Three Thousand Miles (15 page)

“We both know that’s a lie. He loves you more than life. He is just an idiot.”

“Michael, don’t take
about him like that!” H
e rolls his eyes.

“It is the truth; he doesn’t know how lucky he is to have you. Alanna, you are here waiting for him, if he cannot realise that and come back to you then he is the biggest fool, I know.” I let go of his hands and begin to pace up and down the room.

“Mich
ael, do you know where he is?” He shifts nervously at my persistence.

“No, I don’t.”

“I do not believe you! If y
ou know, you have to tell me.” H
e looks annoyed with me, he walks back over the bed and lies fully down, and he lifts my little white teddy bear from my bed and places it in his chest. He looks over to me and he has a devilish smirk
pressed across his face
.

“Alanna, believe me I don’t know where he is.” I sit on Sophie’s bed, to take the weight off my feet. I cross my legs and fold my arms.

“Please Michael, tell me where he is.”

“Alanna, I don’t know what to tell you. Do you want me to lie t
o you? Is that what you want?” H
e says sharply. I close my eyes shortly and open them again.

“Of course not, but don’t you even have an idea, of where he could be?”

“I really haven’t got a cl
ue. The only person who might know
where he could be is, Jeff.”

“Who is Jeff?” I ask, leaning further back on the bed.

“Jeff is Adrian’s right
-
hand man. He has put him in charge of the company for now. There is no one Adrian trusts more than him.” I wonder if I could call this Jeff. I wonder if he would tell me where Adrian is. My mind is filling with pos
sibilities.

“Could I contact, Jeff.” He looks annoyed,

“No, you can’t.”

“Why not,”

“Because,”

“That’s not really answer.”

“Yes, well I don’t feel like giving you one.” He says in an absolute tone.

“You can’t tell me what do,” he rolls his eyes again and he throws the teddy bear gently towards me. I catch it and
I
say,

“I will find him.”

“Yeah, sure you will.”

“For once in your life, could you just not be, sarcastic?” I say frowning at him.

“Not in my nature.”

Five

The next morning I wake
n
to the sound of Sophie blow-drying her hair. I rise gently from the bed and I feel a little burst of pain. I walk into the bathroom and turn on the shower.  I cleanse my body and make sure
that
I am careful
around my sti
t
ches. When I finish my shower, I wrap a towel tightly around me. I walk over the mirror and wipe away the steam from it with my hand. I apply my moisturizer and think of my scar. I have never really looked at it, and I wonder how bad it is. I slowly loosen my towel and glance at it in the mirror. There is heavy bruising that climbs up to my navel area. Lower down, is the sti
t
ches, they are stained with dried blood and they hurt to the touch. Underneath the sti
t
ches, I can see the scar, the deep whole where the bullet punctured my skin. I expected the scaring to be much worse than it is. I know I will I have the
se
markings for life and they will be a constant reminder of how much
that
I owe my life to Michael. The scar also signifies the end of my relationship with Adrian. The pain I feel when that thought enters my mind is numbing. I feel like sobbing every time I hear his name. I want to curl up in my bed and lay there until he comes back. The longer this goes on, the more I feel that he is not coming back. I want to stop breathing at the thought, but wha
t keeps me going is
that he might. One day, Adrian could come back. His glowing green eyes may be staring into mine once again. I pray every night for him to realise that I need him. I want nothing more than I want him. I choose to be optimistic and believe that we will be together again. I will never give up on him and I will never be with anyone other than him. I quickly get dressed into a lo
o
se pair of cargo pants and white button up shirt. I blow dry my hair and tie it up into high ponytail. I through on some flip-flops and grab my bag. I head out into the busy hallway of Columbia. I walk briskly along the halls and into the classroom. I take a seat at the back; I do not really feel like being at the
cent
er
of the gossip. I through my bag onto the desk and take out my books, I sit back in the chair and try not to make eye contact with anyone. The class begins and Mr Hopkins starts by saying,

“N
ow class, I would like you to welcome back Alanna Hart
. How are you feeling Alanna?” M
y face flushes hot and everyone in
the
class has turned to face me. I clear my throat and
I
awkwardly say.

“I am fine.” There are a few sniggers and I notice
that
a few groups of girls
begin
whispering amongst themselves. I try to hide my embarrassment but not with much success. I listen as hard as I can to everything Mr Hopkins is saying. My mind tends to flash back a
nd
forth to Adrian and I sometimes lose
concentration. My eyes get hazy and my wound is beginning to ache. I grit my teeth from the pain and focus on my essay. I soon realise that I am not writing to my highest standards. My mind has been occupied with Adrian and everything that happened before the shooting. The break that I took in the middle of the semester is beginning to show. I do not know anything about this paper. I have missed so much schooling that I feel there is no way
that
I could graduate this year. I hate to think about failing and there is no way I want to do another year at college. I must focus completely on college r
ight now; I could not cope with
failing in college
in
the same way
that
I have failed in love.

The bell rings and it is not a moment too soon. I quickly grab my bag from the floor and pack my books. I begin to march out the door when Mr Hopkins asks me stay for a moment. I turn around and walk over to his desk. He signals for my essay and I reluctantly hand it over. He briefly smiles as he takes it from me. He does not say a word; he places his glasses on bridge of his long nose and begins to read over my essay. I stand patiently waiting to hear what his
opinion will
be. My eyes are blink
ing
rapidly as he reads over the paper. He finally
pulls his eyes from sheet.

