Outcast ✔️

Chapter 8

I didn't exactly know how I was going to convince Liam. I didn't even know if it would be possible.

Our assignment was that we had to act out the scene from Shakespeare's play we had gotten from the teacher in front of the whole class. And, of course, the scene we had gotten was from Romeo and Juliet.

I didn't know why Mrs. Lopez would do this to me. She knew that partnering with us and giving us a scene like this would never work, but here I was, hoping a miracle would happen, and he would actually agree to this.

We stood outside in the backyard in the winter weather, and I was cursing myself mentally for only wearing a thin sweater. Liam stood next to me, lighting a cigarette and smoking.

"I-i wanted to ask you about the assignment we have to do," I said, waiting for him to yell at me and say that he would never do a project with me.

But instead, he was calm. I took this opportunity to continue with my point.

"I don't want to fail this class. We must finish and do well on this project. So, please help me with this one thing," I finished.

Liam has always been smart. He never even studied, yet he was passing all of his classes with excellent grades. While many of us studied all day and nights to get the grades we have, he passes them with one closed eye.

But I as well as knew some of his grades were suffering because he skips class a lot.

"I'm not doing this with you," he said with a cold tone.

"Liam, please... this assignment is worth 45% of our final grade. We need this class to pass,"

He grabbed my arm, pulling me closer to him. My faces were only mere inches away from his. I can hear my pulse getting quicker, and I felt uncomfortable standing this close to him.

His grip on my arm, and I could feel the bruise forming on my upper arm. I winched in pain, but he didn't move an inch as he continued to dig his nails into my arm.

"I don't fucking need you to tell me. But know this, you will have one hell of a time while working on this project," he said, smirking devilishly.

He was going to use this as an excuse to make my life a living hell, and I basically begged for him to do it as well.

All because I didn't want a bad grade.

-
My mom and I were shopping downtown at the local mall that opened in our small little town.

I needed a new pair of running shoes anyways, so my mother agreed to take me out.

We walked around for what felt like a while before we entered a sports store.

"Which one do you like, Storm?" My mother asked. I pointed at a nice black Nike running shoe, which looked perfect. She picked it up, examining it for a while before smiling and said okay.

"Look around if you want anything else. I'm gonna go look for some gloves," she walked away in the direction where I assumed the gloves might be.

I walked around the store, finally stopping in the lacross sports section, where I saw a jersey with the number 12 on its back. I picked it up, remembering how this used to be exactly Noah's jersey number.

He picked the number 12 for the only reason being it was my birth date, and he would tell me that it brings him good luck. It was a dumb idea, and he didn't have to do that, but he didn't care.

The small things like this trigger all of his memories, and I can't prevent the tears roll down my face. It reminded me of the greatest loss of my life, and it hurts to even think about it.