Withered.

7

She stops in the doorway as she meets my eyes. I can't tell if she is surprised or ashamed to see me. However, as I know her, she is not ashamed. She is never ashamed of anything she has done, and I always kind of admired her for this.

I remember she always said that there is no point of being ashamed of a thing you have done, because it's not like you can change anything anyway. And people will judge you either way, so you might as well just do whatever you feel like doing without wanting to take it back later. Life is short, you don't want to spend it regreting your past.

I know she was right, but there are some things that you just can't not regret. Like the things she has done. Can she really live in peace with herself knowing what she has done?

After a while of mentaining eye contact, she seems to realize that I am staying next to Dylan and she makes a disgusted face as she walks to her seat. My eyes follow her. I don't want to stare at her, but I just don't seem to make myself move my gaze from her. She chose to sit as far away from me as possible.

I can't understand her expression for me. I should be the one making that face to her, not otherwise. I guess she doesn't have any bit of dignity.

She looka much worse than I expected and I somehow know that this isn't because of the break up she had with Dylan, but because of my father. Maybe she cared for Dylan in a way or another, but she never told me that she is in love with him. And she doesn't cry just for anybody.

I look at her a little closer. Her nose is red and a little irritated because of how she cleaned it. Her pale green eyes are red as well, from so much crying, I assume. Her blonde hair looks untidy and it is tied up in a messy pony tail. Nothing of how she looks now defines her. She is usually all dressed up, paying attention to every detail so that she should always look elegant. She likes to drag attention to herself, so she never dares to leave the house without some make up on.

Today she isn't wearing any makeup, although her mascara from yesterday is not erased pretty well. It stretched all over her eyes, and now her dark circles look even darker. Her face looks pretty much like she is trying to be a panda for Halloween.

Her uniform is looking as well as her. Her shirt and skirt are all crumpled. She threw a long palton over them in order to hide them probably. I can't truly say which one of us was looking worse. Me or her. I'll have to see myself in a mirror before I can decide.

"Is she aware I know what she had with my father?" I ask Dylan quietly.

He looks at me and then he turns his sight at her. He makes a scared face like he did a mistake and then looks at me with an innocent face.

"I'm sorry. I was so angry and I didn't think if you wanted her to know that when I fought with her. I told her that I was with you. I wasn't really using my brain when the words came out of my mouth."

"It's okay. She would have realized herself eventually."

When the teacher enters the class, he looks surprised to see me. Well, I must say, I would have been surprised too if I were him. He offers his condolences and a speech of how I and Alec need to be strong and be glad that we still have at least one another.

I don't need his or anyone else's condolences nor their lessons about life and what they think I should do. As he knows what I feel like. None of them will bring my family back and none of them really care for us, so what is the point of all of this nonsense. They are only talking in vain. They feel sorry for us, they pity us. However, they don't actually care. I know that. I've learned that. They are doing what people like to do the most. Make you hear the things they think you want to hear, even if they don't mean it.

When our mother died they were all like this. And now, everything was happening all over again.

When the class ends, Mr. Stuart stops me, so that he should tell me that if me and Alec need anything, we shall come to him. I thank him politely and leave before he can start another story of his life and the lessons he has learned during it.

When I leave the class, Dylan is waiting for me beside the door, in order to go to the cafeteria and have lunch.

"Well," I say as we walk, "it wasn't that bad. Yet, it could have been better without that speech."

"Yeah. It was a pretty long speech. He was kind of repeating the same thing in different structures."

"They always do that. It's pretty annoying."

We are about to enter in the cafeteria when I hear Alison's angry voice behind my back. I would've recognized hers out of a million voices. Her girlish voice that tries to sound dangerous, but doesn't work.

"So not only you take him from me, now you are trying to seduce my leftovers?" she says to me with a raised voice.

Despite the fact that she is using such words as ''seduce'', nothing in her behavior truly surprises me. She did catch me off guard, that is for sure. I thought she might leave me alone for a day or two before starting all the drama. Not for me, but for her.I was sure she wanted to grieve, away from me. I guess I was wrong.

Everybody is looking at us. Great! I am sure they are expecting a fight and I would be more than pleased to give them one, but I don't want to create more trouble. Although she deserves it more than anything else.

I am not sure what she was referring to when she said that I took him from her. I am pretty shocked by that accusation. She can't possibly believe that I killed my own father because of her. Does she really think she is that important? If there is someone I want to kill, it's her, and anyway she, as my so-called ''best friend'', should know better than anyone else that I would never, in one billion years, would have the urge to kill someone. Especially my own father.

Me and Dylan look at each other for a moment before we turn around.

"Jesus, Alison! I am trying to be a friend to her. Clearly, the one she had disappointed her." Dylan says before I can get to say anything. I didn't really want her to know that I am not in fact flirting with him. It would have hurt her a little. At least a little bit.

"Me?" she laughs ironically. "Of course! Because it is all about little innocent Aaliyah! She murdered her own father because she didn't want us together and I am the one who disappointed her?!"

"Excuse me, what did you say?" I defend myself.

I am completely stunned by her accusation. I must confess, it hurts a lot more when you hear it than when you only assume it. She is actually capable of thinking that I killed my dad. She needs to see a terapist.

More students keep coming to see what is happening making a circle around us. Everyone is staring, nobody says a word. I can swear I see some of them getting out their phones, preparing to shoot the scene. They all waited for this such a long time, I can tell. The two inseparable best friends, feared by everyone in the school, are now confronting each other.

" Oh, spare me, Aaliyah!" she says, "It is as clear as water that you did it. You were angry last night after you discovered. I am more than sure you did it. Who else would have had any reasons? And now you are looking forward to taking everyone from me. You are not only a killer but a hustler too."

"I can not believe that I was calling you my best friend. You know nothing about me! How dare you even think that I killed my own dad? For you? Don't be ridiculous. Yes, it hurt me when I found out how much of a disappointment you are and yes I was angry, but I didn't kill my father. It didn't even cross my mind. And to be honest, after all that I have discovered, if I really was to kill anyone, be sure that it would not have been the man that raised me. It would have been you!"

The next thing I know is her throwing herself at me, making me fall down. She is on top of me, attacking me up. I can feel the cold floor under me. As I am using my hands as protection. I can't see anything, but I can hear all of those kids screaming for more. It is like a show for them. Is this cruel the world we live in?

As she is trying to beat me up, I open my eyes and see fragments of her face filled with hatred. I remember that face smiling at me, pretending to be my friend, pretending to care for me, to love me, while in reality, she was keeping horrible secrets away from me. My anger grows remembering all of our moments and somehow it is me now on top of her, not beating her up, but trying to stop her. Despite all the hell she put me through, I don't have the energy to beat her now. However, she doesn't think the same way I do because she keeps on and on until Dylan and another boy separate us and the principal comes between both of us, glancing at me like I am the one who let him down, and I have a feeling that he won't believe it wasn't me the one who started the fight.