I'm so sorry it took so long but i hope you enjoy the following chapter.
"Community service? Why would you have community service?" I asked shocked. I definitely hadn't expected this. He sure had changed since I left.
"I did some stupid things a while back." He looked me straight in the eyes still wearing the bored look he always wore around me. There wasn't any sign of guilt or regret. As I looked a little closer I saw him clenching his fist, like he was becoming a little bit angry at me.
Why was he becoming angry at me all of a sudden? I hadn't done anything, and it for sure wasn't my fault that he had gotten community service. If he didn't want to talk to me about it, he could just turn away and go back to what he was doing. I probably would have.
"What do you mean?" I asked, taking a little step back. Shane noticed, and he visible relaxed his stance, sensing that he was making me uncomfortable. Instead of looking at me without trace of emotion, he suddenly narrowed his eyes at me.
"Why do you care?" he spat, shocking me with his hostile attitude. Why did I care? Why hadn't I just left the second I saw him. I didn't know. There was no explanation.
"I don't. It just doesn't seem like something you would do." I regretted saying it the minute it left my mouth. I shouldn't act like I knew what he would usually do. I was the one who had told him that he didn't know me anymore. That also meant that I couldn't expect to know him anymore either.
"You don't…" he began, and I had a feeling he was going to say 'know me anymore'. That was what I would have said anyway. Instead he stopped, closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, removing all traces of the hostility he had showed me a second ago. When he opened his eyes again, he was as calm and indifferent as he had been in the beginning.
"It happened a long time ago," he said shortly, making it clear that he wasn't going to tell me more about what happened.
I decided to respect that. I had my own secrets and knew all about wanting to keep certain aspects of your life private.
"Then why are you still here?" I asked curiously. If it had happened a long time ago, shouldn't his community service be over by now?
"I chose to stay," he said matter of factly, raising his eyebrows at my shocked look.
"You want to be here?" I said, looking around. It's not like it was an awful place to be. The kids seemed sweet, but I knew that he wouldn't get paid to be here, which meant that he was doing it out of charity. It just didn't seem right, considering how this 'new' Shane had been behaving since I came back.
"Is it so hard to believe? It gives me a break from everything, and it pulled me out of the stuff I had gotten myself into. It saved me, and I wanted to give something back by staying here and helping out. The kids here really need someone that is there for them, at least someone else but doctors. "
I just stared at him not knowing what to say. What do you say to a rant like that? I couldn't exactly say something nasty about him doing such a nice thing. I actually admired him a little bit right in this moment.
"What?" he suddenly snapped at me, and I noticed that I was still staring at him. He looked down, and it surprised me. He felt self conscious?
"Nothing. It's just an admirable thing you are doing," I said honestly, and for some reason it surprised him because he suddenly looked up straight at me. Suddenly I was the one feeling self conscious. I rubbed my arm a little shifting from one foot to the other, trying to escape his stare.
"Thanks?" he said unsurely after a while of complete silence between both of us.
I just gave him a small smile, which he didn't return. He was still looking straight at me puzzled, and I could feel my cheeks getting warm and decided that it was probably time for me to bolt.
I gave him a small wave and turned around but stopped in my tracks when he asked me a question I would have rather avoided.
"What are you doing here?"
I looked over to his face and expected him to express boredom, but to my astonishment, he actually looked interested. I contemplated whether or not to tell him the truth and decided that the truth wouldn't hurt this time. A sick grandmother was less suspicious that any lie I could come up with.
"My grandmother is sick I came to visit her." I said, waiting for his reaction.
"Elise is sick?" he said shocked. "Really? She always seemed like she was the healthiest person on earth," he stated, and then the little girl from before came over and tucked at his leg. Shane looked down and smiled at the girl. "What's up, Lily?"
The girl looked at me nervous before pulling at Shane's arm to get him to bend down. He did so, and she tried whispering what she wanted to say to him. Unfortunately she was being a little too loud, so I was still able to hear what she was saying.
