The Bite (Edited)

*Forever

Jack tried to approach me several times this week and each time I walked away. I wanted nothing to do with him and if he tried to touch me again, I will actually punch his eyes out. I didn't normally resort to violence, but he crossed the line- and I was not fond of people crossing the line. And despite the bandage around his head, a band-aid on his nose, ointment on the cut on his lip and the bruises on his face, I was far from feeling sympathetic for him.

Now, he just glares at me, as if waiting to get his revenge. I wasn't afraid, I did nothing wrong. All I did was refuse to sleep with him and he got all worked up. Shouldn't I be the one to be planning my revenge? He was just being a sissy.

I grabbed my books and closed my locker. "Is that my shirt?" I heard a familiar voice.

"Don't get excited, Liam. My mom forced me to do all her laundry today as punishment from staying at your house and this was the only clean shirt I had, since I didn't get to wash any of my clothes." He had let me keep his shirt and even tried to make me keep his boxers. I had reluctantly accepted the shirt and firmly refused his boxers. "Don't piss me off today, I slept late last night and I'm a mess."

"Did you tell her you were staying at a guy's house?" He asked incredulously as we walked to Chemistry.

"I said a 'friend's'."

He rolled his eyes. "Don't you have soccer practice after school?"

I nodded. "Why, want to watch me play?"

"Yeah. Haven't been able to. Besides, Tessa wants all three of us to go shopping with her after."

"Shopping? You? Ronnie? That doesn't seem right." We entered the classroom and took our seats.

"Oh, please, don't underestimate my ability to buy clothes."

I looked at the clothes he had chosen today. His outfit was fine today, but just to be able to have some fun, I decided to tease him. His reactions were entertaining. "Well, looking at your choice of clothes today, you're going to have to prove yourself to me."

"I guess I will. Wait- did you just insult my clothing?!"

I heard a ding from my phone and used that as an excuse to remove myself from the conversation. I pulled it out. I'm coming, it said, making me tilt my head in confusion. It was a number I couldn't recognize, was it someone trying to prank me? Probably.

I shut my phone down and put it in my bag, forgetting about it.
...

"It's freaking December and it's still so warm!" Ronnie complained as we walked out of the school.

"Yeah, I was excited for it to snow," Liam said, taking my soccer bag from me and slinging it over his shoulder.

"Mother Earth is either pregnant or on her period," Ronnie said. "I mean, what's Christmas without snow?"

We laughed. "Should we have a Christmas party, with just the four of us?" Tessa suggested.

"Sure, why not," I agreed.

"We can have it at my house," Liam offered.

"Yeah, your parents are the best, dude," Ronnie said. "Your mom gave me so much food and stuff. Your uncle is hilarious and your dad is so chill."

"Too bad Liam didn't inherit any of those qualities," Tessa murmured.

We all laughed as Liam cried "Hey!"

"Laina?"

We all turned to see a boy our age with a familiar smirk. My eyes widened as I realized who it was and I felt the scars in my heart that were just about to finish healing tear open again. I felt anger, guilt, sadness- everything jumbled together. Now, I knew where that weird text was from. "You guys go to the car first, I'll meet you there," I told my friends, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Is everything okay, amiga?" Ronnie asked.

"Yeah, I'll see you guys there," I said without taking my eyes off of the boy in front of me.

"Okay. Come on, guys," Tessa said, pulling the two guys away.

I waited until they were inside the car. I hoped they wouldn't try to eavesdrop using their superhearing and would respect my privacy. "Why are you here, Leo?" I said, forcing myself to meet his green eyes.

"Because I miss you," He walked to me, the smirk still glued to his face. "You grew your hair out, I like it."

I ignored his compliment and I took a step back, not wanting him to be near me. "Before I punch that smirk off your face, you better tell me why you're here."

"I see my presence rubs salt in old wounds," he blew this yellowish, orange mist from his mouth into the air that was all too familiar.

"You used that mist on me when you... I still don't understand how you did it." Back then, I didn't believe my memory when I remembered him blowing that mist into my face. But now that I had the Bite, I thought anything was possible.

"It was a few days after we started dating, I woke up in this lab. Saw some scientists standing over me. They gave this mist that can...persuade people."

"I will never forget what happened."

"It wasn't my fault. It was yours. It was your doing, you can't go around blaming me just so that you can feel better about yourself. It's not right, Laina."

I knew he was taunting me, making me angry, trying to break down what I had built over the weeks. His brown hair blew against the wind, a few strands fell over his gleaming eyes. "Did you come here to make my life miserable? To break my heart again?"

"Think what you want to think, Laina. But I have my own reasons."

"Did the Executors send you?"

"You're smart, as usual. I'm not surprised that you figured it out."

He turned around and a pure, black, shiny obsidian knife fell out of his sweater. "Oops." The smile on his face told me he didn't drop it by accident. "Next time I drop it, it'll be in your heart, Laina. You better watch out. I didn't come all the way here just to talk to you, I plan on getting my knife a bit bloody."

He blew a kiss and walked away, not glancing back. Once he was out of sight, I ran behind the nearest building and burst into tears, letting all the pain fall out as small, shiny droplets from my eyes. I buried my face into my arms, wanting to hide from everything, trying to ignore the guilt eating me away like acid. I knew it was something I wouldn't be able to escape and that even if I had managed to escape it, it would come and chase me until I grew tired and gave up.

There are some people that have said that the past is in the past, that it doesn't matter anymore, but they forgot that the past shaped your present and that your past could haunt you for a long time.

Maybe even forever.