Revenge comes in a lot of forms, but for Melanie, her idea of revenge was pushing through her final year of high school with a mental checklist to get her life back on track.
1) Hours of therapy? Check.
2) Getting back to her hobby of defeating thei...
If I could sing I'd sing you a song, with all the words I should have said, and I'd write it on the backs of envelopes, of all your letters I still haven't read, if could sing I'd sing you the story, of how my eyes went to you in a crowd, and I'd end it with an apology, I was too scared to say out loud, but I know that I'm not good at singing, because it was the one thing on which we agreed, so now all the words that you wanted to hear, are written down in a poem you won't read.
~Erin Hanson~
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I stood still as the group that was previously hugging dispersed and ran towards the newcomer, chattering excitedly.
"Roan!"
"Dude, what the hell are you doing here?"
"Wait, are you coming back forever?"
But I blocked out all of that and just... stared at him-- the arrogant lilt of his lips as it pulled up into a smirk, the clear-cut arches, plains and curves of his face... sure, he used to be good-looking, but it seemed like puberty did him a little too well.
I don't know for how long I stood there, glued to one spot like an idiot, but when Ruben came next to me, looking at Roan with a frown on his face, I suddenly realised I was on the floor. Again.
I groaned. I must've fallen down when they all rushed past me.
Despite him talking to everyone else, I could feel his eyes on me-- carefully surveying my every movement, and I tried my best to ignore him. Instead, I took Ruben's hands.
"This is Roan?" Ruben asked and helped me up, still frowning at him out of the corner of his eyes.
I made some kind of noise from the back of my throat in agreement. Ruben came to the school almost an entire year after Roan had left. He'd only heard vague stories of everyone's favourite troublemaker.
Breathe, I told myself. This is Roan. The most annoying person on the planet. Get over yourself.
I felt guilt gnawing at my stomach when a thought occurred to me. I looked at Ruben's side profile and thought that I wasn't being better than him by doing this, and that if I do, it would be horrible to break up with him because of the person he was.
