A Long Time Coming

Chapter Forty One

LIV'S POV

(three months later) I woke up for my first day of senior year as dead as ever. Summer was a total bust once we got back home from California and I haven't talked to Justin since our last night together. My parents stuck to house arrest like they would have been arrested themselves if they didn't. I haven't seen a screen of any sort for two and a half months: no phone, no computer, no tv, and no ipod. I haven't talked to or seen any of my friends and I literally haven't left the house.

I woke up and decided against trying to look decent. Because I believe in hygeine, I did shower, but that was about it. I slipped on some jeans and put Justin's sweatshirt on. I've been sleeping with it every night, and it only faintly still smells of him. 

Now, normally I would just drive myself to school, but I'm stuck riding the bus. I've hardly talked to anyone in my house if it wasn't necessary so I left without goodbyes.

I got to school and was swarmed by my friends, but I slightly different crowd. "Liv..." Carly summoned me over toward her and spoke in a hushed tone. "How are you doing?"

"About as good as I can be, I suppose. You?" 

"I just wanted to tell you before you hear it from anyone else that Chai and I are kinda dating."

"What do you mean by kinda? You either are or you aren't"

"Okay, we are. And he's doing a lot better from his surgery and stuff, I know you didn't ever follow up on that."

"Yeah, cool." Annoyed already, I walked away and didn't pay attention to Carly's calling.

Harper was quieter than usual but I appreciated it, and Alex was just being bubbly and trying to catch up but I kind of shut her out. 

Surprisingly, Greyson approached me and I nearly snapped before he spoke a word but refrained and let him talk. "Life must suck, huh."

Something like that typically wouldn't go over well with me, but I could hear his sympathy. "Yeah, pretty much."

As I ghostly went about my day, I noticed looks and I was being treated differently by students and teachers. I couldn't even count the number of freshmen that tried to talk to me about Justin. 

By lunch I just needed out, but I couldn't leave. "Hey, Harper? Could I use your phone and check Justin's twitter? It's been months."

She smiled sympathetically and passed it over. "He's been pretty silent lately and has basically stayed out of the news."

I felt a pang in my stomach. He's only tweeted thirty times since we last saw each other. Most were about me and the rest were about beliebers and his apologizing. 

"Did I ruin his life? I feel like this is all my fault." I started to tear up, but managed to keep them from falling. 

"No, sweetie. It's just the way it is. Things will get better." I looked around and my friends were all just picking at their food. 

"I'm sorry." I got up and dumped my tray and wandered through the halls. I skipped my next class but stayed in school.

My school year continued like this with my skipping class here and there, drawing back from what small social life I had, occasionally checking up on Justin, and staying fairly silent. I kept up with my school work and maintained As and my parents slowly gave me privilages back. 

(Christmas time)

I can now read for pleasure, have limited TV time, and car privilages limited to the job I got. I still haven't said much to my parents, but now that it's nearly Christmas, I feel like that will be forced to change.