...... I keep crying.

I sit up straight on hearing the scraping noise made by a chair when pulled. I look up to see the person beside me smiling at me.

What is she doing here?

Like hell I know!

I glare at her and growl, "What are you doing here?" She smiles softly and replies,"I heard you...."

Crying.

She heard me crying.

Charlotte Gray heard me crying.

Can things get worse?

Probably they can. "Ummm your eyeliner......your eyeliner has left marks on your face. Here use this." she hands me a paper towel. I look from her to the paper towel and back to her.

Why is she giving me this?
Does she want to make me unconscious and make an embarrassing video of me?
Does she........

Her voice cuts me off, "This is not treated with anything. You can use it. See I am taking a whiff." And she does and remains unharmed. Now sure that it is okay, I take it from her and clean my face as much as possible without a mirror. I hear her sigh as if she doesn't know what to say.

Hmmmm Charlotte Gray at a loss of words. Interesting. Very very interesting.

She opens and closes her mouth looking like a fish for a few seconds. Then with a frustrated groan she says, "I slapped Francis. Hard."

Oh. My. God!

Is she mad? I look at her bewildered, my eyes wide as saucers , my mouth hanging open. "What? Why? Have you lost it? Why will someone ever slap that handsome face? You have definitely lost it!" I say. She glares at me and says, "No, I am not mad. He shouldn't have done what he did. He shouldn't have built your hopes only to shatter them. That was wrong." A frown mars her face. In her eyes I can see the pain of having slapped the love of her life. Especially for me, a girl who doesn't deserve any kindness.

"Look I know that I say a lot of bad things to you. I have sufficient reasons for that. No, I am not justifying myself. I just........I just. Urgh! How do I say it?" I look at her. Completely confused as to what exactly is she saying. "I respect you." she finally blurts.

Wait! What? She respects me? She, Charlotte Gray respects me, Julia Archer. How is it possible?

Bewildered I stare at her. She let's out yet another sigh and says,"See Julia I may not be Emily but........but I know that it is tough to be you. It is tough to be Julia Archer. "

I stare at her like she has a grown another head. She bites her lips and reveals,"I have an older sister ,Everlene. She too is or rather was like you, a....a...." "Slut." I finish the sentence for her. She nods and continues,"She was not like this from the beginning. She was a happy person and did not care who she lost her virginity to as long as the person was her friend. She had a childhood best friend and one day she lost her virginity to him as a drunken dare. After that they had this friends with benefit kind of relationship with no strings attached or so was the deal. My sister fell for him after sometime. When she confessed it to him, he said he couldn't be in a relationship with someone so cheap like her who did not value her own body..." She stops and takes a deep breath like talking about this is hurting her. A single tear rolls down her cheek.

The feminist in me wants hunt this boy down and kill him. What did he mean? Not value her own body? Seriously, I will tell Emily about this disgusting male and together we will show him his place......

I hear a sob and remember Charlotte is here with me. It is her sister we are talking about and I did not feel any sympathy towards the girl anymore. She wipes the tears that flow down her cheeks , she continues while staring at a distance, "He stopped answering her calls and texts, even in school he maintained his distance. It was like he forgot that they were childhood best friends. She couldn't take it. She wanted to prove him that her life wouldn't stop without him. She started sleeping around and soon became the most popular girl from the weirdest girl in just about a week. But along with popularity came the stress of having to maintain it, of having to eliminate her enemies. Her marks started to fall. Then there were the insults and the name calling. The worst thing was her transition from the most open girl to the girl holding many secrets. She slowly began distancing herself after another boy broke her heart. She stopped talking to me. She cut her hair short. And after a few days.......after a few days...." She lets out a strangled scream muffled by her right fist in her mouth.

Had I been a good girl I would have stopped her from saying anymore.

Had I been a good girl I would have tried to comfort her, said I was sorry.

Had I been good girl I would have offered her my shoulder.

