There's a Place For Us (Complete)

Part 12

I. An Exquisitely Tragic Love Affair

(Part 12)

As Isabella unlocked her locker and reached in to retrieve her binders, a note fluttered out. Adam leaned down and picked it up. "This fell out," he said uncertainly. Isabella furrowed her eyebrows, did a double take at Adam to make sure he had nothing to do with it, then unfolded the note and read it.

Scribbled in messy boy writing was written, 'hope you enjoyed last night and this morning. That's what you get for screwing with my friend. Literally... I bet you're real good in bed. Like a lion. Why else would he want anything to do with you?'

Isabella's face got real red and she looked at Adam, who had been reading over her shoulder."That bast-" he started angrily. He started to storm off in a gracefully strong way, but Isabella grabbed at his arm. "Adam don't. Just ignore it" Isabella told him. "But it's my fault they're doing this to you! They're torturing you" he yelled. "Just ignore it," she pleaded. "Please..."

He slouched his shoulders, defeated. "Why won't you just let me?" he wondered. "Because I don't want you too!" she said feistily. She huffed and walked away, forgetting to even shut her locker.

Later, after school had ended, Adam caught up to Isabella as he saw her walking into the tutoring room. They sat down, closer than Isabella would have allowed three months ago when they started. "Can I ask you something?" Adam asked seriously. Isabella nodded her head. "How do you do it?" She cocked her head to one side. "Do what?" Adam's eyes looked pained. "How do you ignore it? Just let them to do that to you..." Isabella looked Adam in the eyes and moved her hand an inch closer to his. "I don't... Ignore it," she said, while flaring her hand at the word "ignore". "I just get used to it. People judge you; they don't accept you just because you're different than they are..."

Her eyes took on a glazed haze and she looked far away. "They think you're strange, a freak even, but all they can do is assume." Her voice took on a distant quality as well, and she spoke quietly. "But their assumptions are idiotic. They don't know what you've seen... what you've felt... what you've gone through... They laugh because you wear different clothes than they do, but they've never thought that maybe you dress like that for a reason. They tease because even in the summer, your clothes cover your arms. They could never imagine that you're hiding something... something you had no control over...." Adam watched, as in her own way, she told him things about herself, and he knew that she wasn't just talking about a random person anymore. She was talking about herself.

Isabella was back at home, washing the dishes. It happened suddenly. There was no trigger, no reason... it just happened.

She remembered his jet black hair. His cologne, which always made her smile. She remembered the stars and his words. His Tennessee accent and the way he'd say her name.... She remembered the announcement he had had. But mostly she remembered the fear. She remembered the day they all came true. With one little ring of a phone, with two little words.... And then, there was a tiny hole in the place a bullet had gone straight through.....

She ripped and pulled at her hair violently as unpreventable tears filled her eyes. Why did everything end like this? Everything?!

She screamed at the top of her lungs. "I HATE YOU! YOU'VE DONE NOTHING FOR ME..." Then quietly she continued through freshened tears. "This is why I don't believe in you. You've taken everything from me..."

In school, Adam endured being called a freak and plenty of times he wanted to hit a couple of them. Here were nobody's calling Adam Green a freak. And why? Because he wanted to be friends with a girl who was just perceived to be a freak. They never even took the chance to get to know her.

He passed her in the halls all the time. She wore similar clothes everyday and her hair was always the same, but Adam's view of her had changed. As she walked passed him, he found himself thinking: She was beautiful. In the quiet way that lonely, unnoticed people are beautiful to those who notice them...

Later, he caught up to her. He knew she had to walk in the same direction as he did. "Hey," he said cheerfully. She crinkled the sides of her eyes in a friendly response back. Quickly, without even thinking, Adam did something. He slipped his hand into hers. Isabella stopped in her tracks, but only for a second. It was Adam. He was her friend and she kinda, partly trusted him; he wasn't going to hurt her. She took another step and continued to walk normally. His hand was firm and gentle. Her hand was sweaty, but Adam didn't mind too much.

He walked her to her class and walked through the crowd of people who had been following them, taking pictures and videos with their phones. He didn't really give a damn if they laughed at him or not. As long as they didn't do anything to Isabella.