【COZEN】Bloody Painter x Reader

❥Chapter 29

To think this is how Helen decided to push you away, your fingertips made their way to your neck, the feelings of his hand almost reaching you to strangle you left you with shivers down your spine, just thinking about it made you feel scared.

What was going on in his mind to make him do that? You weren't sure, but your mind couldn't think straight at all, you weren't sure what to do anymore.

You were standing in front of Helen's doorstep again, you didn't tell your mother about what happened, she knew about Helen being taken away by the police so that was enough to make her think that Helen was nothing but another bad apple.

You knocked on the door once, twice and waited for a moment for someone to answer, but nothing. He was either gone or he didn't want to answer, his parents were always absent from what you knew about Helen's relationship with his parents.

You sighed and walked back to school, scared of whatever this day was gonna give you.

Finally showing up to your first period, you were late but your teacher wasn't present at all. You sat down on your chair, quietly awaiting for someone to come up to you like always, expecting something to happen.

"Did you hear? Miss Anderson quit."

You couldn't help but hear a few whispers from two students that were talking to each other.

"Apparently she was getting paid to not report anything, she was literally covering for a student to not get reported to the principal." A few gasps were heard from each other the more they talked.

You assumed the student miss Anderson was covering for would be Tom, since the last time you tried to talk about him she dismissed you almost too quickly.

Most probably Tom's parents talked her into not getting Tom in trouble if he did anything, they would have done anything to clear Tom's name in any situation they would hear about, but after his passing, students have started more rumors about miss Anderson deciding to quit right after the incident, maybe she didn't want to be involved into more trouble or for the parents to come after her.

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It's finally lunch time, you spent your time eating your food peacefully under the tree you usually stay in. It was oddly peaceful even though students were still talking about you and Helen.

You stopped chewing your food when somber thoughts about Helen appeared in your head, that stare he gave you yesterday still left you with a feeling of horror. How in the world did you think going to his house was a good idea?

"(Y/n)?" A voice calls out your name, your eyes slowly look up to see who it was, to your surprise Annie was standing right in front of you.

Even after Annie dropped her food on you that time, you somehow admired the way she looked, the way she would style her curly black hair however she wanted and the way she dressed, how her beautiful brown skin would look under the sun, complimenting everything about her. You couldn't help but look at her for a good minute sometimes.

"Do you mind if I sit next to you?" She asks politely, you only nodded in response, she carefully sits down and looks at your food, her hand making her way to fix her curly buns from her hair. "I'm very sorry about what happened with Tom and Helen." She says.

You only looked at her from the corner of your eye, you only played with your food in an uninterested manner, "it's alright... it already happened." You responded, sadness in your voice but you tried your best to keep your composure.

"You know, I'm sure Helen didn't do it." She says, "he never seemed the type to do such thing." After what Annie said your head quickly turned to her, you were surprised that she also thought the same thing.

"You also think Helen didn't do it?" You ask, hope in your eyes that maybe another person was thinking the same thing as you, probably on your side.

"Yeah, after all... I used to be friends with Tom so I knew some stuff about him, and how manipulative he was too." You couldn't help but look away, feeling a bit guilty for thinking bad of Annie, she even apologized to you before cause Aiden helped. "I almost ended up like Aiden, with no friends and only depending on that single person, that is until I found a new friend who opened my eyes." She laughed softly, her dimples making her smile more graceful.

You only smiled back a bit, still feeling bad about Aiden, you couldn't help but frown once again just remembering how messy everything is right now.

"Have you tried taking to Helen?" Annie asks once again, trying to see if you made any progress on your end.

You were quiet for a moment of course, you weren't sure you if you could tell her what happened yesterday with Helen, "I went to his house... he pushed me away." You responded, "he told me he didn't want me near him." You couldn't help but feel a pain inside you, hearing those words, Helen pushing you away. Everything hurt.

Annie looked sad about it too, "he didn't mean it, I'm sure of it." She quickly responded, your eyes met hers once again, you could see some hope in her eyes when she told you that, "I know people can say some hurtful things, but they don't mean it, cause they're heated in that moment. Don't give up on him, (Y/n) keep trying to talk to him, okay?" She reassures you, putting her hand on your shoulder to at least give you a small gesture of comfort.

You couldn't help but smile and hug her quickly, after these days of Ban and other students harassing you, this bit of comfort with Annie was enough to make you tear up again, feeling happiness again that someone was there for you.

Annie was surprised but she gladly returned the hug, rubbing your back with her hand in a comforting manner.