Twenty-three

 We were running down the hallway, holding hands and laughing. Just regular friend stuff. Then, there on the 300 hall, he stood. Blake Wilkens. The boy we were hunting. Ellie let out a hyena laugh and I joined her. We both crouched on the ground and arched our backs. The frightened emotions sprawled over Blake’s face were simply delicious. The one thing I wanted to do was attack him to the ground and show him who was boss.

 

Okay, maybe that was a little dramatic. All we were doing was walking down the hallway and then we spotted Blake. He was at the end of the 300 hall, and Ellie and I looked at each other and smiled. I yelled down the hallway, “Oh Blakeyyy! Come here, Blakey. We just want to ask you something. No harm in it.” And then when his eyes got big I said, “I pinky promise.”

 

As Ellie and I got closer and closer, Blake just stood there, stunned. I started laughing, but since I was moving so swiftly I sounded drunk. Ellie laughed at me and that just started a whole fit of giggles. But we kept closing in. Blake stood there darting back and forth between our maniacal faces. We probably looked like psychopaths, but today was Friday and no body cares what you do on Fridays.

 

When we reached the end of the hallway Blake sputtered out, “What are you guys doing?” We nearly ran into him as we stopped, but when we did, we were out of breath from laughing. I finally got enough air in me to say, “Was it you” I pointed my finger at him, “Who put that note in Ellie’s locker?” I sat on the floor, exhausted. Ellie joined me and we both looked up at Blake, expecting an answer.

 

He was still a little shocked from our approach, but he eventually pulled himself together and said, “What note?” I rolled on the floor and laughed my heart out. Ellie began cackling and we sat there for at least five minutes releasing our laughter. We probably looked insane, but we were insane, so what did it matter?

 

After a while, I decided we better act natural if we wanted to get any information out of this kid. I stood up, looked him square in the eye, kept a completely straight face and said, “Buddy, you know exactly what note I am talking about.” Blake’s face went from astonishment to confusion an then to realization.

 

A smug grin grew on my face as I recognized that look on his face. It meant he knew exactly what I was talking about. I grabbed a fistful of his shirt and tugged him closer to my face, “Come on, spit it out! Did you or did you not write and put that note in Ellie’s locker?” Blake’s eyes grew wide and I couldn’t help but grinning. He looked so funny.

 

Ellie got up off the ground, stood to Blake’s right and punched him in the arm. Blake flinched and yelled at her, “What the hell are you doing?” Blake looked over at her and she smiled. “Oh, just a little pay back for making me get mistakenly pissed at my best friend.”  Blake’s face said it all. He really thought we were on something.

 

I drew his attention back to me by tugging on his shirt. He looked disgusted. “What do you want from me?” He asked, getting angrier and angrier. I giggled to myself, “All I want to know is whether you were the one who wrote that note or not.” Ellie laughed softly, “Raina, we already know it was him. Why waste our time?” I looked over at Ellie and replied casually, “Why not? Its better then doing homework.” Ellie laughed, agreeing.

 

Blake sighed and said, “If you let me go, I’ll tell you.” I looked over at Ellie. She shrugged and nodded. I sighed, and then released my tense grip on his shirt. While he was attempting to flatten out the wrinkles I made in his shirt he said, “Yes, it was me. Happy?” He looked up and I beamed, glad that I could make him confess things.

 

Ellie laughed, “Yes, we’re happy. Now, tell us why you did it!” Blake shrugged, “I’m not sure. Raina made me feel like crap, so I wanted to do the same to her. See how she felt about it.” I could not believe that he would do such a thing just to get me back for not accepting his apology. He was the one who started it! He was the one who kicked me back into my own terrible world, alone and cold. He wouldn’t accept me for me.

 

I didn’t say anything. I just turned around and walked away. I heard Ellie’s voice call out my name but I didn’t turn around. Blake’s voice cut through the air and then the sound of a foot kicking a body came to my ears. Blake’s sound of pain came directly after. Then Ellie’s footsteps pounded down the hall. Just as she reached me, I bent down to pick up hers and my bags that we had left there to go tackle Blake.

 

Ellie took her bag from my hand and placed her hand on my shoulder, “You alright?” I nodded, “Yeah. I just think that I’m really bad on learning people’s personalities. Like when I met Daniel, I thought he was the greatest guy ever. Yeah, he turned out to be one now, but he abused me. And then when I met Blake, I had thought that he was an angel. Always considerate and caring towards others. And just look what he’s doing!” I sighed and laid my head on Ellie’s shoulder.

 

“It’s okay, Raina. Not everyone is perfect on picking out who are good people and who aren’t. It doesn’t matter. As long as you realized who they were once the negative things began, that is all that matters.” I let out a sigh. I was so exhausted. I just wanted to start life over and avoid all these problems. Whenever I thought one problem was gone, another one pops up. They are practically glued to me. I must be a problem magnet. There is no other possible explanation.

 

When Ellie and I reached the double doors that led to the parking lot, I lifted my head up off her shoulder and she gave me a comforting pat on the back. “You’ll be all right. I know you will. Don’t worry; Blake’s just a wannabe problem. He is nothing to worry over. “ I smiled, Ellie always knew how to cheer me up.

