A strong voice boomed from behind me and the sound of fist hitting skin came almost immediately after. Except the receiver of the impact was Derek.
"DON'T EVER HIT MY FRIEND! I WILL BEAT YOU UP JUST LIKE IN THIRD GRADE! AND DON'T TEST ME BECAUSE WE BOTH KNOW MY HAIR ISN'T RED FOR MY BUBBLY PERSONALITY! IT REPRESENTS THE BLOOD OF MY FALLEN ENEMIES!"
I could not help but stifle a short outburst of quick laughs as Marren slapped Derek's face from right to left throwing insults and threats towards him.
"WANT ME TO KEEP GOING? YES? MY PLEASURE!" Marren screamed once more this time gifting him with a full throttle punch to the nose. And with a loud crack, I can only assume she broke it on impact.
Derek yelped from the pain. I winced myself knowing the feeling of utmost pain caused by broken bones.
I wanted to say something. Even a simple, 'yeah what she said!', but nothing came out of my mouth. Besides, my voice would never too the strength and magnitude of Marren's
"So this was a little game huh? Something fun for you and your jerk of a friend? Well let me get something straight with you. LIFE IS NOT A VIDEO GAME AND WE ARE NOT YOUR PERSONAL SIMS. IF YOU WANT A GAME GO BUY YOURSELF A WII!" Marren delivered Derek one last kick to the family jewels. He doubled over in pain reaching a state I had never seen of his.
"I-I-I'm sorry!" He cried out to Marren.
"Sorry ain't cutting it pretty boy- well- boy. Besides I am the last person you should be apologizing to." She spat.
"Peyton I-"
"Uh uh uh. You are not allowed to speak to her. Don't even look at her. Don't even blink in her general direction or even breath the same air as her. Come on Peyton, I'm taking you home." Marren whirled around in a fit of anger and gently laid her hands on my shoulders, guiding me away from the scene.
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She walked us all the way back to my house never breaking the side hug she had formed between us. No words were spoken because I didn't know what or how to say anything. Together we simply enjoyed the gentle breeze that brushed our skin and swept through our hair.
As we came up to the driveway I turned to say something, anything. "Marren, I need to apologize." I mumbled tears beginning to well up in my eyes.
"No." She replied softly pulling me into a tight hug. "You don't need to say anything."
"No I do! I was selfish. I got all caught up in drama and boys and myself and wasn't there for you. And I was so stupid that I only realized what I had done, or had not done, when you left. I did exactly what I have spent my entire life trying not to do. I'm sorry." I tried my hardest to give a heartfelt apology without crying.
Marren's eyes softened as she smiled at me. "Pey, none of this is your fault. You did nothing wrong. You didn't get caught up in drama. You just got caught up in life. There is no one, I repeat no one in this entire universe who can live a drama free life. Life is drama. Life is pain, life is deception, but life is also learning and happiness and cake. And maybe a few fanfictions, but all lives differ I guess. I think we both knew you couldn't escape life forever. One day you were sure to fall away from moseying your way around life's struggles. Besides I am the one who got you into this whole mess anyways. You were perfectly fine with leaving it be until I proposed our little Sherlock Holmes scheme! And I only left because that pig lied to me. And I came back, because you are my best friend. And best friends stick together. It's kind of like a marriage. We can fight, argue, plan each other assassinations, and mistakenly higher an assassin, but in the end, we will still write each other some butt kicking eulogies. If anything, I'm the one who should be sorry." Marren pinched my cheeks like a grandmother and laughed. "Now cheer up buttercup and let's eat some popcorn and cry over titanic!"
We walked inside smiling, my family all greeting Marren like she was the return of lost dog. I did not leave her side for the entire afternoon knowing I had plenty of lost Marren time to catch up on.
I made sure to ask how she was. I asked about her parents, what she had been up to and she returned the questions. Then together as the best friends we are, we made a dart board with Luke and Derek's faces and learned how to play darts like professionals. By the end of the night we decided we could beat every man in a pub at the game.
"So Marren," I turned to her as I read in one of my textbooks, "how are you going to end your story?"
"My what?" She asked pinning her hair up in a bun using a nearby pencil.
"The one you were writing about me and Mr. dartboard face?"
"Oh that one. I was thinking about ending it with a tragic death. Kind of like a Romeo Juliet situation. Except, only Romeo dies and Juliet kills him. And then Juliet lives happily ever after free to parade around the town knowing she is a free women!" Marren announced excitedly.
"I approve!" I laughed attempting the pencil bun myself, but as usual failing miserably.
"I missed you Marren."
"I would miss me too."
"Conceited much?"
"Jealous you aren't me much?"
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With life practically back to normal, Marren and I cruised through finals week reaching the end of senior year. I graduated valedictorian of my class and delivered a short but sweet speech wanting to get down from the podium in the quickest amount of time humanly possible. My speech itself consisted of some brain and mind facts and horrible puns that only a few people understood. All in all, a successful graduation speech.
Through the ceremony I felt eyes following my every move.
I noticed Derek a few times with a bandage on his nose looking behind him constantly out of paranoia most likely keeping an eye out for a certain red headed beauty.
The feeling of constant watching continued to follow.
During the after party Marren told me that her parents finally divorced. Her mother moved across counrty leaving her and her dad alone. She told me she decided to move in with her grandmother permanently fearing the worst from her dad who was not taking the divorce lightly in terms of alcoholic intake and abusive behavior.
And this time, I listened. Knowing all too well she would most likely spend the majority of time living in the Stiller household.
Later as I walked to the car with my family I spotted a figure standing in the auditorium doorway watching me as I walked away.
I stopped for a single moment to return the gaze. Soft eyes and a lonesome smile looked back at me almost pleading for me to walk over and say hello just once more.
I shook my head softly and continued to walk alongside my siblings.
If I wanted my life to stay in this happy state, I couldn't give in to Luke's alluring gestures. I would not be able to recover from another hard fall.
I never saw or heard from him for a while. But in the back of my mind a single thought floated around. It came to me as I slept. It pestered me as I cleaned and read and cooked. I couldn't escape it. I read and researched answers and tactics in blocking thoughts like this. But out of all my knowledge and all my research, I seemed to not find a single scientist's findings or research papers that could fully explain to me-
The science of love.
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I KNOW OKAY!
Almost two months of nothing and I am so sorry! More sorry than I ever could be! Here you all are reading a supporting and I cannot even even give you another chapter!
Basically what was happening was I would write this chapter and the next time I went on to write or even publish it to wattpad- it was gone. Deleted. I even emailed wattpad to help me figure out the problem but we could not find any!
Anyways here it is! A little short I know but this is the second to last chapter. IT'S ALMOST OVER AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF! This chapter was basically just summing up a few things almost like a quick summary of events that were occurring (a time lapse chapter) The next chapter will take place a few months later and I am going to be honest - you are all going to be either shocked or really happy!
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and any other great holidays you celebrate or you know, hey happy time off to all those who don't celebrate!
AND HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I will try to not make the next wait as long and will hopefully start writing tonight as I wait for my town as well as New York to drop the ball at midnight!
As always, comment, vote, follow, and enjoy! ~El