Neighbors

94

Quinn POV

I walk into school Monday morning feeling tired.

I stand by my locker, unpacking my bag and trying not to zone out into my thoughts, which include college and my life in one month. 

What startles me is the sudden sound of my locker shutting nearly on my hand. I look to the person beside me and land my eyes on Joy, whom I've been avoiding for months now. "Hey, remember me?" She snarls.

"Hello." I greet my old friend. I stand up straighter and brush down my dress to make it neater. 

"Why have you been ignoring me?" She asks. "It's been months since we've talked Quinn. What's all that about?"

"I uh," I pause. "I've had things going on." I come up with.

One of the main things that relate to our friendship is that the guy she loves raped me. 

"And? We're supposed to be best friends." Her voice is tense.

"We haven't acted like friends this whole year Joy. You've gotten into smoking weed and shit, which isn't something I like to do. Since the summer we've grown apart. Don't act like me distancing myself hasn't had anything to do with the way you've been treating me." I say honestly while holding my ground.

"I haven't smoked since December, and I hardly talk to Kay. Everyone has been ditching me, and I never knew you out of every one would." Joy says to me in a serious tone.

"I didn't leave you, you let go of our friendship without realizing is." I say again.

"Then why have you been ignoring my texts?" She asks. 

"Because I wanted too." I say, lying to her about the real reason.

Her shoulders shrug and her light blue eyes roll back. Joy leans against the locker beside mine and looks over at me lazily. "David and I are broken up. He just moved--up and left this town. I-I don't even know what happened. He blocked my number and when I call his parents they don't answer. I'm just confused to what happened to us. We were fine the day before he left, we were great. Now you're ignoring me for some reason and I have no one."

Welcome to the club.

"Maybe you should've seen how you were treating me to know why I didn't want to be around you anymore." I say truthfully. 

"I didn't know you were mad at me Quinn," My old friend states. "If I knew I would've done something. You can't blame me for that." 

"You know I hate Kay, but you still invited her to everything we did." I bring up.

"I didn't think you cared. You never brought up anything to me." She says with wide eyes.

"You do realize she's made fun of my eating disorder, the way I look, and basically everything else about me, right? She's my technical bully yet you feel like I should tell you that I hate her, even though you know all of this?" I ask with narrowing eyebrows. 

She remains silent and bites her lower lip. "I'm sorry, okay?" Joy says, giving up. I roll my eyes by how her apology sounds fake. "I am Quinn, believe me." 

"Okay." I say while slouching my shoulders.

Her eyes scan my body, which only makes my face heat by how I know she's going to say something about my current weight. I've only gained 10 pounds back from the 30 I lost. 

Joy doesn't make a comment or ask me anything. She just bites her lower lip and tilts her head. "I'm fine." I say while reading her mind. 

"Are you getting help?" She asks.

"Yes," I answer. "I'm getting back to where I was before." 

She nods and runs her fingers through her light brown hair. "I'm sorry about your grandmother, by the way."

I got her text saying she's sending her wishes towards my family with our loss. I didn't reply because of many reasons. One of them being I didn't want her in my life because something bad happened. 

"Thanks," I answer through a murmur.

I'm not done packing up my grandma's house. Every time I go there I feel apart of myself become sadder. Whenever I used to go over I would always smell whatever she's cooking in the kitchen and the sound of her music play. 

Now when I enter it's silent.

I used to get that feeling when my grandfather died. He used to always watch sports on the television. He loved it so much, in the den there were two TV's. One for just sports, one for regular channels. The sound of the baseball game used to always make the house feel more normal considering it looks like a mansion. 

After he passed the sound of the house was replaced with music. Knowing that the music replaced the thing that reminds us all of my grandfather is sad and makes my eyes pinch everytime I think about it. 

"Do you think we can be friends again?" Joy asks me timidly.

"I'll think about it." I tell her.

She nods with a faint grin. Before my old friend walks away, she gives me a tight hug which makes my tense body relax a bit. 

After that Joy walks away and I'm left thinking by my locker.

***

I sit beside Alyssa in her hospital bed the following night, to keep her company. Her head is on my chest and her pale hand is holding mine loosly.

"How are you doing?" I ask the little girl with tired eyes.

"I'm tired." She says with a sigh. 

"I know." I say. I kiss the top of her head and try to push the feeling of tears burning my eyes. Seeing her go through this breaks my heart. 

"Are you making Hazza happy?" Alyssa asks me through a mumble. 

I look over to her older brother sleeping in a chair and smile softly. "I'm trying." I tell her in a small whisper. 

"Okay," She says. "He needs to smile more though." Alyssa says.

"I'll tell him." I tell her. She nods with a small grin and holds onto me. 

My eyes look to the hospital door opening and I see Anne. She waves for me to meet her in the hall. My eyebrows furrow a bit by her wanting to speak with me. I excuse myself from Alyssa real quick and walk over to Anne.

She closes the door behind my body, and my pulse quickens a bit. 

"Everything okay?" I ask timidly.

Harry's Mom doesn't answer. She just walks over to me, and hugs me tightly while crying. 

"Thank you Quinn." She says which makes my face heat intensely. 

"F-For?" I ask, playing off like I don't know what she's talking about.

My Dad told me a few days ago that he paid of everything for Alyssa's treatment. I didn't know how soon Anne and Des would find out, but I assume it was just today they told them.

"You know what for," Anne says in a small whisper. "I owe you the world Quinn. Thank you." She repeats.

"Of course," I tell her with stinging eyes. 

"You've done so much for my family. I can't thank you enough." She says while holding me more tightly. 

I don't reply, I just embrace her hug and smile.

A://N

hellooooooo

comment goal: 50?? i'll update again if we get that!!

thank you guys for reading!!!!

~lauren