Life is Liz (LiL, #1)

Chapter 15: Part 2: Guilty As Charged

I really hope you like the chappy as much as I do. Song up there is Half alive by Secondhand Serenade. Play at the end. Enjoy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's done cannot be undone.-William Shakespeare, Macbeth

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wait! Did I really just say that out loud? Crap, I didn't mean to. For starters because I wasn't even sure about it. And secondly because nobody of them, besides Logan, knew about it. And I wasn't exactly up for that convo. I mentally groaned, annoyed with myself. I should really think about the things I want to say, before actually saying them out loud.

And then they started talking. More like asking questions. All at once. I almost winced.

"You were bullied?"

"Why haven't you told us?!"

"What did she do to you?"

"I swear I'm going to break her neck the next time I see her!"

They bombarded me with a hundred questions more until I couldn't take it anymore. It was hard to breathe as I stood up and left the room. I didn't mean to be rude, but I really needed air to breathe. And as the realization of having to explain myself came crashing down on me, it made it almost impossible to breathe.

I don't remember much, but I do remember the tears. It had been Friday, most of the time, when I would come home and the events of the week made my walls crumble down and I would break out in tears. I just hoped that the nightmare had ended when she left elementary school.

I found myself opening the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water. The thing was just that I wasn't feeling the cold water running down my throat as I took a sip. It felt like someone else was controlling my body, getting to move, to keep going.

Somewhere in the back of my head I could hear the conversations I've been having with Thalia. They were replaying themselves over and over in my mind. They wouldn't stop. Not when I washed my face with cold water, not when I downed the whole bottle of freezing cold water, not when I sat down on the tilt floor in the kitchen, my back resting against the refrigerator door, not when I pressed my hands over my ears, willing them to stop.

But the snide remarks only quieted down when Logan appeared in my sight of vision. "Hey," he greeted me, softly. I could tell that he was suppressing the urge to ask me if I was okay. I managed a small smile when the memories of Thalia, slowly but surely, went away. "Good," I answered.

He knitted his eyebrows together in confusion. "Good?"

"I'm good, don't worry," I smiled at him reassuringly. He nodded absentmindedly. "I just don't really want to talk about it, is all." He nodded again, a smile spreading across his face. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "What?" I asked carefully.

"You need a piggyback ride, then?" I laughed. When I used to be whiny in middle school, Logan would give me a piggyback ride to make me feel better. "Piggyback rides are only appropriate when I'm being whiny and or sick and tired," I repeated the pledge we agreed to in middle school.

He shrugged. "I guess I can make an exception for my best friend." I grinned and watched as he got up from crouching in front of me. He helped me to my feet as well after kindly throwing my water bottle in the trash.

"You sure you want to do this? I mean we haven't done this in quite a while now. And well we aren't twelve any more. I grew taller, you know, even if that's not so easy to believe. And heavier by the way. So-" He cut me off by grabbing my shoulders and giving me a stern look. I sighed, signalling my substantial. He turned and bent forward and in the next moment I was on his back. He lifted me up as if I was a bag of potatoes.