Author's Notes: I got some more rviews. Thank you! Okay, here is the drama, about time! Whenever something is underlined, it means another point of view. You know the drill! Read and review!
Chapter 10: Heartbreak Brings Change
I have been pretty happy these past few days after Christmas. I have read halfway through one of the books the nerds gave me, the greasers have taught me how to do an Ollie on my skateboard and a wheelie on my bike, and I have been spending much time with Gary. It was all a perfect time so far. School was back in session, though. That was the only bad news. It was the first Monday back from school and I was still pretty happy. I bet that if I was paid for just smiling, I would be richer than the Harrington family! I was even smiling in math class. I heard Mr. Hattrick was fired last year, but here he is, teaching us on factoring binomials and trinomials. "Miss King, please come to the school office," Ms. Danvers's voice echoed throughout the classroom. Unlike all the other times she had called students to the office, her voice was filled with sadness in a way you could almost feel it. Mr. Hattrick was ticked off that I had to leave. Luckily, I have learned this lesson in eighth grade. He just gave me a small nod that gave me permission to leave. I left hurriedly out of the room and headed straight for the office. When I got in, I saw Ms. Danvers holding the office phone in her hand. "You have a call. It's your dad," she said. She looked a little sad and was giving me a look of sympathy. I took the phone into my hand and held it against my ear. The first thing I hear are the quiet sobs my dad was letting out. "Hello? Dad? What happened? Is everything alright?" I ask. He stops sobbing and finally speaks. "No, everything is not okay." He cried a little bit more. "Your mother…..she is…..she joined your brother." Once that was out he cried even more. I couldn't believe it, but I had to. Dad never cried! I could now see why Ms. Danvers was giving me a sympathetic look. "I'll be picking you up this Friday for the funeral. Goodbye." My dad hung up, leaving me shocked with the news. Ms. Danvers took the phone out of my hand and asked if I was okay. I just wasn't sure how to react to this sad piece of information, but my heart definitely did. I knew because it was now shattered to pieces, never to be put together whole. Sure, you could put most of it back together, but it would be impossible to find those little tiny pieces that actually make a person truly whole. I didn't know what to do. My entire body was doing things on its own, my thoughts not able to tame these actions. So I ran, ran away from the office, ran away from the school, ran away from life in general. It was as if my mom was the only thing keeping me sane, and she was now gone. Her love may be expressed where ever she is, but that doesn't mean I will see it. I could not find any reason to live. The happiness that was once overflowing this morning was now sadness and anger. I found myself near the Vale's pier and ran onto it, not slowing down even if it was a little icy from the recent snowfall. I was planning on ending it by diving into the sub-zero water, but when one foot was in the air above the water, I was grabbed by the wrist and pulled into a person's chest. It didn't take a smartass to know it was Gary. He sat down on one of the benches which made me sit in his lap and cry into his sweater. I couldn't feel a thing. I was once cold when leaving the school into the snowy outside with nothing but a mini skirt, white shirt, black vest, and a scarf to keep me warm, but I was now numb to the feeling of cold, probably to hot too. I could still feel the warmth from Gary somehow, but it didn't matter. I continued to cry into his shoulder thinking the things I promised to never think this year. Life is cruel. Why should I be happy or nice? I won't get what I want back. Cruelty will be the only thing that will bring a grin to my face now. I made a decision from the point I looked into Gary's eyes. I will not be weak in front of you ever again. I will be the shadow of shadows, a follower of hatred, the dark angel of the night. I didn't even have to say it to him. He gave me a look that said he already knew.
Gary
Shortly after Hannah was dismissed out of Math, I sneaked out of class and listened outside of the office. "Hello? Dad? What happened? Is everything alright?" I could hear the strains in Hannah's voice. Whoever she was talking to, it must be pretty rare or drastic. I couldn't really eavesdrop without another school phone. Luckily, I remembered the teacher's lounge phone could possibly pick up the conversation. I ran down the stairs, went to the lounge, and quickly picked up the phone. I first hear the crying of a man. It was probably her dad. "Your mother…..she is…..she joined your brother." I couldn't believe what I heard. Hannah's mother was the only person she was willing to talk about. Her mother dying from pneumonia certainly was not wanted from Hannah. I hung up the phone as quickly as I could after hearing the funeral plans and could hear Hannah's shoes run down the stairs. I followed her with caution and speed. Where is that girl going? She made a turn into the pier and I quickened my pace. She was going to jump. I grabbed her by the wrist when she was so close to going down and pulled her to me. I sat down and let her sit on my lap. I didn't care that she was crying into my sweater. I was more worried for her well being. I wrapped my arms around her and she barely made a movement from my action. It was bad enough this murderer was close by, like twenty miles away, but now she had to deal with her brother's AND mother's loss. I could only imagine what was going through her mind. She stopped crying but kept her head on my chest, most likely in deep thought. She finally looked up into my eyes and I was shocked to what I was seeing. The once peppy blue-eyed, happy girl I used to know was now replaced by a dull grey-eyed, sad girl. I really mean it! Her eyes changed color! Whatever was going through her mind, it was about change. Her emotions were hidden well in her foggy eyes, but I could still see hints of hatred, sadness, and cruelty. This new Hannah will be the exact opposite. Her pranks were now going to be plots of revenge. Her defensive martial arts moves were going to turn to bone-breaking, offensive moves. She would be lucky if she was not sent to Happy Volts. I didn't know what to say, for probably the first time in my life, but she already read me like an open book and understood that I understood her new self. Damn, she is good. She didn't move from my lap, though. She stayed there, as if her old self was still searching for a way to break free of this new side to her. That's it! She was just locked up deep inside herself and I was somehow the key to open it up. I didn't know how to open it with every rushing thought coming to my head. I just did what I thought would be best. I hugged her, bringing her closer to me every second until she spoke.
