Absolution ➺ H.S. AU

Chapter 10 ➺ Paisley

To: Harry- Oh. Well, its okay. But you really should make up your mind as to whether or not you are going to be nice to me.

I took a deep breath as I sent the text and followed Hattie out to her car. She drove me today to school since my car was in automobile Heaven and I haven't goten a new one yet. Although, I'm not always this lucky to catch a ride from her, since she has swim practice almost every day.

I sent the message to Harry and didn't recieve a reply, which wasn't unexpected. We got into the car and Hattie pulled out of the parking lot.

"So how was your first day back?" She asked.

"It was good, for the most part. Obviously I was really nervous walking in because of all this." I said, motioning to my face. The scars weren't absolutely horrible, but they were definitely present and I definitely look different than the way I did before. "Your pep talk this morning made it better though." Hattie had given me an encouraging talk this morning while we were getting ready.

"That's great! You don't need to be worried about what people think. They won't think any less of you than they did before." She said.

"Yeah, I had a major anxiety attack about it last night, but I realized its really not that big of a deal when I walked through the doors today."

"Well, I'm glad you had a good day back."

"Yeah, well, I saw Harry." I said. Hattie was one of the few people I could really talk to.

"Oh?" She asked, a concerned look taking over her face. She was the only one I told about my midnight visitor. I know my parents were hesitant about letting Harry see me in the first place, and they surely wouldn't have wanted him to come and see me when he did and in the state he was in.

"Yeah." I said quietly. It was silent for a minute before she spoke to me.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Well I saw him in the hallway and I just said hi, because you know, I thought I could just be nice and whatever, and I mean, after the conversation we had that night it just felt like we were connected in some way, as crazy as that sounds."

"It's not crazy, you two have been through a lot, not necessarily together but dealing with each other."

"Yeah, so I said hi, and he just turned around, looked at me, and ignored me. I mean, I don't know what I was expecting, but I just thought he could at least adknowledge me, ya know?" Hattie nodded, so I went on. "And then I was heading to the office to pick up some of my work that I missed from the accident, and he was in the hallway too, and I just...went off on him." I said.

"Really? Good for you, Pay."

"I don't know why I did. I mean, I forgave him and whatever, so I should just be done with the whole situation, but he just gets under my skin. I just don't know how he can do what he did and act the way he does."

"Well, Paisley, I think its that saying uh, 'its eaiser to forgive than to forget.'" She said, looking to me sympathetically, and I knew she was right. I had forgiven, just not forgotten.

* * * * * * *

I sat up in my room, doing my homework when my phone chimed in my back pocket.

From: Harry- I'm sorry. I just want to figure all of this out and I don't know how to.

Was he drunk again? Because that's the only time he seems to be nice to me.

To: Harry- It's not that hard. Just act pleasant to be around. We don't have to be friends or anything but just a hello, or even a nod of adknowledgement would be nice. We've been through too much to act like we don't know each other.