The Pretend Girlfriend

CHAPTER 23

LAURA POV

"Hey Laura, come in," Ally tells me as she pulls me into her room.

"Hey Ally," I reply with enthusiasm that I did not feel.

"So you said you wanted to tell me something?" she asks.

"Yeah. Please sit down,"

"O-kay," she replies as she plops down on her bed. For the first time, the smile leaves her face.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

"How are you?"

"Why?"

"Just answer the question,"

"I'm fine. Pretty great actually...," she replies.

"How are you and Nate?"

"We're doing okay. In fact, he's the major reason why things have been so awesome recently. We are getting pretty serious," she gushes.

"What about Jason?"

"What about him?" She asks.

"Could you please stop answering my questions with  more questions? I'm nervous enough as it is," I reply hysterically.

"Oh I'm sorry," she says puzzled.

"Well like I told you before he's been bothering me a bit, but it's nothing I can't handle,"

"You can't handle it," I say flatly.

"Why do you think that?"

"You can't handle this. That's what I came to talk to you about. Whats happening now has happened before," I finish but she just stares at me with a confused look on her face.

I begin pacing the room. It's not too late; I can just walk out of here, keep my mouth shut, keep my brother's secret...but I know I can't.  Ally deserves to know the truth and the truth is that my brother is sick. I grab a chair and place it beside her bed directly in front of her.

"I'm going to tell you something I have never told anyone before," I begin as I sit.

"Laura you're scaring me," she says alarmed.

"Please don't interrupt me," I say calmly.

"Sorry," she apologises.

"Thank you... it's about Jason," I say. Her eyes widen a bit but she doesn't say a word and I continue.

"When Jason was four, he had a friend named Julian; they did everything together. Basically, they were pretty close. One day, Julian's mom gave him a toy of an army man in his little uniform. Julian was so attached to it he didn't let Jason play with it but that only made Jason want it more. He grew jealous, he even went as far as offering Julian every toy he owned for just that one doll, but Julian said no. I barely even remember it, but my mom told me.
"He got so upset, mom went to Julian's mother to beg her to give Jason the toy for just one day and Julian's mom complied. Jason was so happy when he got the doll even knowing he had it for just a day. It seemed so ridiculous at the time, you know, all the fuss just because of a toy. The next day Julian came for the doll but no one could find it anywhere. Jason promised he had nothing to do with it. The burnt pieces of the doll were found two days later.

"What I'm saying is," I continue, seeing the shocked look on her face.
"Jason is obsessed with what he can't have, and he's even more obsessed with things he once had, but lost... like your affection; that's his problem, and this led to the situation with Hayley,"

"His ex?" Ally questions.

"Yes, his ex. What do you remember about her?" I ask.

"Well I know that she was dating him, but then they broke up, and also she was bullied sometime afterwards. I didn't see her again after middle school," she says.

"Well the thing is he met her in middle school. He was, as you know, cute and smart and had girls literally throwing themselves at him... you know like you did,"

"Sorry," I mutter seeing the look on her face.

"Anyway, Hayley was different. She was not the prettiest girl in school, neither was she the smartest, but she didn't fall at his feet. That made her stand out to Jason, so he began to pursue her... ruthlessly.  She told him she had a boyfriend but he didn't care. He turned on the charm, bought her flowers, had her serenaded, you name it. In the end, she broke up with her boyfriend and started dating Jason.
"Now here's the interesting part. She was still in love with her her ex boyfriend but Jason was new and exciting for her. After a few months, her ex begged to have her back and she obliged. She broke up with Jason and rekindled her relationship with him. Jason felt outraged and humiliated and then he started the chase like he had done so many times before. He loved the hunt. He started out persuassive, like before, but after a while he realised it wasn't working, so he resorted to threats. He made her life miserable. He wasn't the only culprit though... being a popular jock, he had a lot of friends so to cut the story short, the rest of middle school was a nightmare for her.
"She lost weight, she never went out, she became depressed basically. Her boyfriend got the heat too, but he couldn't take it for long, so he broke up with her. She was still hanging on though.Jason couldn't take it," I say.

You can shut up now Laura, just walk out of this room and keep your mouth shut. It's not too late.

"So... he got a few of his friends to scare her," I hear myself say. The words just keep coming out.

"He and five of his friends waited for her one night when she was leaving the house. She was walking but she felt someone following her so she began to run. They cornered her and surrounded her in an alley. Jason threatened her and told her he would kill her if she kept being stubborn. She was terrified. When they finally left her alone, she went home, took out a razor blade and slit her wrists.

"Are you okay?" Ally asks concerned and I realize that I'm crying.

"It's nothing," I reply wiping the tears on the back of my hand.

"What happeneed to her?" Ally asks quietly.

"She survived, but barely. Her parents had her moved out of the country for treatment. I haven't heard from her since," I finish taking a deep breath. I have to admit, it feels good letting this off my chest.

"That's why your parents shipped him off to boarding school," she concludes. There were tears in her eyes but she was fighting to hold them back.

"Ally, "

"I just need a minute," she says and covers her face with her hands. She takes a few deep breaths and looks at me again.

"Okay, I'm good,"

"Ally," I start and take her hands in mine.

"I'm Jason's sister, and I know him. As your friend, I'm begging you to stay as far away from him as you can; you and Nate," I beg.

"And don't let him know you know about the Hayley thing, okay?"

"Give me some credit Laura, I'm not stupid," she replies.

"I've known Jason for as long as I can remember, and I would have never thought he would be capable of something like that, but this explains everything. Thank you for telling me," she says, reaching out to hug me.

"You're welcome," I reply as i hug her back. I get up and head for the door.

"Laura, one more thing," Ally says and i turn around.

"I'm not afraid of him. Jason will never hurt me, that I know," she says with finality.

He did.

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