Left To Survive

XXXIII

A week later

27 June

꧁ Alisha ꧂

A week later it almost feels like nothing had changed between me and Jaden. He was back to being the funny guy I'd known, and he made me feel loved and appreciated, in a friend way.

"Hey, catch!" I turned around and see Jaden throwing a frisbee at me. I catched it with ease. PE is so much more fun since nobody was bullying me, making comments about my weight or looks and since Jaden was in this class too. Before him PE was a hell, literal hell. I often skipped it, because it would make me feel bad for the rest of the day.

But Jaden made it... fun? Never thought that would happen. We sometimes practiced together on throwing frisbees at each other, so now I could do it better than most people in our class.

"Good catch, Lisha!" he says, and I smiled at him before throwing it to someone else. I saw how Jenna was standing on the sideline, talking with some of her friends and not paying attention. Payback time.

"Hey Jenna! Catch!" I yelled at her, and immediately threw the frisbee at her. I knew how bad she was at catching things, and for a moment, when I saw her startled face, I regretted it. But then Max catched it before her. "Are you crazy?!" He yelled at me. "She could've been hurt! You're out of your mind!" I rolled my eyes. It was almost like that was the whole point, idiot.

The rest of the class passes by quickly, I laughed with Jaden and had a good time overall.

ꕥ ꕥ ꕥ ꕥ ꕥ ꕥ ꕥ ꕥ

I watched Jaden trying to fit a whole tomato into his mouth, while I tried my best not to burst out laughing at the face he was making. When he was almost done, the tomato popped and he spilled part of it over the table; I couldn't keep myself in anymore at this point. We both burst out in laughter, Jaden not making it any better with half the tomato in his mouth, trying to swallow it, but choking instead.

After calming down a bit I decided to tell him what's been on my mind for a while now. "Jaden, I want to tell you something. I know it will sound as if I'm crazy, and trust me, I know. Just hear me out."

Jaden suddenly put on his serious face and looked at me with patience. "Go on." I took a breath before continuing.

"Remember Yara? My best friend who..." It was still hard to say it, even if she did come back in some sort of way. Jaden nodded to show he knew who I was talking about. "Well... She kind of came back. I can hear her, and she can move stuff and all, like-" Jaden interrupts me "Like a ghost?" I looked at him. "Yes, like that." Jaden didn't break the contact with my eyes. "I don't think it's crazy at all. I've heard things like that before."

I couldn't describe how relieved I felt. I smiled back at Jaden. "Is she here now..?" he asked carefully. "I don't-" but then I heard her voice. "Lisha... why?" her voice sounds broken. Oh no.

"I have to go," I told Jaden, before grabbing my stuff and fleeing to the same bathroom where I met Jaden. There was no one else there, everyone was eating in the cafeteria.

"Yara?" I asked, and I could feel her presence. I saw a soft flickering, like a hologram, before me on the floor. "I'm sorry Yara, I didn't know it'd upset you if I told him-" But she interrupted me "Well, maybe you should've asked me before? I still don't trust him, unlike you, falling in love with him!" I backed away a bit.

"Sorry," Yara continued, "But you could've told me... We don't know enough about him, Lisha." She was overreacting. "I get it, okay? You want me for yourself. Maybe you just don't want me to get close to anyone, don't you want the best for me?" I started getting mad. "That's not what-" "No," I stopped her again, getting irritated. "Jaden isn't going to do anything. In fact, he's been nothing but supportive, unlike you."

I stormed off out of the bathroom, rage filling me up about Yara. Who does she think she is? Won't she allow me to have any friends then?