Back to Hannah
Gary did something shocking, or what should be shocking, not anymore. He hugged me closer and closer with every second that was passing by. I got the will to speak again, "Gary, it won't work. I will never go back to that weakling self that was once the girl you knew. Just give up." He quickly let go and gave me a saddened look. I didn't care that he was sad. He is tough enough. He said he would protect me, but now that I got the control back on my emotions, more than I wanted, I could be absolutely fine on my own. "Come on, Gary. Let's go before we get caught." I get off of his lap and feel the warmth that surrounded me leave. I couldn't feel the cold, but I was showing it. Gary just took off his sweater and offered it to me. "Tch, I'm not cold. You need it more than I do!" I said. I started to walk off the pier and went towards the school. I could feel stronger. I felt like I was gliding on air. I was as light as a feather, but as strong as an iron wall. Power was surging through me. It was pretty close to the shock I use to feel with Gary, but this was different. I needed a way to spend it, and what better way to do it than getting revenge. The nerds did say they were having trouble with the jocks again. Maybe a little prank or two will lower them in their social standing.
I already set up the perfect prank on Mandy. I thought she needed more school spirit, so I put some blue dye into her shampoo. Should I mention it is PERMANENT? I also threw a Frisbee at Johnny when he was hanging near the gym. Coincidentally, Luis was passing by and didn't know I threw the Frisbee so I yelled pretty loud, "Luis! Why did you do that to Johnny!" Johnny heard me and glared at the jock. A few greasers joined Johnny's side. "You think it's funny to throw stuff at me! Nobody messes with me! Let's get him!" Johnny yelled and charged at the now confused jock. At first, he just stood there, but when the greasers were about a foot away from him, he made a bee line for the closest haven. Being the dumb jock he is, he runs into the auto shop, where he is tripped by one of the other greasers and knocked unconscious when Johnny gives him a beating. I chuckle at my little prank, but it wasn't enough. I went to the gym and into the boiler room, where all the shower water is heated. I knew, from Constantinos, that the jocks always took a shower after practice. Practice was about to end so I turned up the heat so that even if it was on the lowest setting, the shower would feel like you were in a pot of boiling soup. I finished just in time and went to the gym bleachers and got out a book, trying to look as innocent as I could. The jocks came in all sweaty and stinky and went to the showers. I wait a few minutes and hear the first scream. Kirby Olsen runs into the gym naked while also turning into a tomato, and it wasn't the heat that made him turn red. As if on cue, Trent came into the gym and sees Kirby. Trent blushes and walks towards him. I don't think they knew I was there because when I started laughing my guts out, the two boys turn to me and run in separate directions, Kirby going back to the bathroom and Trent probably to the boys' dorm. Okay, now that I got on a pretty big smile on my face, I can now call it a day. I leave the gym and run to my dorm, smiling and laughing all the while. Even after the bad news I received yesterday, I have found a way to get happy. When I get into my room, I stopped in my tracks when the room's door closed on its own. I turn around and was relieved to see Gary. "Oh, phew. Just you. I thought you were Luis or Mandy!" I couldn't help but make my smile bigger. "And that would be bad because…." He was waiting for me to finish the sentence. "I played a few tiny pranks on the jocks, so?" I retorted. "Small or big?" he asked. "Oh, just put some blue dye in Mandy's shampoo, wear earmuffs in the morning by the way, tricked the greasers that Luis threw something at Johnny and got him beat up, and pretty much proved to the world Kirby and Trent are gay." Gary laughed a little. "Okay, I heard the first two, but I just saw Trent run towards the boys' dorm awhile ago. Care to explain?" I explain the whole shower incident to him and laughed, but he didn't. "What's wrong?" I asked. "You have never went that far. There is a difference between pranks and revenge. Mandy and Luis have been bullying the nerds a lot these days. It seems to be revenge. Hannah, I don't know how big the news impacted you, but I never thought you would do this to just smile! You will just get upset and grouchy in the morning, and not because Mandy will probably break everyone's ears. What do you think! You will just do stuff like this every day just so you can smile like before!" "Pretty much!" I reply cheerfully. He doesn't say anything in awhile until the only question I didn't expect him to ask is out in the air. "Did you take your meds?" he asked. I didn't, not after the news yesterday. They would do no good anyways. He takes that as a no and continues. "I knew it! Hannah, you gotta take them! If you don't, you will probably stay this way. Just let it go like I did. I will help you like you helped me." "I don't need your help, I don't need medication, and I don't need to change. If you COULD help me, you probably WOULDN'T do anything to help. The only reason why I helped you was because I accepted you and was not there before. You, on the other hand, have been with me. So have the greasers and nerds. If you or anyone else could change me back, it would probably one of those 'risen from the dead miracles,' impossible! If I changed even with you and all our friends, that probably means no one can help and I will never let go. This conversation is over; I need to think on what to do tomorrow." Gary was shocked at my words, but he knew I was right, from every little letter. He just left without another word. The guy who always has the last word finally doesn't. I looked at my pill bottle, grabbed it, ran to the restrooms, and flushed them down the toilet. No turning back from here on out. I returned to my room, changed, and went to bed, thinking of different things that could have happened today. God, it is good to think clear again!
Author's Note: Phew! That is the longest chapter I have ever wrote! Not to mention the most dramatic! Ow! It hurts to write now! It is a curse to write a long story! A CURSE I TELL YOU! Anyways, it would hurt too much to write a 'review or else' threat, so review.