Him & Her

Ch.23

Ch23

At 6:00 in the morning the next day, Elizabeth's alarm rang. She groaned; today school started again. She reached out blindly and turned off the alarm. She wanted so badly to stay laying under her warm covers in her warm bed, but she forced herself up into the cold air and into her bathroom to get ready.

After a while, Elizabeth kissed her parents goodbye and walked out the door. Backpack on her back, phone in her pocket, hair tied up, bangs pushed to the side, she zipped up her jacket and walked down the deserted sidewalks, through the chilly morning air.

When she walked past Cole's house, she peered into the windows, but it was dark inside. She continued walking to school, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

A few days ago, Elizabeth would've been worried about Cole's reaction when his friends found out that they were together, but now she was sure that he would support her no matter what.

•••

When Elizabeth walked through the school doors she made her way to Henry, who was at his locker.

"Hi, Elizabeth." Henry smiled, "I haven't seen you since last year!" he began cracking up, his laughs echoing through the hallways.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, but smiled, "Wow, that never gets old." she said sarcastically.

Henry smiled, "Oh please, it was a good one."

"Whatever you say." Elizabeth leaned against a locker, "Where's Brandon?"

"I dunno, haven't seen him since the party." Henry replied slamming his locker shut.

Then, as if summoned by his name, Brandon walked down the hallway towards them. When he got close enough, Elizabeth waved at him, but he just looked down at the white tile floors and kept walking past them.

Before he got too far, Elizabeth reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him. Brandon looked back, brown eyes full of pain and Elizabeth couldn't help but remember the Brandon on her dream.

"Hi." was all she could say.

Brandon looked at Elizabeth's hand on his arm. "Elizabeth, I don't know if I can go on like this." he said.

"Like what?" Elizabeth asked, even though she knew the truth.

Then Brandon looked directly into her eyes and Elizabeth couldn't hold his gaze.

"You know why. I told you, but you obviously love Cole and I guess he loves you back." Brandon's voice was wobbly. At that moment, Dixon, Cole, and their little group of friends walked by. Dixon paused and listened to what Brandon was saying.

Brandon continued, "I don't even know why you like him. He has done nothing good to you. And I..." he took in a shaky breath, "I risked everything for you. And I still would. But I can't just stand there like a dumb doll in the background and watch you kiss him. In front of me!" Dixon's eyes widened, Cole tensed up, and Brandon started to yell as a small crowd started to form around them,"After I had just confessed that I liked you, you kissed him in front of me! Did you hear my heart crack open? Did you notice that the blood stopped moving in my veins? Did you watch as my eyes filled with tears? Did you know that I couldn't breath? No! No, you didn't care. Who cares about baby boy Lloyd? To hell with Brandon! All I could see was you kissing him. Him! The so-called boy you said you hated. And I, your friend, was stupid enough to believe all your little lies." Brandon paused.

Elizabeth couldn't believe he was saying all of that, all she wanted to do was apologize, she had never lied to him. She was so so sorry. She did care about Brandon, just not in the way he cared about her.

Brandon finished, "Elizabeth, no one in my whole entire life has ever hurt me as much as you have. I'm sorry, but I can't take it anymore." he then walked away, pushing past people and away from Elizabeth, leaving her to stand shocked and guilty against the lockers.

Before Elizabeth could even gather her wits, Dixon spoke up, "Ha! That was quite a show." he turned towards Cole, "Did you really kiss her? Did you kiss that ugly loser?"

Cole looked from Dixon to Elizabeth, thinking.

Thinking.

Elizabeth snapped at him, "Do you really have to think about your stupid answer?"

Cole winced, panic in his eyes. Then the deadly truth came upon Elizabeth. She knew what he would say. Her heart fell into a dark, bottomless abyss.

Cole looked at Dixon. He smirked and said, "She was stupid enough to believe that I actually liked her." Dixon laughed and gave him a high-five.

Then Elizabeth cracked.

"What?!!" she screamed. She ran straight into Cole, pushing him into the lockers and yelled, "Did you forget about the night of the party? How about yesterday, Cole?!" she looked into his stupid surprised beautiful eyes and she knew how Brandon must feel.

"I thought you loved me." she whispered to him and his eyes filled with sadness, "I thought I could trust you. I thought you never wanted to lose me!" she suddenly slapped Cole across the face.

Then she stumbled away from him, staring at her hand in shock as he touched a hand to his red cheek, surprised. Suddenly, all her anger melted into misery and she ran as far away from Cole as she possibly could.

Tears blurred her vision as she bursted out of the school doors. How could he do this to her? After all they had been through? But the worst part was that she still loved him like crazy, and maybe that's the reason why she was so upset. The pain she felt was almost fake; nothing could've possibly hurt that much.

Cole had done the one thing to Elizabeth she prayed he would never do. He stole her heart, then sold it for a stupid prize. Just to stay popular. How could he do that? Her heart was worth way more than popularity, at least that's what Elizabeth thought Cole's heart was. She didn't know if she could ever forgive him.

But the truth was that she didn't know if she could ever let him go; if she could ever stop loving him, even after all he had done to her.