Pocahontas stood outside Mickey's before school Tuesday morning. Every morning John and his best friend, Adam, went into Mickey's to get coffee and breakfast. Pocahontas needed to talk to John, so she headed to Mickey's early to make sure she'd get there before they did. When John and Adam approached the diner, Pocahontas stopped John.
"John, we need to talk," Pocahontas said. John just stared at her blankly. Pocahontas handed him a cup of coffee and a slice of apple pie. "I brought a peace offering."
Adam excused himself and went inside. John sat down at one of the tables outside and Pocahontas sat down across from him.
"I broke it off with Rolfe," Pocahontas said.
"Why?" John asked.
"To prove to you that he's not the one I want," Pocahontas explained. "I miss you."
"I miss you, too, Pocahontas," John said.
Pocahontas' heart skipped a beat. She took a deep breath. "John, I'm sorry I went out with Rolfe. It was wrong. I was rebounding to try to move on because I thought you didn't want me anymore. But I couldn't move on. I thought about you all the time."
"It felt like you betrayed me," John said, getting up.
John started to walk away, but Pocahontas ran in front of him and put her hand on his chest to stop him.
"John, please don't walk away from me. I apologized and admitted that I was wrong. What else do you want from me?" Pocahontas asked desperately.
John suddenly looked sad. "I want you to say it."
"Say what?"
"The only thing you haven't said to try to get me back."
Pocahontas took John's hand and put it over her heart. "My heart beats only for you, John. I love you."
John wrapped his arm around Pocahontas and pulled her close to him. "All I wanted was to know that you still love me."
"I haven't stopped loving you, John. I never will." Pocahontas ran her fingers over John's cheek. "I can't not be with you, John. Please don't leave me again."
"I won't," John said as he kissed her.
"It's about time," Adam muttered as walked out of the diner.
John broke the kiss and looked at Adam. "Do you mind?"
Adam shrugged, picked up the slice of pie John left on the table and walked away. Pocahontas turned John's face back to hers and kissed him again. In the distance they could hear the school bell ring, but they ignored it.
XXX
Meg ate lunch alone again. She thought about eating with Thomas, but there were just too many people at his table and she didn't want to deal them. When she was done eating, she headed to the bathroom to fix her makeup. No one else was in the bathroom, and she was glad. She carefully reapplied her eyeliner, then started to brush on some more purple eyeshadow. As she was finishing up, Vanessa walked in. Vanessa narrowed her eyes at Meg and Meg braced herself for the harassment she was sure was coming. But, the door opened and Tinker Bell and Charlotte walked in. They were too busy talking to each other and didn't notice Meg and Vanessa standing there.
"I guess Helga has gotten bored with Hercules," Tinker Bell said. "She hooked up with Gaston last night."
Vanessa cleared her throat and the two girls looked up at her. Charlotte's eyes grew wide and Tinker Bell smirked at Vanessa.
"I guess Gaston is bored with you, too," Tinker Bell said to Vanessa. "Are you not putting out anymore?"
Vanessa dove for Tinker Bell, but Meg grabbed her. Tinker Bell and Charlotte turned walked out of the bathroom. Meg spun Vanessa around so she was facing her.
"Calm down," Meg said. "I'm sure what they said isn't true. Gaston wouldn't do that."
Vanessa shoved Meg's hands off her. "Just like Hercules wouldn't do that?"
"Vanessa-"
"Leave me alone!"
Meg picked her backpack up off the floor and left. She couldn't help feeling bad Vanessa. She knew exactly how Vanessa was feeling right now: hurt, humiliated, betrayed. Meg spotted Gaston a little ways down the hall with Hercules and she stormed over to him. She'd be damned if she was going to let Gaston get away with this.
"Hi, Meg," Hercules said.
"Leave," Meg snapped.
Hercules walked away. Gaston started to go after him, but Meg shoved him against the wall.
"No, not you," Meg said. "We need to talk."
