Abandoned

chapter nine.

Wednesday morning I went into Pattie's office to asked about visiting and she said she'd love to see Rose and that she'd also like to talk to me. I'm not exactly looking forward to the encounter.

I got through the school day without any major tragedies. In gym, I think I actually made a new friend. Britney and I had gotten paired up for an activity and she luckily was not horrible. We shared our hatred for gym class, and then she said something weird about Justin.

"So you and Justin are close?" She said and I sighed. He always ends up being the topic of discussion when I would much rather talk about anything else.

"Not at all."

"Oh, well I can't believe you have the balls to push his buttons all the time." She said with a laugh.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. Is he known for killing puppies or something? Maybe I should start paying attention to gossip more often.

"Do you not know the story?" She widened her eyes and I shook my head.

"What happened?"

"It's not really my story to tell." She shrugged. Oh, c'mon. "Sorry, I promised to give up gossiping about people. But something happened freshman year. Bad. He hasn't really been the same ever since, and everyone is still pretty careful around him."

Curiosity overtook my thoughts. What could have happened? And what does she mean he hasn't been the same? I thought back to when I first got a good look at him after so many years and noticed how his eyes were different. Emptier than before.

I'd never thought of Justin having any problems before. He seems to have a pretty good life and I think he acts relatively normal. But out of everyone I should know how easy it is to hide things from people. You never know what anyone's got going on behind closed doors.

Determining that Britney wasn't going to budge, I gave up and changed the topic. Maybe I'll just have to ask him myself.

But by the time Rose and I showed up for a visit, the curiosity was pushed to the back of my mind. I was on high alert, trying my best to complete both missions of making Rose happy and avoiding Justin at the same time.

"Dinner will be done in a little bit. You guys can go hang out in the living room." Pattie said after she answered the door. We both walked inside and luckily there was no sign of-

"Justin!" Rose said, running towards the stairs. Justin reached the bottom then bent down to give Rose a hug.

"Hey, little troublemaker." He smiled. I silenced the part of me that thought the way he acted to her was absolutely adorable. Remember, he's an asshole.

"Hi," she smiled back and hopped into the living room.

"Hello, Rayna." He nodded at me and gave me a small smile, kind of freaking me out with his use of my real name and his sudden serious demeanor. I just waved once then followed both of them into the living room.

"Do you have any games?" I heard Rose ask as I took a seat on the smaller couch.

"Sure, check that closet." He pointed to a door in the hall. Soon she came back holding Hungry Hungry Hippo. As she was pulling the game out of the box a devious smile spread across her face and she looked at me before turning to Justin, who had been searching through channels on the TV, and poked him in the arm.

"Hmm?" He asked, still looking up at the TV. Rose crawled onto the couch and whispered something in his ear. As she spoke his eyes wandered over to me and a smirk found itself on his face. What the hell is she talking about?