Chapter 23
I looked down at my watch which read 1:04. We had just stepped out of Niall’s car when Taisie nearly tripped over her own foot.
“I’m fine.” She said, as I tried to help her up.
I looked into her eyes and as much as I wanted to believe everything was fine, it wasn’t. There was definitely a piece to this puzzle that I was missing, and I was determined to figure out what it was. Harry gave me an uneasy look as we approached my front porch. He squeezed my hand and then pulled me to his chest signifying that it was time for him to leave.
“Harry, you don’t have to go. You can stay if you want.”
He shook his head and backed away from me.
“I want to, but you and Taisie need to talk.”
I sighed and began to turn away when I felt Harry’s hand press down on my cheek. He stared into my eyes before leaning down and kissing me on the lips. After he pulled away I almost leaned in for another but by then he was already halfway back to Niall’s car.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” He called out, before driving away.
I watched the car disappear into the night before turning my attention to Taisie who was rocking back and forth on her heels. It wasn’t hard to tell she had a lot on her mind. I put my arm over her shoulder and we both headed inside the house. I sat comfortably on the sofa while she paced my living room floor.
“You and Jade have a long history.” She said.
I stretched my legs out on the couch hoping that what Taisie had to say wouldn’t be too brutal to listen to. I was already on edge, and her nervousness was making the entire situation a lot worse. She eyed me carefully before continuing.
“Jade used to be your best friend back in ninth grade,” She bit her lip, “but something happened between you two.”
“Like what?” I asked, even though I didn’t want to know the answer.
“You guys fell out over some boy, and the rest is history. A lot of shit went down and eventually you two became enemies.” She said, falling down next to me on the couch. “But there’s more.”
My eyes widened.
“Tell me.”
“You told everyone that she had been stealing money from the school, and she got expelled.”
“If she got expelled then why does she still go to our school?” I asked, puzzled.
“Her dad probably begged the school supervisors to let her off the hook. He gets her out of everything.”
I guess it all made sense. From the beginning Jade had been mad about something I had done in my past. For some reason I was satisfied by the fact she didn’t just hate me for being me. I broke out of my thoughts and noticed Taisie staring at a family photo. Timothy was in it, along with me, my mom, and my dad. We all looked so happy and it made me want to cry.
“What happened to him?” Taisie whispered.
I grabbed the picture from the nightstand and stared directly at Timothy. His cheeky smile lit up the entire photo and soon I was grieving for not only him, but myself. Taisie wrapped her arm around my shoulder as my tears dripped onto the frame.
“He drowned.” I mumbled, “That’s what my mom told me.”
Taisie went silent and scooted closer to me.
“I’m so sorry, Paris.” She said.
More tears fell from my eyes and I wiped at them frantically. For the past couple days I had refused to think about the fact that Timothy was dead, but now the realization dawned on me.
“The worst part about all of this is that my mom took him to the water park so he could get his mind off the fact that I was in a coma, but little did he know that he wouldn’t be coming back...”
Taisie encircled me in a hug, and it was in that moment that I actually believed we could go back to the way we used to be.