"Shane, what is she doing here? She looks weird." Shane stifled a laugh and looked up at me with a smirk. I just huffed and turned my back towards him, taking a step forward not interested in hearing his reply.
As I stood there waiting for him to finish his conversation, I suddenly became aware of the fact that he had mentioned my grandmother by name. I had completely forgotten that we used to spend a lot of time at my grandmother's when we were little. Elise had always loved Shane, and he had seen her as his own grandmother seeing as his died when he was little. My grandmother had never minded.
It hit that when I left, he probably lost all contact with her. It was actually kind of sad, when I thought about it.
I was pulled out of my thoughts by a tap on my shoulder. I turned around expecting to see Shane, but instead a boy a little smaller than me was looking at me with bright blue eyes
"The television isn't working," he said pointing towards the TV that was planted at one side of the room. I looked over to ask Shane for help and found him missing.
"I guess I can take a look at it," I said more to myself than the boy, making my way towards the TV. A group of kids were positioned in front of the TV talking loudly waiting for the TV to start up again.
I looked at the TV and saw that the green light was on, which meant that the TV was turned on, but for some reason the picture and sound wasn't there. I went over to the TV and looked behind it, trying to see if one of the cables weren't pushed in correctly.
Everything looked fine, but then again I wasn't much of a technical person.
I was just about to tell the kids that I didn't know what the problem was when the TV suddenly came on once again. I looked at the screen surprised, and then I heard I light chuckle behind me. I turned around and found Shane looking at me, his hand was placed on a switch, and my guess was that the switch was what had turned the picture and sound off to begin with.
"Girls and electronics," he muttered smiling. I just scuffed and moved to the side not wanting to blockade the TV for the kids. That was when I noticed a guitar placed in the far corner of the room.
"Is that yours?" I asked pointing towards the guitar. He just nodded and I made my way over to the guitar feeling Shane's stare in the back of my neck. "May I?" I said putting a hand on the guitar.
"Be my guest." He said looking at the kids, and then his phone suddenly started buzzing. He took it out of his pocked and looked at the screen. He then looked at me. "Would you look after the kids for a moment?" he asked, but he was out of the room before I could answer, the phone placed at his ear. I nodded even though he wasn't there to see.
I then picked up the guitar and softly strummed a melody. Without noticing it everything suddenly became quiet in the room. The only noise was the TV and the guitar.
Out of nowhere the girl from before, Lily I thought her name was, appeared at my side.
"Would you sing a song for us?" she asked politely, still seeming a little anxious about me being here.
I smiled at her and nodded. "Sure, honey, but only if you sing along."
She smiled hugely, nodding her head several times, making me laugh.
"Which song would you like for it to be?" I asked, hoping that would know the song she suggested, luckily I did.
"The Hannah Montana song." She squealed loudly. When I started playing the intro to "The Best of Both Worlds", I hoped it was the song Lily was talking about. There were, after all, a lot of Hannah Montana songs. I started out slowly, not completely sure how the song went.
As it became time for us to sing, I let her start, having forgotten the lyrics slightly. I quickly caught on and sang along with her. I looked around the room and found all the girls singing along. Even the boys where humming the tune, even though they tried to hide it. I smiled brightly at Lily and picked up the pace of the song a little.
As the song was coming to its ending I noticed Shane standing up against the door with his hands crossed in front of his chest. He looked amused, and I could feel myself blushing. I looked back down at Lily and bolted out the last lyrics with her.
I was laughing heartily when I finished the song and all the kids started clapping. I bowed humorously, over exaggerating the bow. Then I noticed the watch on the wall, and reality crashed back in. I had to get back home and fast.
"Thank you for the song, Lily," I said smiling at her and extending my hand at her. She took it with a blush and a big goofy smile. I then placed the guitar against the wall and made my way towards the door.
As I passed the door, Shane pushed himself off the wall and took a hold on my arm. I looked up at him staggered.
"That was really nice, Mitchie. I had forgotten how good your voice is."
He smiled at me, not in a teasing, patronizing way, but as if he meant it.
