Shot in the Dark

The necklace

We all have our own Christmas traditions, ones that make the day special in different ways for different families. I always wake up at 6am, drink hot chocolate and sit in front of the Christmas tree, waiting for the family to wake up a few hours later. Today was no different except today I wasn't alone for very long as James ended up sitting crossed legged next to me.

We sat in silence for a while til a small present box was placed on my lap. Looking up at James I noticed this is the first time I had really looked at his face, and he seemed like he hadn't slept in ages from the bags under his eyes. 

"Don't think anything of it" he muttered as he walked away. I was left alone to open his present, thinking this was going to be some kind of sick joke I carefully unwrapped the present and was left with a small box. Cautiously opening the box I saw a small gold necklace with the word 'princess' on it.

Confused would be an understatement, I was unsure if this was another way of him reminding me of the reasons why my nickname was princess or if it was just a genuine meaningful present. Either way I was brought up to be grateful and I managed to convince myself that this was just a present nothing more. The gold was cold on my neck, but I admired how it looked, I secretly liked it but I'd rather die before admitting that to him. 

It had been the best day that I've had in a long while, most of my family and Will's came for Christmas dinner. I now knew why Mum had such a large dining room because there was a lot of us. We had all been showered with gifts, probably too many. I had managed to say thank you for my necklace to James and he had seemed to like the leather bracelet that I had gotten him. Even Alec was impressed with the speaker I got him. It had been a day to remember, I always said Christmas brought out the best in people. 

Christmas break ended before I knew it and it was back to school. I had actually spent a fair bit of time with Alec which I hadn't done in a long time, just before he left to go back to University. He always seemed too busy for anyone, but I guess that's just Alec. James had been awfully quiet at the moment and it was making me nervous. 

I had a right to be.

The first day back from break started with Susan storming through the canteen towards me and I knew this was trouble. "You know I was there for you through all this and this is how you treat me?" She yelled in my face whilst shoving her phone into my hands. Looking at the phone in disbelief, there were texts off my phone to her boyfriend, and let me tell you they didn't make me look good at all.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I sobbed "Susan I promise this wasn't me". She cackled before snapping "Don't even bother blaming James, this one is all on you. Now I want you to stay out of mine and my boyfriend's life, I don't want sluts like you ruining my relationship."

I broke. Tears streaming down my face, I ran out of the canteen then through the front doors of the school. I couldn't be here, I couldn't stand spending the rest of the day having the glares on my back and the whispers that cut deep. 

Luckily with Mum and Will being in work constantly I didn't have to worry about them finding out I had skipped school. As soon as I made it to my room I lost it, sobbing violently as I crashed my body on top of by bed. My door creeped open to reveal the person I never wanted to see again. 

"Get out! Congratulations you've officially ruined my life, now leave. You've got what you wanted." The tears weren't stopping anytime soon and I'm sure my eyes were bloodshot and puffy but that was the least of my worries right now.

"Ahh, so you bumped into Susan. She was a good friend, shame you had to go to ruin it, isn't it?"

I couldn't take it any longer I sat up, "What did I ever do to you to deserve this James? Because I don't understand how you get so much pleasure from hurting me this much." 

His smirk faltered, he stared into my eyes, probably assessing how much of a state I was in. It had been too long that I knew he wasn't going to answer me, so I sighed before whispering "Get out".