Chapter 20

Olive was locked in a daze as she continued to type furiously on her phone. No matter how many times I shook her shoulders or repeated her name, the phone won her attention.

She gritted her teeth at one point and shook her head. Whoever she was texting was clearly responsible for making her distressed. Once she was done with her last message, she pocketed her phone and smiled at me like there wasn't a problem.

"I'm sorry. It's just... family troubles. That's all."

"What kind of family troubles?"

Olive looked like she was hesitant to tell me. We told each other everything from period stories to what we were binge watching on TV.

For her to be hesitant to tell me something, whatever it was must've been big. She turned away from her locker to face me, but her eyes were still downcast. "My family's sort of... kind of... pretty much... sort of very pissed at me right now."

"How come?"

Every time she spoke, she would let out a breath and try again. However, the words couldn't come out of her mouth.

"Olly, you know you can tell me anything, right? What is it?"

"My family's pissed at me for not wanting to report Gray for assaulting me. They said that he needs to get what he deserves before he could hurt anyone else."

The name 'Gray' was locked up in a safe in the back of my mind since our last encounter. Each time a mental image of him dared popping up in my head, I quickly replaced it with the thought of puppies. The sounds of their tiny yawns, small barks and their paws digging into your lap until they settled were my saviors. But Olive challenged that by bringing up he-shall-not-be-named.

That would make me feel much better. Now that she said his name, the pain, the slaps, the bloody noses were all I could think of.

Puppies...

Puppies...

Think about all the Goldendoodle puppies that you could fit in your arms.

Their wagging tails and puppy noises.

"Oh."

Guilt shielded her eyes and it showed with her rubbing her own hands together as well as with her tapping foot. "I kept telling them that they would only sentence him with only a few months in jail which, in the sad reality we live in... would've been true, but that's not the main reason."

The guilt in her eyes.

Her fiddling fingers.

Her foot tapping the floor.

No.

No, no no.

She couldn't have heard...

Oh shit.

Who are we kidding? Of course she heard! Zach was screaming loud enough for the whole neighborhood to be able to eavesdrop.

"The main reason is that... you heard me, Zach and Kayden talking about... what happened that day."

"Yes. And the guilt had been eating me alive. You felt like you had to do what you did to protect me. You did that to make sure he doesn't go near me again. I didn't tell you because... you asked me to leave the room so obviously, you didn't want me to hear. I was going to make you the hot chocolates. I was. But then... I got curious and... I was a selfish bitch and decided to eavesdrop which I know was wrong and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"You're not a selfish bitch."

A melancholic expression was etched into her features. She was looking everywhere but my eyes and her teeth were gnawing on her quivering bottom lip. Without needing context, I was already preparing myself for what words would leave her lips next. "According to my father, I am."

My eyes widened at the notion that her father would say such a thing. Mr. Jennings had a close relationship with both his daughters.

Sure, he was overprotective and still saw them as the cute little babies he held in his arms. He was furious when he found out. However, he would never take it that far as to call her that word. Or any word nearly as bad as that one. "Wh-wh-why, why would he...?"

"Because I wasn't thinking about the other girls he could've hurt. Letting him get away with it would mean letting him get away with hurting anyone else. But the only person I was worried about him hurting more than he already had... was you. I didn't want him hitting you anymore. You don't deserve that. Apparently, that makes me a selfish bitch." Olive threw her arms up and chuckled self-deprecatingly.

When she looked me in the eyes, I witnessed a blend of anger and melancholy. I heard it in her voice too. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears. All I wanted to do was wrap her in a warm embrace and whisper to her that everything would be okay.

That a selfish bitch was the last things she was and if her father knew my situation, he'd agree wholeheartedly. He'd immediately take back his words and say how proud he was of her.

Seeing her like this was the worst thing in the world. If I could, I'd tell her dad everything right this second. Before she could start sobbing in the middle of the hallway, she cleared her throat.

"I ran away from home last night and I'm gonna stay at Sean's for a while until things calm down. Mom was just texting me asking me to come home after school, but I told her I couldn't. Not as long as dad was there."

"You can always stay with me too."

She scoffed. "That's very sweet, but you already have Zach living with you. You don't need me there too."

"But my parents wouldn't mind. We can make other sleeping arra—" The bell for the first class cut me off.

Chaos ensued as students rushed to make it, Olive lightly holding my wrist before joining them. I caught her elbow before she could go any farther. "Don't listen to your father. What he said was unfair and untrue. He doesn't get the situation."

