Insanity Bites |z.m| |h.s|

Chapter 41: Relapse

"Melanie?" I squeaked in disbelief and then cringed at how weak I sounded.  I blinked a few times but there she was standing before me, looking even better than I remembered in her high heeled boots and short denim skirt. I had to look up at her today and that somehow annoyed me.

Harry seemed to have stopped what he was doing as well. The both of us stared at her waiting for what she had to say.

"Hey," She smiled a shy smile and then she shifted her feet nervously. "Umm how've you been, Ro?"

I simply stared at her unable to answer that question. Was she seriously asking me that now?

Noticing our silence she quickly recovered and then she held out her hand to Harry. 

"I don't think we've been properly introduced before, I'm Melanie," She greeted but Harry just stared at her without moving a muscle. She bit her lip in embarrassment and quickly retracted her hand before turning her attention back to me.

"Ro, I owe you a huge apology. I should have told you about Jake before I told Amanda. I should have stood by your side when the whole school bullied you and I should have believed you about Derek. To be honest deep down I always knew you were innocent. I guess I was just too much of a coward to do anything about it," She mumbled and her shoulders slumped in defeat.

I hugged my books to my chest suddenly feeling extremely emotional. Mel had a way of tugging at my heart strings but that didn't change the way I felt about what she did. 

"I was furious when I found out Derek hurt you. I'm so sorry Ro, I really hope you can forgive me. I've missed you so much. School's not the same without you.

To be honest I felt the same way. I really missed my best friend but there was no way I was going to admit that right now.

"You really hurt me," I said quietly and I could see Harry glancing at me cautiously like I was a piece of glass about to break. I shot him a reassuring glance and he visibly relaxed.

"Can we walk together to class? Catch up on everything?" She asked with an edge of desperation to her tone.

"Thank you for your apology Mel, I appreciate it but I'm gonna need more time than that," I stated firmly and then I looked at Harry. "You coming?" 

He nodded his head and then shut his locker before following me down the corridor.

"That was weird. Do you really think she meant that?" He asked as he ran a hand through his wavy brown hair. 

I looked at him and smiled when I saw that signature frown on his face. 

"I think I believe her."

My smile widened at the thought of her apology. Mel wasn't the kind of person who apologized easily. In fact she was one of the most stubborn people I knew. For her to admit her mistakes to me like that must have taken a lot of her will power and no matter how much she had hurt me these past two weeks, the gesture seemed to warm my heart slightly.

Harry of course didn't know her as well as I did. He frowned at my reaction and then rolled his eyes.

"What a pushover," He muttered earning a small punch from me. He then glanced down at his shoulder and back up at me with a smirk on his face. "Was that supposed to hurt?"

"Why would I want to hurt my new friend?" I teased looking straight ahead now. For once people weren't staring at me and whispering with accusatory expressions on their faces. I mean they were still staring but it wasn't that bad today.

"Someone's in a good mood," Harry replied.

"Last night was hell Harry. I really needed that."

"You really care about her, don't you? I hope she deserves it," He said and we stopped outside my English class.