Chapter Five
Annabelle
“I’m really sorry about last night,” my uncle said to me as he drove me to school. “I didn’t want you riding in the car with him. They aren’t people that you should be hanging out with, Annabelle. Not that you are, but I’m just saying.”
“I know,” I said quietly, not wanting to admit that I knew him. Serves him right anyways.
“I still do feel terrible about making you walk. I know it’s not that far, but I still feel bad. I just don’t want you riding in the car with them. My job puts me in danger, but I don’t want to jeopardize you.” He said, rambling on.
“It’s ok.” I said shortly. I didn’t really want to talk about anything. Looking at myself in the mirror in the blind, I saw that I really did have serious bags. Sleep wasn’t something I was getting very much of lately.
“See you after school,” my uncle said, sounding corny as ever. I just walked away, looking straight down at the ground. I didn’t want to be here. Apparently looking down at the ground wasn’t a good thing to do, because I ran right into someone. More like we crashed into each other.
“Sorry,” I heard a familiar voice grumble and I looked to see that it was Ryan. He looked all out of sorts and was being stared at by everyone he walked by. Part of me did feel bad for him even though I didn’t want to.
His gaze lingered on mine for a second which seemed like a second too long. Something was different in that moment; something awkward and very uncomfortable.
“So I’m guessing you heard, right?” Linzie’s voice asked as she walked up behind me.
“What?” I asked, even though I really didn’t care at all.
“Ryan got arrested yesterday! By the police chief! Can you believe that? I have been waiting forever to see that happen.” She continued to ramble on, but I didn’t really want to listen. Everyone had their own struggles. I would know; I lived through mine every day.
“Don’t you agree?” She asked me when she was done ranting and raving. I had no answer for her because I wasn’t really listening.
“I don’t know,” I said, answering her in the only way that I could. “I have to get to class,” I said, just wanting to get away from the awkwardness of talking to people. I would much just rather be alone.
Ryan
I’m not sure how the day passed, but it did. There was no way that I could feel any different. I was screwed. There was no way else to put it.
Going to the library was the last thing I wanted to do. It would have been rather easy just to skip out of it before, but now I couldn’t do that. I had to stay here. I didn’t want to even find out what the punishment would be if I didn’t.
When I walked in, I saw that I was the first one there, other than for Annabelle of course. I stopped at the door when I realized that I could hear the conversation that she was having with the librarian. Why I was really concerned about what they were talking about enough to eavesdrop, I wasn’t really sure.
“I just don’t really feel well,” Annabelle said, her face expressionless.
“I really am sorry to hear that, but I need you here. So many people are just leaving because of, well, the incident.”
“What do you mean?”
“We just have a situation with one student that some of the parents don’t want their kids around, so they removed them from this form of punishment and to another. I know your uncle is full well aware so I’m not worried that you will leave,” she said, smiling and giving a pat on Annabelle’s shoulder. The look on Annabelle’s face was a look of pure and utter torture.
It was then that I saw people coming down the hallway, so I walked in. Walking over to the cart, I grabbed a stack full of books and started to put them away. The faster I put the books away the sooner I could get out of here.
Annabelle walked past me, but she didn’t give me that look that everyone else had been giving me the whole day.
“Why?” I asked after we walked past each other a couple more times.
“Why what,”
“Why were you there last night?”
“My uncle.” She said, starting to turn away.
“What about him?”
“He’s the police chief.” Her words hit me hard. She was there because of her uncle. He was the one that arrested me.
Annabelle’s gaze lingered on mine. It was the first time that her face actually had some sort of emotion. The way she looked at me was almost as though she felt the same way I did. Just wanted to get out of here, leave and do your own thing with no one else to critize you.
Never had I had I ever opened up to someone. When I was younger, it was something that I was forced to do.
Looking back at the bookshelves, I kept trying to alphabetize the books and put them in the right order or whatever it was that you were supposed to do, but I couldn’t. It honestly felt like my head was spinning. Concentrating on what I was trying to do was not an option. My hands started to shake slightly, so I put them in my pockets and tried to act like this wasn’t happening. What the hell even was happening?
Annabelle
I really thought that I knew how Ryan felt. He was never someone that I would ever talk to, but he didn’t look too awful good at the moment.
I kept debating what I wanted to do, walk over there and be a nice person or just stay comfortably over here where I don’t have to interact with people at all.
The decision was hard, but I was too much of a good person not to go over and talk to him. But then again, he probably didn’t want that. He probably wanted me to leave him alone. At least if he felt anything like I did he wouldn’t want people all around him.
When I looked over at him, I saw that he was shaking and it was getting worse and worse as I watched on. There was no way that I could just stand here and watch him go through whatever he was going through. People were going to start to stare, and that was the last thing that he needed.
I walked over to him and his eyes were watering really badly. He looked at me with a blank expression. “Ryan?” I asked, not knowing what exactly was wrong with him.
He still looked at me with a blank expression. “Do you want to sit down?” I asked him, but I knew that he wasn’t going to answer. It was only going to be a matter of time before the librarian noticed that something was wrong. I had to get him out of here. Why I cared, I really wasn’t sure. For some reason I felt bad.
I grabbed his forearm and pulled him out one of the back doors, taking us to the court yard. “Ryan? Are you ok?”
He shot me a look of disgust that I was talking to him and replied, “Why do you care?” Yup, he was ok.
Ryan lit a cigarette and I just stood back. I couldn’t be around stuff like that. His hands were still shaking and I looked at him skeptically. What did he think the cigarette was going to do?
“I know, you think I’m just as stupid as your uncle thinks I am. Well guess what? In case you don’t know, I don’t give a shit!” Glaring at him, I walked away, back into the library. Why when I did a good deed for someone it never ended well?
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A/N
So do any of you feel bad for Ryan? I kind of do...How about Annabelle? Do you guys like her? Personally, I think her Uncle is my favorite, but that's just me. He's like my favorite character to write. So let me know what you guys think! I really do want to know! I give dedications to good comments...