I missed him
Amelia Forbes
Thirty minutes after Adrian had stormed off, Benson peeked through the door of my ward, worry visible on his face.
He walked in when he saw that I was awake. “Mel, are you okay?” He asked, rushing to my side and placing a hand on my forehead and looking into my eyes for any signs.
For a moment I was scared. What if Adrian had told him everything?Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org
I looked up at him again and I saw that he didn’t know. I relaxed once more.
“What happened?” He asked, squeezing my arm.
I shrugged, trying to look as normal as possible. “Nothing serious. The doctor said I’m stressing myself out. I need to rest and eat healthier, that’s all.”
I finished, hoping the lie was believable.
Benson’s face dissolved into a look of relief.
He sighed. “You scared me.” He ran a hand through his blonde hair. “I wanted to. . . come with Adrian to the hospital but I wasn’t sure if you’d want to see me,” He said, looking down at his feet.
I felt bad about everything that happened between us, but I still wanted to be careful. I didn’t want to put myself out there anymore. I didn’t want to get hurt anymore.
“I miss you,” He whispered, looking up at me with sadness in his eyes.
My chest constricted. “I miss you too.” I was being honest now. “But you really made me feel. . . like a loser. And I hope you understand why it’s hard for me to risk going through that again.”
“Let’s start over.”
I looked up. “What?”
“Let’s start over. Let me. . . be a new Benson. A Benson you’d be proud to call your friend.”
The tears that stood in his eyes triggered mine and I let them fall, nodding in assent.
Try. Let’s try.
He laughed, wiping his eyes and extending his arm for a handshake.
“Hey, I’m Benson. But you can call me Ben,” He smiled. “Your friend Adrian asked me to come stay with you till you feel better. How are you feeling?”
I let out a watery chuckle, taking his hand.
“Hey, I’m Amelia. But you can call me Mel. I’m doing great thanks for asking.”
We shook hands firmly and began to make light, friendly small talk. Like strangers do when they meet for the first time.
And it felt nice.
Jason Davenport
I leaned on my locker, deep in conversation with the gang. We’d gone from talk about exams to the small fiasco that had happened in Chem practical early this morning.
Apparently Amelia had fainted during practicals for no apparent reason. I had a hunch she was just being dramatic as usual. For someone who acted like she hated attention, she sure loved a good show.
Pretentious bitch.
I shook my head and faced the gang, listening to Kimberly fawn over some guy she’d met at a show she’d attended last weekend.
All of a sudden she was cut off by someone grabbing her by the collar and shoving her hard into the locker.
Kim let out a loud cry and I look up to see Dani, a murderous look on her face.
“You bitch!” Kimberly screeched. “What the fuck is your problem.” She struggled to get out of Dani’s tight grip.
I leaned in deeper into the locker. This should be good.
“How does it feel now, being shoved around,” Dani spat, keeping her tight grip on Kimberly.
“What the fuck are you talking about!” Kimberly was breathing hard now. Students began to gather round.
I suppressed a snicker. It wasn’t everyday you saw the queen bee of Wayne County High being shoved around.
“I saw you. I saw what you did to Amelia.” Dani said flatly, her expression daring Kimberly to deny it.
“You’re a fucking monster. How do you live with yourself you asshole. You could’ve killed her!”
With each sentence, Dani shoved her harder into the locker.
“Get a life, you empty headed bitch,” She spat, letting Kimberly loose from her grip.
She turned to the rest of us. “All of you! You see bullying Amelia as some kind of game. Quit being so fucking insecure about yourselves that the only way you can feel better is by picking on people because they can’t stand up for themselves.”
She raised a finger, pointing at each of us one by one.
“If I ever, ever see any of you try to hurt Amelia ever again, I’ll make you regret the day you came into existence.”
With that, she stormed off, leaving us staring after her in shock.
What the hell just happened?