Haunted Hearts || A.W.G || [Discontinued]

The Prom Picture, Blame and Alex's Past || Chapter Forty-Seven

-- This chapter is about a chunk of Alex's past with Madison, so I'm sorry if anyone gets mad because it's not about Emerald's progress but their past is part of the story ;-; There will also be more of these type of chunks in the next few chapters --

"He senses something, call it desperation. Another dollar, another day and if she had the proper words to say, she would tell him but she'd have nothing left to sell him."

Alex
Day 2 Out Of 14

It's only been 48 hours and I swear every minute she gets worse. It's hard for me to look her in the eyes because I feel like shit for making her go through this. Everytime I think about this, I tell myself, "It's not about you, it's about her and making sure she's safe. She got through it before and she can get through it again, she's strong and you know this."

I walk past our prom picture everyday and sometimes I stop to reflect on it. She looked so happy and I can't help but feel like this is my fault. Maybe if I wasn't such a jackass back then, she wouldn't have had to go through that depression phase because I didn't contribute to it and instead, I was there to comfort her, which means she would be drug free.

I hate remembering all the fucked up decisions I made, it tears me apart knowing that I wasn't there for her because of my dumb ass self. Why did I have to suggest that idea in high school? I know why, and it was a stupid thing to do. Maybe things would've turned out better if I just told her the truth.

Flashback

It's the night before our first year in high school and by "our", I mean Madison and I. We're always together, literally. She practically lives at my house and it gets kind of annoying from time to time because everytime I tell her I'm going out with my friends, she forces me to let her come with us. It's like, geez, back off for at least an hour.

I've been slowly losing interest in her; she's so clingy and never lets me relax in my own house. She doesn't even give me a choice, she shows up to my door and invites herself in. My mom likes her too, which makes it worse. My dad could care less about my romantic life, he focuses more on my grades than anything.

"Alex." She sighs in irritation. I turn my attention from my phone to her, "What?" "Ugh, you weren't even listening, were you? You're so consumed in your phone all the time." She complains. "Jack needed some advice." I say, mentally rolling my eyes. "Why is it always about Jack? Why don't you give me some attention once in awhile?" She huffs.

Did I mention that she's prissy and bossy all the time? Basically, she's a brat that gets everything she wants and isn't used to not being in the spotlight. She often "scolds" me about hanging out with Jack. Here's just some of the words she calls him; womanizer, loser, idiot, retard, and freak. It does piss me off, but when I try to defend him, she talks over me and doesn't give me the light of day.

"We've been over this, Madison. He's my best friend and I'm going to be there for him no matter what you say."

"Whatever." She flips her hair over her shoulder. "Anyway, what do you think of this prom dress?"

"Prom isn't for another four years. You don't have to do anything now."

She slams her magazine down and sighs. "I thought you love me."

"I do," I force out. " but seriously? I can see planning a couple weeks prior to it, not four years."

"I guess." She shrugs.

All of the sudden a light bulb lights up in my head. I think of an idea that she'll definately agree to because, lets face it, she's pretty dumb. The only thing she's good at is sabotaging and making up good comebacks.

"You always said that you want to be the 'Queen Bee' of high school, right?" I ask and she nods. "Well, I have a great way to make you it." "Really?! Tell me!" She perks up, of course. "If you sleep with all the guys in school through freshman to senior year, you'll no doubt be the Queen Bee." I smirk. "That's brilliant! You'll be my king, right?" She looks at me with serious eyes. "What do you mean?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"I sleep with all the guys and you sleep with all the girls."

I hesitate, "Yeah, totally. I promise I will."

This'll get her off my back for awhile.

~-~-~

Sophomore Year

We got our schedules and now I'm on the way to my first class - French. I'm a bit late because I was talking to a friend of mine in the hallway.

I walk into the room and instantly spot Jack then go to sit next to him when I notice a girl sitting at the table in front of us. For some reason, I stop right next to her and take in all her features. Long dark brown hair, pale blue eyes, a little scar under her left eye, everything. There's something about her that's keeping my attention. I never saw her in any of my classes during freshman year. Maybe I was just too focused on talking to every other girl and didn't notice her.

She looks at me then quickly goes back to doodling in her notebook.

"Whenever you're done gawking, Mr. Gaskarth." Mrs. Jonas says nonchalantly. I go to my seat to regain my thoughts when Madison comes in with her short pink miniskirt and tanktop. "Great." I think to myself.

She starts to walk down the aisle I'm sitting in but stops where I did to look at the strange, yet beautiful girl.

She eyes the girl up and down, as if she's judging her. "Ew, freak." She says with a disgusted look. It gets me mad, and not just because she calls Jack that too, but because she doesn't even know the girl.

"That's enough, Madison. Go to your seat." Mrs. Jonas sighs. Madison rolls her eyes but obeys. "Emerald, I'm going to have you join Drew for this experiment, okay?" She says nicely to the girl.

Emerald.. I've never met a girl with that name before. It's pretty, and not basic, like Madison.

But it's not the time to try and get to know a girl, I have to take my goal seriously. She's just going to be one of the girls included in it, that's all. I promised Madison we'll be together anyway, even though I wish I hadn't. I don't want to live the rest of my life in agony with her bossing me around all the time, I've got to break the news to her some day.

Flashback End

Little did I know that Emerald would be the girl I fell in love with. Life works in strange ways, doesn't it?

"Say what you mean. Tell me I'm right and let the sun rain down on me. Give me a sign, I want to believe."

(Song: "The Ballad Of Mona Lisa" by Panic! At The Disco)