Dear diary,
I was hoping this would never happen again. I thought I was over it. I thought I became stronger. A long time ago, I promised myself I'd never let anyone make me cry. And here I am... My parents are mad at me, and so is one of 2 friends that I have here, and for some reason probably at least half of the school hates me. So, diary, what are we gonna do?

I threw the diary under my bed right after writing that. I wasn't going to help anyway.

I guess that I just wanted to get it off my chest, but I had no one to talk to.

Well, there was still Jake, but I already took half of his day and I didn't want to bother him.

* * * * *

Regret. Guilt. Those things were on my mind for the rest of the day.

I've regretted that I left the school.

I felt guilty about not telling Mary and not letting my parents know.

Even tho it's my life and I'm the only one who should control it, I still feel like I'm not the only one who controls it.

The last thing I remember is that I cried myself to sleep that night

* * * * *

In the morning, I refused to talk to my parents.

Yeah, I know, I'm stubborn as hell. But they made me break my vow, they better feel guilty about it.

"You're really not gonna talk to us? Not even a goodbye?" dad asked seconds before I left. I shook my head.

"Honey, we're sorry that we overreacted, but try to look at it from our view. We were dead scared. "mum added.

"Even if you're angry, just remember that we love you, okay? No matter what, we're always gonna love you and be there for you..." dad stated, looking me right in the eyes. I nodded, smiled, and left.

* * * * *

It's not like I didn't expect it. But I still got a little surprised when Mary almost killed me for not letting her know that I left.

"Why didn't you tell me? Don't you trust me? " she asked me during the break before our second lesson.

"Of course I trust you, I just totally forgot. We were having fun and I was thinking about neither my parents nor about you. " I explained.

She looked even more pissed than before. "Oh, so you were having fun? With him? Why not me, huh? Do you think that he likes you? Just wait, you'll see that he is just like everyone else. Don't you see then the only one you have here?"

That hurt.

But what hurts, even more, was that she was right

. I really didn't have anyone else, besides her.

"I'm sorry...I really am...."

"You better be. I was scared shitless. God, I'm sorry too, come here," she opened her arms for a hug. I gotta admit, I was never a fan of hugging, but if it's gonna fix our friendship, I'm willing to make an exception.

"From now on, we'll tell each other when something happens, okay?" I nodded. Because, why not? It would be nice to have somebody to talk to, about everything.

* * * * *

It was lunch break. I was sitting in the cafeteria, Mary was opposite me.

And suddenly, everything went silent.

I turned my head, only to see Candice standing by our table. I gulped.

"May I help you somehow?" I said, trying to sound as confident as possible.

"So Freddie Mercury?" she stated. At first, I didn't know what she was talking about.

But then I remembered.

My face became pale.

For a moment, I stopped caring about Candice and my eyes searched for Jake.

I saw him sitting a few tables away from us. As soon as he noticed me, his eyes widened and he was even paler than me.

Why would he do that? Why would he betray me like that?

Suddenly only one thing was on my mind - I knew I shouldn't have trusted him so easily...

"You're so done," Candice said in a hateful tone and walked away, but I could barely hear her.

My eyes were still fixed on Jake. I stood up and I just wanted to walk away.

I heard Mary screaming something at me, but that could wait. I just needed to be alone for a while.

Just as I was leaving the cafeteria, someone grabbed my hand. I didn't even have to look, I knew exactly who it was.

"Let go of me..." I said quietly.

"I'm sorry... So, so sorry..." Jake said in return.

"No, you're not. And even if you are, I don't care. I trusted you! I thought we were friends!" I said a little louder and tried to free my hand, but he didn't let go, altho he made sure not to hold me too tightly.

"We are friends Aila! But I had no other choice!"

"I don't wanna hear it. Don't you understand? Now she hates me even more. And she's going to make sure that everyone else hates me too..." He looked around and that he gave me a pleading stare.

"Can we please go somewhere more private? I just want to talk about this, please Aila..." I looked around us just like he did just to see the whole cafeteria looking at us.

"Lead the way then..." After I said that, he smiled and walked out of the cafeteria.

I don't know whether he smiled because he got what he wanted or because he knew that if I were the one leading the way, we'd end up in some trash bin.

He led us to an empty classroom and closed the door after that.

"You hate me now, you have a full right to do so. I know that I've ruined your school life here, but I'm still selfish enough to ask you to let me explain myself," he said in one breath.

"Go ahead"

"She is my sister..." Wait, what?

That snake is a sister of this sweetheart? In that case, they are like heaven and hell.

"Well, my step-sister," he added shortly after.

"But that still doesn't explain this situation. Were you on her side all along, waiting for me to say something about her to give her a reason to make a fool of me?"

"No, no way! I hate her, and I hate the fact that she's my sister. Yesterday when I came home, she threatened me to tell her where I've been. She told me if I didn't tell her everything, she wouldn't hesitate to hurt you even more. I didn't want to risk that, so I told her. And I regret it so, so much. I'm so sorry... "I could see tears pricking in his eyes. What was I supposed to do? He basically betrayed me, but for my own good.

" And what do you expect me to do? What am I supposed to do now? " I asked him because honestly, I had no clue.

" I won't let her hurt you, that's for sure. She might talk shit about you, but I'll always be on your side. Can we please stay friends?"

Something in his voice told me that he was being honest.

" Sure. Oh my God, come here, "I said and hugged him tightly.

"Okay. We'll figure this out somehow. The only thing we need to do is to keep our friendship a secret from Candice..."

Fuck, I hate her even more now.

"Okay. "

And with that being said, we left the classroom and parted our ways. I returned to sit next to Mary.

"What were you talking about?" she asked as soon as I sat down.

"Well, we had to clear some things between us..." I said, simply because this was only between me and Jack. I know that we agreed to tell everything to each other, but this wasn't only my thing to tell her.

"You're still gonna keep talking to him? Even after what he did?" I nodded because my mouth was full of food.

" I don't think you should... He chickened out once, how can you be sure he won't do it again?"

"I fruft mim" I mumbled with my mouth still full.

Mary didn't look happy about it, but she didn't say anything else. Just before I headed to my next period, I got a message from Jake

Jake: Candice thinks we argued and we're no longer in touch. Hopefully, she won't find out.

Aila: Great :)

I noticed another message.

Unknown: Still refuse my help? Trust me, I can make everything better.

That send shivers down my spine. It was the same number as before, but this message was sent just a few minutes ago, most likely after that not-so-private conversation with Candice.

It must be someone from school. I should probably tell somebody.

Maybe dad would be able to track down that number.

But who could that be? And how could they make it alright?

What if that person really just wanted to help me?

Come to think about it, it might just be someone really shy and prefers texting to talk?

* * * * *

I came home totally exhausted.

Mentally exhausted. All that shit with Candice is just so complicated and it literally sucks the energy out of my body.

For at least a month, I should let my mind rest and get better again.

"Dad, I'm home!" I announced when I got home. But instead of dad, I saw mom.

That was strange, she was supposed to be at work.

I instantly know something was wrong when I saw her worried face and teary eyes.

"What happened?" I asked in a shaky voice.

"Aila, honey. Grandma, she... She passed away..."

_________________________________________

A/N - 👩‍🦳 ❌... Let's just say that some things have to end for others to begin