I WISH I HATED YOU

Chapter 17

6 YEARS AGO
"Why do you always wear these boots? It's not a winter."
"What's even your name? Why are you wearing pink colors when you look like a boy?"
"Idiot. I'm Doris. Don't you remember me?"
"Oh. I am–."
"I know who you are. Leon."
He hysterically started laughing.
"Oh, it's you. That idiot from kindergarten."
"Shut up. You are an idiot."
"How did you even recognize me?" Leon asked.
"I have a good memory. Do you want to be friends?"
"Yes. Sure."
They shook hands and walked into class and sat on their seats.
Doris was on the first seat, and Leon sat behind her.
"Doris. Dooooris!" He whispered.
"What?"
"Do you want to go to the lake tonight? We can go swimming there?"
"Swimming? My dad would not let me."
"What about your mom?"
"I can ask her."
"YESSS! What do you think she will say?"
"I am not sure Let's ask her."
"How? Is she here?"
"Come with me. She is outside."
She grabbed his hand, and they ran outside.
"MOM, CAN LEON AND I GO SWIMMING?"
"Who are you yelling at?"
"Look in the sky. She is in the clouds."
"Oh–."
"She said yes."
She smiled and hugged Leon tightly.
"You will be my new best friend. You will never get rid of me. I promise you that" Leon replied.
***
The exam went horribly, I am tired, and I want to go home. But, hey, I have detention class now that I must go to.
I was waiting in front of the detention doors, and Mr. Taylor came.
"Follow me, today you will do something different."
I followed Mr. Taylor through hallways and was scanning people around in case I'd see Leon. He probably found a way to miss the detention class. Mr. principal's son can get away with anything.
We walked inside the school kitchen that was in huge mess. Floors were dirty, tables were full of unwashed dishes and walls were all splashes with different foods.
"Do a favor cooks and clean this mess!"
"What about Leon?"
"Hi." A quiet voice said behind both of us. We turned around, and I immediately looked away as soon as I saw Him. Leon.
"Here is he. You both better start. You have two hours to finish this. If you finish early, you can leave early as well. Good luck!"
Mr. Taylor walked out of the kitchen and left us alone facing each other. "You should have brought that blonde girl to help you out."
Leon left no response by moving away from me. I watched him grab sponge getting ready to clean the mess cooks made.
I grabbed the dishes and threw them inside the sink. As I thought he would not respond, he shouted back at me, "Where is your dear friend Kyle?"
"He is not my friend. We are not talking. Leave me alone."
"With a pleasure."
Idiot.
These dishes are so hard to clean. Suddenly, Leon splashed a bucket of water on the floor, then took brush wiping the floor.
"You can't just do that now. It's the last thing on the list. It makes no sense to clean it before the rest."
He was silent and kept ignoring me. Fine, Leon. Fine. I walked after him and tried to grab a brush from his hands. "Give it to me!" I muttered. His hands held it strong that it was pointless to even try. But I didn't give up. I was pushing it harder towards me which made me slip on the water and fall. Ouch.
"I hate you so much, Leon."
Again. No response or reaction. He continued cleaning the floor while I was sitting down on the wet floor. Swiftly, I grabbed his arm as hard as I could and pushed him down to the floor.
"Thank you!" I said and took brush out of his hand. I got up from the floor, but he grabbed my arm and that made me fall again. But, on him.
I was on top of him, while his evil grin was staring at me. "Why aren't you saying anything." My hands were holding balance on his chest, while our eyes were staring directly at each other.
"Why don't you give up, Doris. I have fucked that girl last night. It's over between us. Anything that happened is now past. Let me just finish this, so I can go home."
My body became paralyzed as words shoot me deep in my chest. I slowly stepped away from him and hid my face as tears began to rise in my eyes. "You are so disgusting."
Rage made me wash dishes quicker than I would. I was slamming them harshly risking the chance of breaking them. I put my headphones on, while tears began to fall out of my eyes.
I must fight back. I have to say something. I will after I finish my job. Hopefully, before him. I will say something like "You think you are some hot guys, but in few years you will be single and unhappy." No, that's stupid.
An hour had already passed, and I was already done with everything. Leon was stuck cleaning the dirty walls. Not once did he acknowledge my existence. I took off my headphones and stood in front of him. I was finally ready to scream the speech I was preparing the whole time.
"Leon." I shouted, trying to get his attention desperately.
He surprisingly turned around, but his look made me nervous, and I changed the plan. "I also hooked up with Kyle. I even had my first kiss I was specifically saving for someone special."
I grabbed my backpack walking towards the doors.
"You are horrible liar as always, Doris!" He shouted back.
"You wish."
How stupid and immature of me. Why are we even doing this?
***
JOLENE'S POV
Each day goes by and nothing different happens. I wake up, go to school, come back and see my mom with new man. Distancing myself from friends was the best decision I made. When you are surrounded by people all the time, you never have time to discover who you are. Leon has been heading over heels with Doris. To be fair, he has been since I met him, but he just never wanted to admit it. I've seen the poems he wrote, and most of them are about her. I'm losing him, and I have to pretend I am fine with it. I blamed him for my issues and problems that made him go away from me. I wish you could make someone love you again. But when love is gone, it won't ever come back.
I've been sitting on this wall for hours and waiting for volleyball class to start. Exams are coming, and I am not prepared for any of them. I am not good at anything. I hate to read, and I write terribly. Math is boring. I wish I could just drop out. Do I even have any dreams and wishes? I want to start over. Meet new friends and improve as a person.
Is that Doris. She was walking out of school. Her clothes were dirty and wet. Oh, yes. Mr. Taylor's detention class. What if I say hi to her?
"Hi, Doris!"
She ignored as expected. I got up from the wall and ran towards her. Is there anything she'd want to hear to make her trust me?
"Leave me alone. As you can see, I am not really in the mood."
She began to walk faster. Quick. Come up with something. "Ask Leon about poem 'Why are you so pretty?' and that will sum it all up for you."
"What?" She turned around.
"Ask him who is it about? Or sneak into his backpack and read it. Green eyes, I tell them lies. I deny and deny, I feel guilty. Oh, why are you so pretty?"
I recited his words I read multiple times. I know the poem word by word. She stood stunned to speak as her head lowered to the ground. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Trying to do right thing after years of pleasing people that didn't deserve it."
"Don't worry. Leon and I are just past now."
"That's what you think. He doesn't give up easily."
"He gave up this time."
"I was jealous of you for a reason, Doris."
She gave me a blank look and opened her mouth slightly, "I have to go."
I don't remember the last time I did a good thing, and even this little favor makes me feel good about myself.
I should get ready. I paced around in school walking towards the changing room, but I stopped soon as I overheard conversation in class nearby.
I peeked through almost closed doors, and there was Xavier and Leon. "I just finished my detention class, and finally I am going home."
"That with Doris?"
"Yeah. I hate it so much. She is so infuriating, and difficult. She really thought I'd believe she hooked up with Kyle. I mean not that I'd care. But you know..."
"Damn, she is worse than Jolene."
"No one can be bad and pathetic as Jolene." Leon said.
My eyes got watery as my heart started burning from the words it heard. I quickly ran away just not to hear anything more. It was always Doris. It was always her before me. No matter how hard I tried to appeal to him, I was never his choice.