Misconceived

Chapter Five: "We Meet Again"

The heartbreak of Athena waking away from Derek stayed with him, deep in his mind and heart. It kept him up at night, all he could see was her smile. He needed to do something- he couldn't leave things the way it was. He needed to see her again, to correct his wrongs. She wouldn't answer his text or calls, he understood that.

The new term rolled in, Athena was hoping for a term with less drama, that meant she had to stay away from boys- but that was a small price to pay for happiness. Happiness wasn't what she got, the glares of other girls cut deep like a razor-sharp blade and their words left scars internally. All she could do was ignore the pain, ignore the hurt and push it down inside.

She would watch Derek as others said things to her, but he would just do nothing, he always done nothing. One day he had enough, he marched over to Athena and Amelia's table and commanded that they leave her alone. As soon as they scattered he uninvitedly sat down next to Athena, she scooched over in the opposite direction for obvious reasons. Amelia cleared her throat and excused herself, after sensing the awkward tension. "What do you want from me Derek? I told you to stay away from me." Said Athena as she moved even further from him than she already was. "I can't leave things as it is, we need to talk about this." "As far as I'm concerned I have nothing left to say to you." Athena stood up to find Amelia who had made herself magically disappear when Derek appeared.

Derek chased after her just like she wanted before, that didn't mean she wanted it now, especially not there, in the middle of the school quad. He grabbed a hold of her wrist as she tried running off in search of Amelia. "What do you think you're doing?" Athena asked irritably. "I'm not gonna let you run off again, not before we sort out our shit." Said a direct Derek. Athena was about to run off again before Derek pulled her closer and kissed her right there and then in the middle of the school quad. It felt as though everyone's attention had been focused on the two of them.

After a few seconds, Athena pulled back and just stared at Derek in awe. She was stunned in silence and needed to be brought back into reality. "Athena!" a familiar voice shouted, it was Amelia in just as much shock as Athena was. The bell rang, saving Athena from yet another awkward conversation. "I have to get to class, we'll talk about this tomorrow." Said Athena before she rushed off to class.

Athena and Amelia sat in their English class together, both pondering on whether they should talk about what just happened. Amelia blurted out the words "Dude, what the hell just happened?" Athena stared at her blankly for second before answering. "Amelia?" she asked in serious manner. "Yes?" Amelia turned to Athena, focusing solely on her now. "I can't do this anymore Amelia, it's too overwhelming, I just need it to stop, I need everything to stop." Said Athena as the tears began to pour. "Don't say that Athena, you know everything will be okay, I'm here for you." Said Amelia with real concern. "That's just the thing Amelia, everything is not okay, and it never will be, as long I'm here in this place, it will never be okay." "What are you trying to say?" "I'm saying I need to go back, where things were much simpler, I can't be here anymore, I will never be happy here." Athena stormed out the class, running down the hallway, straight to the nearest bathroom.

The words Athena said she sincerely meant, with every bit of her heart. She wanted to go back to the place she once called home. After school day Athena said goodbye to Amelia as if it was the last time she would ever see her, and it was.

The next day Derek came looking for her at the table she and Amelia once sat, only to find Amelia sitting by herself. "Where is she?" he asked clueless. "She's gone and it's all your fault." "What do you mean she's gone?" "She went back to her old home, she couldn't handle you and all the drama that came with you, she's gone and she's not coming back." Derek was in complete shock, that was the last thing he expected to hear. "How could she just leave without so much as a goodbye? Don't you think I deserve that at least?" Derek asked in disbelief. Amelia looked at him and answered him as if she knew what he was going to say before he even said it: "She knew you would ask that, so she phoned me this morning to tell to tell that she thought you didn't deserve goodbye, after all the shit you put her through." Still in denial Derek said: "I have to go see her before she leaves." "Just leave her alone, you've done enough already." "You know I can't just do that, she can't just leave like that." "Even though it hurts me to see my best friend leave, it serves you right, you fucking fuckboy."

Derek walked away in anger and waited till the end of day to go to Athena to try and convince her to stay. He knocked on her front door and to his disappointment it was her mother that answered. "Excuse me, is Athena home?" Derek asked politely. "I'm assuming you're one who was responsible for this mess?" "Please I need to see her!" he said less politely. "I'm sorry, you just missed her, her father just took her to the airport." Derek's heart felt as though it was about to fall out his chest. The only thing he could do was phone her and he did, only to reach her voicemail, he left her a message pouring his heart in the limited time that was given.

Athena heard her phone as she was staring blankly at the sky. She opened to find that she had a new voice message, there was no name, she knew who it was, but she listened to it anyway. "Athena, if you're hearing this, it's not too late to change your mind about this, come back to me, I lov... before he could go any further she put it off and deleted the message. At that moment, Athena was drowning in tears, she quickly dried them before her father would notice that she had been crying. She arrived at the airport and hugged her father goodbye, that town and Derek would never see her like again...

To be continued?