I laughed and shook my head. "You are just humoring me. I'm not that good."
"Yes, you are," he assured me sternly. "I haven't heard anyone that good for a long time"
For some reason I felt incredibly flattered, like his opinion was just what I needed to hear.
"Thank you," I whispered feeling slightly embarrassed. A flash of my father's face passed my mind, and I was once again reminded of the hurry I was in. "I have to go," I said removing his hand from my arm before smiling. "Bye," I said walking hurriedly towards the elevator.
Luckily an elevator was already open, waiting for me. I quickly made it inside and pressed the bottom, waiting for the doors to close.
Then just as the doors were about to close, someone shouted, "Wait!" A hand took a hold of the door, making it slide open once more.
As the door opened I found Shane standing in front of me. I just looked at him questioningly, waiting for whatever he wanted to say. He seemed to be in a dilemma. He kept opening his mouth, but nothing came out. Finally he coughed clearing his throat and spoke.
"Could I possibly get a ride from you?" he muttered looking down. I wanted to say no, that I was in a hurry. Just because he had complimented me didn't mean that I liked him, because I didn't. He had given me a ride when I needed it though, so I was in no position to say no. I just sighed and nodded. He stepped inside the elevator and let the doors close.
"What about the children?" I asked as I realized that they had been left alone. He just looked at me like I was insane for even suggesting that he would leave them alone.
"My replacement just showed up. You didn't think I would leave them alone, did you?" he said raising his voice the slightest bit. Hadn't I already been in a fight with him a hundred times I probably wouldn't have noticed, but I did, and it irritated me.
"How should I know? You got community service, shouldn't that mean that you don't follow the rules." I knew it was slightly below the belt, but I was stressed and he wasn't helping. Besides how could he raise his voice at me when I had just said yes to give him a ride.
He was about to yell at me. It was obvious from the look that he gave me, but for some reason he restrained himself. Instead he kept silent, and we walked to the car without either of us saying another word. We both went into the car, and I started it, driving as fast as possible, so that I could get this over with.
"I broke into the hospital," Shane whispered suddenly so low that I almost didn't catch it. I looked at him astonishingly, not knowing what to say. He wasn't looking at me; he just stared out of the window.
"Some friends of mine used to break into houses for the thrill of it." He said "friends" with such venom in his voice that it was clear that they definitely weren't his friends anymore. "I usually didn't get involved, but one day I decided to tag along to see what all the fuss was about. They always bragged about what a rush it was to break into houses, and I thought what could it hurt? They would do it with or without me so why not go with them and just not take anything." He sounded like he wasn't here, like he was talking to some person in his mind, and it scared me a little bit.
"Of course that day they decided to choose a hospital. I didn't think much about I just went along, it wasn't until they started taking medicine that I got suspicious. I later found out that they sold medicine for drug purposes. Anyway we were busted. All of my so-called friends where older than me and had been snatched for theft before, but I was a first time offender, and they could see on the surveillance tapes that I hadn't taken anything. So I got off with community service." I had a hard time concentrating on my driving. His revelation had stunned me, and I hadn't in my wildest dreams expected this.
Suddenly it was like he snapped out of some sort of daze and then he looked at me. He didn't look angry or upset for that matter, just a little apprehensive.
"Why are you telling me all of this?" I whispered, not wanting to upset him, but I had to know why?
"Because in the beginning I blamed you." He said it so coolly that I didn't even catch the meaning of it to begin with, and then the significance of it hit me. I was even more shaken now than I had been about his whole story.
"Excuse me?" I said, still taken aback. We had made it back home, and I parked the car out in front of his house, turned off the engine and gave Shane my full attention.
"I loathed you for leaving like you did. You were my best friend, I didn't have anybody else but you and my brothers, and you just took off. No explanation and no contact. It was like you never existed. I was suddenly all alone, so I found new friends. And every time I did something I shouldn't, I just thought about you and for some reason I wanted to do it, just to spite you. But after I got caught I realized I was only hurting myself because you were no longer here to see me do any of the bullshit I did, so I stopped." I could hear the accusation in his voice, and knew that a part of him still blamed me for the whole ordeal.
