The Last Year

Being Thankful

For the last several weeks I have successfully avoided Kate Wes and most of all Jeremiah. I could always feel their eyes on me but I never paid them any attention. Instead I focused on my friends. We all hung out more and we all laughed more. It was the last day of school before Thanksgiving break and I was so ready for a break. This year Thanksgiving would be at our house so that meant the whole family was coming. My whole family was crazy and wild but that's why I loved them. I was walking down the hallway when Wes approached me with some of his friends. "Hello Mia." He said with a smile. "Hello Wesley." I said looking straight into his eyes. "I think I owe you a favor." He said reaching into his pocket. I looked around and I was completely surrounded by the jerk heads he hung out with but I couldn't help obut notice Jeremiah wasn't among them. "You don't owe me anything Wesley. Now if you'll excuse me I have to get to class." I said once again trying to push past him but again he stopped me. He came close to my ear and whispered. "This is just the beginning of Hell." I looked around the hallway no one else was around. I was confused. He smiled and then yelled "Now boys!!" Suddenly eggs were being thrown at me. They weren't hard eggs. They were rotten. I was covered in rotten egg from head to toe. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe. All I could focus on was breathing. That's when I heard someone say "Wes what are you doing?" I looked up to his Jeremiah standing in front of me blocking Wesley's view of me. "I'm returning a favor. Now move aside." Wesley stepped forward but Jeremiah moved in front of him once again. Was he protecting me? "Stop this Wesley." He said. Wesley laughed and said "Fine but this is just the beginning. I would watch your backs now. Both of you are in Hell now." All of them walked off and Jeremiah grabbed my hand and pulled me into the girls restroom. "Do you have clean clothes in your locker?" He asks me. I nod my head. He pulled out I pencil and a small note pad from his pocket. "Write down the locker number and the combination and I'll go get the clothes and anything else in there you might need." He said. I was shocked by all of this. He was helping me. I wrote everything down and gave the note pad back to him. He ran out of the restroom towards my locker. I then put my head under the sink and tried to wash all the egg out of my hair. I then grabbed a hair tie off of my wrist and put my hair up. Jeremiah came back with clothes and perfume. "Go change in the stall." He said. I took the clothes and went to change. I then basically dumped the perfume bottle all over me in attempt to cover the awful smell. When I came out of the stall Jeremiah said "There does that feel better now?" I nodded and sat on the sink. I just needed to think for one minute. Jeremiah came up and grabbed my hand and said "We need to talk." I looked at him. I hadn't  said one word to him since Halloween. "What is there to say?" I say turning my face away from him. "Mia I would be lying if I said I regret what I did on Halloween. Is it bad I don't regret it? I basically cheated on someone who has given me their heart and soul." I could only look at him. I didn't know what to say. "Why do you do this to me?" I whisper staring off into the distance. My heart always let him in no matter how hard I tried to keep him out."Mia you have to help me. I don't know what I'm feeling right now." He says. I knew he meant what he was saying because his sea blue eyes were pleading for me to help him. "Jeremiah I can't help you. You're  with Kate. Kate loves you. You love Kate." He looks at me with a blank expression on his face. "But what if you're wrong Mia? What if I made a mistake by choosing Kate?" I look at him straight in the face. Kate wasn't going to get her heartbroken because of me. She's too sweet and kind. "Do you think I love you Jeremiah?" I say not meeting his eyes. "I think your feelings for me are strong." He says. He was right but I had to make this right. "Jeremiah I don't love you. I don't care for you. All feelings for you stopped immediately when I found out you were with Kate. You choose  Kate because you love her." I looked at Jeremiah and for the first time it looked like I had broken him. His silence was killing me. So I said "Here's what we'll do. We'll stay away from each other like we're strangers. You will go to Kate and figure out who you are and what you want. I can't help you. I appreciate all the help you've given me but for the well being of everyone I think it's best if we stay away from each other." My chest hurt. I didn't want this but I knew it had to be like this. Others happiness like Kate's happiness is more important than my own. "Mia how do you do it?" He says looking down. "How do I do what?" I ask. "How do you just turn off your feelings?" When he meets my eyes he looked  close to tears. What had I just done? "I don't turn off my feelings. They just go away." I was then close to tears myself. "Mia feelings just don't go away at the drop of a hat. Halloween night you leaned into the kiss you didn't push away immediately." I shrug. "So?" I question. "So I know somewhere down there you still care. Stop trying to hide the truth. I knew you broke up with Wesley because you still care for me and not him." Jeremiah was now unbelievable close. "Jeremiah you don't know anything about me or about what I've been through. I'm trying to do what's right here." I say wiping a tear away quickly. "Maybe us together  is right and staying away from each other is wrong." He said getting closer. "You can't hurt Kate." I say looking at his eyes. "Right now I don't care about Kate. I can only think of right here and right now in this bathroom with you." And just like that Jeremiah Parker kissed me in the girls bathroom. I didn't push away. In fact I kissed him back. I do love him more than words can describe. His words were sinking into me. Maybe he was right. Maybe the right thing is being together. I pulled away but I kept him close. He grabbed my hand and said "Tell me now that you still don't love me." I looked down. He had broken me. I couldn't just stay away from him anymore. Not when he's basically telling I might actually have a chance with him but I still wasn't going to have Kate being hurt because of my foolish actions."I'll make you a deal." I say looking him square in the eyes. "Okay." He says. "I'm not going to be your other woman. If you ever want to kiss me again or even touch me for that matter you have to brake up with Kate." He looked at me stunned. "I .... I need time to figure out if this is what I want." He said. "That's fine with me but the only way your going to be romantic with me is if you brake up with Kate. I'm not going to let you cheat on her with me." I say. "Agreed." He said. I hopped off the sink and we both started to walk towards the door when he said "So you still care?" He asks. I stop before the door and look at him. He had hope in his eyes. I sigh and say"If I'm going to be completely honest I never stopped caring." He then grabbed my hand and pulled me for a sweet kiss. "Hey!" I say pulling away. I couldn't help but smile at the surprise. "The deal officially starts when we leave this door." He says kissing my cheek. "I had to do it at least one more time." He says. I smile and head out the door to start walking to class. I hoped my excuse was going to be enough for the teacher to try and understand just a little bit.

