Our Last Summer

Chapter 33, Proper Stitching

(No POV)
May 27th, 2017

The last day of sophomore year was the first anniversary of Blake's death. At the end of school, everyone came together to honor Blake's death. Caroline was supposed to speak, but she couldn't pull herself together enough to speak in front of everyone, so she wrote it down on paper and had someone else read it. The entire gym was silent when people spoke about memories, or about how much they missed Blake. It was harder for Caroline to hear all of these moments after it's been a year. It was easier for her to deal with it at the funeral, but since then, she was able to suppress her emotions.

Now they were spilling down her cheeks while her friends comforted her carefully. Danielle and Madelyn were on either side of her, and the four boys were behind her. Each of the boys had their hands on her somehow. Tyler and Ethan had their hands on her shoulders, giving her reassurance. Noah was in between the bleacher seats, trying to get closer to her. He was rubbing her back and trying to keep her calm. Jason had his hand on her arm, trying to comfort her.

She wasn't focused on the touch around her, she was hypnotized by the speaker, and her eyes were engraved on the picture they used of him. He looked so handsome. His hand was in his blonde hair, and his blue eyes were shining brightly. His purple shirt looked perfect on him like the color was made for him specifically. He had a small toothless smile on his perfect lips. Caroline took that picture.

"Let's all bow our heads for a moment of silence for this angel." The pastor speaking said. Everyone's head bowed and the room went dead silent. You would be able to hear a pin drop. If someone didn't know what was happening, they might think everyone in the gym was dead.

Caroline choked back her sobs so she didn't disturb the peace, but the tears streamed from the corners of her eyes. Her lips trembled in an attempt to stay quiet. She looked around and her lips stopped trembling when something caught her eyes. Her lips formed into a thin line almost like there was a switch in her mind and she turned off all of her emotions. She was feeling all of the emotions you could imagine. She was grieving, she was dispaired, she was guilty, she was innocent. She was depressed and she was angry. Livid. Her anger and blank face made her stand on her feet, causing the six of her friends to pick up their heads and look up at their friend curiously.

"What's wrong?" Danielle barely asked. Caroline didn't answer, she just stared off at what caught her eyes. The six friends looked at each other with lost looks. They had no clue what was happening. They all stood on their feet too and Caroline wiped her tears from her face.

"Is she in shock?" Madelyn whispered to Noah.

"No... this is about her..." Noah said, but he wasn't referring to Caroline. They looked in Caroline's line of vision and their hearts turned, their stomachs had pits in them, and anger sprouted in them and grew like a tree.

The audacity of the culprit coming to the honoring ceremony was just a way that she could reopen Caroline's wound and fill it with salt. She wanted to rub it in Caroline's face that she has yet to be caught and Caroline has yet to gain vengeance.

"I'm about to beat her ass," Tyler mumbled.

"That's exactly what she wants." Jason objected. Their eyes stayed on the beautiful girl standing on the opposite side of the gym right by the doors. A smile was sewn onto her lips, a smile that signified evil.

"This is the one thing I'm willing to give her," Caroline said through her teeth. Her fists were balled and she knew exactly what she was going to do. She was going to go over there and punch her until Caroline watched Rebecca's life slip from her eyes just like Blake's.

"Do not make this about you, Caroline," Danielle whispered. Caroline's eyebrows pulled together as she whipped her head so she was looking down at Danielle. "You running after Rebecca is going to bring the attention on you rather than your brother. Don't make it harder for yourself and your mother."