Page 4

I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

I mean, seriously?

All I could say was, "Wow."

I watched Savannah move away from him. Savannah's lipstick had smeared across his face in a messy pattern.

Savannah makes me more upset than Alec because she cheated on Felix.

Because Savannah was Felix's girlfriend.

Jaxon and I had just arrived at the scene together.

Felix stands before me with a blank expression which makes him seem unsurprised.

I noticed his lips pulled into a frown as my eyes returned to the cheating couple.

I chose to ignore what I saw and focus on getting what I wanted. As soon as I enter the closet Alec's harsh voice takes over the entire room.

"I swear to God Emerson you better not lay a hand on her" he declared as he positioned himself in front of her. The moment his voice reaches my ears my mind automatically turns back to him.

There's no way he just said that.

"You're kidding, right?" I ask a rhetorical question. At this moment in time you both have no importance to me.

I move ahead one step and notice Alec's posture become rigid.

A footstep follows me from behind but I choose to ignore it.

This situation explains your absence and why you've been distant from me. All because you're screwing my friend's girlfriend." I take another step closer. My shoulder bears the touch of a gentle hand that pulls me back. "Em." A voice reached my ears at that instant which pushed my irritation even higher.

When I face forward, I see Jaxon staring at me with obvious exhaustion. Almost telling me I shouldn't do anything.

But what the fuck does he know? This has nothing to do with him.

I knock his hand away and redirect my focus to the remaining people. I step forward towards Alec with force and find myself just two feet behind him. Maybe she was worth it but you're still an asshole, I say under my breath.

His facial expression transforms to mirror the annoyed expression I'm undeniably wearing.

I lean around him to find Savannah after taking another move in his direction. She had a grin. A fucking grin plastered across her face.

I can't help wanting to slap that stupid grin right off her face.

Without realizing I'd moved closer, Alec grabbed my shoulders as soon as I took another step and then pushed me away.

You should have listened when I warned you to stay back. he spits.

My Hands push his away from me while I deliver the most threatening stare I can muster. My last thread of patience snapped as I teetered on the brink of losing control.

"Don't fucking touch her again." The authoritative command emerged from a soft-spoken voice. I spun to see who had spoken those surprising words. Jaxon stood in front of me before I realized who he was standing there.

Alec pushed me back and I noticed his facial expression. His eyes opened wide while his body stiffened.

Jaxon stretched his arm up to take a paper towel roll. "Pathetic both of you are," he whispered as he gave me the towels.

I turn my body around and breathe deeply before letting it go.

That's rare.

I never let shit like this go. Jaxon delivered the precise words which needed to be said. I never wanted to engage with them again in any capacity.

They're not worth my time.

I exited the closet with slightly less irritation but remained in a sour mood anyway.

What scum for people.

When I returned to the hallway I noticed Felix standing motionless against the wall.

Did you obtain the reason we entered this room? he asks, looking over at me.

I was confused at first. His girlfriend was cheating but he appeared completely unaffected.

I managed to grab it," I tell him while Handover the paper towel roll.

Jaxon moved ahead of me to initiate conversation with him. Although I didn't understand their conversation, I let them talk to each other.

After he walked away, I reunited with Felix to head back to our classroom. "Are you okay?" I asked him. "I'm fine, Em, don't worry about it." he sighs.

His indifferent response indicates that he's not fine. His unaffected reaction leads me to believe something different has happened.

I guess you must have known that this situation would develop.

He turns his head toward me then shrugs in response. Seeing her at Mia's house so often raises suspicions.

"Who's Mia?" I question while the unfamiliarity of the name registers in my mind.

He admits that she claimed to be a friend from cheerleading but turned out to be false.

I stayed silent. These kinds of situations are unfamiliar to me because I have never dealt with them around guys before. Before this, I've experienced just one breakup situation apart from my own.

Hazel ended things with me when I was in the tenth grade. This situation starts to overwhelm me because nothing I experienced before can compare to this.

Lighten the mood. I told him he could now come to the singles club. "Current counter, five minutes." As we walked by the clock, I checked the current time displayed. "I don't wanna get into that." I shut down the topic.

He nods in understanding. "Fair enough."

We walk together without speaking but I need to say one last thing before completely ending the discussion.