But..... I am not a good girl. So I don't do either of those. I simply sit there thinking why is she even saying this to me?
But then I remember she is a good girl.
She is here in an attempt to comfort me by saying some have it even worse.
I guess that is why everyone likes her.
Everyone loves her.
Francis loves her.
Asher loved her.

I stare at her as she sobers up and continues still staring at a distance, "After a few days her body was found."
She turns to me and tugs at my left hand. My eyebrows scrunch in confusion. I tug it away. She tugs at it again. This time I allow her. She turns my hand and touches my wrist. She does the same with my left wrist and says,"But you....." She tugs at one of my curls and straightens it as much as possible, it reaches my waist. "......are strong. You are not suicidal. It wasn't only after the second boy broke her heart. She started to heal with him until he left. She started to worsen after him. I don't know if Francis is your first love or not. I don't know if you have a reason why you are like how you are or you just woke up one morning and realized you liked sleeping around. I don't know. But I do know that the kind of life you lead definitely doesn't let you have a happy family life. Your parents are far too respected for that. Yet...yet you dare to lead a life according to your choices and for that you are strong."

I blink at her rapidly.

You are strong.

Strong.

I am strong.

Her words keep ringing in my ears. She nods looking at a perplexed me. What she says next surprised me the most....

"You inspire me. When I was at my weakest it was you who saved my life. With my sister gone I was slow poisoning myself. I followed her footsteps that is isolated myself from the rest of the world. My parents scared that I will kill myself too took me to many psychologists but no one could heal me. But then I came to this school. Sure I got Candace's help and another person's help. But it was you who helped me understand that life stopped for no one. I heard you recently lost your sister but you didn't look depressed. You showed your middle finger to anything or anyone who tried to suppress you. You are strong. You don't let the society's opinion rule you. You rule the society's opinion. I know that Julia, who is strong. I don't know this crying mess of a girl. She isn't Julia Archer. Julia Archer never cries. "

"I guess this why they love you." The words tumble out of my mouth without my permission.

"What!" "I am not repeating." I reply firmly as we both stand up. "So.....are you...." she trails of. "I am not suicidal." I deadpan. She nods and starts to leave. "Thanks. But we are still not friends." I call out after her. She turns back and smirks,"Wouldn't dream of it." She walks away. I gather my stuff and go to the washroom.

After reaching the washroom I fix my makeup. I pull out my phone and dial a number. He picks up after a few rings.

Me: Are you coming over tonight?

Him: Yes. Why?

Me: Nothing I just wanted to know what you want for dinner.

Him: Make whatever you want. I love your cooking. But how come I receive this opportunity without whinnying?

Me: I feel like cooking that's it. So you are okay with lasagna?

Him: Sure. But what happened? Are you okay? Why is you voice ho..

I cut the call. I walk out of the washroom and into the parking lot. I see Francis leaning against his car. Charlotte is trying to get him to talk. His eyes land on mine and he scowls and then he suddenly smirks. I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion and pull my phone out and open the selfie camera app to see a light black line running down from my eyes to my jaw.

Tear marks.

I tried to remove them in the washroom but they were too stubborn so I left them. Now that he is smirking at me he probably knows he made me cry. I cock my head to my right and smirk. I then flip him the bird and his eyes darken in anger but I don't miss the hint of amusement in Charlotte's eyes along with some respect for me. I flash her a small smile and walk up to my car. I speed away to my house chanting the same words over and over again.

I am strong.

I am strong.....

*********************

Hey buttercups I hope you like this chapter. Tell me whether you think Charlotte is your cliché good girl or not. And please don't hate Francis just yet.

Vote. Comment. Share.

P. S.:- Good news I have finally managed to make a proper update schedule. This time it is a promise. This story will be updated on every Wednesday and my other story "The Avenger and Her Knight" will be updated on Friday. I can't give a fixed update date for "The Other Side" though. If you haven't checked them out please do, it will mean a lot to me.

💞💋💞 Reina