Pita, continued

Chap. 13, Does a story ever really end?

After all of that drama blew over, (the rat turned out to not be Stella, and in fact some random popular girl). I thought I could finally relax. Ha! Oh my god. I know what you're thinking, and I agree with you. Haven't I learned my lesson by now? I guess you can probably tell things became very much the opposite of relaxing from then on. This chapter is a long one, so strap in.

My friend Emilia was going through a lot. It always seemed like she could never catch a break. She always got advice from Colten. Yes, that Colten. This gets a bit confusing with names so try and keep up. I was upset about what had recently happened with Tarik, Haris, and the rat. Though I had mostly gotten over it, until one day while calling Alexa, she brought it back up again. Along with all of the emotions. I was mad at her or anything, I just hated the whole situation. After we hung up, I couldn't get rid of the lump in my throat and went outside to cry. I had headache, so I went back inside to get some water. I walked up the basement stairs, but before I could open the door, I heard my parents fighting. It was bad. Eventually, my head started pounding from crying and I needed water. I also wanted to give my mom a hug after hearing what my dad has said to her. I guess she also needed one because she hugged me first. Then she explained in probably the gentlest way she could that her and my dad were getting a divorce. She said she just couldn't stand the fighting all of the time and wanted what was best for us. I just silently nodded, trying not to cry. I got my water and went back to my room as fast as I could so nobody would see me crying. 

I ran into my room and collapsed onto my bed in tears. My head was pounding, but that didn't matter. I cried harder than the time I thought Haris had a girlfriend. Haris. I couldn't even think of his name, his face, without my entire being filled with rage. Why?? Why did I have to care about him? It felt so stupid. I felt so stupid. All this time. All this time I had been focused on only him.

Haris, Haris, Haris.

Always Haris!

What about my family? Where was my focus, my energy, when my family was falling apart right under my nose, and I didn't even see it?

Thinking about Haris, that's where. Always thinking about Haris.

I couldn't live with myself. It was hard to think about it, so I didn't. Luckily, I had done some much needed self-work since 7th grade. 7th would have definitely not survived this. I tried to focus on breathing, eating, and drinking. I managed to get through to the next day and go to school. That day there was a field trip to the high school for all of the 8th-graders. I tried to call Adriana the night before, but she was busy. I called Alexa, but she was also busy. I had never in my life felt more alone. My head still hurt the next day, a subtle reminder of the pain of the night before. 

As soon as I saw Adriana, I hugged her and started crying. I explained to her and Emilia what happened. I thought Colten saw me crying, but he didn't say anything. I couldn't tell if that made me feel better or worse. I spent the whole day dreading going home. I hadn't told Allie about what happened yet. Once we got back from the field trip, I was less than excited that it was the last class of the day. I started crying again once I walked into English and tried to explain to Allie what was wrong. She took my hands and led me to the back of the class where Haris sat. I'm sure he saw me crying, but I didn't care then. I heard everyone's whispers as our teacher had Allie take me into the hall. 

Things like, 

"Is she crying?" (No, really?) And,

"Are you okay?" (Yup, totally okay)

Even RJ was concerned about me. I could tell Haris was trying to mind his own business and be polite, but I saw even he was trying to see what was going on. When we were out in the hallway, and Allie was calming me down, I saw none other than Tarik walk by. The funny thing was he actually looked concerned about me for once. I hated him a little less after that. I went home, and it was okay. I still felt lonely not being able to talk to anyone, so I decided to see if Colten really did have good advice. Spoiler alert, it wasn't as great as Adriana and Mimi made it seem. But he was nice to talk to.