I'm Right Here

Chapter Seven

Annie stared at her open notebook. She was about to do her homework when her mind started to drift.

She shook her head to keep herself concentrated. She reads the first question that their teacher gave but she finds herself reading it over and over again.

Irritated, she slammed her notebook close and buried her face in her hands.

She didn't know exactly what was bothering her but she wanted it to stop.

Camilla's right, she told her self. But what was the point? What was Camilla expecting? That if she told Jake, he would take responsibility of what he had done?

That's not who he is.

What does Annie really know about Jake? Nothing. She didn't want to be judged by other people, yet here she was judging someone she knew nothing about.

Lifting her head from her hands, she wondered who really knew Jake better than anyone else. Annie's first thought was Dominique, but they weren't close enough to actually talk to each other. She can ask Camilla to accompany her but she knew Camilla wouldn't agree to it. She'll say that he can't be trusted if they told Dominique about her condition.

Camilla always hated Dom's group--Bryan especially. They were "The Popular Ones." The typical group of boys who dated popular girls.

Bryan was the captain of the basketball varsity team. His girlfriend, Cindy West wasn't sporty but she was rich and popular. The word "bitch" is written all over her.

That two had been a couple since tenth grade but they were always on and off. Everyone figured they weren't always faithful to each other. But no one knew if they were aware of that.
The only reason why Camilla got into a relationship with Dom was because she thought he was different. And he was able to prove that...for a time.

Camilla was smart. She was always on the list of top ten but she didn't look as geeky as some did. She was the definition of hot and sexy so Cam and Annie figured that's how Dominique noticed her.

Dom tried to impress her all the time. Cam considered it very irritating. He was doing all the classic cheesy liners and acting all gentlemanly whever she was around. Cam knew better. And it was obvious that it was fake.

Dom kept trying and Cam kept ignoring him. Her persepective of him changed when she agreed on just one date with Dom because he promised he would leave her alone after that.

The date wasn't exactly what Camilla had in mind. She expected that Dominique would flaunt his wealth and take her to some fancy restaurant. Or a bar maybe, get her drunk, and take her either to his place or a motel. But no. None of those things happened.

When Dom arrived at Camilla's place, he had setup a picnic blanket on her front yard with two pizza boxes on top of it and an ice bucket with a Coke in it.
Dom wasn't as dressed as fancy as he did when he goes to school. He wore a simple shirt and jeans. No wax on his hair. Camilla liked that. She liked simple things especially with effort.

They had a great time that night. She was thankful that her dad wasn't home that time.

They talked until midnight. Cam told him things she'd never thought she'd say to Dominique Clyde. And Dom told her things he never told anyone. In the end, they enjoyed each other's company. And a few weeks later, they made their relationship official.

But even at that time, Annie never had the chance to be close with Dom. Cam and him don't hang out at school because she didn't like all the PDA shit. Their relationship lasted for eight months.

They broke up when Dom had cheated on Cam. Annie never knew the real story. Rumors spread that Dominique and Patricia Wells made out at yet another one of Bryan's parties.

Dom didn't deny it but he didn't bother explaining to Cam what happened either. He didn't talk to her since then and Cam pretended that she didn't give a fuck.

But Annie noticed everything. She noticed Cam's hidden tears, she noticed the mask she wore after that. And most of the time, she noticed Dominique looking at her still.

"It still hurts," Camilla once told her with tears in her eyes and a smile on her lips. "Six fucking months and it still hurts."

-----//-----//-----//-----

2 weeks later.

The rumor that Jason started still lingered in the school. Students still looked at Annie in a weird way but Camilla said to not mind them. Over time, she got used to it.

What they both found disturbing was Bryan. He kept on saying, "Hey" whenever Camilla and Annie got near them. Other times, they just caught him winking their way.

Annie didn't want to go to school anymore. A heavy atmosphere welcomes her every time she opened the school doors. No matter how much she tried to ignore it, the stares were like daggers being pierced through her back, making her breathing shallow and fast. The air around the place was enough to suffocate her.

She worried about Bryan the most. She was afraid of what he might do and everyone knew what he was capable of.

"Let him try something," Cam said playing with her pen. "I will rip his balls out."

"I'm probably just over thinking things, right?" Annie said.

"Nah. It's good to prepare for the worst."

They were staying at the library and Cam decided to spend her free period doing her homework. Annie tagged along and skipped Pre-Calculus.

Annie crossed her arms at the table and buried her face, groaning. "Cam, I'm hungry."

"I told you to bring something to eat, didn't I? We still have two hours until lunch."

"You're the girl scout. Didn't you bring anything for me?"

"You're lucky I did." Camilla dug through her bag and took out a paper bag. She handed it to Annie. "Strawberry jam sandwich."

Annie quickly took it from her.

"Don't let the librarian see you eating, dummy!" Cam said through gritted teeth, half screaming, half whispering.

Annie gave her a nod and took a big bite of the sandwich.