Luckily right as a reached my sixth period the bell rang and I was free to go to the last period of the day without explaining that I had just been hit with a bunch of eggs and that's why I wasn't in class. I loved my seventh period. Writing class was my favorite. I felt like I could actually voice my thoughts and opinions in that class without being judged. I took my seat and just zoned out on what Miss Watson was saying. "Alright everyone as you all know tomorrow starts Thanksgiving break." She said. The class started clapping. "Settle down. Now I have an assignment for you over break." She said. All whole class booed except for me because I could really use the distraction of an assignment. "Settle down class. For this assignment it's all about being thankful. Now somedays it's truly hard to be thankful. Trust me we've all had those days. For your writing assignment I want you to write about a person you're thankful for. Someone who inspires you. Someone who has impacted your life for the better." I thought about this. Who would I do? "Now here's the catch. It can't be an adult. I would like it to be one of your peers. You don't have to mention their name but somedays we aren't very kind to each other. If we realize how much we all really need each other then maybe our school can be a good atmosphere. Start brainstorming and you can start your assignment in class but it's not due until the end of break. Get to work." Miss Watson smiled and took her seat at her desk. I didn't know who I was going to do. So I picked Jersey. I started writing on how much he was a good friend to me and how he was always there for all of us girls even when him and Kels weren't on best terms. Miss Watson walked around looking at our work when she came to me. "Mia?" She said. "Yes?" I said looking up at her. "I like the idea you have but it's very simple. It's very cliche. I can tell you just about everyone is doing something similar to this. Now Mia I have high expectations for you. You could be a great author one day. I'm not criticizing what you've done on this assignment Jersey is a very nice boy it's just not deep. It's not unique. Couldn't you pick someone else that you might have a deeper connection with?" She said. I though for a moment and smiled. "Yes I have the perfect idea." I said ripping up the words I had written down. "That's my girl." She said. This assignment was going to be my best assignment yet.