Love Short Story – Change is Good
Photo credit: taliesin from morguefile.com
“I hate you! I hate you with all of my heart Jay!… I thought you were my best friend!” Alexis screams at me with tears in her eyes. “Why don’t you go ruin somebody else’s birthday, since you already ruined mine!” I feel a pang of guilt.. it’s her birthday.. and I called her stupid.. I really don’t think she’s stupid. The popular kids wanted me to say it, they wouldn’t talk to me unless I did. I like Alexis, I really do. All of the popular kids are laughing at her, and her face is red.
“Stop laughing at her! Stop! She’s not stupid! She’s the smartest girl I know!” I scream and run out of the lunchroom after her. “Alexis! Alexis wait please!” I scream after her and try to catch up. “You can hate me all you want, but not until after I give you your present.” she stops and turns towards me, her eyes red from crying. I walk up to her and take the necklace out of my pocket and clasp it around her neck. She gently touches the silver ‘A’ and looks up at me. “Happy Birthday Alexis.” I say softly and kiss her cheek. She just turns around and walks away from me.
I wake up in my own bed, sweating. I look down, at my still 17 year old body and sigh. The last time I saw Alexis, I was nine years old. She came to the school the next day with a black eye and told everyone that I called her ugly; and punched her in the eye. Then she transferred schools. I got the popularity I had always wanted; and in return, lost my best friend. I’m still popular now, and I don’t think of how Alexis feels. I’ve had many girlfriends, and I’m known as a player. The other kids at school have me say rude things to her on facebook from time to time. I’ve grown to laugh at the jokes, they really are funny. I yawn and look over to the clock, seeing that it’s only 11pm I roll back over and close my eyes.
“Alexis! Come downstairs it’s time for dinner!” a lady’s voice shouts. I look around to see myself standing in Alexis’ room. I see her sitting on her bed and gasp. Her arm.. is drenched in blood. The source of the blood, is multiple gashes in her arm. There are some that are scabbed over, and some healed. She’s sickly thin and deathly pale. Her skin is as white as snow. Around her neck, is the necklace I gave her so many years ago. She walks over to her dresser, and takes out medical supplies. Then she cleans out the cuts before wrapping them up as if it were a routine. I walk over to her computer and look at the screen. Someone hacked my account… and told her to kill herself.
“I’m not hungry mom.” she says with no emotion. She sits down at the computer and gazes at the screen and I hear her whisper, “Jay… what happened to the sweet boy I knew? I wish you would change… life has never been the same…” I feel horrible… She sighs and then says to herself, “I used to like you so much… and I gave that up for your popularity, and this is what you do. You’re just a jerk, and you deserve to rot in hell.”
Once again I wake up in my bed, my face soaked in tears. The clock says 2am. I get up out of my bed and pace my room. It has to be just a dream.. it has to be. She couldn’t possibly be that sad… But it felt so real… Then I remember the facebook post. I quickly turn on my computer, and open facebook. I log in to see this fakebookquotes.appspot.com/t/vrzpp. I delete the post and change my password. Then I shut off my computer and walk over to my bed. I lay down on my back, looking up to the ceiling, deep in thought.
“I wish I had never lived!” Alexis screams into the air. I quickly look to her calender to see the date as January 5th. That’s three days from now. Then I check her computer screen, facebook once again open. This time, a picture, of Alexis. It’s been edited, to make her look… dead. The picture has been posted by what seems to be my account. The caption on the photo… is, ‘My one wish’ Alexis walks back over to the computer, face soaked in tears. She sits in the chair and starts a video. “Jay, I want you to know, that I hope you’re happy with yourself.” Then she opens her drawer and pulls out a gun. Placing it up to her head she says, “Goodbye lovelies.” Then, she slowly pulls the trigger and…
“No!” I jolt awake in bed, terrified. I can never forget the image I just saw. I run my hands through my hair, taking a deep breath. Then I get up out of bed, pacing back and forth, trying to calm down. The clock says 7am, I missed the bus to school. But that doesn’t matter right now. What matters right now, is that I make sure what I just saw, doesn’t happen. So I go on facebook, and post this.
fakebookquotes.appspot.com/t/xTTSn I’m tired of being a ‘cool kid’ all it means is being a jerk. Today, I am going to talk to Alexis, in person. I have to apologize, even if she does hate me. I still would never be able to live with myself if she were to die.
Chapter Two
“Alexis!” I yell out, recognizing the girl from my nightmares. I run after her, noticing that she didn’t hear me. She has headphones in her ears, and she’s staring down at her phone. I gently tap her shoulder and she jumps and turns around, looking scared at first. “Alexis.. I’m not going to hurt you, I swear. I just need to talk to you, please. I know you think I’m just a jerk, but I swear, I’ve changed.. and, I need you to see something, can I use your phone quickly?” I ask and she hesitantly hands it over.
“You’re not going to sabotage any future I might have, are you?” she asks me in a worried tone. I shake my head and go to my last post on facebook and hand her phone back to her. “Why would you suddenly want to be normal again? Weren’t you happy being popular? This is some kind of trick, isn’t it?” she says, her voice rising in anger.
“Alexis.” I say and gently grasp her hand, “I never want to be popular, unless you’re going to be standing right next to me, and we are popular together. I was stupid to give up our friendship, I hate myself for it.” Then I pull her over to the bench in front of the park and gently sit her on my lap, holding her close to me. “Remember, how I sat here with you for hours, just holding you while you cried. Your goldfish had died, and I comforted you until you weren’t sad anymore.” she nods as a tear rolls down her cheek. Then I gently touch the silver necklace I gave her. “And remember when I gave this to you, for your 9th birthday. All I wanted to do when you walked away, was to run after you and stop you.” Another tear rolls down her cheek and I gently wipe it away with my hand.
