Stefan's pov:
I saw her call out Matt when she saw us. God. Was she really worried about him right now? He barely had bruises while I was having trouble breathing and she said her name? Can I even blame her? " WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! GET AWAY FROM HIM!" She came running towards me and held my face in her hands. What was happening? This can't be true.. Did she just ignore her 'friends' and come up to me? , even bashed them for doing this to me? I am so lost that I look right into her eyes for reassurance, that she's here, it's not all hallucination, as she cups my face and smoothens my hair gently " I'm so sorry.. " She says softly and I'm reminded of the day when she first called me her friend. Good Lord, I miss her. I snap out of it when I realise this doesn't make sense. What is she doing? Making her way deeper into my heart just to break it all apart again? I can't deal with this right now. I can't let her in again.. I can't go through that hurt again. I feel my eyes drooping and everything hurts so bad.
Elena's pov:
There he was, blood on his lips and and forehead. There was probably a wound on the back of his head because his neck was bloody. God.. It's all because of me.. I let this happen to him. I can't believe my eyes when I see Matt and Tyler beating him half to death.. He looked just like the little boy who I found bruised and hurt when I went to his home to play with him.. My best friend. The thing that breaks me the most is his eyes.. He looks so ruined, so wrecked.. All because of me.. I should've never done this to him.. He was ruined even when I was friends with him but I know when he was with me he felt happy, free, loved.. I took it all from him.. He used to sit all alone now. Not talking to anyone. God it hurt. When we were little I used to see him just like this. Sitting in a corner all alone.. Other kids made fun of him.. So I tried to get to know him.. He was the best person ever, there was such depth in him that attracted me towards him.. I remember how he consoled me when I cried, laughed along with me, how we sang stupid songs at the top of our voice.. God I missed that. But I did this. I have no one else to blame. I broke his already broken self harder than ever. He looked at me unsure if I'm really there. I loved being his friend , who wouldn't.. I even think I felt something for him, feel.. But it was so hard.. The kids of school pushed him around and called him names all the time, and because I was his friend, I faced the same thing.. He was so embarassed of it he used to apologize and apologize even though none of it was his fault. But it got out of hand one day and the girls took my notebook and wrote " Loser's girl" All over it with lipstick and made fun of me whenever they saw me. I felt exhausted trying to deal with it and I chose popularity over our friendship. Was it even worth it? I'm not sure.. I felt normal, no one teased me anymore, I was with matt, he was mean sometimes but.. i guess it I wasn't being teased or mocked so that was something but God I missed him.. I missed his touch, his jokes, hell, even his silence.. When I was with him I felt.. Right..i felt home, I felt like that was where I belonged.. With these people, I felt out of place, I had to pretend to be someone I was not.. I shake my thoughts away and bring my attention back to stefan. His skin was hot against mine and he was breathing heavily.. " Stef- stefan.. It's okay i- I'm so sorry " I repeated again and again, ashamed of myself, tears streaming down my face. "Don't.. " He said sternly but there was this hopelessness in his voice that broke my heart .. "Wh-" "Please don't- don't pretend like you care-" "Stef- I do- I'm so sorry-" I can't pretend to not care about him anymore.. I just can't.. "Drop the act Elena! You never cared for me! You pitied me and that was the only reason you talked to me! " He said, through his teeth, wincing in pain as it hurt to speak.. I couldn't even defend myself as I was speechless to see the hurt he carried inside of him .. What he said was nowhere near the truth.. Maybe I started talking to him because I felt bad for him, but I became friends with him because he had the purest heart anyone can ever have. He was everything u wanted in a friend.. Or more. It hurt me to realise I made him believe he meant nothing to me. He started getting up by the support of his elbows and started staggering when I caught him.. He looked at me desperately with despair etched upon his face. "P-please don't do this to me-" He said breathlessly, he was gasping in pain and his eyes were closing.. His head was still bleeding "Stef please.. Don't push me away- I'm sorry- let me help you-" "I don't- can't do this again- don't do- leave me- " He was blabbering now, losing consciousness , and when I caressed his cheek he slumped towards me and collapsed, that was when two teachers came in and carried him to the doctor to get some help. My heart was racing.. I did this. It was my fault. All of a sudden matt came and turned me around towards him.. I removed his hand from my shoulder and started walking away, pissed. He grabbed my wrist and brought me closer to him "WHAT? " "hey.. Listen.. I'm sorry okay-" "YOU'RE SORRY?! YOU BEAT A BOY TO DEATH AND YOU'RE SORRY? GOD-" "Hey what's the big deal? He isn't even your friend anymore-" "LIKE YOU ARE? AND HE'S A PERSON FOR GOD'S SAKE ! DON'T EVER TRY TO DO THIS AGAIN OR I SWEAR TO GOD-" I started walking away and he yelled " YEAH BE WITH YOUR LOSER FRIEND! LIKE I NEED YOU?! I went to the room where stefan was being treated, hurriedly, and saw him lying on the dispensary bed with the school nurse tying a band aid to his head.. He was unconscious and I sat there waiting for him to be okay so that I can make things up and hopefully thing would be back to as they were.. I was so ashamed of myself for ever thinking being liked and being popular was more important than being with him.. I realised that most of all, I was losing myself.. Become someone I wasn't.. Becoming a quiet spectator to cruelty and even being mean to people.. I was lost in my thoughts when I heard stefan squirm in the bed and groan. I went closer to him. The nurse had just left the room and we were all alone. "Stefan? Do you need anything? " "I- elena?.. Why are you here? " "I- uh- I just- I need to talk to you i- I need to apologize for-" " 'lena I don't want your apology " My face dropped at that.