"It's not like I didn't have my reasons for leaving, Shane. I even had reason for not telling you. We weren't exactly the best of friends when I left if you remember correctly." I refused to be blamed for his actions, and I refused feeling guilty for what I did. I had my reasons.
"I know we weren't, but it was a fight, Mitchie. A fight. We had a lot of those. It doesn't excuse you leaving." He was getting mad. It was obvious, but so was I.
"It wasn't just a fight for me, Shane. For me it actually felt like our friendship was over or at least close to it. So I'm sorry, but when we suddenly had to move, my first thought wasn't how about we make things right with Shane so that he can feel good about me leaving. I had enough to deal with without all the drama concerning you, so I decided to just give up. And to be honest I didn't think it would hurt you that much. Back then I already thought you were growing out of our friendship." I wasn't yelling, but my voice was loud and firm. Shane seemed to be taking in my every word, and for some reason his anger disappeared.
"You're right. It was more than a fight, but I wasn't growing out of our friendship, I was just growing up, but I would have come to my senses, Mitchie. I would have come back to you." He looked at me with such honesty, that for the first time I actually felt the slightest bit of guilt.
"It doesn't matter anyway. It happened a long time ago, and there is nothing we can do about it," I said, wanting to end the argument and just get home. Besides I meant what I said. There was no point in reliving the past. We couldn't change it anyway.
"You are right. There isn't, and to be honest I would like to just move on." Shane unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door, but he didn't get out. "You know, I actually enjoyed spending a little time with you, I forgot how easy it is to talk to you, Mitch, and you really are a fantastic artist." He smiled at me, and then he exited the car leaving me behind completely perplexed.
Is he bipolar or something? I wondered. He suddenly had a thing with going from angry to indifferent and now, all of a sudden, nice.
One thing was for sure, I had gotten underneath all of the bullshit that was Shane Grey today, and for the first time since I had gotten here, I had seen a glimpse of the old Shane.
When I came inside I was surprised when neither my dad nor my mother questioned why it had taken me so long. They apparently didn't care, and dinner went by without any incidents. I even chatted a little with my mom, telling her about my day at school. I also asked dad about his day, as to not come off as mad.
After dinner I did my homework, took a shower and went to sleep early. When I woke up I actually didn't feel tired, which was a first since we got here. I had time to straighten my hair and fix my makeup without rushing, but then when I got downstairs for breakfast, time suddenly had rushed by. I was once again running late.
I quickly ate breakfast with my mom, my dad apparently had to leave early for a meeting. I actually managed not to frown or huff when my mom told me. I had decided to do what my grandmother had told me and just try to get by with my parents, both of them.
As I went outside I came to a sudden stop. Shane's car was parked in front of our house, with Shane and Nate sitting inside. I couldn't move. I just stood still looking at the car open mouthed.
"Come on, Mitchie. We don't have all day," Nate suddenly yelled, pulling me out of my daze. I quickly made my way over to the car, catching the smirk on Shane's face. For once, it didn't make me mad; only embarrassed. I must have looked like a fool just standing there.
"What are you doing here?" I blurted out as I stepped into the car.
"It seemed like you had a problem getting up to the bus, so we thought for the sake of your education that we would pick you up," Shane said putting the car into motion. Nate snorted, but couldn't help laughing too. Even though I wanted to look offended, I could feel the smile creeping onto my face.
"I have no problem getting up. It only happened yesterday because my mom made pancakes for me," I said defending myself.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, Mitchie, but the bus drove off five minutes ago, which is why we decided to wait for you." I could see Shane smirking at me in the rearview mirror, and I just stuck my tongue out at him like a four-year-old, but for some reason I didn't care. Shane just laughed at me shaking his head slightly.
"What happened to the pair of you?" Nate asked, looking from one to the other puzzled. I stole a quick glance at Shane, catching his eye and indication that he should take the lead on this one.