“I told all the kids you called me ugly.. and then I transferred schools. I thought you hated me, until I got that request on facebook. I had hoped that you had changed. Until the jokes started.. Jay I sat and cried for hours! How could you do that?” she says in an elevated voice. “Do you know what kind of pain I’ve been going through? Of course not.. because you never thought about it.”
“Alexis… I was stupid, and immature and wrong.. and…” I gently roll up her sleeve, exposing one of her cuts. “You should have never taken it out on yourself. I feel horrible for everything Alexis, you were my best friend.” I feel the tears building up in my eyes and my voice gets shaky. “I was so stupid, I’m an idiot… Alexis, you were everything to me. You knew everything about me.. and I knew everything about you. Ever since you left, I’ve never had a best friend. You were always still my best friend in my heart.”
“Jay, I think we need to catch up, fill in some details. Also, it’s freezing outside, how about we go get something to eat?” then I hear her stomach growl and remember the other detail from last night. She hasn’t been eating. I nod and then we get up off of the bench. “Where to?” she asks, starting to walk. I walk next to her and gently intertwine our fingers. “Should we go to McDonalds, like when we were little?” she asks and I shake my head. “But that’s where we always went.” she protests.
“Let’s go somewhere different this time. Let’s change things up.” then I steer her in the direction of the pizza shop. “This is the one place that the popular kids would kill me if they saw me at. I’ve always wanted to try their pizza.” I say with a smirk. I walk her to the pizza shop and when we get there I walk ahead of her to the door. Holding the door open for her I say, “Shall we?” and she smiles and nods. I allow her to walk in before walking next to her and sliding my arm around her waist.
Chapter Three
“Alexis!” I yell, laughing lightly. “Come on. You take forever! It’s not like my mom will hate you if your hair isn’t curled perfectly! You always look beautiful! Now get your butt down here before I have to go up there to get you!” Alexis and I have been together for three months now. She is now a healthy weight, eating properly, and no longer cutting. Alexis and I are both very happy with our lives now. I transferred from my old school to her school; we both have a lot of friends. We are still each others’ best friends and always will be. I’m bringing her to my moms’ house, to introduce her to my mom again.
“Okay I’m coming down now Mr. Grumpy pants,” she says in a mocking tone. When she walks down the stairs I stare in awe. She is absolutely breath taking in every way. “Do I look okay?” she asks, turning in a 360 circle.
“You look absolutely stunning Sweetheart. Are you ready to go? I’m sure my mom is going to love you.” I say and walk up to her, hugging her gently. “Almost as much as I love you,” I say softly before kissing her cheek. She blushes and smiles.
“I love you too Jay,” she says, causing me to smile. The best feeling in the world is knowing that the person you love also loves you in return. My mom doesn’t know who I have been hanging out with constantly for the past few months; I wanted it to be a surprise. “Let’s go have dinner with your wonderful mom.”
“You’re such a suck up.” I say and chuckle, sticking my tongue out at her. Then I gently grab her hand, “Are you ready?” I ask, and she nods. Then I walk with her out to my car and open her door for her and close it before walking over to my own side. We drive to my mom’s house engaging in small talk, both of us a little nervous. When we get there I walk with her up to the door and open it to find my mom waiting for me in the living room.
“Hello Jay. Who is this pretty little lady you brought home with you?” my mom says with a smile. I walk over to her and hug her, kissing her cheek before walking back over to Alexis. Then taking her hand and guiding her into the living room with me.
“Mom, this is Alexis. She’s my beautiful girlfriend who I love very much. She’s the reason I have been out of the house more than I have been in it lately,” I say and smile over at her. “You remember her, right mom? She used to be at our house all the time when I was little.”
“Of course I remember Alexis, come here honey! Give me a hug. Oh it’s been so long!” my mom says and I smile. “Oh Jay I used to tell you that you two were perfect for each other!” I feel my face heat up as a blush rises up my neck to my cheeks. Alexis walks over to my mom and hugs her, also blushing, but only a light pink.
“I’ve missed you too Mrs. Byers, it’s nice to finally see you again,” Alexis says while hugging my mom. Looking at her, bonding with my mother, I knew I made the right choice. Then Alexis looks around the room. “I see you gave made some changes around the house.”
“Oh yes, I quite like them. Have you seen Jay’s room? He repainted it and got it all newly decorated!” my mom says and turns towards me. “Jay show her your room, you two must want privacy.” I feel my face heat up again as Alexis returns to my side and intertwines my fingers with hers. I guide her up to my room and open the door.
“Sorry for the mess,” I say, slightly embarrassed to have her in my messy room. I quickly pick up a few things and shove them in my closet, and then I sit on my bed. She looks around and smiles when she finds a picture of us at her 5th birthday party on my bedside table. I guess I kind of forgot that it was there.
“Oh it’s fine. I remember when you had your room all Spider Man themed. You had the pillowcases, the blankets, sheets and everything,” she says and laughs. “You and your room have both changed quite a lot.”
I walk over to her and wrap my arms around her waist. She responds by loosely wrapping her arms around my neck. “Yes, but change is good.” I say and softly kiss her on the lips. Knowing that I have everything that I could have ever wanted, right here in my arms. One change made my whole life and Alexis’ life a whole lot better.
__END__
