Him

I’ll Forgive You If…

Unknown Point of View

I slam my door and begin to pace,

"How could he do that to her?" I ask out loud.

She looked so hurt and scared. That jerk needs to leave her alone. When she hit the ground, I felt guilty. Guilty I couldn't catch her. Even when I tried to apologize, she wouldn't listen.

That guy is bad news. And she deserves much better. He's got such a tight hold on her though. No matter what he does, she'll always forgive him.

Hitting her was an accident. I was already in a bad mood. After I hit her though, I was filled with guilt and ran away. I promise I'll never, ever do that again. Ever!

I came back here to get my daughter back. But when I saw Katie, I instantly knew I needed to be with her. I don't know why I felt that way. I might sound cheesy when I say this, but I really feel like she's the one I need in my life. She's beautiful in every way. It's a good thing I came when I did.

That bad boy has his eyes on her like she's some kind of target. But I'll stop that quickly. Today I will get her to forgive me. And that will put everything in motion.

"Once I get her to fall for me, she'll be mine," I smile to myself.

--------

Katie's POV

"There," I say to myself.

I successfully covered the bruise on my cheek. Thank God for makeup. I'm not going to let this bruise bother me. It's not like it's a big deal. Maybe the guy was drunk? Yeah, and he probably didn't even know what he was saying. Or doing. He probably didn't even know who I was. It was dark. The only light on was a flashing light. It probably just confused whoever it was.

Beep! Beep!

My phone has been going off all morning. It's probably the girls. I left without telling anyone. So I understand and should probably read the messages.

I grab my phone and sit on the edge of my bed. Clicking the button, I see I have seven messages. One from each girl. One from Maya. And three from Owen.

M - Hey, I know you didn't want to talk last night, but when you do, I'm here. (:

F - Where'd you go? O:

Em - We saw the fight. Did you leave? Are you okay?

H - I saw you leave. Are you okay?

O - I'm so sorry.

I didn't know it was you.

I'm sorry Katie. Please talk to me.

I sigh and put my phone down. I'm not going to write them back. I'll see them at school soon. I'm not really looking forward to seeing Owen or Jake. They both acted so stupid last night. I mean seriously! They didn't have to fight. What was the point in that? All I know is, they better be ready to apologize. They'll definitely have to work for it.

I grab my phone and school stuff and head for the door. After exiting the room, I walk to Eli's room. I knock and step back. Nothing. I knock again and listen through the door. I still don’t hear anything.

"Eli." I call through the door. Reaching for the handle, I open the door a bit. I peek my head in until I see him. He's still in bed. He really should be up by now. We need to leave in 15 minutes.

I walk over to his bed. He's sleeping so peacefully. Well at least for now he is. I nudge him a few times. He groans and turns, putting his back to me. Why is he being so difficult today? I step away from him and then jump onto his bed.

"Wake up Eli! We need to leave soon," I shout while shaking him.

"Fine. Get off of me," Eli mumbles, chuckling as he pushes me away.

"You have 13 minutes."

"Whatever."

I laugh and leave his room, picking up my stuff that I had left by his door. As I walk down the stairs, I can hear talking. It must be my parents. Well obviously it has to be. Who else would it be? Oh my goodness. It could be burglars. On second thought, why would they be having a conversation? Wouldn't they want to spend as much time on robbing us as they can?

What am I thinking? It's not robbers.

Just in case though, I'll quietly peek around the corner. Slowly I poke my head out from the stairs. Sitting in the stool is my Mom. My Dad standing in front of her. Well, glad to know it's just them.

"Good morning!" My Dad says as soon as he sees me.

"Morning," I never say good morning. Because what's good about mornings? Nothing. Nothing at all.

They go back to their conversation as I eat my toast.

"So, your cousin's 3rd birthday party is Saturday," My Mom reminds me.

"Yeah, I know."

"Well, they are short a person. I said you would help them."

I drop my toast onto my plate and look at her. Was she serious? I don't want to spend my Saturday watching a bunch of kids. I don't like this idea. Maybe I can get out of it.

"Seriously?" I ask.

"Yes. No arguments please," My Dad says.

Guess not.

---------

"I'm so sorry!" Owen says for the thousandth time while following me to my locker.

He has been following me awhile. As soon as I walked into the school, he rushed up to me. I haven't said a word to him. I really have nothing to say. Plus it's kind of fun having him follow me around.

