“What’s wrong with Amo’s personality? He’s never really done anything.”
He has to me… But Chloe decided to keep that information to herself.
“And that was pre-pubescent Amo. Puberty Amo will be a jerk like them. I mean, come on, he looks scary now.” Chloe turned her head back to stare at him for a moment. “Like a beast.”
Twenty
…
Present Day
When the nightmare ended and Chloe came to, she found herself clutching the jacket around her arms in desperation. Quickly, she went to wipe away the tears that had escaped during her episode, but there weren’t any. It was only her imagination. Tears hadn’t crossed her face in years. However, she could still feel them pouring out of her eyes and down her face from that night as if they were real. Now they were nothing but ghost tears.
With her eyelids growing heavier by the second, she lay down on her bed. It wasn’t until she snuggled up to the fabric and inhaled Amo’s scent that she realized she was using his jacket like it was her blanket. Not only that, but she had yet to let go of Amo’s jacket from the moment he had draped it over her shoulders earlier that night.
Pulling it tightly around her, she had a strange feeling come over her that she couldn’t understand nor realize what it was. It was something she hadn’t felt in a long time because it wasn’t of an evil nature. It was a feeling of contentment, of safety and security, making her feel like she could sleep … for once without the nightmares … without the devil haunting her …
… just… sleep, feeling…
…
…
…
lov—
Twenty-One
Going Back One More Time
Senior Year
Chloe hadn’t gotten an ounce of sleep the night before, and looking at her refection in the mirror, she could tell. Her gray eyes looked exhausted, and her skin was even paler than usual. To put it simply, she looked rough, and she highly doubted makeup was going to help. She was beginning to feel sick in the stomach, thinking about going back one more time to school.
After going through it for three and half years, you would think it had gotten easier, but it hadn’t. Hearing the word “freak” still felt as hurtful as it had the first time she had heard it come out of Cassandra’s mouth. The only reason she had survived this long was because of Elle, and she knew it.
Chloe still had yet to forgive herself that Elle still attended Legacy Prep High because of her. In fact, she still hated herself for it to this day.
It had gotten only worse for Elle since she had decided to stay. Some of the students had found out she worked at the diner, and since then, she was “gifted” the new name of “waitress.” Cassandra and Sebastian had had a field day when they’d found out and had even gone to her work just so she could serve them while they treated her like garbage.
Many times, Chloe had begged Elle to leave and just forget about her, but she couldn’t ever get her to. Chloe was trapped, and sometimes, she would wonder if it were all worth it, but Elle would never let her give up. Consequently, every day, she would get up and face her demons alongside Elle.
We’re so close. There was no giving up now. They had only one semester left of high school, and today was their first day back from Christmas break. Just one semester was between them and college. Chloe was going to a college as far away as possible, and she hoped Elle was going with her.
She had nothing here for her, and she wanted to put her family, the people and place of Kansas City behind her.
Chloe stared at her refection, looking at the deep scar that she still carried. Forever.
If she and Elle could keep their heads down for just one final semester, then they might just make it out of the hellhole alive.
* * *
Looking at Elle’s food all over the cafeteria floor had her frozen in place.
“Go on, clean it up, waitress,” Cassandra told Elle after she had pushed Elle’s food off the table.
The cafeteria had gone quiet, everyone wondering what Elle would do. Chloe wondered how Elle would respond, as well, but she didn’t respond. Instead, it was like she ignored Cassandra.
Panic started setting in, and Chloe began to realize this was not going to end well.
“Bitch, I know you hear me.”
She tried to move out of the way when Cassandra grabbed her plate and held it above her head, but Cassandra’s two carbon copy best friends came to stand on both sides of her. Chloe sat back down instantly from the fear of them touching her to force her back down.
Cassandra’s high voice rang in her ear, “Clean up the mess like a waitress is supposed to do, or the little freak will have her own mess to clean up.”
Chloe began wringing her hands, making her nails dig deep into her palms, always wishing for the pain to help get rid of the terror.
When Sebastian hit Elle in the face with a washrag, Elle glanced at Chloe before she started cleaning up the mess. It took a lot for her to get on the ground in front of the whole cafeteria to clean it up, but she had been backed into a corner and just wanted to get Chloe out without any harm coming to her.
Elle cleaned it quickly, not wasting any time.
“Come on, Chloe. Let’s go.”
Seeing Elle’s outreached hand was what got her to stop wringing her hands.
“Sorry, you missed a spot.” Cassandra started to tip the plate over Chloe’s head.
Without even thinking, Elle hit the plate as fast as she could, the contents covering Cassandra.