Come Back to me:Short Story

Come Back To Me

 
Candice Terry

        
 
Copyright © 2013 by Candice Terry

This novel is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to peoples living or deceased is purely coincidental. Names, place and characters are figments of the author’s imagination. The author holds all rights to this work. It is illegal to reproduce this novel without written expressed consent from the author herself.

All writing comes by the grace of God.
                                        -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Preface:

Jayse

I always thought true love was a myth. A fantasy. Something my mother use to ramble on about after reading one of her romance novels. She always said the moment you felt true love it would knock the breath out of you. That it was like a bolt of lightning that seared and warmed your skin to the bone, making your heart race. I didn't believe her until now. The moment I saw her I felt every bit of that plus more. I never caught my breath though. Every moment I saw her face was like the first time and I'd lose all my senses except sight. I'd watch her sway with each step and count down the seconds until she'd reach me then in one swoop I'd grab her up while she wrapped her legs around my waist squealing. We'd melt into each other. Not once did I ever think life would pull us apart so tragically. Maybe If I'd know I would have looked at her a little longer each day,held her a little closer and thanked God every second for giving her to me.

Chapter One: Jays
e

We had just moved from sunny California where the weather was always hot no matter the month to Georgia which actually had four seasons. In a way I was looking forward to experiencing the cold months even though I’d missed the summers riding the waves . At that moment I thought the loss would be unbearable until a frizzy-haired ,young girl stepped in my path and changed everything .

Starting new schools was never really my thing. I wasn't a fan of being the fresh meat and having to make new friends, especially when my old ones were just fine.

Only plus side I found was the school year. In California we had to attend all year long  with very few short breaks in between the long months but luckily Georgia had a different policy. I'd only have to attend March to September and get a much needed long winter break. The only thing I didn’t like? Uniforms but hey- eight hours a day wasn't too horrible.

After a very boring morning in class , I made my way to lunch with my backpack slung carelessly over my shoulder only to find a small framed dark haired girl pinned by the snack machines being shoved around by two older boys. When the younger of the two shoved one last time, she lost her footing and fell hard to the ground.

The older of the boys grabbed at the girl's bag while she tried to hold tight but she quickly let go when he kicked out at her leg with his boot foot. The girl's cry echoed around them.

Now even at twelve years old my temper was bad and my mother would say I was acting like my father but I didn't care.  Pissed off, I shoved through the few kids making an audience  and pulled the boys away from her.I punched the taller of the two in the stomach and elbowed the other in the nose. Before they could both scurry away, I grabbed the slowest moving around the shirt collar, yanking him to me.

"Never again. Don't even look at her." The boy  nodded his head as he turned to run off,crying.

The girl sat crying on the floor. I reached down and held out my hand hoping she would take it. She quickly wiped her eyes then grasped my hand, letting me pull her upright.

I picked up her bag, dusting off small bits of dirt clinging to it and handed it to her.

Big blue sparkling eyes met mine and she smiled. “Thanks.”

I knew at that exact moment things would be different here in Georgia and maybe ..just maybe.. it wouldn't be so bad after all.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She nodded, kicking a rock with the toe of her shoe.

“Do they always treat you like that?” 

She sniffled.” Only when my mom packs me peanut butter sandwiches. They usually take them and nobody helps me get them back.”

This made me wish I could punch the boys again. “Well they won’t mess with you anymore.What your name?"

She wiped another tear off her red cheek and pushed her long brown frizzy hair behind her ears before replying." AnaLee.What's yours?"

" I'm Jayse."

Her mouth spread into a bright full smile showing her white teeth. It was the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen.

As the years went by we became inseparable. We were always at each other's house or in the woods playing tag at our special place by the small creek. Sometimes she would play the princess locked away in a tower and I'd be the the brave prince coming to save her. I loved every minute I spent with AnaLee but things started to change once we hit highschool.

By tenth grade girls started to take interest in me and I could tell this bothered AnaLee but she never said anything. I wanted her to. Even hoped she would. I needed to know if she felt for me the way I did about her but I couldn’t ask knowing things would never be the same between us. When eleventh grade rolled around one girl in particular paid close attention to me. Stacy Holdenmich.

She was pretty with blonde hair and brown eyes, but of course she was nowhere near as beautiful as Ana. Walking to my locker one day I found Stacy waiting for me. She was a slender girl with the body of a cheerleader-well she actually was a cheerleader- and she bounced whenever she talked.

“Hi Jayse.” She said flipping her hair.

“Hey Stacy, what’s up?”

“Not much. Well actually. “Nervously biting her lip.” I was wondering if you wanted to go bowling sometime. It could be fun.” She smiled.

Putting my books away, I shut my locker and looked around for Ana.” Um…yea sure . Sounds fun.”

Little did I know that one night out would start a never ending feud.

