Good Girls Love Bad Boys

The Mystery Girl

I sat there in horror, shock, confusion, and heartbreak. My letter was in my hands rather than Dinger's. It was opened, which meant every word was read, and his response was to send it back.

Kaela looked down and saw the stamp, then looked right back up at me. She tried to meet my eyes, but I didn't dare look at her. The moment I met her eyes, I knew I would start crying, and I really didn't want to cry in public.

It was a few minutes later that Kaela spoke up, "I'm so sorry, Annie... I really am."

At that moment, all the hurt and heartache became too unbearable. I snapped my head to look Kaela right in the eyes, "You. If you didn't send this letter, maybe I would have gotten a response! I scared him off!" I yelled. I tried to stop, but I couldn't. I was just so angry. "The letter I have in my room would have been perfect! If you didn't butt into my life and take matters into your own hands, I wouldn't be standing here with MY letter back in my hands! Kaela, for once, back off and let me do things on my own!" I let out an exasperated sigh and let my hands go up to my head, balling up some of my hair in frustration.

Kaela stared at me. "I-I'm sorry. I really thought this would work..."

"Yeah, well, it didn't! Now I look like a complete fool! This has completely ruined everything! Anything I had hoped for had been ruined. I can't just send him a letter confessing my love for him! It's been two years!" I yelled again, dropping my hands to my side and gripping the letter harder.

"Annie, please... I understand you're upset..."

"Of course I'm upset! This is ridiculous, you're ridiculous! Just leave me alone!" I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I pushed past Kaela, our shoulders bumping. I could hear Kaela stumbling back a few steps but I didn't stop. I needed to be alone before I began to cry.

I ran up the stairs, the letter still clutched in my hand, and made it to my dorm room. I opened the door and slammed it shut. I leaned my back against the door and felt all my emotions come out at once. I felt angry, heartbroken, shocked, and betrayed. Hot tears fell down my face as my I slowly slid my back down the door to sit on the ground.

I cried. I cried hard. I looked down at the letter and, through my tears, could still see the bright red stamp. Why did he do this? Even if he didn't feel the same way, couldn't he have at least wrote me back to tell me? Sure, it would have been embarrassing, but no response at all and my letter sent back was so much worse.

I sat on my floor looking up at the window in my dorm. All I could think about was how I treated Kaela. I was angry with her, definitely. But she had no idea that this would happen, and her heart was in the right place. She didn't know that wasn't the letter I wanted Dinger to see.

Kaela had been through it all with me. She was there from the start. She never once wavered, she was always supportive of me... even when I was acting like a lovesick idiot. Yet, I yelled at her in the hallway and called her ridiculous. She was the person I did not want to see, but needed to see all at the same time. Without her, I have no one. She is my family.

After another 45 minutes of crying, I managed to pick myself up off the floor and get into bed. I was exhausted from crying for an hour. After my nap, I would go back and apologize to Kaela. I just needed to sleep and clear my head.

I still had the letter in my hand. I looked at it one last time before I shoved it in my night table drawer. I pulled the covers up and got comfortable. It didn't take me long to fall asleep.

***
I woke up 2 hours later. I opened my eyes and noticed my room was much darker than it was when I laid down for my nap. It must have been around 5pm. I looked at my alarm clock and saw that it was 5:25pm.