Happy Ending

Monday

The weekend passed without incident. I remained in my room when dad was home and stocked up on food and bathroom breaks when he wasn't. A typical weekend, by my standards. Except that I was plagued with the constant fear that James would appear, and dad would be here, and dad would hurt James. Or James would call the cops. Or that any bad thing possible to happen would happen.

The next day I woke up to a rainstorm. It was pouring. I never would skip school just for that, though. Dad was still here. I put a spare pair of clothes in a sealed plastic bag, placed my books in another, and tugged my hair into a tight bun at the base of my neck. I ran downstairs and out the door into the downpour, to head off to school.

I arrived looking much like a drowned rat. My hair and clothes were plastered to my face, and before class I had to change into the spare clothes I had brought. I hurried and changed clothes, trying to ensure I wouldn't be late for class. I rushed out of the bathroom to my locker, where I deposited my bag of wet clothes. I looked at the clock on the wall. "Damn" I muttered. The bell was literally about to ring. Turning a corner towards the classroom, I ran into someone. "Sorry" I muttered, and began walking again.

"Wait! Linda!" the person I had run into said. It was James. "I want to as-"

"Forget it" I said. "Just leave me alone."

"But" he said

"I said leave me alone" I replied, and went to class.

'Idiot' the voice in my head said 'he was a friend'

'Friend?' the other voice replied 'hardly. You guys just met and did a project together. That's it. Face it. You don't get friends.'

'But' the first voice protested

'No buts' the other voice said. 'Besides. How can you talk to him after what happened? I bet he has a bunch of questions. Best to avoid him now.'

Before I knew it, English class was upon us.

"As you should have remembered, class" the teacher said. "You have projects due today. Therefore, we will view the projects today instead of doing work." She went back to her desk and computer and picked up a disc. "The first project group I have here is by..." I zoned out while she began saying names and playing discs, one by one.

"And the last group for the day is "she said"is James and Linda"

"Huh" I said, in surprise, and looked at James. He glanced at me and smiled a small smile.

'Oh god' the voice I'm my head said 'please let it not be footage of dad. We had the curtains closed, right? And I told him to leave...' the disc loaded and what I saw shocked me. It was my house, the part we had decided to do the project in. well, almost my house. This one was animated. An animated me came around the corner just as we had said I would and my voice began saying the script. 'h-how?' the voice in my head said. The animated us did just as we discussed, playing out the script and actions. When it was over, the entire class applauded.

"Excellent job you two" the teacher said. "To think that you two would work together so well"

The bell rang and I left class as I normally do.

I heard James behind me calling my name. I took a deep breath, steeled myself, and turned to face him.

"Linda!" he said. "Look, about the project, I know this may seem weird, but I recorded that time we read over the script. Ya know, the last time, the one I declared at perfect? Well I voice recorded it and since we would have never been able to complete the project in person and I really needed that A, I used an animating program my sister downloaded years ago on our home PC and created a cartoon version of our plans. I know I probably should have called you and asked but I didn't know your phone number and all-"

"Hey, it's ok." I said. "I thought it was amazing. Thank you." The way I was talking, careful, the way I was standing, arms crossed. I had rebuilt my walls around him. I had never even known I had let them crumble. "I've got to go." I said. "I can't be late." And left wihtout giving him a chance to speak.

'Bitch' the voice I'm my head muttered.