Shoni

Chapter 12

Toni's POV 

I am so pissed that I can feel my whole body getting hot with anger. I feel bad for yelling at Shelby, but how could she defend Leah after she accused us of being a part of this whole thing.

"Don't touch me." I say sternly before running off into the woods 

"Toni, wait." Marty shouts at me, but I ignore her and run as far, as fast as I can

After a minute I can't run anymore and I begin to slow down, which gives Marty the chance to catch up with me.

"Toni, can we please talk." Martha says,

"Marty, I don't wanna talk, just go." I yell at her.

"Toni, Shelby was just trying to be understanding and..." Martha starts to explain but I cut her off. I don't wanna hear it.

"What the hell, Marty? You're supposed to be MY friend, but now you're siding with them? Why is no one on my side!" I scream 

"No, no, Toni. I'm not siding with them, I just..." Martha tries desperately to explain, but I run off again before she can

After a while of running my legs start to burn, but I don't stop running until I reach the lychee tree. Once I reach the tree, I collapse to the ground, my whole body aching. As I sit there, I think about what I said to Shelby and Martha and I feel horrible. Why do I always do this? Why do I have to get so angry, scream, and freak out? Honestly, maybe Shelby is better off without me. All I do is hurt people and mess things up. I don't want to hurt her any more than I already have. As I think about this hot, wet tears drip down my face which is buried into my legs. 

Shelby's POV

I see Martha running back towards us, looking out of breath. 

"I, uh, I talked to her but she freaked out on me and I can't find her now. I'm sorry Shelby, I don't know where she is." Martha says, still catching her breath from the run.

I can feel tears building up in my eyes but I quickly wipe them away when an idea pops in my head. 

"I think I might know where she is. I'll go look for her." I say, 

 as I walk off, I hear Rachel yell at Leah.

"Look at what you did this time!" 

I decide to ignore her and begin to head towards the lychee tree. I have a feeling Toni's there. After a while, I reach the tree and I see Toni in 'tornado drill position', as she calls it. 

"Hey." I say quietly.

I can tell Toni didn't notice me since she was startled.

"Listen, Shelby, you should go, I'm not good for you, all I ever do is hurt you. You don't wanna be with someone like me, okay? So go." Toni states, head lifting for a moment before disappearing back into her knees.

"Toni, don't say that, You're the only person I wanna be with. You make me so happy. Don't say all you ever do is hurt me. Listen, I'm really sorry that I defended Leah, I was just trying to understand where she was coming from." Shelby explains. 

"Just go Shelby I don't want you, leave me alone, and don't come back." Toni yells.

Hearing her say that kind of stings but I know Toni I know she doesn't mean this, she just has self-destructing behaviors and when things get hard she pushes people away to avoid getting hurt. 

"No, Toni I'm not gonna let you do this, I'm not gonna let you push me away."

 "Shelby I'm not doing anything this is how I feel okay." she says while staring at her feet 

"Listen to me I'm not giving up on you you can push me away but I will push back 10 times harder because I love you and I am never gonna let you go." I tell her 

As soon as those words slip from my mouth I realized what I said, I said the L word. I know it's too late to take it back or unsay it but that's all I want to do because I am so scared she won't feel the same way.

"You love me?" Toni ask

"Yeah I do but you don't have to say it back or anything." I quickly blurt out 

"No I uh, I love you too." Toni says while nervously  staring at her feet 

I just smile at her unsure of what to say next but still content in the silence.

"I'm really sorry for freaking out and being a bitch, and your right I do push people away but  I love you so much and I promise I will never do that to you again." Toni says with a guilty look on her face  

"Hey, we both could have done things differently but all that matters is I love you and you love me, I don't care what anyone else thinks." I say to Toni

Toni stands up and stares at me for a minute I stare right back taking time to admire every inch of her, from her gorgeous brown eyes to her adorable little crinkle she gets in her nose when she smiles, and that smile that amazing smile that just makes you melt when you see it. Suddenly I am pulled away from my thoughts when she grabs my face and kisses me, she pulls my body closer to hers and bites on my bottom lip we kiss for what feels like forever before we pull away for air. 

 "Alright we should head back, I know you don't wanna be around Leah but Martha is really worried about you." I say to Toni 

"Yeah okay." Toni says quietly

I grab her hand and we begin to walk back.  

Writer-Thank you for reading guys, love you xoxox.