"Don't think too much about it. Both are idiots who do not deserve our time. I try to reassure him.

"Thanks," he says shortly, opening the door.

I respond "Anytime" as I take my final steps back into the classroom.

"Hey, Mom!" I yell from the living room.

"Yeah?!" she shouts back.

"Have you seen Tristan?" I asked.

"Not since you guys left this morning!" she responds.

I purse my lips together in thought. Kicking off my shoes, where is he?

I just came back from the yearbook and sent him a text earlier. He should have responded because he normally excels at doing that yet he's still silent. Maybe he's at Nolan's. After talking on Nolan's phone for sixty seconds I received the information that he wasn't present.

Well, what the fuck? Where could he be?

I head upstairs and then place my bag inside my room. I move toward the top of the stairs and knock on his door but receive no answer.

"Tristan?" I place my head against his door while asking him if he's there.

No sound reaches my ears and there is no detectable movement whatsoever. I open his door very slowly to make sure he doesn't hear me if he's asleep.

Like I thought, he wasn't there.

After closing his door, I start my return trip to my room. Upon reaching my door I find myself looking across the hall at another door.

Shit. As I gazed at the wooden entrance, I realized it was the singular thing in my view.

Before opening the door, I took a deep breath asI moved forward with a tired step. I spotted Tristan sitting still while his body trembled as he remained seated at the bed's edge.

He bends his neck towards his hands while he grips a small picture frame. I understood what he was viewing but I was troubled by my ignorance of his duration here.

The atmosphere of the room always created a feeling of discomfort within me. I wasn't going to pass out, but there was something about the atmosphere in this room.

Noelle occupied this room when she was a young girl. My head spun with memories from the past as soon as I closed the door slowly which made me feel dizzy.

I remember everything about her, Noelle. Until my final breath she remains my sister.

My conversations about her have decreased over time because discussing her memory brings increasing pain each year. Our little sister lost her battle with the most devastating illness known to mankind.

Leukemia.

I hate that word more than anything. She stood as my sole sibling who listened to my issues without criticism or parental advice and without mocking me.

She stood out as the most wonderful person in existence. The world changed completely in the years following her death.

I prefer stability but after she died, I needed to cope with the new reality. To honor her memory my parents refused to change her room which stayed exactly as it was before she left. It meant maintaining the pink walls, butterfly tapestries and white desk and furniture in her room.

I approached the bed because I could hear my brother making quiet sobbing noises.

I knew he would be here. He always is around this time. The worst effects of her condition appear for Tristan several months before she passes away.

The situation is sad, but I feel relieved that he faces his grief before everyone else does. I disintegrate into a total wreck when the day arrives while he manages to stay composed.

Tristan stays strong for me yet occasionally becomes completely unemotional. I'm unsure of his emotional strength but hope he doesn't need it. The bed makes its usual noise as I sit beside him and pull him toward my body in a tight embrace. My shoulder supported his head as his body trembled while I approached tears myself.

"I miss her so much, Em." he sniffles.

"I know," I say, holding back emotions. "I know you do, Ty. We all do."

Upon taking the photo from his Hands, I glanced at it which revealed it was our last family photo taken before we laid it on the mattress behind us. His continuous sobbing made me draw him closer to me and broke my heart as much as it always does. "She was so young, Em." he cried. "Why did it have to be her?"

His voice vibrations traveled through my shirt and overwhelmed me with emotion.

I understood my responsibility to maintain strength on his behalf but knew I couldn't manage this alone.

I remove my phone from my pocket and send a message to Elijah.

Me: El, where are you?

His answer came after a few seconds which was typical for his response times.

El: Basement, why?

Me: It's Ty. We're in Nat's room.

I turned off my phone to give my full attention to Tristan. My eye shed a tear as his body continued to shake. I didn't like seeing him like this. No matter the circumstances.

I immediately heard someone running up the stairs.

It must be Elijah.

He opens the door immediately and closes it again before advancing towards us. When I rub Tristan's back he tilts his head upward at the sound of the closing door.

"Hey, man." Elijah's voice was low, almost a whisper. As my embrace eased slightly Tristan stepped back to give El a hug.

The two finish hugging and they both sit down so I wipe away a tear from my face.

I miss you like hell, Nat.