"one last breath till the tears start to wither."

Journal Entry #539

I've learned that it takes years to build up trust, and it only takes suspicion, not proof, to destroy it. 

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"Hey, Dakota, I have to tell you something." Soda's face looked as if it was stone, but his eyes told me something different. He looked extremely upset.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What's up?"

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, as if he were preparing himself for a huge football game. "I..... can't go out with you."

I felt my stomach drop and I frowned. "Why not?"

He bit his lip as tears stung his baby blue eyes. "I'm back with Sandy. I'm sorry, Dakota."

It took me awhile to process the words that slipped out of his pink lips and those words were bullets, me the target.

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from crying. I am not going to let him see me cry. "You're such an ass, Sodapop Curtis!" I snapped, pushing him out of the way as I ran towards Andrew's house.

He may be angry at me, but I need him.

I entered the house and slammed the door as tears fell continuously down my face. Andrew ran into the living room, an upset look on his face. "Dakota, what happened?"

"Soda, h-he's back with Sandy! After he told me he loved me!" I sobbed into his chest as he caressed the back of my hair trying to get me to calm down.

He released me and as soon as I glanced up to look at him, he quickly turned away. I furrowed my eyebrows, confused, but shook it off. I wiped my tears off and collapsed on the sofa, wanting to curl up in a ball.

Andrew frowned. "I'm sorry, Dakota."

I shook my head. "I should be the one saying sorry. I wasn't a good friend, but I promise that's going to change."

Andrew sighed. "You're a better friend than you think." He walked away, leaving me in the living room.

What the hell is up with him?

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Sodapop

"Why are you so down in the dumps today?" Steve questioned as he opened a can of beer, taking a sip of it.

I kept my gaze towards the ground, not sure if I should say anything to Steve, since he has the biggest mouth besides Two-Bit.

"I told Dakota I got back with Sandy." My voice was barely above a whisper, but I knew Steve heard every word I said because of his reaction.

"YOU WHAT?!" He shouted, dropping his beer can all over the concrete.

I sighed, nodding my head. "I did it so she could go back to Andrew. She deserves Andrew more than me anyway."

Steve rolled his eyes and scoffed, shaking his head. He knocked on my forehead. "Earth to Soda, I don't think you have a brain in there. That is the stupidest thing I ever heard!"

"You don't understand, Steve."

Steve laughed in a sarcastic manner. "No, I think I do. You're doing this because you think it's the right thing to do, but really when she finds out, she's going to be even more hurt and she probably will never talk to you again."

I shrugged. "She won't find out."

Steve shook his head. "She'll connect the dots sooner or later, and when she does, you're going to regret it."

I sighed and leaned my head against the car, closing my eyes. "Steve, can you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Run me over with this car you're workin' on."

He chuckled from underneath it. "Well, I can't do that. If I did, I wouldn't be able to see Dakota murder you."

"What a great friend you are." I muttered, rolling my eyes.

I could hear Steve sigh and roll out from underneath the car. He stood up and wiped off his grease-covered hands and then pulled me into a hug. "Look, Soda, I'm your friend. I'm not supposed to sugar coat things for you, I'm supposed to tell you the truth. And what I'm trying to tell you is what you're doing is a bad decision. And in the end, there's going to be a lot of people hurt."

He walked off into the DX and left me standing beside the messed-up vehicle. I squeezed my eyes shut and wished that everything went back to normal. I should've never made that decision and now?

I'm already too late to fix it.

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Dakota

"Hey, Bob, what do you think about when someone says the word 'suspicious'?" Bob and I were sitting in his Mustang as a movie played at the drive-in.

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Um, well I usually think of someone that can never look you in the eye. If they do, you can just tell by looking at them that they're hiding something."

I shot him a small smile. "Thanks."

He grinned. "Why did you ask that?"

I chuckled. "My parents have been acting suspicious lately, that's all. They talk too fast, or shoot each other weird glances. It's just weird and I don't know what's up."

He pulled me into a side hug. "Don't worry about it. Let's just enjoy the movie."

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I woke up from the spot on the couch and sighed, falling back down on the couch. Was Andrew acting suspicious?

His eyes. He couldn't look me in the eyes. Which is weird.

I shook my head, I'm just overthinking this way too much.

And then I thought back to the way Soda looked when he told me he was back with Sandy. He probably was just upset to tell me that after what he told me the day before, but I have a small feeling that it was more than that.

I have a feeling that something is going on, and I have a feeling that I'm not going to like it.

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oh my gosh, this chapter totally sucked and i'm so sorry. i'm just really tired right now and i'm probably about to hit the hay.

i'm so sorry if this chapter was boring, but I promise you things are going to get wayyyy more juicy later on.

just wait.