Going the Distance ✔️

Chapter forty three.

Louisa's POV

From the moment Olivia cleared her throat to announce her arrival to the time when Liam asked what she was doing here, I knew that he felt screwed.

I said nothing, still holding my English textbook for the class we had next and I knew the bell would ring at any moment. Liam stood beside me, looking shocked and just plain confused. I had the same questions about Olivia's appearance. Why was she here if she didn't go to this school? I studied her and she was nothing how I thought she would be. She looked like a normal girl, but when you take a closer look, it looked like she wanted to burn Liam.

My mind wandered to the Halloween party. Apparently, she showed up, but I never got a glimpse of her. Now that I was actually seeing her in person, I wanted to yell profanities at her for all that she had done to Liam and Xanthe. I knew that Liam broke her heart, but he was young and confused and he didn't know what he wanted. He made a mistake, yes. But there was no need for her to spread rumors about Liam and Xanthe for revenge.

"I should be asking you the same question." She said coldly, having no emotion whatsoever. I wanted to leave this conversation and ditch Liam to go into our English class. But I wouldn't do that to him and as his friend, I would stick by him and help him through it.

Liam's arms were still crossed across his chest angrily. "I go to school here." He said and I could tell that the memories of his past were haunting him and I hated to see him relive it all.

Olivia's eyes widened and then they turned into an angry frown. "That can't be true," she said, "I'm transferring here. You were supposed to be at another school, not this one."

I nearly let out a loud gasp, but I held in my shock and let Liam do the talking. "What? Why are you transferring here? Your parents work on the other side of town, quite close to our old school actually." Liam asked, acting the exact same way Olivia was.

I didn't blame him; he had every right to be just as angry.

"My dad got a new job in this area." She said, darting her eyes from Liam to me. "Who's this?"

Liam said nothing at first, until I decided to answer the question for him. "I'm Louisa," I said, "I'm their exchange student." I knew Liam didn't want me to say anything, but I couldn't be rude to her. Even though I wanted to rip her hair out of her scalp, I still wanted to be polite.

Olivia chuckled. "That's new. Has he made you want to leave yet?"

"You can't be here," Liam said quickly before I could defend him, "you need to leave."

Olivia didn't seem phased by what Liam said. Instead, she gave a wicked smile that had my spine tingling. "Isn't this going to be fun?" I still felt like she wanted revenge for what Liam did and it looked like she still held in a lot of anger from the past, which she clearly needed to let go.

The bell rung, interrupting our conversation. Just as Liam was about to storm off, Xanthe came rushing in the opposite direction. She came up to Liam, not noticing who was standing in front of us. "Liam, I need my pen back. I have a test next and I would really appreciate you getting your own stationery."

Liam looked at his sister and then back at Olivia, who was smirking. "Nothing has changed." Olivia spoke, making Xanthe spin around in disbelief.

"O-Olivia," Xanthe stuttered, "w-what are you doing here?" I could tell that this situation got even worse.

People started piling into class and rushing off before the second bell rung as the four of us stood still, not being able to move. I really wanted to leave and head into English, but I was frozen and looking from Xanthe to Liam to Olivia, who was enjoying this way too much.