“ Was that Stacy Holdenmich I saw walking away from your locker?” AnaLee asked at lunch.

“ Yeah ,she wants me to go bowling with her tonight.” I was too busy shoving food in my mouth to notice Ana’s expression.

“Oh.”

Hearing her tone ,I dropped my fork and looked at her. “What’s wrong,  An?”

She tried to smile but it didn’t work.” Nothing  . ”

“An.”

“Really , it’s nothing. I just- I just remembered I was supposed to stop by study hall.” Ana quickly gathered her things and walked off before I could question her again.

Chapter Two: AnaLe
e

It's strange how life can deal a completely different hand when you least expect it. I'm not sure when it happened or if it was even a decision on my part. All I knew was at some point in our friendship my heart changed and I wanted more.Maybe it was how Jayse's shoulders had broadened over the summer or  how his green eyes sparkled when he laughed. It could even be how he pushed his hands through his dark hair when he was frustrated. I didn't want to just be the girl that lived next door to him, the girl every guy knew not to mess with in school because they would get their ass kicked. I just wanted to be his.

Jayse Broadson.

I hadn’t expected him to be my savior from the brothers who stalked me every Tuesday to get my lunch.  Just like I hadn’t expected for Stacy Holdenmich to get her claws into him.

I didn’t hate her exactly but I didn’t particularly like her either. She was a bitch- plain and simple. She tortured girls that didn’t look like she thought they should. Too fat . Too skinny. Wasn’t a cheerleader.  Didn’t buy name brand clothes.  Basically if you weren’t her you were nothing. Even though my hair wasn't as frizzy as it once was,now falling in long brown curly locks and my eyes were a sparkly blue, I knew I didn't compete with Stacy.

As I quickly gathered my stuff to make my non-existent stop by study hall I glanced at Jayse over my shoulder. When I saw him still looking at me confused, I tried giving him another smile. It felt awkward on my face though and I knew I failed when his frown deepened. I'd never been good at hiding when I was upset. At least not from Jayse. I wondered sometimes if he knew how I really felt about him and he just chose to ignore it. His friendship meant too much to me though to voice how I felt.

  I knew he was out of my league. I was his friend and that’s more than likely all he’d ever see me as.  I prayed his date with Stacy would end quickly, as horrible as that sounded. I wanted him to be with someone that would treat him good. Not her.

Chapter Three: Jayse

AnaLee acted strange the rest of the week. She didn’t speak much to me but then again around Stacy no one could speak much. She talked non-stop. After our night of bowling she stayed at my side, along with her gang of cheerleaders that followed her everywhere. It was tiring. Over the past few years, I had gotten use to just having Ana around. That’s how I liked it.

Stacy was a nice girl but she just wasn’t the one  I wanted. In an odd way I hoped seeing me with another girl would make AnaLee jealous, maybe even bring out her true feelings for me but instead it made her stay away. If Stacy was anywhere around, Ana found reasons to leave early or stay later in class. I hated it and with Stacy's voice echoing around me all the time, I was being to hate the sound of her too.

A few weeks went by with Stacy being glued to my side and Ana disappearing all the time but that changed the morning I walked into school early. After AnaLee got her license and got a small white Honda accord. she started driving herself to school; before I had been picking her up in the mornings since I was able to drive two months earlier than she did. Sleeping in was my thing so I’d only give myself enough time to get to my locker and make it to class before the late bell.However ,this particular morning I decided to get there early to talk to AnaLee knowing she’d already be there.

A few kids stood on the sidewalks with their group of friends discussing parties or who was dating who, while I walked by. I reached the doors and stopped. I could hear students laughing uncontrollably but couldn’t really see what was going on so I eased the door open finding the hall packed. I stood to the side waiting to see what was going on. When a path finally cleared for me  to see through the crowd, I was beyond furious.

Chapter Four: AnaLee

I knew Stacy hated me I could see it on her face every time Jayse wasn’t looking. I stayed away from them as much as possible but I knew avoiding her was over the day I walked into the restroom to find her waiting for me.

She stood at the mirror in front of the sink dabbing her makeup on.

“Bet you think you’re special huh?” She turned, leaning against the ceramic while snapping her compact shut.

I faced her, narrowing my eyes. “Excuse me?”

“ Jayse. You have him following you around like a little puppy.” She turns facing the mirror again fluffing her hair. “Thought I would give you a heads up.” She runs her finger over her glossy lips then smiles at herself.

I could have vomited.

“Things are about to change. Jayse will be all mine and you’ll be out of the picture.” She pauses for effect.” For good.” Then she walked out leaving her threats in my head.

My heart literally felt like it would evaporate from  my body. What if Stacy could get Jayse to drop me? He wouldn’t do that …would he?”

As the weeks went on I received even more sneers from the bitch herself, but guess her threats weren’t enough. She felt she had to bump it up a level.