“This is good, I am surprised.” I cannot believe his words, I am gobsmacked by them.

“I know that you have missed a lot of classes, but your work is good, Alanna.” I cannot contain my smile.

“I was worried that it wouldn’t be good enough. I know
that
I have mis
sed a lot, but I am willing to p
ut in the extra work. I would love to graduate this year.” He considers the paper again and I await his response.

“If all your work is like this, then I see no reason for you not to graduate.” I am ecstatic when I hear his words.

“Thanks, I will work extra hard.” I say beaming. He looks at me and says,

“I am sorry for your ordeal, it must have been horrendous.” I shift
uneas
il
y,
I do not
know
why I act so strange whenever
someone mentions the shooting. I try to hide my stress.

“It was horrible, but I now have to move on from it.” He nods in agreement. I smile again at Mr Hopkins and then I walk out of the classroom. I reach my room and I walk in to find Sop
hie and Katharine sitting on the
bed. Sophie smiles when she sees me. However Katharine does not even look at me, instead she shifts nervously and diddles her foot against the bedframe. They look as if they were in deep conversation before I came in and I f
eel uncomfortable because I know
that I was perhaps the topic of their discussion. I glance over at Sophie bu
t I do not say a word. I throw
my bag onto the dresser and I head for the bathroom. I rummage in my wash bags to find my pills. I take out two and I run myself a glass of water, I quickly swallow the pills and head back out into the room. Katharine and Sophie are again engaged in conversation; however, they quickly stop whatever they were saying as soon as I enter the room. It is clear to see that they are discussing me and I cannot say that I am not annoyed with them. I walk over to my bed and carefully sit down; I lay back and rest my head against the soft pillow. I do not look at the girls; I stare up at the ceiling and wonder what they are discussing. My mind is overflowing with every thought possible. I listen to them talk and I cannot believe their cheek. They do not even acknowledge that I am here and I am stunned by their arrogance. I look over at them for a split second and I catch Sophie glaring at me.

“Alanna, how was class.” She finally says. I manage to say,

“Good
actually,
”

“That’s wonderful;
did you have any pain today?” S
he says looking concerned. “I am in pain right now, I wasn’t all day but I think that sitting around brought it on. I
took two pills so hopefully that
will help.” I say only looking at Sophie. Sophie sighs and I can see that this is a strain on her. It must be hard to see your two best friends arguing. I would hate it if I were in that situation. I feel that I want to work things out with Katharine. However, this awkwardness proves to me that I cannot.

“This has gone on long enough.” Sophie says and I feel surprised by her forwardness. I look to Katharine but she still has not said a word and there is
no way that I will be first one to talk. Sophie gets up from the bed and walks over to sit my bedside. She leans closer to me and whispers,

“Katharine just told me how much she hates being in a huff with you. The bottom line is that she misses you and I can tell that you miss her too.” I know that Sophie is correct in her words. However, I do still feel anger towards Katharine. How dare she ask me to stay away from Michael? I knew him first and he is Adrian’s stepbrother, although he and I are not together right now, I still feel obliged to him. I could not ignore Michael and my bottom line is that, I do not want to ignore him. I am selfish; I do want him in my life and I will do everything in my power to keep him there. If Michael is all that I have left of Adrian, then I will hold onto him for as long as I can. I slowly rise up from the bed and
I
walk over to Katharine. I have
not
looked at her properly since I came into the room. I notice that she is dressed in the trendiest new clothes. Her hair is longer, and her makeup is much more subtle. She also has a brand new Chanel bag, and I know that she cannot afford handbags like that. The more I look at her, the more I realise that she is wearing exactly the same type of clothes as I do. The jeans are the same, the shoes and her sweater is something I would also wear. I glance again at her handbag and I soon conclude that, it is the identical bag, which Adrian bought me. I look into her blue eyes and they are not plastered in thick mascara that usually covers them. Her usual red painted lips are in a nude gloss and I wonder if Michael influenced Katharine’s makeover.

“Katharine, I think we should talk.” I say firmly. She looks at me for the first time and again I am surprised by the changes that I see in her. I try to no
t
let that be a
factor,
instead I look back at her and wait for her impending words. 

“You are right Alanna, we do need to talk.” She says and her voice is equally as firm as mine was. I notice Sophie getting up from the bed.

“I will give you two sometime alone. Please, play nice.” Katharine and I both smile at Sophie as she heads out the room and into the noisy crowded hallway.
I turn back Katharine.

“Do you mind if I sit?”

“No, of course not, sit down Alanna.” She says quickly and I take a seat onto the bed next to her.
I part my lips, as I talk first.

“Things are strained between us; I want to sort this out. Please, talk to me and tell me how you feel.” Katharine considers her words carefully; she relaxes her tense arms and wipes cool sweat from her forehead. Her eyes look serious and I am anxious
about
what she will say.

“I want that too, however, you have to understand that I am in a difficult position.” She says in a kind but firm voice. I shift the weight from
my
legs nervously. I glance into her dark blues eyes,