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A/N: I'm having serious writer's block for my other stories, and I feel REALLY bad now, 'cause I made you guys wait so long for this chapter… Ah! Everything's tumbling down… *sigh*
Oh, btw, I placed a bet with my friend Sorina about Harry Potter couples. Please tell me who you think will be together!! Harry and Hermione or Hermione and Draco? I, personally, am a full H/Hr shipper, but that doesn't mean I don't respect your opinions. Even if you know the littlest amount of Harry Potter, tell me who you believe is best. Thanks! I'm going to do a poll. LOL.
Please review, and have a great day! Happy VERY belated Halloween!
Love,
~Tic-Tac
Ps: The Ring freaked me out! I saw it on Halloween. That is one creepy movie. But my friends got mad at me because I was laughing during the movie Darkness Falls… lol… the Tooth Fairy will get you! LOL!
Pss: I accidentally had the date wrong for this whole time… in this story so far, it's March 2006; that way they're 15.
= = = = = = March, 2006 = = = = = = =
= = = * * = = = Beth = = = * * = = = =
She trudged down the stairs. Her feet felt as heavy as lead, and she had a nervous tic in her left cheek. Lack of sleep had left shadows of darkness under her watery eyes, and her wrinkled forehead kept her face in a permanent frown. It was safe to say that she had once been a beautiful child, and in her own way still was, but her aura kept most people away, and in another way, drew them to her like moths to a patch of light.
Beth reached up her shaking hand and grabbed the cylindrical container of Ibuprofen. Her headache raging, she gulped down two of the tablets, not bothering to pour herself some water. Then she sat down at the kitchen table and held her face in her hands.
"I didn't mean to. I swear…" She began, partially for her own benefit, partially for whoever was listening. "I didn't know what it was…"
Beth didn't expect anyone to hear her confessions. She didn't expect anyone to care. It was like talking to an inanimate object. One could get some feeling of satisfaction by venting, but on the other hand, it was pointless. And Beth felt like the only thing that would listen to her was, in fact, inanimate…
It had been a beautiful, bright day. The sun was shining, the clouds rolling across the sky. Beth and her friends had been out in the back of the school, talking. During those precious moments, Beth had felt in-control of her life. But then it all crumbled down into the earth.
She had seen Kate take out the napkin. She had seen her smile. The smell was overpowering.
Kate opened the napkin, and Beth saw the grayish mixture inside. Then, all around, her friends had pulled out cigarettes.
She had smoked it. Again. And again.
She couldn't stop.
= = = = = = March, 2006 = = = = = = =
= = = * * = = = Lizzie = = = * * = = = =
Lizzie paused the movie and jumped out of her seat. Her heart going a million beats per minute, she motioned towards the front door. "I-I need to go."
Taken aback, Gordo scrambled off of the couch, nearly knocking over the popcorn bowl in his haste. "Listen, Lizzie, I can explain…"
She backed away, shaking her head. Then, without another word, she flung open the door and ran out into the night.
Her feet were running away: away from her house, away from the warmth, away from Gordo. Her tennis shoes made only a soft patter on the sidewalk, but her heart, magnified, could have woken up the whole neighborhood with a single beat. But she ran on until her legs felt like stretched rubber, and her lungs were gasping desperately for oxygen. Sweat poured down her forehead in buckets of steam, and then froze upon reaching her chin. She felt faint and dehydrated. Pulled and tugged to her limit, like an aged, dilapidated string.
She couldn't have stayed in that house even if someone had paid her.
She tried to go on, to get farther away, but her body collapsed. Unsteadily, she dropped to her knees.
Lizzie, on any other circumstance, would have cried. Instead, however, she just stared eerily at the house in front of her and shivered in response to the cold night air. Deep in the depths of her mind, Lizzie knew why she overreacted… but she refused to investigate. Her true feelings were hidden, and anger and resentment piled inside her stomach. It felt like iron so cold it was hot, growing and spreading throughout her entire body. She was brainwashed by her own mind.
"You bastard!" she cried out. "Why?!"
The sound of puffing breath and pounding shoes reached her ears, and Lizzie attempted to pull herself off the ground. But she tumbled back down again, as a strong pair of arms wrapped around her waist and held her securely. She screamed frantically, and thrashed around, kicking and punching her attacker. Finally he let go, and she began to walk forward, limping just slightly, her muscles strained and spent.
"Get away from me!"
He ran after her. "Lizzie! Please! Let me explain!"
She wheeled around to face him, and he jogged up to her, breathing in through his gaping mouth. "Please wait." His voice was barely a whisper.
It was as if she were held in place by invisible ropes. She couldn't move, and her eyes wouldn't leave his face. Even her quick tongue was silenced.
He stepped closer to her and held out a coat. "Here. You left this at the house."
She took it from him, and wrapped herself in it. It was warm, and felt wonderful against her chilled body. "Thanks," she responded shortly. He nodded.
