Go Away (#TheWattys2015)

Chapter 26: Bad memories

I waved goodbye to Tasha's mom as she pulled out of the school parking lot.
"Your moms car still at the mechanics?"
"Yeah," I sighed, "it's gonna be there for a while. When it gets out, my moms still not allowing me to drive it for a month."
"A month!? C'mon you were attacked by a moose."
"Yeah, but the way my mom sees it, she thinks I could've tried to outrun it instead of running it over." Tasha shook her head.
"It was the heat of the moment, once you get an idea you just do it. Besides, I'd like to see if her car would be her first priority if she got attacked by a giant demonic animal." I laughed and we walked into the school. It was a Monday so everyone was sulking around or catching up and talking about their weekends. I grabbed some textbooks from my locker and got ready to walk to homeroom with Tasha, but my eyes landed on Zack and I stopped. After Tasha's mom dropped him off at his house, we had agreed never to talk about what happened ever again since we both had no reasonable explanation for why the moose attacked us, but I still wanted to check on him. Even if it did happen three days ago. I walked towards his locker and he looked up at me, a wide smile on his face. I smiled back and leaned against the locker next to his.
"Somebody's happy," I observed out loud.
"Yeah," he said, smiling wider.
"A girl asked me out today." Something hurt in my chest. A sting of jealously. I ignored it and focused on being supportive. At the end of the day we were just friends, I told myself. Nothing more. He would never like me. I smiled at him to cover up my inner emotions and perked up.
"Oooh, Zackyboy's gettin it." I nudged him and he laughed.
"So who's the lucky girl?" I asked, dreading the answer. Whoever it was, it wasn't me.
"Oh, that girl who talked to me a little on the first day of school. She flirted with me over text and I wasn't really sure if I liked her or not, so I kind of rejected her. But I felt bad and hung out with her on Saturday. Y'know the day after the moose thing." I nodded and waited for him to continue. "Turns out she's actually pretty cool. Her name's Casey." I could feel my heart freeze over and shatter within seconds leaving me hollow. The world seemed to freeze around me as I recalled the painful days I endured last year. Casey bullying me mercilessly. The rude comments, the angry and hateful texts, the boys. She stole every boy who showed the slightest interest in me. And now she had Zack, the boy I crushed on since he dragged me into that empty classroom on the first day of school. I recalled the day she cornered me and had her minions cover me in silly string. It reminded me of last year when she cornered me and beat me down because her
ex-boyfriend had hugged me. He was being kind. My mom had gotten into a car accident that day. She would be fine but I worried about her. He had comforted me after seeing me sobbing silently outside of the girls' bathroom during third period. Casey just happened to walk out of her third period class and spot him hugging me. That same boy was the boy I had had a crush on that entire beginning half of the year, and she knew. She had her minions corner me and she punched and kicked me until I was weak and bruised. Then she got back together with him, re-opening a wound in my heart. I hated her with every bit of strength in my body and I never stopped hating her since then. Now that girl, that girl, had Zack Halen. The only boy I'd ever consider as another best friend. Did life just hate me? I took a deep breath and blinked away the tears gathering in my eyes.
"You okay there Daija,?" Zack asked. I shook away my pain the best I could and flashed him a fake smile.
"Yeah I'm fine! Just remembered a test I didn't study for. But yeah, that's great! I'm really happy for you." I patted his shoulder for emphasis and he smiled.
"Y'know I can let you borrow my notes." I watched as he dug into his bag looking for his subject binder. He tugged at it while beginning to ask me something.
"Which class is-"
"Um babe, why are you talking to this loser?" Casey's annoying perky voice said from behind Zack. She wrapped her arm around his waist and he awkwardly adjusted himself to place his arm around her shoulders. He frowned slightly then said:
"That's not nice sweetheart. This is Daija, she's a friend of mine." I nearly gagged. 'Sweet heart'? Could someone,
anyone, just shoot me now. Casey gasped and her eyes widened.
"Oh I'm sorry, I must have mistaken you for someone else. I'm Casey." She held out her hand for a hand shake and smiled devilishly at me. I lifted up my books and my binder to show her my hands were full. We both knew that even if they weren't I would never touch her. The side of her lip twitched slightly and she put her hand back around Zacks waist. "Oh sorry, I see your hands are full. Zacky, baby, could you walk me to class please?" Zack grabbed his subject binder from his locker and wrapped his arm back around her shoulders.
"Of course, lets go. Wanna come with Daija?" I looked up from the floor and shook my head vigorously. He frowned in confusion and I realized that I had reacted a bit too strongly.
"Uhm, no thanks. I promised Tasha I'd catch up with her. Y'know how she gets worked up when I don't keep my promises." Zack nodded and smiled at me.
"Well tell her I said hi. Good luck on your test." I nodded and turned to walk away.
"Oh Daija, honey," I heard Casey say. I gritted my teeth and sighed, turning slowly to face her, quickly flashing her a forced smile.
"Yes?"
"I heard about your sister in the hospital. Give her my best for me would you?" I nearly lost it. I turned on my heel and walked off, gritting my teeth even harder when she whispered something to Zack.
"I'm not sure what I did wrong." I heard Zack sigh and say: "Bella's a tough subject for her. She's probably just having a rough day."
"Oh," Casey said, fake sympathy in her voice. "That's unfortunate." I stormed down the hall and collided with Tasha on the way.
"Whoa Daija what's the rush?"
I grabbed her by her sleeve and tugged her with me to the girls bathroom. I explained my encounter with Casey and Zack and once I finished I burst into tears as I remembered the hands grabbing me, Casey's fist colliding with my face, the kicking, her minions laughing. I shook with sobs and Tasha hugged me, patting my back and whispering
"It's okay," over and over again. She stayed with me until my sobs subsided and I finally managed to push away the memories. We both got detention for extreme tardiness, but I didn't care. I had Tasha with me and that was what mattered. We ended last year as friends, battling off Casey's torment together. We were sisters, not by blood, but by bond. A loving bond I would never break.