13 Chapter 13

 (A few months later)

Winter break is finally here. I walked out the doors of the school and breathed in the cold air. These past few months were absolutely wonderful. Turns out Liam is in my class in my group table. Along the way I met Lilly and Samantha who are now my girl friends.  "Hey!! Where do you think you're going!?" Someone shouted behind me. I turned around and smiled at Samantha, "Home!?". She walked down the stairs and approached me, as Lilly followed behind her. "Let's walk together," she said. "Oh no that's okay. Bob is supposed to pick me up" I said. "Ohhh, Bobby boy huh?" Samantha said as she moved her eyebrows up and down. I laughed, "Yea". "I've never asked you but..is he like your brother?" Lilly asked. Lilly has long black hair. I could tell that she has a beautiful face, but she prefers to hide it under her bangs. "Oh no. Of course not. He's my neighbor" I replied. And then Landon -aka Bob- appeared. "Speak of the devil'' I said as I crossed my arms. Landon smiled sweetly and waved to me. "Ready to go?". "Yup". Landon waved to Samantha and Lilly. I could tell that they feel nervous around him. And I can understand why. He's really handsome, of course any girl would feel nervous. When I look at my friends, it reminds me of my first day here and how we met. I was nervous that day. After a month of healing, all that was left was a big ugly scar. I didn't want to show Landon when my neck cast came off. But he insisted. And when I showed him he didn't give me a grossed out face, but a smile instead. I could still remember how much my heart raced when he said, "You're still beautiful". We stared at each other's eyes and he leaned closer to me. I kept thinking...was he gonna kiss me? Or hug me? Either way I'll  never know since Linda interrupted. Landon never mentioned what happened that day and neither did I. I guess it must have been the feeling of awkwardness. On my first day of school, everyone was actually pretty nice, except for this girl named Claire. She scoffed at the sight of me and I wasn't sure why. Everyone else asked me about the scar on my neck. At first I didn't know what to say. I couldn't just say, "Oh, I almost got killed by an intruder". People would look at me like a liar or as an attention seeker or something. But I only told everyone that it was a surgery scar. Someone even said that it looked cool on me like a badass. The desks were formed into groups of four and that was when two girls waved at me and offered a seat to me. (Liam also sits there but he was absent that day) I sat there and they asked me a bunch of questions. I felt like a celebrity but I knew it was only temporary. "You're so pretty, what's your name?" Samantha asked. "Thanks and my name is—Ashley". "Well welcome to Sandalwood High, you might love or hate it here" Lilly said in a low and kind voice. The way she said "or hate it here" gives me the impression that maybe she has a reason why. Throughout that day we talked and talked and found out how much we had in common. For the first time in my life, I felt like I could be myself around them without feeling uncomfortable. I waved at Samantha and Lilly goodbye and they waved back. Going to a normal school is absolutely so much better than my previous one. No one here fights for who has the latest things or how much money they have. I feel no pressure. Over the past few months, I started to feel different whenever I was around Liam. Since we sit next to each other we've been able to work together on many projects and class works. He's always making funny jokes and makes everyone on our table laugh. Whenever I feel down, he always seems to know how to make me laugh. He's a good friend to me. As we walked home my hand began to feel colder and colder even though they're in my pockets. I take them out and rub them against each other, hoping it would make them warmer. "I knew this would happen. Here take these hand warmers" Landon said as he took them out of his pockets and handed it to me. "Thanks" I replied and placed them in my pockets. My hands began to feel warmer. "I have something for you when we get home" he mentions. "Yea? What is it?". "You'll see when we get there". "Fine..".  