Amarah

Chapter 17 •Unrequited Feelings•

It was a week after my birthday and I was sitting in the library, doing my homework during lunch, when Gwen rushed towards me, looking disheveled.

When she reached me, she ran a hand through her curly, black hair in stress. "What's wrong?" I asked, worried, and sat up in my chair in alarm.

"Clarisse is crying and locked herself in the bathroom stall for some reason and won't tell me what happened!" she said, throwing her hands up in the air. "I have been trying to get her to talk for 20 minutes, and she still hasn't said a word. Do you know what happened?"

I frowned and shook my head. I couldn't think of any reason why she would be crying. "Where is she?" I asked, packing up all of my things together.

"The bathroom near the science building," she said and started to lead me there when I was done gathering my things.

When we got inside, I heard sniffling coming from the farthest stall. The rest of the bathroom was vacant.

"Clarisse?" I called out, softly.

The sniffling stopped for a couple of seconds, but then continued again. I gently knocked on the door and said, "Hey, it's just Gwen and I. Are you alright? What happened?"

She didn't reply straight away, but after a minute or two, we heard her unlock the door.

"Can we come in?" Gwen asked.

She pushed the door open for us. Gwen and I looked at each other, then entered the stall.

Clarisse's usual bright, blue eyes were dimmed down in sadness and her strawberry blonde hair was a long, tangled mess. She was wearing an oversized hoodie, with the hood covering her hair and a random pair of sweatpants. Her nose and cheeks were stained red, while her eyes were teary and puffed up. She did not look like herself at all.

I furrowed my eyebrows and asked, softly, "What happened?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Gwen asked, with a hand on Clarisse's shoulder for comfort.

Clarisse shook her head and said, "I'm really stupid," then burst into more tears. She covered her face with both hands and slid down the wall, onto the floor.

Gwen and I only became even more worried about her. I crouched down and said, "You are not stupid, okay?" I placed a hand, gently on her knee, "Can you please tell us what happened so we can help you?"

"I-" she sniffled, "I just did something so s-stupid. I don't even know what was going through my head," she raised her head and wiped off some tears with the back of her hand.

"You're scaring us, Claire, can you please tell us? I'm sure it wasn't as stupid as you think..." Gwen told her.

Tears wouldn't stop streaming down her face. I took a napkin out of my bag and handed it to her. She took it and wiped her tears and her nose.

She took a deep breath and rested her head back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling. "It's not that s-serious. I just did something so stupid without ev- even thinking," she hiccuped from crying too much. Then, she slapped her forehead and muttered, "Why can I never shut up?!"

"Did someone say something to you?" Gwen asked. Clarisse nodded her head slightly. "Give us the name. I'm about to throw hands." Gwen looked angry that someone made Clarisse like this and honestly, I was too.

"Who was it?" I asked her.

"Eli," she said his name and started crying even louder.

"Eli?" Gwen and I asked in disbelief. My mouth hung open. I was beyond surprised. Was she talking about the same Eli? Eli Westley? The Eli? The one who had been super nice since day one?