Bittersweet Lovesickness

Caught

  All these words coming out of his mouth seemed like a dream, It felt so unreal, I didn't know what to do. "Aiko ?" I haven't heard him say my name in forever, It felt like tasting a lemon for the first time as a baby. It was.. Bittersweet. I missed him calling my name but because of our history, It almost hurts my ears hearing it. "It's okay, Ellis." I mumbled through his torso. I couldn't tell what his reaction was, but I could sense a relieved exhale. "Thank you." He said solemnly. His arms that I was getting so used to unwrapped me. I backed away very slightly and looked up to make eye contact with Ellis. I looked at him and he was averting his eyes to look at something else that wasn't important. He was crying! His eyes were already red with a touch of puff under his eye. His lips slowly parted as he sniffled.

  "Don't worry me like that ever again." Ellis looked at me with a stern and serious look on his face. He didn't bother to wait for an answer.
I opened my mouth, ready to brainlessly insult him. Nothing came out but whispers. All that crying i was doing messed up my throat. He wiped his eyes and straightened his shirt before he simply walked away. I did nothing but follow his movements with my eyes. Once he left, I took a large exhale, I didn't realize I was holding my breath. I felt so weird inside. He changed once again so suddenly and I was shocked. "If I was an adult id say something like 'I need a drink' because I really do," I said to myself as I laughed at my little joke I make to myself. Thinking deeply on what I just said, I immediately take it back. I couldn't bear to end up like my father even if I had one sip of alcohol.

The nostalgic ringing of the school bells brought me back to reality. I forgot for a moment I was still at school. Normally, I would grab my things and go to my lunch period, but the outside air felt so refreshing, I didn't want to leave. Especially when Ellis decided to smother me in his arms. Unfortunately, Ellis and I have the same lunch and I really didn't want to be seen by him right now. Looking back, I swear it was a nightmare. Until proven, that moment never really happened. I don't even know how I feel about him anymore. This is gross, let me stop thinking about him before I literally gag.

I decided to sit down where I was standing. It was in the middle of the roof which is a safe place for me to be in. My bookbag was close, but, I did struggle to grab it towards me. Opening the small pocket on the front of my book bag, I pulled out a bag that I trust my life with. A bag of Konpeitō! It's not lunch, more like a sugary snack, but food is food, right? I opened the back of my sugary candy and munched away.

I don't like Ellis for no reason. In fact, I shouldn't have liked him in the first place. But he was my first friend when things were nice. This happened when I first moved to the school, which was in late august. As I mention before about the type of school this is, Ellis is one of those trust fund kids. But I never saw that as an issue, I really didn't know what type of person Ellis was until we were done. I wouldn't say we were dating, but we were always around each other. Every morning I would have a different gift in my locker, chocolates, things I've said I wanted, so we were about close to being a couple.

Then after some time, it started getting weird. Since I was still new to the school, I started developing more friendships. Other than Ellis, I had three other friends. Triplets. Alina, Aloise, and Alivia. They we super amazing people. I told them things I would trust anyone to know because you know, we were that close. We hung out any other day I wasn't hanging out with Ellis but then, one by one they stopped talking to me. They all said it was because of me, but I never knew what they meant. Then, one of Alivia's friends, Kana, was the only one who would help clear my confusion. Apparently, I left letters in the triplets lockers saying I didn't want to be friends with them anymore.

Did I do that? Absolutely not.

So who did?

2 months in the past

  "May I see it?" I kindly asked. Kana's eyebrows furrowed, but then softly released.  She mumbled a small "sure" before grabbing her bag. She wasn't in her book bag for long and pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper. Her arm extended towards me with the paper loosely gripped in her hand. I took the paper and unraveled it. Immediately, frowned. This wasn't my handwriting.

Dear Alivia,
I'm writing this letter because I just don't want to see your face anymore. I'm dropping you, Honestly, I just don't see a friendship with us anymore. This goes for your sisters too but they got their own letters. It's been nice I guess but honestly i'm done, you won't see me at the lunch table today or ever again. Best of luck to you and your sisters.
  Aiko.

  Who the hell wrote this? I folded the letter and gave it back to Kana. "That's not me. For starters, my handwriting is small and I couldn't write cursive to save my life." Kana sighed as she took the letter from me. "I figured. That's what I told the triplets but, they didn't want to hear it and I don't think they'd want to hear it from you" After reading that letter, I wouldn't be surprised if I came up to them to tell them that I didn't write that letter. Though I didn't write it, I still felt guilty.

I couldn't think of anyone who wanted to sabotage my friendships and because of that, I kept making more friends. But they left as quick as they came. And I was trying to figure out what was going on, and why was it happening to everyone but Ellis?

"Aiko." A soft voice broke my thoughts. I looked up and saw the fluffy black hair. "Oh, Hi Ellis" At the time, Ellis's hair was his natural black color. I heard Kana rummaging behind me. I turned around to see Kana putting her belongings, including the note back into her bag. "I'll see you in Algebra, Aiko" I said a small "You too!" and watched Kana walk off. I turned to Ellis, who was staring at Kana, glaring even.

  "Ellis?" I called to him, trying to break whatever trance he was in. He almost immediately looked at me "yeah?" I shook my head and said nevermind. I saw him shrug in my peripheral and proceeded to sit next to me.
We were in our usual spot during club hour, the roof. We're technically the "social" club when it's just two of us. We sat against the wall that posed as the elevator doors.

  "Did.. Kana do something to you?" I asked bluntly. Ellis managed to smile as he shook his head. "Not to my knowledge, no. But is she a friend of yours?" He turned his head to look at me. I furrowed my eyes brows, thinking of a good answer "not really, she's just a friend of Alivia and I needed to ask her a question" Ellis seemed intrigued by my response. He relaxed where he was sitting and motioned his hand for me to talk more.

  I didn't want to have him worry about someone sabotaging my friendships so I made up a stupid story about the cafeteria's mystery meat. He laughed at me, but at least he believed me. Ellis has shown his protective side multiple times. Not that I need to be protected, my father wouldn't have me walking around without giving me self defense classes, but that didn't stop Ellis from making sure people weren't messing around with me. I'd always tell him that I can take care of myself but, Ellis hears what he wants to hear unfortunately.

  Ellis made a small gasp and started rummaging through his book bag. "I... got the homework for Lit. You said you needed it right?" I practically bounced where I was sitting. My grade is not pretty in my Lit class and I was not risking another missing assignment. Ellis managed to get the paper out of his folder and handed it to me. I took it from him with a large smile on my face. "Gee thanks I really needed th-" I stopped mid sentence and stared at the paper. Something was horribly wrong. The letter that was given to Alivia,, This lit assignment.

It was the same handwriting.