Background Character

Chapter 11

Hannah made it her mission to avoid Tomas and this mission was taken up by Jake by proxy. Tomas may have been his best friend, but Hannah was family and he stuck by her. That meant abandoning Tomas and sitting in some deserted part of the school just the two of them.

"You ran away from him after he tried to kiss you?" Jake groaned, half of his bologna sandwich hung out of his mouth. "Hannah. The poor guy probably feels so bad about himself. You know how he gets, he's probably..."

"Internalizing." Hannah filled in.

"Yeah, he's probably internalizing all of that."

"It's not like you're any better." She felt bad enough, she didn't want to hear it from Jake. "I had to comfort him after you curved him so hard."

"Not as hard as you curved him. Really Hannah?" They had gone through this before, though this was the first time Tomas had come forward about his feelings. "You like him and he likes you. Why did you pull away?"

"I can't do that to him. Our whole relationship has been built on lies. Tomas deserves so much more than that."

"You're right, he deserves the truth. He has known you since you were a little girl-"

"Jake." Her protests were weak, especially because she knew Jake was right. She had been grappling with how to tell him for years and yet she could never gather the courage to do so. Jake accepted her for who she was and she couldn't bare to have another person turn on her.

"-Tomas won't judge you." Jake sighed. He understood why Hannah was so hesitant, but he knew Tomas loved her for who she was. "You deserve to live your life without fear of people turning on you. You shouldn't have to keep it a secret because anyone who doesn't accept you doesn't deserve you."

Hannah began to tremble, barely able to whisper, "Say it again."

"You shouldn't have to keep it a secret because anyone who doesn't accept you doesn't deserve you. No matter what, you will always have me. I love you no matter what, nothing you do will ever change that."

She flung her arms around Jake, who falter for a moment before steadying himself. He held on tight to her, stroking her hair as she sobbed into his shoulder. Her nails dug into his back as she grasped to hold onto him as tightly as she possibly could.The halls were silent except for the sound of her cries and the faint murmur of his comforting words to her.

~~~~~~

Olivia was still pissed at Jake, but she had cooled down for the most part. Jake had probably meant to apologize to her and had gotten caught up in trying to work up the nerve to do so. Apologies are always a difficult thing to do, although Olivia knew she was right to be angry.

She had blown up at him before she even gave him the chance to let those words she craved to hear out. Even Olivia could admit that she could have been more understanding. He had seemed genuine in his desire to apologize. When he learned that he had broken her leg, Jake had looked surprised which only made her wonder whether he even knew it had happened.

"Poor Tomas." Laura gestured over to Tomas, who sat all alone at the table.

He looked rather sad. He had barely touched his food, choosing to simply push it back and forth on his plate. Cheryl had made a beeline to the cheerleaders once she saw Tomas sitting all by himself. It wasn't as if she always sat with Tomas, Jake, and Hannah. Once in a while she sat with the rest of the cheerleaders or with the drama kids, but today felt deliberate.

Neither Olivia nor Laura could blame her, she had never been as close to Tomas as she had Jake. The only time they ever spent together was when Jake was with them too. They got along, sure, but it wasn't hard to imagine them sitting in complete silence as they watched the time pass.