7. ALIVE

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FOR THE PAST TWO WEEKS, I was still not used to how everyone at school looked at me with hatred and love, and acknowledged me like I was part of the cool kids. Travis and I haven't been talking except when needed to, like being seated together and sometimes partnered up by teachers on small activities, and when we're at the school's hallways, cafeteria, and outside of it too.

He has been trying to get me to talk to him ever since I started ignoring him when given the chance to but not about what happened. No, he was too prideful to apologize or talk about the problem. Instead, he kept talking to me about small stupid things like the weather or if I could help him with some of the topics on Biology and English since we were in the same class.

Shane, the person between me and Travis on our designated seats, has been passing me notes from Travis which contained useless shit like:

hey, can you and this guy switch places?

im bored pls help me

talk to me sammy

aaaaaAAAAAAAaAaaA

You could imagine the headache I was experiencing reading that last note from him.

He was writing more but thankfully, Mrs. Saunders, our AP English teacher, came inside the room with the same old chirpy attitude that made everyone love her. She was fun and yet, at the same time, has the right amount of strictness when it came to her students. You can easily talk to her and she'll listen and not complain at all.

"Alright, who here knows the classic literature book, Pride and Prejudice?" Half of the class raised their hands, me included. She smiled. "Okay, that's good. So, for this project, you all will be picking one to three scenes and reenacting it in about ten to fifteen minutes. You wouldn't be needing costumes, all you need to do is act good. You'll be needing to present this a week from now so make sure to practice hard. I won't pick your partner this time. Now, go ahead and pick your own pair and talk about what scene or scenes you're going."

Everyone crowded someone. Some crowded people who they knew that were in the theatre club and were the best in acting, some crowded the popular kids, and I was no exception to this.

There were about five guys surrounding me, fighting with each other on who gets to be my partner. I placed a smile on my face and kept telling them to stop arguing calmly when all I wanted was to slap them with my notebook and yell at them to get the hell away from me.

"Get the hell away from her," Travis's booming voice scared them all, and without even a second, they walked—more like ran away from me. He shook his head, sitting in Shane's chair when he got up and partnered up with someone else. "We should partner up. People would expect us to."

Without a word, I nodded.

He gave a weak smile, leaning over to me slightly. "So, what scene do you want to do?"

There were a lot of good scenes in Pride and Prejudice. I have read the book and watched the movie too—the one where Kiera Knightly starred in it. I particularly loved how she cared for her sisters and wanted to protect them and how she's headstrong, very blunt about things that not many people would speak about.

"Did you read the book?" I asked, cocking a brow.

He shook his head. "But I did watch the movie. Elizabeth made me years ago."

Even if I was intrigued on how Elizabeth managed to do that, I couldn't help but speak nothing about it. We weren't friends. I was just someone whom he blackmailed because I was stupid enough to not lock the door when I got to my room after I ran away from fighting him.

We were never going to be friends.

"We can just play the scene where Elizabeth and Darcy were fighting when he told her he loved her," I suggested. It was one of the best parts of the story, and it would be foolish not to choose it.

He nodded. "Yeah, okay. Um, is that scene enough for it to be ten minutes?"

"If we use the script of the book, yeah, it will be," I replied. "You can search it up. I'm sure they have that."

It was much easier to play the part of an angry Elizabeth Bennett than to play her being undeniably in love with him after knowing the truth. I guess I can channel the emotion easy because of my circumstance.

Sue me for holding a grudge. You just don't forget something like that.

We sat next to each other for a long time in silence while others were already practicing some lines that would work for them.

"Listen, Sammy," he started but was eventually cut off by the loud ring of the bell.

I gave him a small peck on the cheek and forced out a smile. "Catch you later, babe," I said it loud enough for the people surrounding us could hear.

Grabbing my stuff, I walked out, having stares follow me as I did.

* * * *

I DIDN'T BOTHER showing up at the cafeteria to eat lunch with them. I decided to skip school when the bell rang for lunch and it didn't go unnoticed. Sean was texting me asking where I was and I just responded with a "not there" and didn't answer to any other of his questions then.

I was back at mid-park, seated on one of the swings an just burying my foot in the grass, not minding other people there.

Truth is, besides being angry all the time at Travis (which was getting tiring), I needed a break in being Travis Mason's Girlfriend. I needed to be me again; and I knew returning here would give me some comfort at least.

"You're as pretty as the day we met."

That voice. It can't be.

I stood still, chills crawling down my spine. I couldn't move.

His voice was still the same—gruff and deep but he sounded tired, as if he's been looking for me for all of the years that passed.

Maybe I was hallucinating, hearing things like a crazy person. There was no way that he was behind me. I was told he was dead. There could be any other possibility for it to happen.

And yet, I was too afraid to turn around and confirm what I as thinking.