I get to my locker and open it. Owen is still glued to my side. From my locker mirror I see Hazel coming up to us. She pushes Owen out of her way and opens her locker. She's not mad at him. She just knows I am. And part of her friendship code, which she totally made up herself, is to be mad also. It's pretty ridiculous, but also really nice. Owen moves to the other side of me.

After I shut my locker, I wait for Hazel to finish. I make sure not to make eye contact with Owen.

"You look like a stalker Owen," Hazel points out, while shutting her locker.

"I'm just trying to apologize."

"Well obviously she doesn't want to talk to you."

Hazel grabs my arm and pulls me away from him. I look back at him, making eye contact for a few seconds. He puts his head down. I feel bad for not talking to him. But he does deserve it. Right?

Hazel and I get to class just as the warning bell rings.

"Thank you," I say to her.

"What are friends for?" She asks rhetorically.

We giggle but suddenly I stop. Jake just entered the room. I feel butterflies swirl around in my stomach as I glance up at him. Why am I feeling like this? I'm mad at him. I should be feeling anger. I can even see a very noticeable black eye. Yeah, he got in a fight. Which was stupid. That's why I'm mad. Gosh, he even has a busted lip.

"Hey," He says catching me off guard.

How did he get over here so fast? I wasn't that zoned out. I look up at him for a second and then back down. I just have to ignore him for now. Maybe he won't bother me. Yeah right. I'm never that lucky. Just then I hear him sigh and sit down.

"You can't ignore me forever," He says.

Oh yes I can, I say to myself. He doesn't know me. I am great at this. As long as I don't look at him, I should be fine. Seriously though. He was just as bad as Owen last night. Their fight was so pointless. I do feel a smidge bad. Only because they were fighting over me. And now here Jake is with a black eye and busted lip. But I guess he deserves it for fighting.

"Come on. At least look at me, please."

Sighing I look up at him. He is looking right at me. I slowly look at his bruise. It's right underneath his left eye. It's pretty black. Owen sure hit him hard. At least his eyes don't look to be hurt. Once I saw a guy Owen hit. His eye was red inside also. Gross actually now that I think about it. Oh well, Jake's eyes look fine. Just as blue as they did yesterday. So bright blue. Best looking eyes I've ever seen. Even with the bruise and bad lip, he looks good.

Stop it Katie! You're mad at him, I scold myself.

"I'm mad at you," I state quickly.

"I know, I'm sorry. What I did was stupid and I won't blame you if you don't want to talk to me," Jake says.

He turns around, leaving me half shocked. More confused than shocked I guess. What a great apology. He basically said he will leave me alone to decide if I want to forgive him. How nice is that? I don't want to stay mad at him forever. I really would like to forgive him and continue on with our friendship. I'll have to figure something out.

"Okay, today in class we..." Miss Smith starts.

Hmm... I wonder if Owen will give up. He doesn't really seem like the type to apologize over and over again. He's Owen Deen. Mr. Popular can have any girl he wants and he has all the friends. He probably doesn't really need my friendship. Plus we've already done stuff anyway. It's not like he's waiting around for that to happen. It already did, so I don't know why he's still around anyway.

Maybe he will try again in study hall. Just like with Jake, I want to forgive him. I just need him to wait a bit longer. He's definitely going to have to make it up to me. And I just thought of the perfect way for him to do so.

Before I know it, the bell rings. I really should stop thinking so much and actually pay attention to what's going on. Quickly I pick up my stuff and head out. Hazel is waiting for me at the door.

Speaking of paying attention, I need to right now. After running into Principal Renner yesterday, I've been watching where I walk. That was the most embarrassing thing ever. Okay, maybe not ever! But it was pretty bad. And it was the first day. Not a great way to make a first impression to the Principal of the school.

When I get to my next class I see the twins. They are sitting down already. As soon as Hazel and I enter the room they look up at me.

"Thank gosh," Emma says.

"We've been worried since you haven't responded to our texts," Fi adds.

"Don't worry. Here I am, alive and well," I say twirling around before sitting.

They both laugh and I join in. I swear my friends are so perfect. They care about me so much. It's really awesome.

"We actually have some bad news," Emma says.

"Aw I hate bad news. What is it?" I ask.

"Our cousins are flying in this weekend. And mom says we have to be there. No exceptions. Which means, we have to cancel our shopping trip," Fi explains.

As soon as she is finished, Jake sits next to me. There aren't assigned seats, so I'm surprised he still wants to sit by me. I just got an idea! Wow, two ideas in one day. I'm on it today. But yeah, I know how he can make it up to me now.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it," I say to the twins with a smile.

