Healing hearts

Chapter two

        

Xander pov

I woke up to blinding light, realizing I was in a bar lounge. The first thing I noticed was that I was naked, and I thought it was probably just my normal one-night stand.

But then I looked at the girl beside me and was shocked. It was Cassie, my high school best friend and love, and it all came back to me – how I ran into her last night and what happened. "Oh, God, what have I done?" I said.

I stood up, with a pounding headache, and then I realized that my friends. "Oh, God," I said. I stood up, put on my underwear, and looked at her. I knew she was never going to forgive me for this. I sat on the bed or thought back to how we were once best friends in high school.

I woke up another morning, terrified to go to that hellhole that people called high school. I hated it so much.

At first, it was just me and my one friend Ollie in high school. I didn't have much, because I wasn't popular, and was an olive-skinned geek who was so thin, I lived in the shadows. But then, he got transferred, and I was lonely again.

While I was studying one day, a guy and his friends came into the study room to copy the test, and saw me. He threatened me not to tell anyone, but he was caught and suspended, and it wasn't me who  told on him, but he blamed me, and that began my suffering.

Brian and his friends bullied and downgraded me every day. I heard he was the captain of the school football team, and had a wealthy father and was the most popular boy in school. The worst part was that they found out my mom was a mistress, and Brian and his best friend, Noah, used that to insult me more.

I became depressed, and started taking anti-depressant pills, but then they searched my bags once and found the pills. They started calling me a junkie, and started a rumor about it. My mom was worried and took away the pills, and advised me to stay strong. One day, while I was cornered during gym class, an angel saved me. It was Cassie! Apparently, she was Brian's sister, and he listened to her and let me go. She became my friend.

I tried to avoid her, but she wouldn't let me. She was stubborn and would sit with me at lunch and hang out with me. Her brother didn't like it, but she didn't listen to him. She was the reason I stopped my plans to homeschool and kept attending that awful school.

Little by little, my life started to feel more bearable, even though the bullying still happened. I found myself looking forward to seeing Cassie, and she was always there for me.

"Honey, aren't you ready yet?" my mom announced. "Cassie is here already."

My face brightened at the sound of her name. She usually came by my house every morning to pick me up, since I couldn't afford a car yet. My mom was a struggling single mother. She had an affair with a rich, married man, and when she found out he was married, she broke it off, and left, pregnant with me.

I smiled brightly and went out of my room. Cassie was eating breakfast that my mom made. "That was so delicious, Miss Smith," she said to my mom, smiling brightly. God, did she look beautiful!

"Thanks, dear," my mom said to her.

"Look who finally decided to show up," she said to me, and I fake frowned, while my mom smiled.

I also had breakfast, and then we both left for school. We listened to our favorite song on the way, and when we got to school, everyone looked at us with the same icy way they always did. But she didn't care, and came to my side as we walked through the hallways.