Ace of Harts

9

Its a rainy Sunday night, and Tyler's over at Hannah's house. Checking up on how she was doing. Hannah hasn't gone to school the rest of the week waiting till her rib healed. She was going to school tomorrow.

"How you feeling?" Tyler asks for the hundredth time in less than an hour. Hannah laughs.

"Tyler, I'm fine. You've asked that for the billionth time today. Im fine." Hannah says to her white haired friend.

"Im just worried about you." Tyler says sitting on Hannah's bed.

"I know you are but.......it gets abit annoying." Hannah says laying on her bed looking up at Tyler with a smile.

"Yeah i know. Look Grace really wants to talk to you." Tyler says. Hannah's smile slowly leaves and looks at the ceiling.

"I....i don't think that would be a good idea." Hannah says.

"Figured you'd say that. Thats why she's already here." Tyler says. Hannah's eyes widened and looked at Tyler angry.

"Im sorry what did you say?" Hannah says seeing if she heard wrong.

"I said Grace's here. I told her to come over so she can talk to you knowing that you wouldn't talk to her yourself." Tyler says crossing his arms. Hannah bites the inside of her cheek not wanting to yell at her friend. "You need to tell her the truth Hannah. Tell her what really happened. She deserves the truth." Tyler says getting up off the bed and walking out Hannah's room. Grace came in not to long after Tyler left.

"Uh. Hey Hannah." Grace says as she walks inside Hannah's room.

"Hey." Hannah says not looking anywhere but the ceiling.

"Hannah can you please talk to me. We haven't spoken to each other for over a week." Grace says sitting on the corner of Hannah's bed.

"Sorry about that. I was busy last week and I can't really move much lately." Hannah says emotionless.

"Hannah what happened the night of the track meet?" Grace asks. She asked everyone else but they wouldn't budge.

"I got beat up by some guys. Remember you called the ambulance, you were in the hospital." Hannah says like it was obvious.

"I know but.....why did you ask me to leave? You were hurt and you asked me to leave. That hurt Hannah.I wanted to stay with you make sure you were okay." Grace says as her voice cracked.

"Im sorry Grace, i really am its just.....i don't want to get hurt anymore." Hannah says not making eye contact with Grace.

"What do you mean by hurt?" Grace asks. She's been hearing that a lot the past month. Hannah's hurting. She's hurt. But no one tells her by what just a vague she likes you. Hannah takes a deep breath.

"Grace dont.....dont get mad, don't.....just hear me out. Okay?" Hannah says.

"Okay?" Grace says unsure of where this was going.

"Im.....ive been....." Hannah composed her thoughts. "I assume Tyler has told you about my old reputation. The Ace of Harts?" Hannah asks Grace if it rang bell.

"Yes. Multiple times." Grace says looking at Hannah who was staring at the ceiling.

"Well when i moved here i didn't want to be the Ace of Harts anymore. I didn't want the reputation anymore. So when i got here i...fell for this girl. Most gorgeous human being you would ever see. Her smile was brighter than the sun and her eyes, god I could get lost in them for days. That person was......umm....look i started to um....begin my reputation again. Im sure you noticed. Its just that when i got tackled at the last game it made me realize that this person will never feel the same way back so i should just not even bother. So i guess I've been trying to get over her. Thats one way I'm hurting. The second is why I was in the hospital. I don't want to be the cause in the problem i really don't Grace so just don't do anything you wouldn't want to do. I was walking to the parking lot with Sawyer when i got pulled to the ground." Hannah pauses closes her eyes and try to remember the memory she tried to block out.

"It was...you know that doesn't matter." Hannah says changing her mind on telling Grace who it was.

"No it does. Tell me who did this to you Hannah." Grace says wanting to punch who ever hurt her friend.

"Grace it was Chester. He punched me and yelled at me saying this one was for Grace and he called me a faggot for like the second hundredth time now. And i punched back and yelled at him while Sawyer was beaten down by two other people. But when those two saw that I was on top of Chester they grabbed me and then he started to kick me and punch me harder till i passed out." Hannah says as she couldn't hold in the tear any longer. A tear fell to the side of her eye. Grace stared at Hannah with tears already streaming down her cheek.

"Grace I'm sorry i really am." Hannah says sitting up to fast that she winced at the pain that shot through her body. Grace quickly ran to her and helped her. Hannah declined Grace's help. "Grace i don't want to get hurt anymore." Hannah says finally looking into the other girls eyes.

"Hannah, can i ask who this girl you fell for is?" Grace asks, knowing the answer from what Tyler told her a month ago.

"I can't tell you that." Hannah says dropping eye contact and looking at her palms. Grace stared at her.

"Ok. I won't push. Just don't hide things from me." Grace says giving Hannah a warm smile and a gentle hug. After talking a while Grace left and Tyler came back into Hannah's room.

"So what happened?" Tyler asks Hannah who had a genuine smile on.

"I told her everything." Hannah says still smiling.

"Even you feelings for her?" Tyler asks hoping the answer was yes.

"No. I couldn't. i just said i was hurting because a girl." Hannah says laying back down on her bed.

"Oh anything specific?"

"No." She said knowing that it was half a lie. She told Grace specifics that only she would have known not anyone else.

"Well you did tell her about Chester beating you up right?"

"Yeah. I just hope she doesn't do anything she'll regret." Hannah says bitting her cheek.

"Well at least you guys are good. Now i have to tell you about this boy who's from Australia he just moved here. That boy! He's something else." Tyler says as Hannah laughs.

"When's the wedding?" Hannah jokes smirking. Tyler turns red and throws the pillow at Hannah as she laughs.

"Not funny!" Tyler says laughing.