"Whatever do you mean, dear brother?" he said sweetly, making me laugh which only confused Nate more.
"Cut it out, would you?" Nate was trying to sound harsh, but the smile on his face made it hard to take him seriously.
"Chill, Nate. Nothing happened," Shane said chuckling slightly, concentrating on the road ahead of him.
Nate turned around looking suspiciously at me, raising his eyebrows slightly.
"What?" I yelled, breaking into laughter. Shane following suit.
"I know something is going on. Don't you think I have noticed the cold shoulder the two of you have been giving each other since you came back, and then all of a sudden you are civil towards each other?" He ranted, and both Shane and I stopped laughing. I looked down avoiding eye contact with both of them.
"No scratch that last part. You aren't being civil; you are being nice towards each other," he said slowly, like he was processing this new development while he was speaking. It didn't make any sense to him. That much was clear from his expression, but how could I explain something that didn't make sense to me either.
"We moved on," Shane said suddenly, not looking at anybody, just straight ahead. Had we? I wasn't aware of that, but for some reason that didn't bother me.
"And what does that mean? Are you friends all of a sudden?" He was looking at Shane, but the question was directed at both of us. Shane didn't say anything, and it didn't seem like he wanted to answer. Like me, he probably didn't have an answer.
Nate suddenly whipped around and looked at me instead. I looked outside spotting the school up ahead, if Shane would just give it a little more gas I could get out of here, but that didn't seem like a possibility.
"I don't know. I guess not," I whispered looking at Shane, expecting some sort of reaction, but he just sat still looking straight ahead.
Nate must have felt the obvious tension because all of a sudden he had nothing left to say. He turned back around and sat still looking down into his lap. None of us said anything, and suddenly we came to a stop.
We had arrived at school, and all of us got out of the car. Slowly we made our way towards the school building, and then all of a sudden a hand took a hold of my upper arm. I looked to my side seeing that it was Shane who had stopped me.
"Can I talk to you?" he asked casting a glance at Nate, signalizing that he wanted to talk to me alone.
Nate took the hint and nodded at us telling us that he would be seeing us later, before leaving.
"What's up?" I asked looking down at my shoes.
"I just… I need some clarification as to what we are?" He let go of my arm, and it shocked me that I hadn't even noticed that he was still holding onto me.
"What do you mean?" I was avoiding the unavoidable, but I didn't have an answer ready yet, so I had to stall.
"Come on, Mitchie. He was right. We haven't exactly been civil towards each other, and now what? We just let go of what happened in the past and move forward or what do you suggest? Because I'm not quite sure I can do that just yet, but I really would like to be your friend." He was being sincere with me, and once again I felt like I was talking to the Shane I had left behind all those years ago.
I sighed and looked up at him. He seemed anxious, and I couldn't blame him, I felt like my whole body was shaking.
"You are right. We can't just move forward because neither of us trust each other anymore. We can't just become friends, because we have a past, but I would rather try to let go of the past and see if this new you is someone I like. Then go back to hating you." I was being honest, I didn't have the strength to just let him in and get hurt like the last time, but I couldn't just keep on hating someone who was trying to be my friend.
"So what? We start over?" He seemed to understand where I was coming from, which was a big help for me. That way I didn't feel as much as the bitch, who wouldn't forgive.
"I think that would be the best thing to do. To start from scratch." I hoped that was a possibility. It was going to be tough, seeing as we had once been best friends. We had known everything about each other, and know we had to act like we didn't.
"Well then," he said, smiling at me and taking a step forward. He suddenly stuck out his hand, and when I didn't take it, he took my hand instead and shook it. "My name is Shane Grey, and it's very nice to meet you, Mitchie Torres." He smiled brightly at me, and I couldn't help but laugh.
Finally the next one is here, I'm so sorry about the delay but I have been extremely busy lately, and on top of that I have just been in London for a week. Anyway enjoy, and please, please review and tell me what you think.
As always a special thanks to my beta reader. I simply love you for helping me.
CamillaxbG