The Twist In Life

Chapter 25_ Psychopath with trust issues

Our faces were just an inch apart when the call of a seagull brought me back to my senses.

Two things happened simultaneously.

I scooped up some sand in my right hand and threw it at Jamie's face, to act as if I had been playing him. At the same time, he snatched one of my éclairs from my left hand.

I gasped, and he choked. I wasn't expecting that, he looked so sincere. He wasn't expecting what I did either. I looked as if I was taken in. Which I infact was. The jerk! Good thing I stopped my guilt from overcoming me when I was about to throw sand at his face.

"You éclair theif," I yelled.

"You sand thrower," he said, spitting the sand out of his mouth, to his side.

"Give me back my éclair," I said.

"Here," he held it out to me. "It was just a joke. You didn't have to throw sand at my face. Do you know how horrible the feeling is?"

'A very mean joke,' I wanted to say. But it would then seem that I was hurt by what he did. Which I wasn't. But these two, of all people, had a way of twisting my words to create a meaning of their choice.

So I simply said, "no thanks," and grabbed my éclair from his hand.

"It's covered in sand," I wailed.

"Your fault," he shrugged.

I got the perfect excuse to let my tears flow free.

"Cry in front of someone who cares," said Jamie.

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and got up. I flung my éclair at him, turned away and ran, hiding my face in my hands.

I was running away from them, but infact, I wanted them to come after me. I needed them to console me. To tell me that everything was fine. That it doesn't matter if I didn't get to call someone dad. That they really were my friends. And that Harvey wasn't pretending to be my friend because of some twisted scheme.

But I didn't hear anyone calling me back.

I suddenly felt dizzy and fell to my knees. Before my face could touch the sand, someone grabbed my hair from behind. At the sudden tug, I felt a short, sharp wave of pain at the back of my neck. It cleared my mind a little. It must be Harvey. Who else would be idiotic enough to prevent a girl from falling by grabbing her hair? What if my neck broke?

"Are you alive?" he asked, trying to haul me up by placing his hands under my armpits.

It didn't work.

"Lazy bum! Come help me," he said to Jamie. "She's heavy and I can't drag her to the car by myself."

I could get up if I wanted to, but I didn't. I wanted to see what they would do. Would they help me like friends? Or would they just take me home out of pity? Or because they would want to get rid of a sick me as soon as possible?

"She's pranking us," said Jamie. "I'm not falling for it again."

Great! Now I was the boy who called wolf.

"No, you idiot. She's really sick. You should be blind not to see it," said Harvey.

"I swear if this is a trick of some sort, I am going to make you both regret it," said Jamie.

I felt a pair of hands on my elbows as Jamie stood in front of me, trying to make me stand.

I suddenly felt nauseous and I wished that I could just lie down on the cool sand and fall asleep. Even though my head had stopped spinning, it hadn't stopped aching.