The One That Got Away {Promise: Book One}

5. We Can't Be Friends

5 | Wren Miller

I let him stay over, just for tonight.

Obviously, not in the same bed.

So many things have happened in the past 24 hours I feel like I've experienced a heavy dose of both fantasy and reality. And I don't think I can handle it any longer.

I sit on the edge of my bed, pondering.

Billie, why must you stay and torture me like this?

I can't tell if he's being serious, and he really is sorry, or it's all just a game. A lie I'm being tricked into believing.

Who am I kidding? He's lost everything. Who would he entertain by hurting me? Who would be there to laugh at my misery?

Being loved, or being bullied was never my concern when it came to Billie. I was just too scared to face the fact that I'm small.

Its an eat or be eaten world. I suffered the consequences of being prey, and I can't escape the fact that I will be punished for that fact for the rest of my life. I'll never be strong enough to bite back.

I lay back on my pillows, a part of me hopes I wont wake up tomorrow. So I won't have to face the beast.

Closing my eyes, I feel the weight of everything that's happened sink into my mattress, waiting for me to wake up. Waiting for tomorrow, when I have the whole day to overthink.

♡

I'm sat behind the sports hall, sinking my teeth into a sandwich. My legs are dangling into the empty pool as I sit around the edge. It's such a deep drop, with the middle covered in old leaves, which swim in little puddles.

I don't remember a time when this pool was full. But, I'm glad it isn't. Nobody ever comes here. It's just me, my thoughts and my food. Together. As always.

This is the only part of school that's always empty, I'm not even sure people know its here.

A safe spot. A place where I can hide.

"Ah!" I groan, my body plummets into the empty pool. The sides are slightly slanted, so I tumble down, as if I was rolling down a hill.

I hear giggling above from where I was sat, and I guess this is my karma for sitting so close to the edge. I spin and spin and spin, it feels like I've been spinning for hours.

Until I stop, right in a muddy puddle.

The giggling gets louder, now full blown laughing. "Sucks to suck, Wren!" I hear a female voice say. I already know who it is. Chloe, and her gang of other bitches, whom will all probably end up pregnant before graduation. That's if they're invited to graduate.

The giggling subsides, and soon its back to just me, my thoughts, and my food, which is probably covered in dirt and germs.

"Shit." I hear a voice from above, and I groan, not wanting more grief. I feel two hands, grabbing my arms to lift me from the cold, wet tile. As I'm set on my feet, I turn to see...

...Billie?

Him of all people?

Before I can stop myself, I stumble backwards, anger bubbling inside me from just seeing him. "What the fuck? Why are you helping me? Don't fucking touch me, asshole." my mouth spat the word's out before my brain could stop it, and I already know he'll push me back to the ground.

Instead, he steps backwards, his hands in a shocked surrender. "I just wanted to know if you were okay! Jeez." He groans, scaling up the slanted walls to climb out of the pool. I hear him grumble something under his breath, and I'm glad I don't hear it.

I laugh, and pick up my lunchbox to begin scraping off the dirt.

♡

I wake up, breathing heavily.

That wasn't a dream, that was a memory. A memory of the only good time I had with Billie.

I sometimes wish I hadn't said what I did. Maybe everything would be different if I thanked him. Maybe eveything wouldn't have been so hard. Maybe I could forgive him.

Maybe we could move on.

I check my phone. It reads 2pm. Great, I slept three hours. I never go back to sleep after waking up once, so all I can do is start my day earlier.

authors note: thanks for the positive comments, i love you all xx

also the chapters are all going to be quite short. i want this book to kinda just be a quick read so its more enjoyable.