Enemies

Chapter 3

Will's Point of View

The Monday after I'd run into Haley outside the ice cream shop, I couldn't stop myself from looking at her. Usually, she never wore makeup. But today
she'd applied it heavily.

Had Snake given her that bruise?

They were together, but she let him cheat on her all the time. Maybe she'd finally had enough.

And why the hell did I care so much? She was right; we weren't friends. We'd been friends one day in kindergarten and since that time we'd been enemies.

After that first day, over twelve years ago, I'd been so excited to run home and tell my mom all about my new friend. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I could even still tell you what Haley was wearing. She'd had on a pink dress, with yellow hearts. Her hair had been combed back out of her face, but all throughout the day she'd played with it, messing it up to where she kept having to push it out of her face.

Once I'd gotten off the bus, I'd run into the house, telling mama all about the friend I'd made. Lifting me up, mama had placed me on the counter, my little feet kicking excitedly as I spoke too quickly. She'd listened to me tell her all about Haley while she'd handed me a brownie and some milk.

"I'm happy you made a friend, sweetie," she'd said once I was finished.

The next day, when Haley wouldn't even speak to me, I'd had no idea what I'd done. And I wouldn't figure it out until I told my mom about it.

"What did you say her name was?" My mom had asked.

"Haley Winters," I'd said.

"Winters?" I'd been eating a piece of homemade banana bread. Mama baked nearly everyday. What was leftover, she always let dad take down to the sheriff's office to feed his deputies.

"Oh Sweetie," she'd said sadly. "I don't think her parents want her to be friends with you."

"Why not?" I'd asked.

"Her dad is the bad man from the other side of town. The man your father has to arrest all the time."

That had been the narrative my entire life. Her dad was a gang leader; my dad was a good guy, the local sheriff. He'd been re-elected so many times I couldn't even keep count. He also always ran unopposed. And somehow, that never struck me as odd.

I hated Haley now. The feelings were mutual. Our destiny had been predetermined. We had to hate each other; we were bound to and born into those feelings thanks to who our parents were. It wasn't something ever even had a choice in.

But if she truly hated me, why did she send me birthday cards every year? It had taken me a long time to figure out that they were from her. I hadn't figured it out until my seventeenth birthday. Right after that day, we'd started junior year of high school. When I'd seen her handwriting on one of the assignments she'd turned in, I knew it had been her. It had always been her sending them to me and slipping them into my cubby and locker.

But why?

She hated me.

And I hated her.

Yet somehow, I was still worried about her when I saw that bruise forming on her face yesterday.

I blamed the damn birthday cards.

She didn't seem like she was in a lot of pain; she went through the day just like she usually did. The fact that I knew that meant hat I was paying too much attention to her.

"What's up with you?" Jonah asked when I sat down at our lunch table. "You're weird today," he said.

"I'm good," I said waving off his concern.