ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀᴅ | ɪ.ɢ

023

[TWENTY-THREE]

* . °•★𝓢𝓪𝔂𝓵𝓸𝓻☆•° . * 

ᴀɴɴɪᴠᴇʀꜱᴀʀɪᴇꜱ ᴀʀᴇ ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴇꜱᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʜɪɴɢꜱ.

Some are important, such as the anniversary of your first date or your wedding or the day of your birth. Some are forgotten, like the first time you kissed someone or the first time you went to a certain place. 

And some you wish you could forget.

 Today was one of them. 

Before Jackie and I left our bedroom, we made an agreement—no one but us would know that today was the day our parents and sister had died, one year ago. She didn't want to break down under the weight of what happened, and I didn't want the pity. 

Or at least, that's what I told myself. 

And so, I went through my morning as normally as possible. I ate with the family. I forced a smile on my face. I argued with Isaac. I laughed at Lee's jokes. 

But the entire time I was hurting. I wanted to curl up in my room and cry, but I couldn't. I held back my tears and tried to make it through the day. 

Everything went well, too. The first four periods passed by fine, and no one could tell I was dying on the inside. Lunch was okay as well. I didn't talk as much, but covered it up by saying I was just really tired. I was starting to think I would be able to make it through the whole day. 

But then something fucked it all up.

I had to go to the bathroom before fifth period math. Waving goodbye to my friends after lunch, I ducked into the ladies room, disappeared into the stall, and finally let the smile drop. 

Immediately, the tears pricked the corners of my eyes and I inhaled sharply, trying to keep them at bay. My head ached. My heart ached. I wanted to go back in time, to fix what had happened. I wanted my sister and my dad and my mom back so badly it physically hurt. 

Just then, the door to the bathroom opened and I sucked in a breath. Two female voices were chatting to one another. 

"I need someone new to flirt with, though." One of them said. Part of me wanted to leave the bathroom, but I didn't want them to see me. The last thing I needed was for more rumors to be spread about me. 

"Yeah. Too bad those Howard girls are cornering the market on all the available boys. I mean, they're literally living with the Walters." 

"Yeah. I mean, it's just novelty? It'll probably wear off soon." 

Now I was intrigued. They were talking about me, so before I could change my mind, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. After a second, I clicked record, just as one of the girls said,

"Paige, Jackie's like the new you. Have you seen how Alex and Cole fight over her?" 

The girl called Paige snorted. "I couldn't care less. What about that other girl...Saylor, right? The one that's always hanging around Isaac?" 

"Yeah?"

"Do you think she's into him?" 

"Clearly. No one hangs around another person that much unless they want them." 

"True." A pause, and then, "Do you remember the truth or dare? Saylor said she was in the car and watched her family die." 

The other girl laughed. "But do you actually believe her? Like, that was totally just a ploy to get people to like her."

"Yeah. She'd probably kill herself if it actually happened. There's no way."

I inhaled sharply, gritting my teeth together. Angry tears were pricking the corner of my eyes as my fist clenched around the phone in my hand. When I thought there was nothing they could say to make me even angrier, Paige said,

"You know, she and Jackie literally won the lottery when their parents died. They got attention and got to live with the hottest collection of boys in this entire school." 

"Yeah. And weren't their parents rich? So they, like, literally won the lottery." 

Paige laughed, and that was when I snapped. 

I rose to my feet, unlocked the stall door, and for good measure, kicked it open, so it slammed against the other stalls with a bang. Both of the girls turned around and saw me. Part of me wanted to absolutely beat their asses, but the other part thought of a better idea. 

I walked up towards the sink and started washing my hands. After a few seconds, I turned around and dried them on a paper towel. Both of the girls were staring at me with absolute shock and guilt on their faces. 

"Didn't your mothers ever teach you it's rude to gossip about others? Mine might be dead, but I would bet my life that she was better than either of yours." My voice took on a snarl as I continued. "And, for the record, I was in the car. And this is what I got from it." I lifted up the left leg of my pants, revealing the long, raised scar that ran from the top of my ankle all the way up to my mid thigh. Paige and the other girl stared as I let the fabric fall and took a step closer to them.

"And, just so you know, I wouldn't kill myself, because then that would give the satisfaction to bitches like you with ugly ass faces and even uglier personalities. So I strongly suggest that you shut the fuck up before I make you." 

I walked towards the door of the bathroom, anger blinding my vision. I shoved it open, and then looked back at the two of them. 

"Don't talk shit about me or my sister ever again." 

And then, I left the bathroom. 

I didn't go to class. 

Instead, I walked towards the door leading out of the school. A teacher called out as I passed her, but I ignored her and instead pushed the door open, leaving this prison of education. As soon as I was outside, away from people, I burst into tears and sprinted away from the school, leaving my bag there, by the door. 

There was no way I could go back to class. I simply couldn't face anyone else after that. 

There was a rumbling in the clouds as I ran off towards the forest behind the school. Branches tore at my clothes as I reached the trees, and soon the sky almost disappeared above the thick foliage. 

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out, slowing my run to a fast walk. It was a text from Skylar, asking me where I was.

I left him on read, shoved my phone deeper into my pocket, and kept running. 

* . °•★•° . *