Give Me Courage (Give Me Series #4)

03 - Axe Murderer

"I will pay you ten dollars if you make Stiles run laps an entire practice." Malia grinned at the idea. 

"What? No!" Stiles blurted with wide eyes. 

I laughed on our way to our next class, which we were seconds away from entering. I opened my mouth to respond, until I spotted Kira awkwardly waiting by the door of the classroom. The three of us slowed down when we saw her looking at us. 

Kira awkwardly strode forward. "Chloe, uh, can I- can I talk to you...real quick?" She gestured to the wall behind her, by the wall of the classroom. 

"Uh," I shared a look with my friends before I nodded at her. "Okay, sure." I followed her over to the wall, while my friends stepped into the classroom. One of them would save me a seat. 

We've only been back to Beacon Hills for a few days now. We spent the weekend working on our house and the rest of our time had been used to catch up with everything going on. I wasn't avoiding Kira. We just didn't have a friendship before we left for France and we still didn't have one now. At most, I would say we were acquaintances. We had mutual friends, but that was as far as that went. 

"I just--" Kira hesitated on what she planned to say.

I waited, patiently. There was something bothering her, from the way her heart started to race. Kira was nervous. I couldn't tell if I was the reason she was nervous or if it was whatever she was trying to tell me. 

Kira sighed and hung her head. "Chloe, I just- I want to apologize for everything that happened." She blurted out and awkwardly shifted in place. "I-I never wanted to break you and Scott up. I tried to drop my feelings, but I- I guess I failed at that..."

An apology was not what I was expecting Kira to say. The fact that she ushered me away from my friends and asked to speak in private was odd, but I didn't put the pieces together. Her heart was racing. This apology must have taken a lot of courage for her to do. I didn't hate her. It was just hard for me to let her into my life as a friend.

"I'm sorry," Kira continued. "I should have backed away from Scott and I'm sorry I didn't do that. I feel horrible about the whole thing. I never wanted to ruin your relationship."

"Thank you for apologizing." I finally spoke up. 

I appreciated that she was apologizing for what happened before I left. Of course, it's a little too late to do so, but it's the fact that she actually did it that counted. Kira peered at me, hopefully. What she did to our relationship was wrong on so many levels. She was the reason I lost my trust in Scott. She wasn't the only one to blame, though.

"I know you're waiting for me to forgive you or even say that everything is okay, but it's not." I held up a finger to keep her from cutting me off. "If you had done this to anyone else, they would probably punch you or worse. I'm not going to do that. I would never do that. You're just as guilty as Scott is- was." I corrected myself. 

My words made her hang her head. Deep down, she must have known that I was right.

"I don't hate you, Kira." I said, earnestly. "And I'm not mad anymore. France taught me a lot of things and, one of them, was that I had to let go of the past, so that's what I did and I'm going to keep doing that." I began to back away from her, inching closer to the door of my next class. "I have to go to class."

As soon as I stepped into the classroom, the late bell rung throughout the school. I settled down in the desk behind Malia, that they had saved for me. My backpack was dropped to the floor by my feet. 

Outside of the classroom, I heard Kira sigh in relief. She was relieved that I didn't yell at her. I told her almost the same thing I had told Scott over an email. I wasn't mad at them anymore and I did let everything go. It was all in the past now and that was a place I didn't want to visit again.