Three days later
Breaks are a must in life, and this spring break has been well awaited.
After everything that's been happening I need to take a breather from school life so I can get my social life in order.
I push my glasses up before rolling the dial of my locker open. I put away all my things, shut it then start heading toward lunch.
As I get closer and closer to the cafeteria I begin to grow more and more nervous.
I haven't talked to the guys at all over the weekend. In fact I completely ignored all their texts and phone calls. I'm actually kinda surprised they didn't show up at my door in a frenzy.
I stop just before the open doors and take a breath as I look around for them.
And surprise, surprise, they're exactly where they always are.
I sigh, ruffling my bangs a bit before walking over to our table.
"Hi guys.." I sit as causally as I can then fit my glasses. I give a small smile to try to seem normal. It slowly starts to fade as they continue to blankly at me.
I just about give up completely until,
"Hey Heaven." I smile softly.
"Kai." I glance between the other two cautiously.
"Adriano, Leon." Adriano nods in response while Leon just grunts before going back to his food.
"So what's your plans for the break?" I play with my bangs.
"Oh.. nothing really.. just probably hanging out with the family." He nods.
"Yeah, that's-"
"That's it?" Leon abruptly cuts him off, glaring down at me.
"Wha- what do you mean?"
"Doing anything with your lil boyfriend." I frown, hiding behind my bangs.
"Look I know you're upset but I promise everything's fine now. He's changed, he-"
"Changed?" He laughs.
"Sucking all that poisonous dick must of gotten to your head." My eyes widen.
"Leon-"
"Nevaeh, where have you been these pass three days, what did that jackass do to you?!" I furrow my eyebrows.
"Leon, it's not what you think-"
"Not what I think!" He slams his tray down on the table.
"You kissed then ran off with the same bastard that used you like a shitty motel!" I frown.
"On top of that ignoring all of us who were worried sick about you just to what," he tries his arms in the air.
"Let him check back in one more good time before leaving you for the long road." Adriano and Khalil grab at him, trying to get him to come down.
"Dude, you're causing a scene."
"Leon, you made her cry, chill." He say at the same time.
And it isn't until they say that what I was realize that I was in fact crying and everyone had their eyes on us.
My body instantly heats up before my eyes shut, trying to cut off the water flow only to make it worse.
Not knowing what else to do, I lower my head then run straight out of there. They try to call for me to come back but all I hear is the rapid beats of my even so damaged heart.
Once I leave the cafeteria I don't stop there. My legs keep going, running mindlessly on adrenaline. The tears in my eyes whipping at my face as I suddenly burst through the double doors, soles hitting the pavement.
My heart pounding, the adrenaline flowing like liquid cocaine through my veins.
It isn't until my body came to a halt that I realized my surroundings.
The slightly rusted metal shine with the help of the spring water rain. The bright red swings and, green and yellow slides mixing together to create the perfect attraction for a child or...
a teen going through the works in my case.
This place gives me extreme comfort and allows me to leave my problems so I can live in this temporary moment.
As I get close to the playground I instantly take notice of the tower next to one of the slides.
It takes me to a time when things were complicated but the stressless kind. The kind where it was just some chapter of life which everyone had to have at some point. And moments like those remind me that there is no such thing as easy or hard in life. Just different levels of "it's complicated".
And right now I needed level stressless.
So my feet moved on their own again, climbing up the stairs to the tower to sit in a similar place from before.
I lead back in the way that I remembered as well and take in my surrounds from a similar yet different point of view.
The air seems lighter and my body feels more at ease as I glance at the metal pole separating the slide and tower. My face begins to tingle as a smile wrinkles the surround.
Then I close my eyes.
And he appears.
"Nevaeh."
⚀ ⚀ ⚀ ⚀
Leon Norton
So Kahlil was right, she's exactly where he said. Only she's not acting like how they'd expected.
Leon glances at the other to and can already tell what they're thinking.
She's officially lost it.
But that's not what he sees.
He sighs, elbowing Kahlil before nodding to her. He furrows his eyebrows not seeming to understand so Leon sighs again before mouthing 'get her attention'.
Though he's still utterly confused and lost he complies.
"Nevaeh."
She snaps back to reality and little startled then glances wide-eyed at the boys before her. Then without missing a beat her face contorts into a deep frown before it turns away from them, taking her eyes with her.
