The Way into Hurting Someone

Step Ten

Step Ten: Don't talk ever again.

I wasn't in the mood to return to school, but Evangeline talked me through it, because she knew that I had a weird liking over school and hated missing the learning—that's not weird at all, I promise.

When I went back to school, I still couldn't believe what Matthew had told me at the party.

In fact, I still couldn't believe we had stopped talking for the rest of the break.

I didn't even know if we were a couple anymore—we most likely weren't—, but when I was passing by the library at lunch time, I decided to go in and look for a book to help me with an essay.

That's when I saw him, with a girl.

I felt like a total stalker, but I wanted to see who she was, maybe she was the girl who he managed to fall in love with—instead of me.

Indeed, she seemed more beautiful than I ever thought I was, and her laugh was cute, yet familiar. As I stood at a moderated distance, I could finally see her face, but she was covering it with her freshly-manicured hands, laughing at Matthew's quirky sense of humor.

Then, she took her hands off her face and placed some strands of her hair behind her ears.

I didn't know her, she seemed familiar, but I probably had just seen her around.

The bell rang and I started walking out the library, but someone grabbed my wrist and pulled me back.

"Let me go, I need to get to class, and I'm not in the–," I stopped talking when I saw the green-eyed boy who made me fall for him, but didn't catch me.

"What do you want?" I spat at him.

"I saw you in there," he said.

Oh, shoot.

"Where? In the library? I was looking for a book for an essay. Why do you mind?" I responded, I wasn't lying completely, just covering my stalker moment.

He rolled his eyes, I frowned.

"What's your essay about?" He asked. "Chernobyl," I said, plainly.

"Then why were you looking for a book to help you out with that, in the Mathematics area?" His wicked mouth said.

"Whatever," I muttered, and started walking away.

"Come on, Elodie, that was not cool, I know you're better than that."

He wanted to talk like if he hadn't broke my heart, and left me hanging in the cold air on the countdown at one of the best New Year's party, then fine—I talked.

"You know what, Matthew, I saw you in there with a girl, some days after we separated or broke up or whatever, and you expect for me to do 'better than that' just because I wanted to see the face of the girl who's so much better than me? Because she made you fall in love with her, right? Then, sorry, I can't do better than that," I responded and walked away.

"She's my sister!" He said, I stopped my tracks and felt my cheeks blushing—that's why she looked familiar—, "She studies at NYU and this was her only time to see me, since she's just passing by."