Alone

Part 19 : THE END : Final

They were alone in the classroom. Jamal takes a deep breath, and talks to her as nice as he could. And held her hands.

Jamal: Riley......

Riley pushed his hands away from her. Her stuttering self comes back for a second.

Riley: D-don't talk to me!

She clears her voice and wipes her tears away. Jamal just listens. As much as it's hard to say these words, Riley needs to so she can finally breathe without anything stopping her. She looks up.

Riley: Jamal, I think we should stop holding on. And stop hurting ourselves...... It's almost been a year. Can we just both admit that we're not going anywhere good from this? I need to breathe without knowing that we're still holding on to something that we can't fix, the stress makes my life harder than you can imagine... I'm happy for the si-

Riley didn't get to finish when Jamal cut her off.

Jamal: Wouldn't it be easier to just go back to the way things used to be....?

Riley takes a deep breath and looks up.

Riley: That's really hard..... And we've both changed these past 9 months.

She faces him again, not crying and a monotone low voice. Hoping he didn't hear.

Riley: Most importantly, I lost myself..

He hear her. And felt guilty. That cheerful girl 9 months ago, left the world because of him........He ignored what she said, because he wanted to be careful, knowing that Riley was in a sensitive condition right now.

Jamal: Are you sure...?

Riley: I'll be brutally honest. I really hate you, and I really like you too.

Riley said, with up-tight fake-humored voice. Jamal couldn't speak. And she chuckled.

Riley: And I was also a fool, thinking that we were together..... By, misunderstanding your intentions. I should've never thought those kisses, tight hugs, and sweet words meant anything more than what we were..... Friends.

Jamal closed his eyes. He caused this girl so much pain and he was sorry. But, those actions of affection, meant more than what she thought. He opened his eyes to see Riley quickly wiping the 1 tear that fell from her eye, to look tough. He takes hold of her hands.

Jamal: Riley, those words and actions. They meant-

Riley cut him off. And laid a finger on his mouth to hush him and sadly smiled.

Riley: You don't have to tell me, I know. Let's just end this properly and move on this time.....

Jamal grabbed her hand, and smashed his lips into hers. Riley's eyes widened and blushed. She didn't respond and pushed him away.

Riley: JAMAL!

Jamal looked straight into her eyes, and could see how angry she was.

Jamal: Riley! I really like you too!

Jamal held her hands again and Riley pushed him away. And Caylee walked into the classroom and slapped Jamal in the face. Riley's mouth widened, how long had she been standing at the door? How much did she see? Jamal looked at Caylee.

Jamal: Caylee we're already over..... I told you whatever happened to us, didn't mean anything!

Caylee's tears ran down her face.

Caylee: I know you both love each other, and are denying it! But, It's only been 3 hours since we broke up! Can't you have a little respect for me!?