 

I pushed on the door and we both walked out arm in arm to our cars. When we reached my car I told her I would see her either on Monday or try to call her. She smiled and told me not to worry about anything. I smiled back and got into my car. I dug around for my keys and when I found them I put them into the ignition and started up the car.

 

On the ride home, I constantly thought about Daniel and what he was doing. Maybe I would give him a call when I got home. At that moment my phone started ringing. Without taking my eyes off the road I reached my hand into my purse and searched around for my phone. I pulled it out and flipped it open with my teeth. “Hello?” I asked, focusing more on driving then the phone call.

 

“Raina, hey!” It was Daniel. I smiled to myself. “Hey you! I was planning on calling you when I got home.” He chuckled. “Really? Were you thinking about me?” I knew he was teasing me, but I had to answer truthfully. “Yes, actually I was.” I laughed, embarrassed. “Oh, well that’s okay. I was thinking about you, too. Why do you think I called?”

 

The rest of the ride home we talked about school and classes. When I drove into my driveway I told him I had to go. “I’ll call you after dinner and homework, okay?” I said, getting out of the car. “That’s fine. As long as I get to talk to you.” I smiled, feeling so giddy. “Alright, bye.” “Bye.” Daniel said with a smile in his voice.

 

I was still very giddy as I walked into the house. Lucas was sitting on the couch watching TV and looked up when I walked into the room. “Hey.” I said, smiling. “Hey shining glory, why are you so happy?” I couldn’t even talk, I just giggled. I looked Lucas in the eyes and he laughed, “I’m guessing it has to do with Daniel?” I broke down and sat on his lap, “Yes! Oh my gosh, Lucas, I like him so much!”

 

Lucas patted my back as a signal for me to get up. When I did he stood up and stretched. “Well, it’s a good thing he isn’t hurting you any more. I’m just glad that you can be happy with him now.” Lucas was so amazing. I loved him more than anything and anyone. I leaned over and gave him a hug. He hugged me back and kissed me on the head. “Now, I know you have homework to do?” He said once we released each other. I smirked and said, “Yes, actually, I do.”

 

I pounded up the stairs and into my room. I dropped my bag on the floor and then rolled over. Letting my eyes close, I couldn’t help but think about Daniel. And since it was the weekend we would be able to hang out. When I opened my eyes I realized that it was only last weekend that I had yelled at Daniel that I never wanted to see him again. It seemed like so long ago. How could so much drama happen in just one week?

 

First I had to go off to the park with Daniel, and then meet Blake. I had seriously thought he was an angel. He was so perfect and caring. I couldn’t help but like him. And the fact that he protected me against Daniel. But now that was long gone and Daniel would never hurt me. At least, that is what he says. I trust him now, though. He has proven himself and I’ll trust him until he gives me a reason not to.

 

But how could Blake have been so cruel and rude to me? Could it have been something else that had caused his random disturbance to me? It really wasn’t like him to just say that to me. Then again, I wasn’t too good on figuring out people’s personalities. I sighed and put my head into my pillow. Was there nothing I could to do figure my life out? Would I just sit here and agonize about boys for as long as I may live?

 

This is pathetic, I told myself. I reached down and pulled my backpack up onto my bed. I had to do something to get my mind off of this. As I pulled out my Trig book, my phone vibrated. I picked it up and it said that I had one next text message. I clicked the VIEW button and up popped this message from Blake.

 

It read: Raina, I’m sorry for being such an a*s. If you forgive me, will you call me?

 

I rolled my eyes and excited out of the message. There was no way I was going to forgive him. He had already tried apologizing once. He should have noticed by now that it wasn’t going to work. It didn’t work for Daniel and it wasn’t going to work for him. He had to prove that he was actually sorry. And writing notes that had false information on it was not the way to do it. That just showed that he was immature.

 

I spent about an hour and a half on homework before I received another text message from Blake. I didn’t even bother reading it. Instead, I just continued on my homework. Eventually, Blake sent me another text and I was bored, so I decided to see what he wanted. I opened up the first one and it said:

 

Raina, I’m really sorry! Can’t you just stop acting like an eight year old and forgive me?

 

No, I could definitely not forgive him. Especially after that last remark. If he’s going to tell me that I’m acting like an eight year old when he’s the one being immature, then he definitely did not deserve to be forgiven. I opened the second one and read it:

 

Raina, Why won’t you reply? Are you still mad at me? I said I was sorry. Call me.

 

He was starting to get on my nerves. Couldn’t he just accept the fact that I didn’t want to talk to him and leave me alone? I mean, really, the guy was starting to sound desperate. And if he was going to miss me later on, then he should have thought about that before he hurt me. What a player.

 

I deleted the message and threw my phone on my bed, sighing. There was no way to escape him now. He went to my school and he was going to continue texting me and calling me until I forgave him. I wished that I had never met him. But, I knew that wasn’t true. If I hadn’t I would have never  gotten up the confidence to stand up to Daniel. And for that, I was thankful to Blake. But since he started acted like an a*s, I just didn’t care anymore.