Faded Lines

Chapter 15.

* Aiken *

Something had been bothering me all weekend. I'd decided to stay home, and not hang out with Ross this time. Plus, he seems to have his own problems with Kelly. Speaking of Kelly, her best friend's behavior was really getting to me. Why was she lying all the time. I bet she doesn't notice it, but when she lies, she lowers her head and speaks softer than normal. Thinking back, I realized she did that when my mom asked why she fainted. So why did she lie about that and the reason of why she was crying? I know for a fact that tears were in her eyes. I saw it on her face, the expression. Pure agony. What was I missing? Her parents seemed great. Just like I figured they would be. Then why was she so surprised about the birthday cake? And what did she mean by she didn't even remember it was her birthday? Who in the hell forgets their birthday, better yet the big one-eight? Ugh, I was getting a headache from thinking too much. I was gunna get to the bottom of this though. I wish I knew why, but when I saw that tear run down her face, I felt my heart constrict. I wanted to hold her, and make her feel better. That had never happened before, at least not with a person who wasn't family.

I froze. Uh oh. No! Thinking back to my last thought, that had only happened with someone I cared for. I can't like Eva. She is the total oppiste of everything I would normally go for. But when I kissed her it felt like something changed, and damn, could she kiss. It made me want to do it over and over again. Great, now I have to really get rid of her. And the only way to do that may be to hurt her. But I don't want to do that. I'm not one of those guys that hurts girls. At least not on purpose. I just can't care for her, or even like her. It wouldn't work out anyway. We hate each other. Maybe if I ignore her. Yeah I'll try that.

Almost two weeks have gone by and ignoring her was getting hard. Last Friday she came to my house again, but we just did what we did last time. I watched tv, but instead of sleeping, Eva did her homework. Then when the hour was up, I took her back to her car. I found out later that mom snuck some more food in her bag. Why, I don't know. By not talking to her though, I've started noticing more things. Since it has started getting winter time she has been wearing long sleeve shirts a lot. But that's not what caught my attention. Her clothes were really baggy. And not only that but the bags under her eyes were back again and seemed more prominent. When she woud walk she had a tendency to drag her feet like it was a chore to get to where she needed to go. Her face is what really got to me. If you pay attention, and look real close, her cheeks seem to be sinking in, and her eyes look almost lifeless. It's kinda scary. Today I have to go to Eva's house again. Since I haven't talked to her and she's been dragging about, I figured she probably forgot.

Heading to first period with the intent of talking to her, I got stopped when someone grabbed my arm. "Wait up man. I was needing to talk you," Ross intervened.

"Alright, walk and talk then. Because I need to talk to Eva. "

"Actually she's what I wanted to talk to you about. Kelly has been talking to me and she's really worried. Eva hasn't spoken a word in over a week. Kelly says that she doesn't even acknowledge you, acts like she didn't even hear you. I mean Kelly is her best friend. Why wouldn't she talk to her? All I know is it has her pretty freaked out. She even said that she's seen her bad before, but never like this. That Eva seems to go through stages. I don't know man. But you seem to always get a reaction out of her. Will you try talking to her please," he finished right as we got to the door. "Um, yeah. I'll try. But no promises."

"Thanks bro. It might make Kelly feel a little better." He turned to go to class. I smiled, Ross had the hots for that girl. Here he was trying to make Kelly feel better by asking me to do something to help her out.

Walking into class, I set my eyes on Eva. She was looking even worse today. I can definitely see why Kelly is worried. I approached her slowly not wanting to scare her. "Eva?"