The Boys Next Door

Drowning

I decided to walk home to let off steam instead of the bus. It's probably for the best that Thomas broke up with her. I got home to the whole gang sitting on the couches except Thomas. "Hey how did the audition go?" asked Kaya as I closed the door behind me. I turned to face them and they saw my lip. "What happened?" Emma ran over and grabbed my face. "I got into a fight," I said looking away. I didn't want to bring up Isabella. "A girl at the auditions said I was a whore who is with Thomas to use his money and that I have sex with him so he falls in love with me so that I can I become famous". Tears were welling in my eyes.

Kaya got off the sofa and came over to hug me along with Emma. "come sit down baby girl, we can wait till Thomas gets home" Dylan said. I sat next to him and he held me close. I started to cry into his T-shirt. Dylan looked at Emma to go get some tissues for the tears and blood that was still dripping from my lip. Ki-hong looked at me. "Why would that girl say such mean things to you? I still don't understand. Why would a stranger care that much?" I knew if I told them who did it then they would tell Thomas. If I didn't, they would keep asking otherwise. "because the person who did this wasn't a stranger. It was Isabella." I felt as if a huge weight had been taken off my shoulders.

"Isabella did this? What the hell is wrong with that girl she needs to move on," muttered Will. "What do you mean move on?"I sniffled. I was confused. Why wouldn't she move on? Ava told me SHE CHEATED on Thomas. "After Thomas broke up with Isabella, she has been texting him about taking her back and being sorry for what happened." Ki Hong said. "Thomas was too upset with her and ignored all her texts. He moved on. But she didn't," added Dylan. "She started to become obsessed with him and wouldn't leave him alone. It got to the point that Thomas almost filed a restraining order on her," said Will. "And did he?" Emma asked. "No, he loved her too much. He threatened he would. He went to her house and told her this and we haven't heard from her since. Until today." Kaya commented. This was all new information to me. That was why she was so annoyed. Thomas had moved on from her and now was with me.

Emma was wiping away the blood when Thomas walked in through the front door. "Am I opening the champagne tonight then?" he shouted from the corridor. He walked in and saw the bloody tissues Emma was pressing on my lip. "What happened?" he exclaimed. Emma moved the tissues to reveal my lip. It was pretty bruised. Thomas held me close. "Who did this to her? Tell me now!" he shouted. The group exchanged glances and nodded. Will stood up and said,

"It was Isabella".

Thomas ran out the door and got in his car and drove. I knew where he was going. He was going to Isabella's. Thomas pulled up outside her apartment block. He still had the key. He went upstairs. He banged the door. Isabella opened the door. "Thomas." She smiled at him. "Come in please".

Will, Dylan and I got in his jeep and followed him. We pulled up to the apartment. The door was open. We started to make our way upstairs. We could hear shouting.

"I don't have bloody time to come in. What the fuck Isabella? I trusted you. I warned you to stop this madness. God dammit Isabella!" He smashed his hands on the wall. "I still had a small sliver of hope that you were still the Isabella I fell in love with, but this...this is too far." "I've no clue what you're talking about," she said innocently. "You know what you did, how could you. Coming after me is one thing but attacking Emily at the auditions today was too far." He eyes were welling up. "Thomas you love me not her, I did it for you", she leapt forward and kissed him. He tried to push away. She grabbed his arms, pushing her lips against his.

I got to the top of the stairs. I saw him. I saw them. I felt a weight in my stomach. I felt as if I was going to be sick. My body was filing with a sinking feeling. I felt like I was slowly sinking to the bottom of the ocean. I stumbled downstairs bumping into Dylan on the way there. Tears were streaming down my face. "What happened? Tell me what happened", he hugged me. I couldn't speak, I was choking on the air. I was having a panic attack, the world seemed to go into slow motion. Dylan took me to the jeep. Will ran upstairs and saw Thomas.

Will pushed Isabella away. "Thomas! What the hell man?!", shouted Will as he ran after me and Dylan. Thomas shouted at Isabella, "Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable." Isabella smiled. Thomas ran down the stairs. He saw me getting into the car with Dylan and Will. "Thomas, you've got to explain what happened to her", Will said out the window as we drove off. I looked back to see Thomas. He was crying.

As we drove the images were playing on repeat in my mind. I closed my eyes and tried to block them out. We got home and I ran inside my house. I collapsed on my bed. I was drowning, I wanted the floor to open and swallow me up. I couldn't breathe. I was gasping for my final breaths and the feeling engulfed me. "Snap out of it", shouted a voice. Suddenly, I was shaking. It was Will. "You need to breathe you're having a panic attack, BREATHE!", he shouted. The world was crumbling around me. I was choking. Dylan watched from the doorway tears in his eyes.