"Amelia," he whispered. I could feel his presence behind me like a violent ghost lingering, like a predator surrounding it's prey. "It's me."

I closed my eyes, telling myself that if I turn around, he'll be gone over and over again. There was no way that he's alive, he couldn't be.

And when I did grab the courage to turn around, there was nobody there.

On the way back home, I shrugged off what happened as just a moment of weakness for my past to just play with my hearing or someone was just playing a prank, a stupid prank.

Mom, Dad, and Sean were all at the dining table, eating and talking about his football when they stopped and saw me coming inside the house. Mom and Sean stayed silent while, of course, my dad started talking.

"Where have you been?" He was mad, alright but I didn't really care.

From the day I was having, I was in no mood to be scolded by a father who didn't even raise his daughter and who left my mother alone on long period of days just to sleep with his girlfriend, who was his secretary.

He had no right to tell me where I have been.

But nevertheless, I answered him with a simple, "Out."

"Well, you better have an excuse because the school called," he replied, cocking his brow at me. "They said that you didn't show up after lunch was over. They said something about maybe your boyfriend influencing you. What's that all about?"

My mom's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "You have a boyfriend? Is it Travis?"

Giving my mom a wink, I turned to dad, shaking my head at him. "It isn't really any of your business."

The second I tried heading for the stairs, he stood up and walked over to me, his nose flared. "How fucking dare you?" Then, before I knew it, my cheek stung like a bitch and his hand was still up in the air.

"Jesus, Dad!" Sean ran over to me, his hands immediately cupping my face to observe what he had done. "You just slapped her!"

My eyes were trained with my father's. It was obvious that he was still vehemently angry but I didn't care. I was used to it. Growing up with a dad who focused more on Sean, he could see every mistake that I would do and would "correct" it. Mostly by pulling me by the hair and slapping me countless of times, and sometimes just plain ol' throwing things at me, or throwing me somewhere.

"Brian!" Mom yelled out, standing up slowly as she gripped the edge of the table. "Don't hurt her. She's your daughter for Christ's sake."

Dad shook his head, narrowing his eyes at me. "She should know better than to talk to me like that, then."

I walked back, pulling myself away from Sean's hands. My instincts were clawing my insides, wanting to get revenge by punching him from all the things he did to me but I knew that I couldn't do that, not when Mom and Sean were there with us. I would never win to any of the fights that he started.

"I'll be home late," I faced my brother and mom. "Don't wait up for me."

They called after but it was too late. I was already running out of the door.




"You okay?" Alex handed over my mug of coffee. When I didn't answer his question, he sat down next to me and turned my face to the left. "Let me see."

I shook away his hand. "Don't bother. It's not like I haven't got used to being beaten up."

"Well, it's bruising," he replied, his lips pressed into a grim line. "You can sleep here if you want to. Take my bed. I can just sleep here on the couch."

Even if I didn't want to go home, I knew that I had to. I couldn't leave mom or Sean alone even if I knew that they were safe with dad. And I knew that if I stayed here, there was going to be too much memories as I laid on that bed. "I just needed to go somewhere. I'll leave soon, anyway. Don't really want to intrude."

He nodded, not pushing it further and I was thankful. "Okay. Do you want to watch Mission Imposible and order Indian food?"

Smiling, I took a sip of the coffee. "Okay."

As he stood up and walked to make a phone call, my phone buzzed. I had been ignoring it on the way here, knowing that it was Sean telling me to go back. I guess I should tell him where I was before he starts getting worried about me.

Pulling out my phone from my pocket, the first thing I see is a recent text from Travis.

ur brother called. asked if i was w u. u ok? - T

I replied back, immediately.

Am fine. I'll text him where I am. - S

call me after. – T

Why would he want me to call him?

Responding first to Sean's worried and capitalized texts on where I was, he eventually told me to be careful and that I should stay with Alex for the night. After, I don't bother questioning Travis and just called him.

He answered on the second ring. "Are you okay?"

My brows furrowed. "I just told you that I'm fine, Travis. What do you want?"

He cleared his throat, as if getting ready to say something. "Do you want to practice at my house tomorrow?"

Oh. Right. I had forgotten that I was going to present a scene with him for Mrs. Saunders. "Sure. Is that all?"

"I'm sorry," He blurted out.

"For what?"

"For what I did to you before this." He responded, his voice going softer. It was unusual to hear him like this. "I should have stopped Christi and other people who made fun at your mom's disease and you. You didn't deserve those."

"You're right," I snapped. "I didn't but sorry doesn't take away what you did or what any of them did. Next time you're going to apologize, try harder."

Then, I hung up and spent the night with Alex watching a bunch of Tom Cruise movies, eating Indian food, chips, and then, eventually, falling asleep right in his arms at the couch.

Everything was bad, but at least it ended good when Alex held me.

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