One Word

Chapter 2

 I stared at the guy uncertainly. I recognized him, and now the other people with him as the new kids. The ones who get a fresh start. So why would they try to socialize with me? I'm the outcast, the one no-one was really sure about anymore. People are mean, and rumors had spread about what happened to me.

Or more, what I did.

If they hadn't heard about me now, I'm sure they will soon enough, based on the many eyes trained on us. I could already imagine the people who were going to go up to them during classes or in the halls and drop hints about the girl who tried to kill her mother, or the girl who drove her mother to addiction.

Apparently, one parent decided to violate HIPPA and tell their child about it, who then told the entire school. I know a few people who have parents that work in the medical system, but I couldn't imagine them spreading it.

Because most of them used to be my friends.

Although, if they had been my friends, they would have stuck with me.

But I did push them away.

"What do you want?" I stared at him unwaveringly. This one would be popular. He had the looks most guys would envy and girls would fall at feet for. His bright blue eyes stared at me with a piercing gaze, his dark brown hair messily swept to the side, a face shape that was sharp and boyish at the same time, and long legs that put him half a foot taller than my 5'8" stature, maybe even more.

He gave me a gentle smile before turning to his friend. "I don't want anything, but Kasey wanted to say sorry for earlier." I gave him a condescending smile as he said this, trying to distance myself from them as much as possible.

"Well, he said sorry. So I'll just be on my way." I turned to walk away again when a hand fell on my shoulder.

"Wait." I turned to glare at the blue-eyed guy before shrugging out of his grasp.

"I'm good."

"Please." I stopped. I hated that word. I hated that people disregard it so much and use it like it doesn't mean anything, so then people act like it's meaningless. The number of times my mother blatantly ignored my father and I when we begged her to talk to us was more than I could count on 5 people's hands. But the tone of this guy's voice told me he truly meant it, so I stopped.

"What?" My voice sounded defeated, and I'm sure my posture looked like it too because the blue-eyed boy was taken aback for a second before he reached out his hand.

"I'm Kyle."

"Lilly." I took his hand and gave it a weak shake.

"Nice to meet you, Lilly." I liked the way my name rolled off his tongue. I shouldn't have liked that. Although, maybe it was because no-one besides my father said my name without hints of malice or fear in it. Even when my father said my name, it didn't sound normal. It sounded like he had to force it out.

"You too." I turned my gaze to the other three, wanting to know their names so I could pinpoint one if they ended up betraying me. Kyle must have gotten my hint because he smiled and turned to them.

"This idiot is Kasey." The guy who ran into me earlier gave me a sheepish smile and wave, but not before glaring at Kyle. "The girl next to him is his twin, Kathy." The two looked identical, mirroring each other down to everything but their genders with their green eyes, blonde hair, and tall statures. But I could tell I was still taller than Kathy and Kyle only beat me by around a few inches.

I nodded. "Nice to meet you two." They smiled at me but then turned to look at something behind me. Suddenly, Kyle stumbled forward with a girl on his back clinging to him like a monkey.

"Really Emma?" The girl grinned at him before kissing his cheek. She had brunette hair matched with grey eyes that seemed to sparkle and a dimple stood out on her left cheek. Her lips were bow-shaped and she was absolutely beautiful.

"Shut up. You love me," She mocked. He laughed, turning his head to look at her.

"I can't deny that." He winced as she shifted. "Okay. Get off. You have some killer heels and I don't want to go to the hospital." I glanced down at her feet and was surprised to see stilettos on someone who looked too petite and colorful, and not at all what I would assume a person who wears those shoes.

She giggled. "Sorry."

Kyle smiled at her, throwing an arm around her shoulder. Even with her shoes, she only reached just below his arm. "And this demon is-" He grunted as the girl elbowed him. "Excuse me. This angel is Emma." I smiled at her, trying to figure out the connection between her and the group, but she suddenly launched herself at Kasey.

He chuckled, smiling at her, and kissed her on the nose. "Hi, love."

My confusion just tripled. Kyle glanced at me before smirking. "She's my little sister."

I nodded, taking in that information and everything seemed to click into place.

"And those two are dating," I said, pointing at Kasey and Emma. Kyle nodded.

I hummed, storing that information away. "And you and Kathy are dating then?" I asked, turning towards him.

He let out a quiet laugh and shook his head. "I love her, but no. She's like a second sister to me." Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Kathy had tuned into our conversation and was watching with a look on her face that I couldn't quite describe, and she looked down when he called her his sister.

Great. She's in love with him, and not as a brother-sister kind of thing. Whoop-de-doo.

"Cool. So Kasey, Kathy, Kyle, and Emma." I paused. "Why the hell are you guys all possessing names that start with a K and have a Y, minus Emma?"

They all stopped to look at each other and it looked like I had given them the greatest invention known to mankind.

"I never realized that! That's pretty cool!" They all started chattering about their names and I took that as my chance to leave the cafeteria and hopefully never have to interact with these people again.

They were nice now, but soon they would fall into the crowd that knew me only by what other people have said.

Instead of being the lonely girl who they ran into in the hall, I would be the girl who was unsociable because she was mentally unstable and tried to kill her mother.

Okay, so that was probably the worst rumor that had gone around about me, but still.

You get my point.

I shouldered my bag and was almost through the doors and to my escape when Kyle stopped me. He turned me around and placed his hands on my shoulders like some weird proud father, but the look on his face was anything but proud.

It was sadness.

"I don't know why you are so adverse to friends, Lilly, but we're good people," he said quietly.

I glared at him and didn't say anything, silently daring him to keep speaking.

He did. Dumbass.

"Look. Give us two weeks. Two weeks to stick by your side and show you we can be your friends."

Part of me wanted to give in. The part of me that missed my old life and the part of me that just yearned to be cared about. The walls that I had built up over the months were strong, but my loneliness and longing, and his persistence worked together in a great chaotic harmonic mess to break a hole in the bricks that had been so tightly packed, and one easy word that would possibly make or break me sipped from my lips.

"Sure."

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Woooo.  So.  Drop a vote, comment, or share?

Also, I don't know if y'all caught on but....

"Hi."

"Sure."

Each chapter is going to end in One Word. :) I know, I'm a genius.