bash him for what he did, but instead it was a simple yes.
"Who is it?" My mom walked from around the corner, curious to who it was. When Henry's image was viewed in front of her she gasped. "Henry! It is so nice to see you!" Mom chuckled, going in for a hug. "Nice to finally see you too Ms. Glaser." He grinned.
"You have grown into a handsome young man-" I interrupted my mom before she said anymore.
"Okay mom." I rolled my eyes. "Okay." She waved to Henry before making her way back to the kitchen.
I folded my arms in front of me. Henry stood there a minute before speaking. "Can we go up to you room?" He asked. I sighed before we made our way up the stairs.
"Nice." He complimented as he looked around. "Sit." I command. He nodded his head as he sat on the edge of my bed.
"Don't beat around the bushes, why are you here?" I made sure to keep a strong guard up, I didn't want him thinking that I'd forgive him with a simple sorry.
"I know what I did was wrong, but you knew my problem and what I had warned you."
"Your problem was that you needed to change, not be a jerk." I corrected him.
"But I warned you that my friends would make fun of you and that there wasn't going to be anything I could do, but you still manage to get in the way. Why did you walk over to us?"
"Lola pushed me to do it and I wanted to say hi to a friend."
Henry put his head into his hands, "Teresa you've got to understand-"I interrupted him in the middle of his sentence.
"No, you need to understand! I might not be going through the same things you are, but I know that fitting in isn't as important as you think it is. There's more to life than everyone knowing your name!"
"Not in high school there isn't." He told me. "Here, you're either rich or popular, if you aren't one of those than, you're nothing."
"Lola and Caleb are amazing people, and I'm so lucky to have found them! They aren't walking around popular or shoving cash in people's faces, they just are who they are and I'm perfectly fine with it!" I shook my head.
"You're perfectly fine with it, but not my dad, not Carol or my step-sisters! If I were the brainy, nerdy kid I was, nobody would except me! And I didn't think those things mattered until Jose died, and then they were all I got, and I didn't want to end up completely alone." He finished. "Me still being the shy kid I was, I wouldn't survive here."
"There are worst things that could happen than being labeled brainy, or nerdy." I argued.
"Believe me, Teresa. Name-calling is just 25% of what they would do to me." He said.
Henry opened his mouth to speak, but words never came out. "Henry talk to me." I spoke, taking a seat beside him on my bed.
"Talk about what?" He looked up at me, and for the first time I felt the frustration that Henry carried on his back.
"Why you're so angry?" I softly spoke. He jaw clenched. "Because life isn't fair." He admitted to me. He cast his eyes down at his hands, not wanting to meet my gaze.
"A lot of people think life isn't fair, Henry."
"But most people didn't witness the only person they had last, left them alone in this world to fend for themselves." He admitted what was hurting him so much. I soften my gaze. The death of his brother still weight on him to as well. He wanted to be over it, but a death like that was hard to find rid of.
I slipped my hand in between his, "Henry," I whispered.
His lips started to quiver. He tried to stay in control, but he was powerless compared to the emotions he kept bottled up.
I squeezed his hand tighter as he fell against me, crying onto my lap. I stroked his hair as he continued to cry all the bottled up emotions he had kept in for the last three years.
"I'm sorry." He pulled away from me, wiping at his eyes.
"It's fine Henry." I assured him.
"I don't know why I broke down on you like that. I've been trying my hardest to suck up and fake like his death didn't happen."
"Do your friends know what happened to your brother?"
"No." Henry shook his head and then laughed. "Doesn't say much about our friendship does it?"
Why don't you tell them?"
"Because I want to fit in. I don't want to be the guy everybody has to feel sorry for."
"I mean, no, they would hopefully comfort you and make you feel more at home."
"No," He continued, "They would feel sorry for me because my brother died. They wouldn't know how to act, just like if I stayed the way I was. People say, 'be yourself and people will love you more', but in all honesty it is the people with the bigger reputation and the higher popularity that are really accepted."
I put my hand onto Henry's again which was balled into a fist. His skin was rough, but felt soft, like he played a lot in the dirt, or field.
Henry looked up at me, his chocolate brown eyes seemed more detailed as I sat close.
"I'm here Henry, you can talk to me." I reassured him. It was silent for a moment.
"Growing up, we had everything," he began. "I had great friends and went on amazing trips. My dad has so much money, it's like he has a bottomless pit of cash sitting in the back of his closet. I had an amazing family and did amazing things until my dad decided to screw it all up." He continued.
"I went to this really big private school, Andy Rosemarie, before transferring to Lovelorn. Me and Jose both went there, it was a prodigy school for both middle school and high school. People there were smart, had talents that you wouldn't believe a kid that age would have; but my dad got a transfer and we had to move. I remembered being so mad at him because I had a fine life there, it wasn't perfect, but it was damn sure was better than where I go now. " Henry softly stroked my thumb as it was still placed on his hand.
"This kid at the old school even told me how bad Lovelorn is. He said he went there and had to move back to Andy Rosemarie because it was so bad." He explained.
"Why was it so bad for him?" I asked.
"People didn't except who he was. They said that they called him gay, faggot; just for being in theatre. They did the worst when he took a shower and they ran away with his clothes. He had to walk around the entire school in just a towel, ended up everywhere the next day." He explained.
I shook my head. What type of human being would do unusual punishments on such innocent people?
"He contemplated suicide, and he would've went through with it if it wasn't for his mom job transfer." Henry stared down at our intertwined hands, but I focused on his structure.
"Being at Lovelorn has changed me, I know it has. I'm not the same anymore. I've become a bully to fit in." He closed his eyes and sighed.
"I joined Lovelorn, and I guess, now that I really hear myself talk, I transformed into a new person out of fear of the cruelty of what others would do, and how my new family would think of me. I stopped reading books, stop working hard in school, and became something that I promise myself I wouldn't." He finished.
"So, no one at Lovelorn knows that you went to Andy Rosemarie?" I asked.
"Nope, not a clue," Henry clarified.
"Going back to Lola and Caleb, they haven't been bullied from where I can tell. Why is that?"
"Lola is athletic, so she automatically gets a free card and the entire school goes out to here Caleb and his band play, so nobody really messes with him."
"Well, all I can say is that hanging out with them is the best feeling." I smile. He smiled back.
"If you ever need to talk, I'm always here." I reminded him. I gave him a side hug as I laid my head on his shoulder. He shifted on the bed to hug me better, wrapping both of his arms around my waist. "Thanks." He whispered in my ear.
You're so welcomed. I thought.
AUTHORS NOTE
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HEY GUYS!!!! Thanks for reading!! Hope you liked this part. Don't have much to say :|
QOTC: "Life isn't about finding yourself, Life is about creating yourself."
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