Malice

Chapter 9: Ring

"Fuck!" I screamed. I quickly snatched my hand out of the hole in the drywall that I'd just made with my fist. I flexed my fingers as my wrist began to ache. Looking down at my hand, I could see my knuckles beginning to bruise underneath the dust. Seeing my injury was enough to pull my mind back together. I could see how ridiculous I was being and how unstable my emotions were right now. This was stupid and punching a wall wasn't going to change the fact that I still felt like shit.

I looked up at the pretty decent sized hole, becoming even more stressed out the longer I stared at it. On top of feeling like shit, I was now going to have to listen to my parents when they'd come home and lose their shit because I snapped for a split second and fucked up the wall. My head felt like it was spinning and there was no hope in sight for anything to go right. Even when I thought that the tiniest thing could be my potential relationship with Andy, that little fantasy had already started fading away too.

Feeling defeated and even worse than I did a few hours ago, I glanced at my phone. Still nothing from him. Not even a single word. My heart broke more and more as the minutes flew by. I didn't want to acknowledge the fact that it all seemed too good to be true right from the very beginning. There was no way in hell that a guy like Andy would want to be stuck with a girl like me. I've got too much baggage that comes with drama and bullets. Even though I lived in constant fear that he was going to get hurt because of me, it was nice to know that he wanted me for who I was, not out of convenience or because I was stupid and damaged.

The thought of missing out on someone that was good for me brought tears to my eyes. I had spent the entire weekend bouncing off the walls while I waited for Andy to call, just like he always did. We always spent the evenings talking and texting back and forth, but the weekends were what I always looked forward to even if one of us ended up falling asleep while on the phone. It always brought me a great deal of peace no matter how the conversations ended. He was my happy place and I didn't know if I was ready to let it easily slip through my fingers. I told myself that I would let him have his space after what happened with Alex at the party. Now, here it was, a Sunday night with school resuming bright and early tomorrow and I couldn't stand it anymore. I craved the sound of his voice. He was ignoring all of my calls and texts and the fear of the unknown was eating me alive. The more he ignored me, the crazier I got.

Midnight was preparing to roll around and as much as I wanted to hear him say goodnight, I knew that I didn't want to pull an all-nighter and pay for it in class the next morning. I'd already called him a hundred times. One more call wasn't going to hurt.

With sweaty and trembling hands, I pressed my phone to my ear, clenching it nervously. All four rings ripped me to shreds and my heart sank when it finally went to voicemail. "It's Angel again," I chuckled nervously. My emotions were beginning to fly all over the place once more. I was fighting to hold back tears the best that I could. "I was just calling to make sure you were okay and to tell you goodnight. See you at school tomorrow." Suddenly, rage was coursing through my veins and when I hung up, I could have crushed my phone with my bare hands. I quickly discovered how much I hated being ignored and there was going to be hell to pay.....My heart raced every time that fucking bell rang. I'd race into the halls, praying that I would run into Andy. Before the drama got started a few days ago, he and the rest of his pack made it a point to congregate by my locker. For the first few classes, his friends were there, but he was nowhere to be found. I was getting frustrated. I never would have expected him to go to such extreme measures to avoid me. That only proved that there was nothing left with us and I would have killed to be able to let him go with as little effort as possible. This kind of behavior wasn't like me at all.

I felt even more broken and beat down when the warning bell rand and I still didn't see him. I had to admit that I was a little ashamed of myself. Any other day, I would probably roam the halls with my head held high knowing that I was what everyone wanted but couldn't have because my heart was already taken. Today, I was praying that no one even looked in my direction while they were more than likely whispering about what came out of my mouth at the party. Before the words even escaped my lips, I know that people were going to have something to gossip about, but it was a sacrifice that I was willing to make for Andy. I immediately thought that I was never going to live that down and I was probably right.