Here For You - Part 16
Later That Night:
Bella has been acting a bit strange for the past two hours. She's been afraid to get close to a window, and she's kept the blinds and curtains down. "Bella, are you okay? What can I do?" I say really concerned. Before she could say a word, there's a knock on the door. Bella gasps, and runs to a corner. She sits in the corner, and starts covering her face with her hands. I look at her very worried. The knocking on the door continues. I look at Bella, then I look back at the door. "Ruben, you there? I'm here." I forgot, I invited one of Bella's friends over. I answered the door, and I let Maria in. "Hey Ruben, thank goodness you're here. I just saw a crazy man out front, who kept staring at me." "What? Where?" "Two houses down." "Oh my god." I say while running out the door. "Wait! What's going on? Where's Bella?" "She's in the corner, I have to go see who this guy is." "Wait!" She says, sounding nervous. But I couldn't wait. I ran two houses down, and saw a car. I walked past the car casually, and it was just some random guy, waiting for someone to come out of the house he's parked in front of. But why would he stare at Maria? I went back to my house, and checked on the girls. They weren't in the living room, and at that point, I got a little paranoid. I walked into the hallway, and my room door was closed, I didn't hear any noises, so stormed in. Bella jumped up and whimpered, and Maria gasped. Bella was laying down before I stormed in, and Maria was trying to calm her down, but I think I made it worse. Bella started to cry, and Maria took her in her arms. "Bella, I'm so sorry, no, please don't cry." I walked up to Bella and Maria, Maria started rubbing and patting her back, trying to get Bella to relax. I lean down and try to hug Bella, she lets go of Maria, and holds on to me. Little by little, she's starting to relax and stop crying. "It's not your fault Ruben, it's his." "Who?" Maria asks. "Emmanuel." Bella says while putting her hair behind her ear. I wipe her tears, and hand her a tissue. "Thank you." She says, taking the tissue. "Bella, what happened?" Maria says, raising her voice. "Maria, calm down okay? She needs to take her time. She's had a traumatic experience, let her be." "Alright, you're right, I'm sorry Bella." She says calming down. "It's okay Maria." Bella says. "Bella, please, tell me what happened." I said. She stares at me and Maria, then she looks down. "Well, he sent me a text message, I really don't want to show you guys right now...but, he sent me a message, and it freaked me out." "Can you tell me what it says?" I asked. "Please, I don't wanna look at it again. Please don't make me." Her eyes start tearing up as she begs. "It's okay, it's okay...I'm not gonna make you do it, it's okay." I say while rocking her back and forth in my arms. "Thank you." She says relieved. We're all silent for a while. Maria looks at us, and smiles. I look at her, and smile back. "I'm gonna go to the living room, I'll leave you guys alone." Maria says while getting off the bed. Bella and I, watch her leave the room. Bella looks up at me, and I look back at her. She looks so relaxed in my arms. I keep rocking back and forth with her, and I see she's getting sleepy. "I love you so much Ruben." "I love you too Bella." I lean down and kiss her cheek, and she kisses mine. We're still silent, and 10 minutes go by. I look at Bella, and she's sound asleep. I lie her down on the bed, and cover her up with the blankets. I watch her sleep for a few more minutes, then I quietly get off the bed, I grab her phone, turn off the lights, and slowly close the door. I feel bad for taking her phone, but then again, I'm doing this, so I can protect her. I walked into the living room, and Maria was sitting on the couch with a cup in her hand. "Hey, how is she?" "She's fine, she asleep." I say looking down. "That's good. I can't believe she's like this, I've known Bella since 7th grade, I never thought she'd be like this." I look at Maria. "You met her in 7th grade?" I ask. "Yeah, we were so close with each other." She says while in deep thought. "Me and Bella met in 7th grade. When in 7th grade did you meet her?" She looked at me. Right when we started, we didn't actually officially meet till, a few days later. What about you guys?" "We met a month later, after the school started." "Wow, what happened? Like, how'd you guys meet?" "Well, she was sitting by herself one day, it was lunch time. I've actually been watching her for some time because, I really liked her. So, she was by herself, and I decided to approach her. I asked her if I could sit with her, at first she was unsure, but then she said yes. So, I sat across from her, and she had a notebook out that she was drawing in. I was looking at what she was drawing, and I complimented her on it. I think she got a bit nervous, because she put it away. She said thank you, then she asked if she was being rude, because she wasn't saying anything to me. I told her she was fine, then she said thank you. Right there, I thought she was a really sweet, and kind person. She was, until a group of boys came by, then they called her some stupid crap. She always handled herself, and then they started taking shots at me, and she defended me on everything. Then they called her a bitch, and at that moment I got up, and got their faces. I told them something and they just stormed off. Bella was pretty amazed right there. She thanked me for defending her, and I thanked her back for doing the same. Since then, we became friends, we spent a lot of time together, then we considered each other best friends. So that's me. What about you?" I asked. "Well, like I said, we officially met a few days later after school started. We had a few classes together, and they were really the best times I've ever spent with her. She truly was an amazing person. I just don't know what happened when she got with this guy." She says while staring inside her cup. "By the way, I made some hot chocolate, it's on the stove, I hope you don't mind." "Oh, no that's fine." I say. "So, what are you doing with Bella's phone?" She asks. "I wanna see what he sent her, she wouldn't just act like this for no reason, unless he scared her in some way." I sat next to Maria, and she moves a little closer to also see Bella's phone. I look at her phone, and I go through her messages. I stop to read what he sent her, and honestly, I cannot believe what he wrote to her.
