Losing Eight Lives

5 | Shattered

For the next few weeks, not much happened. Amanda and Carter continued to adore each other, as well as Jace and I. The stress of homework and other drama in school distracted Amanda from what the bullies were saying. And I thought she stopped receiving nasty messages. Things seemed pretty good for a while, and I thought that maybe we could just continue to deal with things that weren't so serious. Like relationships and becoming confused in Math class.

But I slowly started to talk to Amanda less and less. Sometimes we went days without talking to each other. It wasn't because we were become any less of friends--she would just hang out with other groups of friends and so would I. I just thought that meant she didn't need me as much. That she was finally happy again.

Maybe she even stopped cutting.

But then came a Monday were this peace ended. And everything just started to get worse.

I sat in Math, staring off into space as the teacher graded quizzes. She allowed us to talk but I didn't see a need to. I didn't particularly like anyone in my class. But the conversations that other social groups were having seemed interesting.

Someone chatted about the weekend with their friend, others talked about the dance, some talked about sports or TV shows or their own drama that was occurring with friends.

I looked around the class, and noticed just about everyone was engaged in conversation. The only other person I saw who was keeping to himself, was a kid I recognized as Sean. Sean was known as a creep. His arms and face were marked with nasty scars and scabs, he never talked, and acted as though he had never spoken to another human being in his life. Even when he was young, I recalled him as awkward and unfriendly. People have tried to give him a chance, but he just shut them out.

I took a deep breath, and thought that maybe I would go talk to him. Maybe I would see if he was the creep people knew him by, or if he was just shy. Maybe I would get some type of clue about what the scars were from.

Anything to get my mind off of Amanda.

My legs were ready to stand, when something stopped me. It was like my legs suddenly wouldn't function, and a voice deep inside me told me to stay right where I was.

For some odd reason, I listened to it. I let out a quiet sigh and relaxed back in my seat. There would be other opportunities.

". . . he told me in English today that he's been planning this for a while now."

A conversation between two girls behind me caught my attention. I recognized them as Amanda's other social group of friends, and strained my eyes to listen, trying to act casual.

"Oh my gosh . . ."

"He's such a jerk about it too. He told me that he had zero feelings for her for about a week now."

The other girl sighed, "She's gonna be devastated."

"They were so perfect for each other. I can't believe he plans on doing it at lunch. He gave me like no warning at all. How are we supposed to tell her?"

I internally rolled my eyes, and wondered why this conversation stood out to me. It was just normal drama that I tried to stay away from.

"Ugh, poor Amanda . . ."

My eyes widened and my heart immediately raced. Well that's why it stood out. I whipped my head around to look at the girls who were having the conversation. They didn't seem to notice though.

"I'm worried . . ."

"About what?" I interrupted.

"Oh, nothing," the girl responded and gave me a strange look.