Adulthood

Chapter 10

Jake returned to school. He still had scratches on his face from when I attacked him at the hospital.

"What happened to him?" Matthew asked me and JJ.

Me and JJ stared at each other and laughed.

I entered Chemistry class. JJ had a seat saved for me right next to her. I sat next to her. Me and JJ stared at Matthew. He was talking to Sam, the nerd in our class.

"Are they a thing now?" I asked JJ.

She didn't know. We stared at them talking and giggling until class started.

Mr. Fatty was finally here. His name wasn't really Mr. Fatty. It was Mr. Francis. I was gonna finally start calling him by his real name...until he did something stupid.

"Alright class, today is Marianna's birthday! And we're gonna sing for her" he said cheerfully.

Me, JJ, and Matthew stayed silent as the whole class sang to Marianna.

After class, JJ and Matthew ended up leaving me. I thought I was the only one left in the class, until I turned and saw Robert.

"Ugh. You" he said. For some reason his accent wasn't so cute to me anymore.

"Yeah. Me" I replied to his comment.

"You need to stop visiting Isabelle. I don't want her becoming friends with a snake like you" he told me.

"No, I'm not going to stop visiting her. She's upset that none of her friends visit her. So I'm there for her. Unlike you" I spoke the truth.

When I walked down the hall, I saw Jake staring at me. He was standing by his locker. We made eye contact for awhile, until the bell rang. I went to my next class and ended up being late.

After school, I went to the park and walked around. It was a beautiful day. I love walks. Especially at night. Sometimes I walk and talk to myself. I feel like I'm the only one that can help myself from life problems. I heard people laughing and talking. I looked at one particular table and I saw Marianna, Robert, and other people throwing water balloons at each other. The whole water balloon idea was cringe. Nowadays, people celebrate their birthdays at clubs. But I forgot that Marianna never grew up. She was still childish.

I walked home that night. It was dark and gloomy outside. My mom's corvette was at the repair shop. So, until further notice, I had to walk to school. And I had to ask people for rides to the hospital.

I heard my message notification. I looked at it and it was the anonymous number again. I wanted to ignore it and block the number, but I couldn't. I thought of all the bad outcomes of ignoring the message. I checked. The message read "You shouldn't walk in the night, beautiful". I looked around. Nothing. I sprinted. My house was only 5 minutes away. I wasn't looking where I was going and I ended up bumping into someone. I held my forehead as if it was gonna make it feel better.

"Are you alright?" I heard a familiar voice ask.

I looked up and saw Jake Mendez. We made eye contact again. Like the time we did in the hall. I was expecting him to do something to me. But he didn't. He asked me if I was alright.

"I'm fine" I said as I shivered in fear.

"Are you cold?" He asked me.

"No. I'm scared" I admitted.

"Why are you scared?"

"Jake, please leave me alone. Stop stalking me. Please" I said.

He looked at me with confusion in his face. I wanted to see what he was gonna say next.

"Stalking you? I'm not stalking you" he revealed.

"I won't go to the police. Just please stop" I continued to beg him.

"I'm not stalking you, Chloe. I just got out of the hospital" he said.

A part of me believed him. A part of me didn't. I didn't know which part to agree with. Jake was a rapist. But he was also an angel. He volunteers at pet clinics and donates to charities. So, I decided to believe him.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I just thought it would've been you since you..." I stopped myself from saying the last two words.

"I what?"

I thought to myself. Should I tell him I know? I mean even if he did do it, he wouldn't say the truth. Maybe if I told him Marianna told me, he wouldn't have a way out of the truth.

"Raped me" I told him. The last two words came out.

He giggled. I stared at him laughing at me.

"I didn't rape you".

I explained to him that Marianna told me. But he kept saying that he didn't rape me. I tried to walk off so I wouldn't talk about it anymore. But he kept getting in my way.

"I did not rape you. I don't know why...but Marianna lied to you" were his last words before he walked off.

I walked into my house and threw myself to the couch. I wanted to cry and scream, but I couldn't. I just laid there for awhile. I got up and went to my bedroom. I looked at myself in the mirror. My baby fat was starting to show.

"I promise you won't have to pay for this" I said as I rubbed my belly.

I got a phone call from my mom. I answered it. She sounded worried.

"What's wrong mom?" I asked her. What she said next broke my heart.

"Isabelle ran away. The doctors are looking everywhere for her. She's not in her room" she said.

After the phone call ended, I called Isabelle. I waited and hoped for her to answer. Thankfully, she did.

"Isabelle, where are you?!" I asked through the phone.

I heard her crying. She sounded scared. I tried to calm her down by saying positive words like "everything's gonna be alright" even though I didn't know what her reason was for being scared. I asked her why she was crying she didn't tell me.

After the phone call, I started to cry. Me and her had just started being friends again. I was gonna miss her so much. And all I could think about was her lasts words on the phone. She said "I'm leaving town...and I'm never coming back"

I lost another friend. Someone that had meant a lot to me before, and started meaning a lot to me again. Wanda was right about losing everyone you love. So I did one last thing. I went to Marianna's house and left a box on her doorstep. I knocked and then hid in the bush across the street. When she came out she saw the box and took it inside. It was a birthday present. The last birthday present I was gonna give her. Sometimes things had to come to an end. "No more presents from me anymore, Marianna" I thought in my head.