It begins to snow. "Hey look!" I shouted in amazement and stuck my tongue out. Landon laughs. "How do you feel now that it's winter break?". I paused in thought, "I feel pretty good and a little sad". "How come?". "Well, for one I can get a break from school and I'm really gonna miss my friends". "Don't worry about it, we can invite them over for dinner or something" Landon suggests. "Really?" I asked. He smiles, "Yea, I'm sure my parents would love to have guests over". "Yay!" I said and did a little twirl. Landon laughed. We walked some more and Landon helped me climb over huge piles of snow. "Careful, there's ice here," Landon said as he held my hands as I walked carefully over the ice. Suddenly my right foot slipped over and I grabbed onto Landon and he tried getting me back on my feet as quickly as he could but gravity pulled him down along with me. We luckily landed on snow, but we were so close to each other. His gentle face was close to mine… My heart began to beat heavily but somehow I could feel his heart beat fast against my chest. I felt the urge to kiss his lips, but I fought against it and immediately pulled myself off of him. I could feel my face hot. Suddenly I get the memory of what happened in the bathroom when my neck cast came off. Samantha once mentioned to me how she felt about a guy and it's exactly what I'm feeling with Landon. But I can't like Landon, because I know he doesn't feel the same way. We've always been friends… Nothing more and nothing less. I thought my feelings for him have gone away but clearly it hasn't yet. Landon got up and laughed about the situation, and I did too. "Well that was fun" I mentioned. "Yea, and unexpected," he admitted and I agreed. We continued to head towards our house but just when I got to the gates Landon stopped me, "I have something to tell you". I looked at him with curious eyes. Is he going to confess to me? Cause this is what it feels like to me. He paused for a few minutes. "Don't cry when you see your gift, ok?" He affirmed. Suddenly I felt down, as if I was a lighthouse and a huge wave knocked me over. As if a part of me wanted him to confess. I got my hopes up for nothing. "As if!" I yelled and opened the gates. Wait, why do I sound so angry? "You okay?" He asked me. "Yea! Sorry,  I don't know why it came out that way" I apologized. "Haha, ok" he says. We enter the house. It appears Landon's parents went grocery shopping again. "Wait here and close your eyes," Landon insisted. I closed my eyes and then I heard the whimpers of some kind of animal. "You can open them now" I hear. I opened my eyes and it was none other than a cute puppy! I dropped my backpack off and ran to the puppy in awe. I carried it and for some reason I couldn't stop saying "AWEEEE". Landon was happy to see me happy…. I could tell. "Thank you Landon. I love her" I say. "It's your early Christmas gift, from me and my parents to you" Landon mentions. I put the puppy down and it was still excited to see me, "I'll name her Joy". "What a perfect name," Landon says as he squats down and calls her over to him and she turns around and runs toward him. She starts licking his hand. His hands…. Why does his hands look so….so….so manly? And yet so soft…and gentle….? What the? What am I even thinking? This is getting weird. I look away. "Watch her, I'm going to use the bathroom" I say as I leave the family room and walk my way  through the kitchen and then towards the bathroom. I shut the door and locked it. I slapped my hands onto the sides of the sink. And stared at myself through the mirror. My deep blue eyes stare right back at me. I need to breathe. I closed my eyes. "I don't like him anymore. I don't like him anymore. I don't like him anymore. I don't like him anymore" I repeat. I opened my eyes and stared at myself in silence. I hear a knock on my door. "Are you ok Angela?". I hear Landon's voice. I got startled and knocked over the soap from the counter. "Um yea! Yea! I'm fine!" I yelled trying to make sure he heard me through the door. "Are you sure? I heard something fall in there just now" he replied. I picked up the bottled soap and place it back. "Yea im fine, I just accidentally dropped the soap," I say. "Well, you better hurry. Joy has already started whimpering for you". "Ok, I'm coming out then!". I opened the door and Joy was being held by Landon and she seemed perfectly fine. Whimpering my butt! She just seems like a normal energetic puppy. "She's not whimpering you liar" I say. He laughed, "Ok, maybe Joy wasn't the one crying". He put Joy down. I paused and looked at him. "You? Come on, you missed me already even though I was gone for a few minutes, haha. Yeah right!" I joked. We both laughed at the joke and watched Joy begin sniffing around the floor. Soon the doorbell rings. I grabbed Joy and put her in my room and Landon peeked at the peephole. Suddenly he walks away towards me. Silent. "What is it-" Landon covers my mouth….. Suddenly I get an overwhelming fear.