Love, Drugs, and High School

Chapter Twenty-One Part 1

Eyes like daggers pierced my skin. Nothing better than a friendly welcome home. The distasteful expression and pity-filled eyes watch my very move, as if I'm going to kill someone else. Everything is my fault, apparently. Nobody cares that I wasn't the one who made him check his phone. He was the one who made the irresponsible decision. Yet it was as if I had the bubonic plague; no one wanted to be within a ten foot radius of me.   

"Welcome back, Annabelle. Good to see your face around these halls again." It was the middle of the school year, but it had felt like forever ago since I'd been here. Teachers I didn't even know stared cautiously at me. What kind of gossip goes around when you leave for a few months?  

As I went to take my seat, the faces of people that I could once call friends were my friends no more. Apparently I had long missed the welcome wagon.  

It was hard to spend a full 7 hours in this place I once called home. The world would have been ending if I would have been sitting by myself at lunch, but I felt better sitting alone than with a bunch of fakes. They were as fake as plastic surgery.  

The spot where Emmett had once sat was now replaced with another pretty face that all my "friends" fawned over. It was as though they had replaced Emmett, completely unfazed by his absence.   

The rest of the day was typical. High school sucks unless you mean something to people or if you have friends surrounding you. If not, you are left out of the gossip loop and you just feel that general unimportance.  

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"How was school?" my mother's voice chirped as I walked through the door. "Are you glad to be back in with your friends?"  

"What friends?" I hadn't meant for the comment to come out so harshly. The warm smile on her face meant no harm--she was just happy to have me back.  

The arms that embraced me as a child held me tightly. "Talk to me," she murmured quietly.   

I was truthfully great to be home, but the arms that wrapped around me weren't from the right person. My mom wasn't the one that I needed a hug from. But Ryan was the one that I pushed away. Now I had to lay in the bed that I made. The bed that held unwelcoming faces and disgusted people.  

"They weren't really my friends, mom. They abandoned me when I needed them most. They replaced Emmett in every aspect and seem to be completely over him. Everyone looks at me like I'm some mass murdering serial killer. I wasn't the idiot that checked his phone while driving. I'm tired of blaming myself for foolish things that aren't my fault. I've owned up to my mistakes, but I'm not taking the fall for someone else's." My mother's eyes were wide and welled up with tears. For the first time in forever I was seeing everything clearly. "I've made a mistake." The words slipped from my loose lips.   

"Oh, Annabelle." My mother sighed sorrowfully. "I thought getting you away from your troubles would make life easier, yet it seems like it's just been a reality slap in the face, and an unwelcome one at that.   

I hadn't realized that you would make friends--I thought that you would have wanted to come home. I guess that I just didn't understand the cruelty that would be waiting for you when you got home. I don't know what to do, Annabelle. Do you want to go back to your uncle's or be homeschooled?" It was petrifying to see my mom so vulnerable, not knowing which way to turn.  

We both knew that I didn't have a choice. If I didn't go back to school, I would be admitting defeat to the judgmental teenagers.   I just hadn't realized how painful it would be to be back home.

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A/N

This is only the first part, because I decided to add Ryan's point of view so that you guys can see what he is transforming into. Give it like two weeks or a month or so and there will be the second part posted.

Sorry for not posting in a while, life has just been complicated and extremely busy. I really haven't had the motivation to write just because my school work has been so stressful and the perfectionist in me wants to make this really good so I hope that you guys like it! Annabelle really transforms in this chapter if you didn't notice lol.

Alright I've ranted enough. Thank you all for reading and staying dedicated even though I'm terrible with updating!

~lstornelli27