"Go away."
He sighs, being the first one to step forward.
"Nevaeh," He pauses to glaze over her features.
bent but not broken.
"I know you're hurt and confused but I'm not going to apologize for what I said." She tenses up as the other to look as Leon as if he's crazy.
"I care about you too much and know even more about this douche to let you get entangled with him again." He voice softens to display his sincerity. Then for the longest second carries through the air before she relaxes her body in defeat.
"I told Khalil and Adriano about him so they both understand just as much as I do how wrong it is for you to be back with him." The other two nod along with Leon as Nevaeh glances at them.
"Honestly, you should leave while you still can." She shakes her head her expression becoming more hard.
"No, you don't understand. He was the first person I've ever loved, my first and only love!"
This ticks Leon off causing his teeth to grind against one another and his fists to clench into a pale white but before he lashes out he's reminded of the person next to him.
Cautiously he looks towards Khalil and catches his features sharpen, her words obviously hitting a nerve though the clueless kid doesn't exactly know why or what. Hey
"You didn't see what I saw, he's ch-"
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me!" Khalil's outburst startles everyone as he spits acid at the ground.
"Niggas like him don't just change Nevaeh, he doesn't love you! He never fucking did! Can't you see that he's just manipulating you?" Her face drops ever so softly but she remains silent. This causes Kahlil to get more furious. So Leon tries to calm him down.
Adriano takes this opportunity to look her over and evaluate her before finally raising an eyebrow in question.
"What's the story?" She furrows her eyebrows.
"Well, Leon already told you didn't he."
"From your point of view." They stare each other down for a minute before she decides that nothing can be lost or gain from a little story time.
So she tells them. How it began at the fight club, what lead to them dating, about his sexual persistence, the actual deed then how he left.
"And that's why I have all these tattoos and piercings. I'm not one to self harm when dealing with depression or trauma so I went with the second best thing." Her story and confession left them all shaking in rage.
Even though Leon has heard the story before it still gets to him especially since he's never gotten all the details until now.
Nevaeh notices the sudden toxic change of the atmosphere and begins rambling about how he's changed and feels horrible for what he did and he loves her which only causes their anger to increase until one of them snap.
"Do you even know that you're fucking a cold blooded criminal?!" Adriano's eyes widened as he looks to Leon as Nevaeh's whole person changes. He cursed under his breath.
She's Nevy now.
"What the fuck are you going on about?" Once Khalil is over his meltdown he realizes what he did and turns to Leon with regretful eyes.
Nevaeh's follow.
"Leon, what is Khalil talking about?" He sighs.
"Hunter's in a gang." He looks away from her, not able to handle her expression.
"He's killed people, Nevaeh, he's a criminal." She becomes frozen in shock as she tries to understand what the two just told her. She then looks to Adriano who only nods as a response.
A couple moments past before her features turn deadly.
"You're lying, all of you! Just a bunch of fucking liars!"
"Nevaeh-"
"Get that he's done some bad things in the past but murder, really! You guys are sick!"
"No, just let us expl-"
"Save it!" Furious with all three of them, she leaves and none of them try to stop her.
⚀ ⚀ ⚀ ⚀
They really hit a new low today.
I frown, rubbing my face before returning my hand to the wheel.
I mean, I get it, Hunter wasn't the best of people back then he did many heartless things but a gang member? A Murderer? That's just farfetched.
"Nevy," I glance over for a second, humming in response.
"Are you okay?" I sigh, releasing the grip I didn't know I had on the steering wheel.
"Yes, Sammy, I'm fine." He frowns.
"You don't seem fine." I don't respond as I park my car in the driveway.
Sammy is way too young to get involved with his big sister's fucked up problems. He's already been through enough because of me, I don't need him carrying anymore stress on his little damaged shoulders.
All the little kids begin to file out, Victoria helping Gina out of her carseat. Samuel opens the door and puts one foot out before he turns back to me with a raised eyebrow.
"Aren't you coming in?" I shake my head, causing his frown to deepen.
"I'm heading out, can you babysit til I get back?" He stares at me for the longest time, probably wanting to say so many things but instead he looks away and nods softly.
I whisper a 'thank you' before he shuts the door and walks inside the house.
My shoulders drop as soon as he shuts the door.
I can't be home and act normal right now, I need to get away.