Perspectives

Her Encounter

~the next day~

Claire's pov:

I got to school the next day and all I could think about was Patrick. Flashbacks of that night racing through my head, I've never thought about him this much before. I wanted to stop, I needed to stop. I sat down in my first period and the one person I didn't want to see was there, waiting for me. His eyes huge and filled with despair, his body language showed that he needed to talk to me. I sat down in my seat and he said, "We need to talk about what happened last night." I looked at him with a confused face, what was he talking about? Did he know what Patrick and I did after school yesterday? Jake sat next to me without his normal sparkle in his eyes, he knew. The bell rang and Patrick was nowhere in sight, he skipped first period again. After class, Jake pulled me aside and looked me up and down waiting for me to confess before he spoke. I looked at him with a innocent gaze, pretending to not understand what he was so mad about. Jake rolled his eyes and finally said, "Don't act like that. I know you and Patrick hung out together after school, I saw you." I tried to explain my side of the story and how I just needed my friend back but something felt off.  "Wait, you saw me?" I asked him with an uneasy tone. "Yeah, I followed you." My eyes widened as those words fell out of his mouth like it meant nothing. "You followed us.. what the hell is wrong with you, were you stalking me?" I backed away from him as his body language changed drastically. The only thing fueling his body was rage, but why? "I wasn't stalking you! I- I was-" He said as he noticed me backing away from him as an unpleasant sense reeked off of him. More and more of those flashbacks from last night ran in my mind, the furthermore I realized a car that passed by frequently. A black car with a long scratch on the passenger door, the same mark on Jake's car. Jake reached his hand out to hold mine hoping his actions didn't offend me. I pulled my hand away and ran away as I heard his booming voice echo in the halls. I left the school and got into my car. I sat in silence for a minute or two just processing what had happened. My head fell into my hands as my breathing slowed down, there was only one place I could go. I pulled up to a familiar house and sat in the drive way staring into the windows, debating going in. Texts from Jake and my father filled my phone, but I didn't want to see Jake or confront my father about leaving school. I soon found myself in the arms of the one person I needed the most, Patrick. Everything that happened rushed out of my mouth like a waterfall, all Patrick could do was sit in shock at his childhood best friend's actions. As I told him everything, the most impulsive sentence leaked from my mouth, "-I can't break up with him though, he means too much to me.." As that came out, I instantly regretted it but Patrick seemed to not care, but question me about it, "Why not?" He said, those being the first words he has said since I got to his house. His voice rang in my ears, "why not? why not? why not?", making me pause and hold onto those two words. He could see the questioning look on my face, but waited for an answer from me. Sitting in silence, my mind pondering, "Why Jake?"