The Last Year (Once-ler x OC)

Goodbye Linvale.

I pulled the ripped dress from my body and stared at the damage to it. A pair of shorts and a t-shirt replaced the dress. I placed the torn dress on the edge of my bed. Just as I wanted to head downstairs to get a snack there was a knock on the door. I stood against the door hearing Once-ler's voice. He sounded upset. Not as if he were angry with me, but himself. My mom didn't quite know what happened. She'd be livid if she did. Calls and texts came in throughout the night. He apologized over and over. I didn't reply to them. I needed to think about what happened. That person wasn't him, that was something else. Right? My phone buzzed on my bed. I jumped in place. My hand shook as I picked up the phone.

Fleur. Please talk to me! I didn't mean to do, or say, those things. Just what I saw I got so mad. I'm sorry.

I bit my lip and tossed the phone back on the bed. After a few minutes passed I went downstairs into the kitchen. I was grabbing some ice cream when my mom walked in.

"What happened with Once?" she asked.

"Nothing."

"You planning on eating an entire pint of ice cream?"

I had dug my spoon into the pint of ice cream. My eyes narrowed at her while eating directly from the container.

"If you're eating that whole thing, something happened."

"We just had a fight."

"Well, aren't you supposed to be leaving with him tomorrow?"

"I dunno."

"You should figure that out."

"Yeah, well, I'm going upstairs. Night!"

I took the ice cream with me. As I shoveled a spoonful of ice cream into my mouth I stared at the room. Through all the excitement I hadn't even packed anything. Was I even going still? I loved him still, it's just scary how he acted. I picked up some of the clothes on my floor and sorting them to be washed. The note I found in my locker fell out of the pocket I had tucked it into. I placed the note on the dresser and took the dirty clothes to the washer. I came back into the room and flopped on the bed. My hands carefully unfolding the note while taking another bite. I sunk into the pillows and read the letter.

Hi Fleur,
This is Once-ler. Your locker neighbor and friend, I guess. So. We just met the other day. Like the first day of school. I really appreciate how nice you've been. I know you said you want to choose your own friends. But I feel like I should tell you, you're on a level I don't belong on. It's only been a few days and I guess I should be thankful that someone had finally been so kind to me. You wouldn't be the first. Plenty of others just realized I'm on the bottom of the school totem pole. So when it happens, when I'm no longer your friend I think you should know this meant a lot to me. And I don't want to be mean, but when you decide to treat me like everyone else. It's going to hurt because, well, you're absolutely beautiful. And I'm sure you'll end up with one of the other more popular guys, or one of my idiot brothers, but these few days have meant so much more than you'll know. I have no idea why I am writing this to you. By the time you find this you won't care. I just wish I could be lucky enough to have a girl like you in my life.

-Once-ler

I set the note down. He really thought I'd end up being like that to him? Tears were falling onto the paper. This poor kid. No wonder he snapped like that. He had been treated like crap his entire life. Yet somehow, through all that shit, he was an amazing person. I had put him through a lot, as did his family, but somehow he always stayed so strong. Especially for me. I sighed and continued eating the ice cream. Now I felt like a huge jerk. But the things he said were unfair to me. I didn't expect that to happen. I picked up my phone and sent a response to Once-ler.