The two friends began walking next to each other. An uncomfortable silence hovered around them, and their breath rose in pillars from their mouths. Lizzie decided that the weather was uncommonly cold, especially for spring.
"It's cold tonight, huh?" It was Gordo who spoke first. She pulled the coat around her body snugly, acknowledging him. The houses began to extinguish their inside lights until each home was pitch black. Lizzie could only see Gordo because of the streetlamps.
He turned to her in the darkness. "Look. I'm sorry. Please don't be too angry..."
She just watched him, and the nervousness in his stomach was almost overpowering. He could feel it lurch forward uncomfortably. "I saw some cocoa back your house I can make. You look cold." He was pleading with his body language.
She stared into his blue eyes for a second, then began walking towards her house.
Gordo handed her the mug of hot chocolate and sat down at the other end of the lumpy sofa. He watched her as she drank slowly, pressing the mug to her chapped lips. The steaming liquid sloshed down her throat and into her waiting stomach, and Lizzie shivered - the sensation finally fulfilling the need she had been subconsciously craving. She sighed.
"Thanks Gordo," she said. Then she set the mug down on the TV tray.
He smiled wearily. "No problem. I had to get you home somehow."
Her hands rubbed together uncomfortably. "Yeah… about that." She glanced at him. "I don't know what came over me." She narrowed her eyes, thinking back. "I felt so… strange… you know? Like an overwhelming darkness had grabbed onto me…" Her head was throbbing. "Oh, I don't know… Everything was out of control…"
They sat in silence again, though this time it wasn't empty – it was full of warmth and understanding.
Gordo looked on with regret, then said, "I'm sorry. About what happened earlier."
She just smiled sadly and touched his shoulder. "You're a guy," she said, as if that explained everything.
= = = = = = March, 2006 = = = = = = =
= = = * * = = = Beth = = = * * = = = =
"What's up, Beth?" her friend Mandy asked, blowing onto her garnished nails.
Beth smiled. "Nothing, except that my mother talked to the school counselor."
Mandy laughed. "No kidding! You have shadows under your eyes. Did she give you 'the talk'?"
Rolling her eyes, Beth responded, "Yeah. I can't believe how incredibly horrible she is. It's always this and that, and 'Beth, you have no morals!' I'm sick of her." She didn't mention the discovery of marijuana.
Mandy nodded and inspected her nails. "So what? You have us. And you only have one life. Live it."
She smiled meaningfully and pulled Beth over to her large group of waiting friends.
= = = = = = March, 2006 = = = = = = =
= = = * * = = = Lizzie = = = * * = = = =
Lizzie and Gordo were lying on the couch opposite each other, their feet touching. Lizzie's favorite blanket covered both of them, and they were both sleepy and blissfully happy, perhaps having to do with the two mugs of hot chocolate they both had gulped down. After Lizzie's outbreak, the two friends had made up, and everything had seemed to be back to normal. Lizzie had deliberately steered away from talking about it, and Gordo was quite happy to oblige.
She kept thinking about what happened, and why she had overreacted like that. But it didn't seem to make sense. She had been perfectly happy and teasing earlier that evening, and then she just turned into an out-of-control maniac. Shifting her body to a more comfortable position, she chewed on her bottom lip.
Suddenly, she came to an awful conclusion. What if she was going crazy? What if she was some sort of dangerous freak? Her breath caught in her throat. If it hadn't been for Gordo, she would have screamed and yelled like that forever. She held her head. It was a paradox. Gordo caused her to become out-of-control, then, at the brink of doing something she probably would have regretted, he brought her back to herself.
At the end of the couch, Gordo stirred, and Lizzie worried even more. She was dragging him down with her. He was too loyal to tell her that he couldn't be her friend anymore. He was too polite - too compassionate to hurl that kind of hurt towards another human being.
Her throat constricted uncomfortably. Maybe her newfound madness is just another reason for him to leave her.
Lizzie couldn't stand being that close to him. Quietly and carefully, she untangled her feet from his and slipped from the woolen blanket. She began to tiptoe away from her best friend. As soon as she reached the kitchen, she collapsed against the refrigerator. Her heart felt torn apart.
Why did this feel like the worst pain of all?
But she did not cry. Crying would admit that this hellish nightmare would happen.
Suddenly, footsteps. Lizzie turned around.
Gordo was standing behind her, his eyes glassy; his hair disheveled.
They stared at each other. Gordo forced a small grin.
"Up for more hot chocolate?"
Lizzie felt an overflowing gratification run through her body at his statement, and before she knew what she was doing, she was running towards him. She flung her arms around his neck, nearly knocking him backwards into the kitchen cabinets. And her head was snuggled comfortably into his shoulder when she finally realized how much she appreciated him - how much he meant to her. His arms snaked around her lower back and held her close.
The pain was gone. And it was replaced with the best feeling of all.