Under the Bridge

chapter twelve -"what crawled up her ass and died?"

WALKING THROUGH THE HALLWAY, I feel a cluster of emotions. I can't figure out which ones are which. The most notable, is anxiety, which has now erupted from the fact that Hope is gone, and I am officially alone. I'm used to meeting her at my locker, but now, I'm the Lone Rider, but less cool. The feeling hasn't swallowed me yet, but I'm worried it will soon. The second emotion, is excitement. James has expressed interest in me, and with newly granted little push from Alec, I think I'm going to give him a chance. 

Hot Olivia is gone. I've returned to my hoodie and sweatpants, and frankly, I think I look just as good, if not better, in this outfit. There's no more eyes on me today, except for maybe the occasional judgmental glare. 

As I enter English, my eyes meet Liam's for a second. He's the first one here, I'm the second. Things are still normal, I'm seated in my usual spot in the front. I look at him, and see the bruising on his jaw has gone down a little, but it's still dark. Bringing my eyes down, I see that there's still gauze around his knee. He sends me a soft smile before looking away, and I find myself completely, and utterly, confused. 

A few other people enter the room before James arrives. I shoot him a grin, and he replies with a small smile. His sister is by his side, and I notice her turning around and looking at Liam, narrowing her eyes into a glare. What crawled up her ass and died? 

"Hey." I tell James, meeting his eyes. 

He looks at me for a second before smiling. "Good morning." He replies. 

* * *

At lunch, I find myself sitting alone. I didn't know what to expect, Hope was absent for today and tomorrow. I plug in my headphones and clicked on my music, trying to forget about all the occasions I spent this time alone. My eyes flicker around the cafeteria. 

James is sitting with his sister and the soccer team. They're all smiling and laughing. I wonder if I should sit over there. If I do, they could, in theory, reject me and I'll cry for the rest of my life and die of dehydration. 

My gaze moves elsewhere. I see Hope's friends on the volleyball team. I've always wondered if she'd have more fun if she stuck with their group. They're always in hysterics from laughing so hard, and they're always together. 

Then, I look over at Liam's table. He's surrounded by all of his fellow detention-magnet comrades. To his left is a boy with a lip ring and long hair. There's a girl with dyed red hair and dark colored lipstick seated beside him on the right. I see her bring her lips to his and I realize they're not just friends. Who knew Liam had a girlfriend? I didn't. 

Feeling especially lonely, I grab my lunch and stand up, moving to go to the library. It's probably my only safe haven. 

"Olivia!" I hear my name come from a familiar low voice. I'm about ten feet away from his table, and I didn't even realize he noticed I was here. 

I turn around and see Liam, looking at me suspiciously. "Where are you going?" He asks. 

"The library." I say, meekly. 

"You're a fucking nerd." He laughs. "Sit with us." 

I raise my eyebrows and look at his friends, who don't seem to care either way. "Okay." I replied, not exactly sure how I got into this situation. 

I took a seat across from him, and I tucked a nervous strand of hair behind my ear. 

"You're the one who fixed up his face right?" The girl at his side asked, smiling a little at me. 

I nod. "I guess." I mutter.

"I'm Andrea." She introduced herself kindly, and I felt a little smile form on my lips. "The asshole on his phone is Miles." She pointed to the guy with the long hair, and he looked up and flashed a smile. "Normally Kendra and Sam are here too but they decided that they'd just ditch since there's only two days this week."