Meg could tell Gaston was uncomfortable, but he acted cool.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Meg demanded.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Gaston said.
"Tink just told me and Vanessa about you hooking up with Helga last night," Meg said. "How could you do that to Vanessa?"
A shocked look crossed Gaston's face. "What? I didn't... I have to find Vanessa."
Gaston tried to leave, but Meg shoved back against the wall. This time she left her hand on his chest to keep him from trying to leave again.
"Why did you do it?" Meg asked.
Gaston looked seriously at Meg. "I didn't. I would never cheat on Vanessa."
"Yeah, Hercules said the same thing to me," Meg stated. "And we all know how that ended."
"I didn't hook up with Helga. Meg, I told you how I feel about her," Gaston said. "Helga is making it all up."
"I don't believe you, Gaston!" Meg snapped. "Vanessa may be a bitch sometimes, but she loves you and cares about you. She trusted you and would do anything for you. And what do you do? You take advantage of her trust and stab her in the back."
"I would never do anything to hurt Vanessa!" Gaston bellowed.
Meg was completely taken by surprise by the sudden volume of Gaston's voice and she stumbled back slightly. Gaston exhaled in frustration.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you, Megara," Gaston said. "But, I really need to find Vanessa."
"She's in the bathroom," Meg said.
Gaston suddenly looked horrified and hurried to the bathroom. Meg ran after him. They burst into the bathroom to see Vanessa sitting on the floor, with a small pair of scissors in her hand. She was crying and looking at her bloody wrist. Gaston hurried to her side and Meg grabbed some paper towels. Vanessa ripped the paper towels out of Meg's hands.
"Leave me alone! Both of you!" Vanessa cried. She pressed the paper towels on her wrist and rested her head back against the wall.
"We're not going anywhere," Meg said.
"I don't want him anywhere near me," Vanessa spat.
Gaston looked hurt, but he left anyway. Meg locked the bathroom door behind him, then sat down next to Vanessa. After they stopped the bleeding, Meg threw away the paper towels and took Vanessa's arms in her hands. She had a few scars across both wrists. Med was heart-broken to see the cuts, but somewhat relieved to see the cuts were horizontal. At least she wasn't trying to kill herself.
"Vanessa, what happened to you?" Meg asked. "You weren't doing this before."
"We're not friends anymore," Vanessa said. "I'm not going to just open up to you."
"Well, it looks like you really need a friend," Meg said.
Vanessa slipped her white leather jacket back on and stood up. "I don't need anybody."
Meg got up. "Yes, you do." She grabbed Vanessa's hand and pushed her sleeve up. "This is serious, Vanessa."
Vanessa slid her hand out of Meg's and pulled her sleeve back down. "Leave me alone."
Vanessa turned towards the mirror and started fixing her makeup. Meg stared at her in disbelief. What could have possibly happened to Vanessa to make her want to hurt herself?
Meg took a deep breath and let it out. "Vanessa, Gaston didn't sleep with Helga. She made the whole thing up."
Vanessa looked at Meg through the mirror. "Yeah right."
"It's true. I talked to him. He cares about you just as much as you care about him," Meg said. "Don't shut him out. Let him be here for you."
Vanessa put her mascara in her makeup bag and faced Meg. "Gaston isn't here for me."
"Really?" Meg unlocked the bathroom door and opened it. Gaston was waiting outside the bathroom, looking worried.
When Gaston saw the door open he hurried over. "Vanessa, are you all right?"
"I'm fine."
"We're both here for you, Vanessa, whether you think you need us or not," Meg said. "You're not alone."
Vanessa narrowed her eyes at Meg. "I want to be alone." She pushed passed Meg and Gaston and stormed off.
Meg walked out into the hallway and watched Vanessa walk away.
"What happened to her?" Meg asked Gaston.
The bell rang then and students started flooding out into the hall. Gaston pulled Meg to the side.
"It's not my place to tell you that," Gaston said. "But, go to the cemetery Saturday night. You'll find her there."