Fifteen Feet Ahead

Chapter XXI

Chapter XXI

I sat at my desk, practicing some geometry problems for my test tomorrow. I had to ace this one because my GPA couldn't deal with another B put into the average. It's hilarious how I thought Middle School was hard because High School is the real deal.

It was pouring outside, thundering a little bit too. It was March now, and i knew this was the Wednesday month of the school year because as soon as I get this one over with, Summer break doesn't seem that faraway. But because of that, March was always the roughest month of year, for me at least.

My mom had Mrs. Arnolds over nearly every weekend, so it was always a little awkward when she would mention Duncan to me. Asking why we didn't hangout all that much anymore, why he never brought me up at the dinner table much. I would just tell her that we tend to hang around our own groups of friends now, and we were developing different interests, which wasn't a lie in the slightest bit, but I left out the part about her one and only son transforming into a complete asshole. I think it made our moms sad that we weren't around each other anymore. Mrs. Arnolds never forgot to mention how she missed my once frequent visits to her house, and I missed her too. She was my hero, always and forever.

Suddenly, I heard the door bell ring. It couldn't possibly be my mom or dad because they left for Gabe's basketball playoff game just a half hour ago. Dashing down the stairs, I rushed to the door. I glanced through its small glass window, shocked to find an old friend standing there, Duncan.

I opened the door. He stood with rain soaked through every layer of clothing on his body. The slightly familiar situation, triggered my memory to the last time I ever saw him on this porch. His white t-shirt stuck tightly to his chest, and his hair was matted onto his forehead.

"Hey," I mumbled. "What do you want?"

Saying absolutely nothing, he entered my house, dripping gallons of rainwater onto the tile floor. He face, emotionless.

"Yo? Duncan? Can you hear me?"

He laughed the way Brandon always does in gym class and gripped me tightly on my upper arm. I was stunned and used every muscle in my body to attempt escape, but the more I struggled, the more I twisted and turned, the more he'd tighten is grip.

"Duncan! Jesus Christ, let me go!"

This only made him laugh harder, and he managed to snatch my other arm too. I looked deep into his green eyes and expected them to fade into a dark red any second, because the boy in front of me was transforming into a mindless monster. For the first time in my life, I was terrified of Duncan Arnolds.

Suddenly, he slammed me on the wall. I was so weak, so helpless, more vulnerable than ever.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

That was my alarm. Thank god, It was only a dream. I sat up in my bed, sweating, and taking deep breaths. Ever since that incident on the hallway, nightmares like this seemed to happen often.

I got crappy sleep all the time, and my stomach constantly churned, so to say that things were getting easier would be a lie. But with Stacey's voice in my head, I somehow could push myself through the schooldays. With Lucile, Margret, and Janie supporting me, I could smile and laugh at our lunch table. I couldn't be more thankful for the positive friends and people in my life.

It was true. Dani and Duncan were some sort of couple now, and it make me want to throw up until I was nothing but a skeleton when I saw them holding hands through the hallways. The only good thing about his new girlfriend was that she distracted him from messing with me. In fact, the whole crew didn't seem to mess with me as much anymore.

I climbed out of bed and threw on an old t-shirt with a pair of ripped jeans.

"Another day, another day closer to Walk the Moon," I whispered, beginning to push myself through my morning routine.

Thirty minutes later, I sat on the school bus again, passing the neighborhood pool. It stung, with vivid memories of not only Sanders, but Duncan too, playing basketball with the floating hoop in the water. The memories replayed inside my head like an old movie, that made me want to cry. Not because it was a sad movie, but because it was one that I hadn't seen in years, and it reminded me that there was time when I was truly happy. Sometimes we'd bring Brandon along too, and I loved that because we would play two vs two games, and Duncan would purposely pair me with Sanders. He and I lost terribly every single time, considering both Brandon and Duncan were far better at the sport than we were, but I still put up a fight.

Everything is changing so fast, and it terrifies me. I looked in the mirror and can barely recognize the girl looking back at me. I am changing too, and I am trying my best to do it for the better.

Duncan walked onto the bus, dressed in a pair of jeans and gray vans. I swear, he got new clothes every single week. It was almost hilarious to remember the days where his hair hung over his forehead, and he dressed in basketball tees and shoes for every single occasion. I missed that Duncan, the one who'd blow his sour cream and onion breath in my face, and I'd kill to have him eat through my entire fridge again sometime.

It was strange to look at Duncan now. Can't believe I am saying this, but he was what someone could consider an attractive high school boy. I bet he drives Dani crazy. Good for her.

As I walk into school, I promise to myself that I will try to do what Stacey told me to do. I will try to let go.

• • •

"Did you hear?" Lucile smirked. "Gavin's having some huge party on Friday night."

"Oh really?" Janie raised an eyebrow, taking a bite into her greasy school cafeteria pizza. They were out of lunch meat today, so she was forced to eat the crap excuse for food.

"Yeah," Margret added. "He's such an idiot. Seniors are coming to his house. They're going to trash the entire place."

"He thinks they all love him, but really Gavin's just some freshman who hasn't even lived here for a year yet. Seriously, he's just so stupid."

I nodded, almost laughing to myself. It was hilarious how typical of him that was, and it was even funnier that I knew Duncan probably had the same ideas that he did.

Margret chuckled, "I knew where his house is. What would happen if we called the cops on him?"

Janie's eyes widened, "Wait, what? You know where his house is?"

"Like I said, he's an idiot. When he posted his school schedule on Facebook, he didn't seem to notice that his home address was typed at the top of the paper. If someone was out to murder him or even just stalker, he's literally just asking for it!"

Lucile began to cry out of laughter. She did that a lot, and it would make everyone else crack up too.

After a good minute of all of us about to pee our pants, she said, "Margret, you're brilliant really, absolutely brilliant."

*********
A u t h o r ' s ~ N o t e

Hey,
Sorry, I feel like this was a short and filler chapter, but the next is going to be the most exciting of the book because every story's gotta have a climax, right?

Xx Audrey