Once again my thoughts completely distract me. Class is over quickly and the bell has just rung. I tell the girls to go ahead and that I'll meet them in our next class. They nod and head off. Leaving me in the classroom with Jake walking up behind me to exit. I put my hand on his arm to stop him.

"Hey. I know what you can do to earn my forgiveness," I say.

"Oh yeah?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Yep," I say exiting the class.

He follows behind me. "What is it?"

I feel myself smile again. "Well, my friends can't go shopping with me Friday after school now."

He looks at me confused. I don’t say anything in hopes he will figure it out. I can see his eyebrows furrow slightly as he starts to think. He looks pretty cute all confused. Suddenly his eyes widen a bit. Aw, now he gets it.

"Wait. You want me to go shopping with you?" He asks.

"I'll forgive you if you do."

He sighs. "Okay then, deal. But just so you know, I hate shopping."

"What guy doesn't?" I tease, turning down the opposite hallway as him. Wow, he agreed. I figured he'd say forget it. What guy agrees to go shopping with someone for their forgiveness? Him. The little voice in my head informs me. Well obviously he wants to continue our friendship. I smile at that thought.

In my next class we are doing worksheets. So that made class go by slowly. The girls and I are secretly sharing answers. We are supposed to be working alone. But we aren’t. We quietly whisper answers back and forth. I also tell them what I made Jake agree to. That almost gets us in trouble because they cannot control their giggling.

I understand though. All I keep imagining is Jake shopping. Oh gosh, it's going to be so funny. He'll probably be so bored.

"What if he secretly loves shopping?" Hazel whispers.

"Yeah, cause he totally seems like he would," Emma comments.

"I'm kidding Em. But wouldn't that be so funny?"

"It really would be," I add.

"You'll have to keep us updated," Fi says.

"Oh, I will."

We finish our worksheets just as the bell rings. Each of us hand in our papers and leave the class.

Hazel and I skip going to our lockers and go straight to study hall. We are trying to be the first ones in here. I don't really know why. We just feel like it, I guess.

"So are you going to forgive Owen?" Hazel asks.

"Yeah, I will. But only if he asks me again."

"I'm sure he will."

We sit in silence as we hear other people come in. I continuously look up to see if Owen is coming in. Maybe I should play it cool. Yeah right. The voice mocks. It is right. Me playing it cool? That will never happen. I just hope he still wants me to forgive him.

From the corner of my eye I see Hazel straighten up. She looks to the side quickly. Johnny is coming towards her with a smile on his face. I wish they would date. They would make the cutest couple.

Well, maybe not the cutest. Eli and Maya kind of stole that from everyone. And they deserve that title. They are perfect for each other. They've never done anything bad. Actually if I remember correctly, they didn't have their first kiss for two months. So sweet.

"Katie. Can we talk?" Owen says, interrupting my thoughts.

I look up at him. Suddenly I am unable to speak. So much for keeping it cool, I think to myself. All I am able to do is nod my head. He takes my hand and leads me away from everyone. As soon as we are far from people he sits on top of a desk.

I take this opportunity to look at him. There aren't visible bruises on his face. Well, if you look closely you can see a faint outline of one. No one probably even notices it. He is just looking at me. Oh gosh, I probably look like a freak right now. I'm just staring at him. Not even speaking. How weird.

"Look, I'm really sorry for what happened. I don't know what got into me. The way he looked at you, I don't know. It bothered me. And I'm just really sorry. If I would've known he was your friend I woul-"

I stop him. "It's okay Owen."

He looks at me shocked. I smile at him. He looks cute all shocked. But he thinks he's forgiven. I should probably fix that.

"But Owen, I'm not forgiving you just yet," I say.

"Oh."

"My parents are making me go to my cousin's birthday party. They need another volunteer. I'll forgive you if you come with me?"

He thinks for a moment. I know he doesn't really like kids. So if he says no I'll understand. But why did my heart drop a bit just thinking about him saying no. I guess I'll have to wait for his answer.

"I'll do anything I can to earn your forgiveness. Even though kids aren't my favorite."

All I can do is smile. And of course that last bit made me giggle. I give him a quick hug before returning to my seat by Hazel. Paige Jenkins looks at me as I sit down. I know she saw me hug Owen. I send her a quick smile. That only makes her glare harden.

Poor thing. Jealousy doesn't look good on her.