I can't have him

Chapter 6

"KIRA!" Lucy squealed. 

Her friend had previously been hit by a car about 2 months before school. She was in critical condition and had been in a coma for a few weeks. As soon as she woke up Lucy and Cleo visited her every day until school. School began to take up all their time so they had no idea what Kira's condition had been. Apparently, she fully recovered and was cleared to come back. 

"Next time text us when you're coming back," Cleo started "You gave me a heart attack!" 

"Haha, sorry guys but I'm still waiting on a new phone, I hadn't needed one in the hospital and the other one was destroyed in the accident," Kira explained, "so what was with you rushing out of the line so fast, you almost took me out!"

"Girl you took me out! There's food in my hair," Cleo whined, "let's head to the bathroom and talk." The three girls walked out of the lunchroom ignoring the stares. Just as Cleo pushed the door open, Derek walked through the door next to them and their eyes locked for a moment. Cleo quickened her pace as Derek looked back confused. Her friends shuffled behind her trying to keep up.

"Slow it down Cleo," Kira called to her friend now 10 feet ahead, "who's the boy?" Cleo stopped in her tracks. Kira hadn't known anything. She was unaware of the crushes they had developed, the party they attended, or the murder they had witnessed.

"Derek," Cleo responded still looking forward, "he's a sleaze though." Lucy perked up, confused as to why Cleo said that. Cleo still liked Derek, but it was clear she wanted to keep those complicated feelings separate from Kira for the time being. 

They reached the bathroom and were ready to let loose every detail. They explained the party and how they were fighting over the wrong things. They explained the day Cleo and Lucy avoided each other and the creepy text message Lucy received. Finally, they told her of the bodies of Butch and Brady, the blood, and the frightening letter they received. Kira wouldn't believe them at first, but Cleo pulled up a news article on the murder, reported the previous night. 

"That's really heavy," Kira responded, "I can't believe I missed all of that! Sorry I couldn't be here." Kira never actually told the girls how the accident went down but it was obvious that something not right took place because, despite Kira's clumsy personality, she was always careful in parking lots and with cars. A dear friend of hers was hit right in front of her when she was young, so it was hard to believe that she just happened to not be paying attention to the road. The girls never pressed her for details but something seemed to weigh her words down when she spoke about the hospital or the accident. 

"We know you've had it rough this past year, don't worry yourself, you're here and that's all that matters," Cleo reassured Kira, "I think we should just move on from this experience and enjoy what we can of our freshman year." While weirdly optimistic for such a grim scenario, the others figured she was right. 

"Well I'm assuming parties are off the table, so what do you want to do next?" Kira asked.

"What if we went roller skating?" Lucy suggested, "like old times."

"Perfect! It's a date! Just the three of us," Cleo announced, "life's about to get a whole lot better now that the absolute worst has passed." 

The roller rink was always on the emptier side and that's precisely why the girls loved it. The whole area to themselves and maybe 1 or 2 other groups. No one they knew every roller-skated and they were all pretty decent skaters. They'd go in the evening and skate till it closed. They'd play games in the arcade and eat piles of junk food. For a moment, everything was right again, until they walked in.

"Shit don't turn around," Lucy told Cleo, but of course she flung her head back in the most obvious, unsubtle way possible. 

"Oh crap," Cleo spit out the lemonade she was drinking, "god damn it why did they have to show up!" Cleo sunk into the seat and hid her head. Derek, his ex, and a few friends had walked in. Cleo's face turned red, but she wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment, the fact that she still liked Derek or pure rage. Likely it was a mix of all three.

"What's wrong?" Kira asked, "who are they?"

"The 'sleaze'," Lucy quoted Cleo. She looked over to see Derek in the front ignoring the trailing ex, "and his ex which is weird, but it looks like he's ignoring her." Cleo's heart skipped a beat, but that little ray of hope would end up being squashed within the hour.

They tried their hardest to avoid the group but eventually, they would want to skate and the inevitability of them bumping into Derek was obvious. As per usual Cleo would wipe out at Derek's hand. He had been going too fast and just smashed into her.

"I swear to god it's like you're trying to kill me," Cleo stated on the floor.

"Maybe I am," Derek chuckled also on the floor, "how you been?"

 Kira and Lucy watched from the side and gossiped away. They figured Cleo was avoiding the subject of boys for her friends, but they wanted Cleo to be happy more than anything.

"So he's not a sleaze I gather?" Kira asked.

"Nah she was trying to convince herself he was a lost cause so that she didn't hurt us," Lucy responded, "the idiot has to realize that we love to see her happy even if our luck with men isn't as good as hers."

"I'd hardly call it luck," Kira chuckled, "the past few were kinda terrible, but 'experience is experience' I guess. She deserves a little happiness."

"I'm gonna head to the bathroom," Lucy started. 

"Aight, I'll go grab some more food," Kira giggled and ran off to the food bar. 

Lucy was about to leave the bathroom when someone walked in and locked the main door. 

"So you're the little slut's best friend right?" the girl said, "do me a favor and grab her desperate ass, she looks stupid fawning over someone older." Lucy realized the girl talking was Derek's ex. 

"Get out of the way," Lucy ignored her. The girl pushed Lucy against the wall and got real close.

"If you don't tell her to back off, I'll ruin her life," she threatened, "you don't wanna see your friend suffer, do you?" She let go of lucy and unlocked the door. "Get lost." She walked over to the sink and started to fix her makeup.

Lucy scoffed and walked out bumping into someone. Without looking back she said sorry and walked faster. She skated over to Kira and looked for Cleo. After a moment of scanning the room, she saw Cleo who was skating beside Derek.

"Hey I need to steal you for a minute," Lucy and Cleo skated out and over to Kira. Lucy told Cleo what happened. 

"What the fuck," Cleo was pissed, "I'm gonna knock that bitch over right the fuck now." Cleo was about to storm off when suddenly there was a scream from the bathroom. One of Derek's friends ran out crying and screaming for help. The next thing we knew, the police had arrived and Derek's ex was wheeled out in a body bag.

Lucy was about to throw up, she sat down at the table they were at and noticed a small paper. She opened it while Cleo and Kira peeked over her shoulder. Sure enough, it was from the murderer. She tore it up and threw it out, but the words on the paper haunted her. All day, all she could think was......

to be continued.......