It's All Fake

35.

The garden has always been my favorite place. Because you see, every time I came here, it always felt like that Hercules (Disney version) movie, where Meg and Hercules almost kissed, after a long day of just hanging out together, but was stopped by Phil and Pegasus.

It was almost the exact same thing and I, personally, love Greek mythology (But we all know how the real story of Hercules ended.). This place was like heaven to me. It was my spot. No one, not even Jack, came here. This was a boring place to most teenagers, next to the library. It was the perfect place to think.

How Julian knew about this, I will never know.

When I got there, Julian was sitting by the fountain, staring into space. He looked up when he heard me coming closer. He smiled when he saw me.

"Hey." He said.

I smiled back. "Hi."

He patted the seat next to him. I sat down and we were silent for a little while. None of us knew what to say, not that we wanted to say anything. We were comfortable with the silence, both of us lost in our own little thoughts. The place was so silent we didn't want to break it.

"Thank you, by the way." I said, softly.

"For what?" He asked, feigning innocence. Though I knew he knew exactly what I was talking about.

I looked at him. "Don't do that to me right now. I know what you did to Jack. That thing, that giant watermelon on his face, doesn't suddenly appear by itself to make him look badass. So... thank you." I said. "I know I should probably scold you for hitting him but, whatever. The gesture was appreciated."

He turned to me and gave me a genuine smile. "That's no problem. Anything for you, princess." He said.

I smirked at the nickname. "You really need to start thinking about a new nickname for me." I said.

He pretended to think about it. "Nah... I'm sticking with princess." He said.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Whatever." I answered. Though, I was smiling.

We were silent once again before I decided to ask him something.

"How did you find this place? No one really comes here except me... kind of like my thinking place." I said.

He glanced at me. "Uh... I don't know. I left school for... something," I raised an eyebrow at him. "I didn't know where to go. I was lost, until I stumbled upon this place. I saw your name by the fountain. How'd you do that by the way?" He said, turning to finally, really look at me, his sea green eyes boring into my brown ones for the first time since I came here.

I was suddenly speechless. "Uh... I... I was just... just..."

"Just...?" He encouraged.

"Just..." I looked away and exhaled. "Just with something sharp. Really, anything can dig into that thing." I said.

"How'd you come across this place?" He asked.

"I was... running away, needed a place to think. And, as if the universe was finally listening to me, I was led here." I answered. "Since that day, I've been coming here ever since and I haven't stopped." I added with a shrug.

Of course I didn't mention to him that that was the very day I was bullied and was called names because of the rumor he spread about me.

It was horrid.

I cried and cried until I finally stopped. That's when I noticed how amazing the place was. I wrote my name on the fountain to finally call it as my own. Not even Amanda knew about this. No one does.

No one but Julian.