Aggressive Me, Passive You

Alternative Ending #1

Alternative Ending #1

Hunter's party was in full swing by the time I made it to his house. His mom was kind when she let me in, smiling as always, as if nothing was wrong with her. I didn't think she knew that I knew what was going on with her, but I smiled back anyway. It must've been hard for her to put on a smile everyday when she was really heartbroken, but then again, it wasn't that hard to pretend that everything was fine. I did it all the time.

When I walked down to the basement, there were so many people I didn't recognize. I could tell Eliza threw this party; she probably had people from other high schools here. You'd never know with that little ray of sunshine, or at least that's what she was to everyone. I spotted Eliza by the refreshment table chatting it up with Nick, Hunter's friend, that he called out in the hallway once. I didn't really know of Nick because Hunter never talked about him to me before, but I knew they were supposedly really cool with each other, which was why I didn't think anything of it when I saw Eliza talking to him.

However, when I looked really closely at their face expressions, I could tell the conversation they were having was not friendly at all. In fact, Nick's face was red, like he was really angry and Eliza had her arms crossed. She looked pissed off and worried at the same time. I wondered what they could be talking about, but I'd never know. I didn't socialize with those type of people and I didn't plan on it. I was good sticking with my few selective friends.

I shifted my gaze around the party, in hopes to catch a glimpse of Hunter, but I couldn't see his tall figure anywhere. Wherever he was, I bet he looked exceptionally good. He probably had his hair styled up the way he did when he thought he needed to look nice. I just knew that he was dressed to impress because he had great style. I could see him being on the cover of GQ magazine when he got older. Hunter had the looks for it. If he didn't get into the college he wanted—which I was sure he would—his fall back plan could be modeling. He would be very popular and rich. That way groupies and girls like Eliza would be all over him. Those are the type of girls he liked anyway, right? Tall, blonde, and skinny.

I exhaled a deep sigh. I was already ready to go home. I wasn't getting my way. I was maybe annoyed with all the pop music blaring through the speakers, as well. They needed to put it on another playlist or something because I was not getting turned up to this. When I actually looked around, there were few black people. Hunter and Eliza were the type to hang out with preppy, rich white kids.

"Aniya, hey!" Someone tapped on my shoulder and I turned around. It was Eliza.

"Hi." I said, waving shortly before directing my gaze everywhere else but her.

It was weird talking to the girl who was dating the guy I liked. I felt the need to dislike her very much—more than I already did—but she never showed signs of falseness, it was unreal. I mean, she was cool for thanking me at school when she saw me in the hallway, but I didn't want to talk to her. I felt like it was wrong and I would throw my emotions all over the place. She had one thing I didn't: Hunter. The hot feeling in the pit of my stomach that made my blood boil was jealousy, I just knew it. I envied her for having him.

"I'm glad you could make it!" She smiled widely. Everything about this girl was perfect. I wanted to choke from how wide her perfect smile was. "It turned out great, didn't it? How long have you been here?"

"I just got here." I pursed my lips together, nodding my head. "It's cool."

"No Aniya," she shook her head and smirked, "it's more than cool. Hunter's gonna get so much credit when we go to school."

I nearly scowled at how she was acting like she knew what he wanted. I had come to learn about Hunter and I knew that he wouldn't want a big turn out like this just to say everyone showed out for him. He didn't want to hang out with people he didn't know. This seemed like a popularity contest for her and she wanted Hunter to win to make her look good, even though he didn't want to sign up for it. At this point I didn't know what to think about her. What did Hunter see in her? She was beautiful, I gave that to her, but what else was there to her. I always thought something was up with her. I just never said anything to Hunter because he seemed happy with her. It broke my heart a little, but if was my fault for not telling him about my feelings for him.