"I know... and I won't."

-

I didn't understand why math had to exist.

The kind of math that mixed letters and numbers together. When would we ever need to learn this? Despite my hatred toward the subject, I shoved away any other thought out of my head to focus on Mrs. Vaughn.

When I heard Angela answer the question, I casually glanced at her. In contrast to her usual clothes, she was dressed in a plain brown hoodie, leggings, and Uggs and her hair was thrown up in a messy bun.

There wasn't an ounce of makeup applied to her skin, exposing pink blemishes that were peppering her forehead and glasses framed her eyes. We weren't the best of friends, but I still felt remorseful for how things went at her party.

Kayden said that he'd been leaving her texts the whole day yesterday, but she eventually blocked him. He may be not able to fix this, but perhaps, I can. I made a mental note to talk to her before the next class.

I was tired enough as it was, but listening to Mrs. Vaughn ramble on about complicated equations acted like a sleeping pill. When class was over, I hurriedly packed my books and cried out Angela's name. I tried again and hurried to catch up to her in her next class, but she didn't dare acknowledge my existence.

"Why do you need to talk to her?" Olive's voice came from behind me. I flinched at the sound, but I slowly turned on my heel to see her standing with her arms crossed and her brow arched in a judgemental stance.

"Because. I feel at fault for Kayden breaking up with her."

"What, you feel bad for being charming enough to steal Kayden's heart? It's not your fault you're adorable. If anything, it's your parents' fault for making such an adorable baby."

"Ugh. Great. Now I'm stuck with that horrible image in my head. Thanks a lot."

"What? I didn't say how they made you."

"But I know how and that just made the image more vivid. Thanks." I squeezed my eyes shut and shook those nauseating images out of my head. My feet continued to carry me toward Angela who was at her locker. "Angela, I need to talk to you."

"Fuck off." She stormed away, but it was going to take a lot more than that to scare me away.

"I just want to talk to you. I'm sorry abou—"

She cut me off by shushing me and gesturing around us. Students noticed the two of us together for the first time since that night and began to stare as they lingered by their lockers. Clearly, they expected a show and some even pulled out their phones, preparing for the next Bella versus Angela fight. Olive was the only one who walked away, but not without giving Angela the side eye.

Damn, people have no idea how to mind their own damn business.

"This is none of your fucking business! Get a damn life!" Once everyone dispersed into their next classrooms and we were away from prying eyes, she looked at me with her face a bright red and her hands were balled into fists.

I actually recoiled in fear that she would punch me in the face harder this time. "What? What do you want from me? Do you want to rub it in that he chose you over me? Fine. You stole him away from me. You happy?"

"Of course I didn't want to do that. I didn't intend on taking him away from you. As a matter of fact, I thought you looked great together."

She scoffed. "Yeah right. You don't think that I was in love with him too? I have been since kindergarten. But every time I asked him to come over for a playdate or to play with me during recess, he'd choose to play with you."

"Well, technically, he chose to play with Zach but I always followed Zach around like a puppy so..." I shrugged and awkwardly chuckled, but she didn't look the least bit amused.

"He finally paid me a lick of attention at that party. Then we were deep in conversation and he asked me out. When you started dating Garrett and Kayden started to give me the cold shoulder, I just knew he had feelings for you."

"If you were in love with him then why would you be all... handsy with him and always making out with him?"

"Because I... I... I finally got him and... let's just say... Olive was right when she said I felt like I needed to shove my tongue down his throat to keep him around." Shame clouded over her eyes as she lowered them to the floor and a deep red blush spread across her cheeks. I recalled the moment when Olive said that.

In the moment, I saw her as a badass standing up to her with a prideful smirk slithering across her face. If only I knew how badly those words would affect Angela.

"When we first kissed, he said that I was a good kisser so I... used that to my advantage." Her thoughts were elsewhere, probably remembering their first kiss together and how good it made her feel when he complimented her. "But before he said that, now that I think about it, there was a hesitant look in his eyes. Now I know why. He was wishing it was you he just kissed."

Guilt began to eat up my heart like it was dessert. A lump sat in my throat while I watched her stand there with the shameful expression remaining on her facial features.

She always asked to play with him at recess, but when he rejected and she ran away crying, I simply shrugged it off. I wasn't the only one who recognized him for how big his heart was.

I was going to say something else, but a loud noise broke the silence. It took a second for my brain to register what it was, but it was a gunshot.