Promise

Chapter 3

I entered my 6th period. "Ms. Smith!" I heard a woman's voice. I turned to look at my Chemistry teacher. "Hi," I said awkwardly. She asked me to stand in the front of the class. God, this was going to be embarrassing. The tardy bell rang. I looked down as the class quiet down. I felt so many eyes on me.

"Class, everyone welcome our new student; Leah Smith. Now let's see..."

I heard her move pages around her desk. I looked up for one second. Everyone was staring. "Okay, Leah, please take a seat next to Mr. Havens. Luke, raise your hand, please."

I felt like my entire insides exploded. I gulped and looked up. I saw a hand in the air. I didn't look at his face. I went to sit down next to him and didn't dare look at him.

"Okay, Ms. Smith. Mr. Havens will be your lab partner."

No, not him.

I felt sick. The teacher started talking. After a few seconds of me not paying attention, she said "okay, talk about it with your partner."

Those words gave me immediate nightmares. I looked at Luke. He was already looking at me. "W-Why are you here?" He asked. I took awhile to admire him. Woah, he was hella' good looking.

"Because...I can..?" I said.

"You can't just come back like nothing ever happened," he said, sounding angry. "That's not what I'm doing."

"Oh yeah? Because to me, That's exactly what you're doing," he said. "To you."

"Why are you such a bitch, now?" He asked. "Oh! I'm the bitch? You're the one that talked shit about me when I never did anything to you."

"You left."

"So what? You hate me now, don't you?" I said. Before he could say anything, the teacher started talking again.

•

The bell rung and I grabbed all the stuff the teacher had gave me. I saw Luke stand in front of the desk. The classroom was empty. The teacher was gone as well. I looked at Luke as I shoved a journal in my backpack. "You have my permission to leave, you know?"

He laughed sarcastically, "I'm not leaving. I'm not like you."

"It wasn't my decision, okay?! I was fucking 12! It's not my fault my dad got a better job in Ohio!" I exclaimed. He didn't say anything. I was about to walk out but he grabbed my arm. "Why didn't you tell me anything?" He asked. "My mom and dad told me that it was a possibility...it wasn't definite. I didn't want to worry y'all. One day, Kelsey and I went to the office to turn in a sub's attendance and my mom and dad were there. They took me. I didn't have a phone, remember?"

He let go of my arm. "You could have asked them to go say goodbye to me..."

"It wasn't that easy, Luke-you know what? Never mind, it's useless talking to you."

I was just about to walk out the door when I heard him say something. He had the audacity to say:

"What about our promise?"

I turned around to look at him. "Our promise was over since you started talking shit. Besides, it's obvious that we both grew up and changed. It's obvious that we're over each other."

I walked out of the room. I sounded so sure about what I had said. But something felt off. Something felt like a lie.

•

I opened my locker to put a my new notebooks inside. I opened it and a note fell out. I read it in my head:

I'm sorry about everything. Can we at least be friends?

-Luke.

I crumpled the paper. I can't be his friend. I won't be his friend. "Look who it is! If it isn't Leah Havens."

I turned around to see Amanda Owens. "Yup, looks like you still remember my name, Amanda."

"I don't know why you're back, but I know what you and Luke had in middle school. I hope you know that that all ended when you left."

"Yes, I am aware of that. Thank you for the reminder," I said. "Good."

She walked off. I rolled my eyes and put all my stuff in my locker and the closed it. "Hey! I found you!" I heard Kelsey. I smiled as I turned around to face her. "So, Jacob has football practice today. Want to come with me?" Kelsey asked. "Oh, sorry, I can't. I'm going to Chick-Fil-A with my mom today."

"You're favorite," she smiled.

"You remembered," I smiled back. "Of course I did! You asked for it everyday in 6th grade!" She said. I laughed, "Yeah."

"Well, Can you come tomorrow to the game?" She asked. I thought about Luke. "I'll ask my mom."

She nodded.

•

Me and my mom left the Chick-Fil-A drive thru. Mom and I talked about her first day at work and my first day at school. "He apologized though," mom said. "Yeah, but..." I sighed, "it's never going to be the same, ya know?"

Mom nodded, keeping her eyes on the road, "Well it's your decision. Besides, you still have Kelsey and Jacob."

I smiled and nodded. "I told you your first day wasn't going to be bad," she told me. I grinned and took a fry out of the bag and ate it.

•

I woke up to my alarm. For a second, I had forgotten that I was back in Houston, Texas. I looked at my phone. 3 missed messages from dad.

I rolled my eyes and opened them:

Dad- hey Leah! I just wanted to tell you that I miss you. Hopefully we can talk through the phone when you can.

Dad- how was ur first day of school?

Dad- I hope you and your mom are okay.

For some reason, I felt angry. Okay, maybe the reason I felt angry was because he said he misses me when he's the one that technically made me move.

Me- me and mom are great! We're so happy! My first day was awesome because I got to reunite with my best friends. I have to go to school now, bye.

I wanted him to feel like we don't need him anymore. But, as I walked inside of my school, I realized how selfish it was of me to send that.