The Missing Tales

Chapter - VI

Finally, the last day of the school year came, at last, it felt like we were stuck on those the last few days forever. After Amy and I broke up things felt somewhat better and bad at the same time. My friends started to acknowledge me again, the pranks and the stupid jokes stopped and people weren't mocking me anymore, even Stan seised being a jerk towards me.

I managed to convince Amy and Patty to leave Amy alone, and speaking of Fiona, she started to pay me a little more attention than before. We had some "special" moments from time to time even though she was still with Stan. She started doing some things we never did before, like cuddle during movie nights, or randomly play with my hair or caressing my cheeks when we studied together.

Those things felt somewhat nice but at the same time, they felt forced, different from what it felt with Amy. I don't know how to explain, but after she did something more intimate she would always look at me to see my reaction as if she was searching for some kind of confirmation that what she was doing was right. It confused me seeing her do that, at times it felt like it was an obligation being with me, while on others, she would behave like a protective mother, always asking me if I was alright or comfortable with the things she did.

As days passed I started to feel a little down around my friends, they and especially Fiona started to notice my gloomy demeanor and absence of mind. Every time we had a conversation or went somewhere else to have fun I was always distant, my mind went to places that were more important than being there with them, places that reminded me of Amy.

I began to realize that my friends and I never had anything in common. They were all bland, shallow and somewhat deceiving, always judging or manipulating other people, including me. Reminiscing about the months we were apart from each other and the moments we had together made me realized that I did not miss them. I didn't feel happy around them and probably never did, something was missing or better someone was missing.

I missed Amy, I missed her in a way I never imagined I could miss someone in my life. Regardless of our brake up, surprisingly, it felt like Amy and I never seized to be a couple. In class, we behaved just like the first time we saw each other. We stole glances at one another, laugh like fools from our inside jokes, we blushed and grin every time we made eye contact.

Those little moments were delightful, they were genuine, and Amy did not have to look at me to know I was grinning or shaking my head in amusement after our little shenanigans. She knew what did and what didn't please me, she knew me. Soon destiny had his way as we slowly started to fully reconnect. Little notes and letters filled with the loveliest words started to appear on my locker again, and I didn't have to think much to figure Amy was to one who wrote them because her handwriting was beautiful.

We restarted our previous friendship all over again the same way we did before, behind everyone's backs. It felt like our heartbreaking split never existed as if we both chose to ignore it. I believe that Amy never believed the same way I did in the reason why I chose to break up with her. I think she knew better than me that I was confused at the time and what I felt for Fiona wasn't real love, just like she said, I was manipulated in to believe it was love.

Unfortunately, mine and Amy's interactions in and out of class did not go unnoticed. Fiona once again discovered the letters Amy and I secretly sent to one another. And sadly, Amy's hell began all over again. Thankfully we were on the last day before the end of the school year, so Amy did not have to endure their evilness for too long. But Fiona and her partner in crime Patty made sure to give her something to remember them by.

At lunchtime we were sitting at our usual places on the school cafeteria, I was on the so-called popular table with my friends. I sat there in silence like I usually did while they were talking about the same old same, clothes, magazines and sports. I didn't bother trying to be part of any of their banter, my eyes and mind only had one focus, Amy. She was sitting alone on the far end of the cafeteria, reading, the way she looked when she was concentrated was nothing but lovely, she was so beautiful. My desire was to go there and tickle her from behind like I usually did just to hear her priceless laughs, but I refrained myself from doing it.

My eyes refused to leave Amy's image, she was the only thing they adored, the only thing that matter to them, everything else was just a distraction. Unfortunately, other eyes did not have the same admiration mine did, Fiona's eyes held hatred and envy, especially after seeing the way I looked at Amy in that very moment.

Fiona shifted her gaze to Patty calling her name and both shared a determined look. Everyone at the table began to clap in excitement like they could not wait for what would follow next, while I just sat there confused as ever.

Both Fiona and Patty stood up on to the table and gathered everyone's attention with a loud clap. The whole cafeteria went silent the second the started clapping, with the attention of everyone the began to speak. "People I'm sorry to be a bearer of bad news but we could not let this go unnoticed" Patty said earning a few confused looks from our peers.

She gestured for Fiona to carry on with their speech, "I'm afraid that there is a freak among us" loud murmurs began after her declaration as things started to get even more confused than before. "But don't be afraid, Patty and I found the little freak," she said.

"Who is it?" someone among the crowd shouted the question everyone was asking in their minds.

"Amy Collins!" both of them shouted in unison, everyone laughed turning their heads to look at Amy. "But wait, everyone, we have something show you" immediately my heart began to race with concern for Amy, she looked lost and afraid of everyone's behavior. I tapped on Fiona's leg to ask her what she was trying to accomplish with this little show but she brushed me off and pulled something out of her pocket that got me in panic.

Handing the piece of paper she took out of her back pocket to Patty, the short-haired brunette began to read in a mocking tone "You are the most beautiful girl in the world, words can't describe how much I love you, Lillian" as she was reading the note I couldn't help but to look at Amy, she was crying, she was broken, she was hurt from the laughter and the mockery. Words like embarrassing and humiliating could not describe how much that whole situation must have felt for her, and to cap it of Fiona delivered the final blow to Amy's humiliation. "Everyone, I present to you, our new school freak, Amy Collins the girl lover!" the laughter couldn't get any louder than it was after Fiona's words.

Amy ran as fast as she could form the cafeteria and I spared no time chasing after her, I could not leave her alone after such a heartbreaking moment. Having your feelings displayed in such a vile way, especially feelings for a girl was something I never wished for anyone. I found Amy on the school's courtyard crouched under a tree, the same tree where we used to go when we wanted to be alone, where we had our closest moments.

No doubt she was crying, the way she was sobbing could be heard from a mile, it was the most I've seen her look so defeated since our break up. I spared no time coming up to her and holding her in my arms. She tensed under my touch but soon relaxed once she looked up and glanced at my eyes. I tried my best to show her that none of what happened changed my view of her. "It's ok beautiful I'm here now. Just you and me." I calmly told her, kissing the top of her head and placing it on my chest.

She held on to me as hard as she could, as if she was about to fall from a cliff, my hand gracefully caressed her form the top of her head, where her long beautiful red hair was, to her lower back. Amy throughout our whole relationship always did the heavy lifting by holding me up when I was down, she was my safe house. At that very moment, we were just friends, but something in my heart told me to protect her the same way she protected me when we were together.

"Thank you little weasel" she muttered trying to force a smile, even if it wasn't genuine it still could be the most gorgeous one, "You don't have to thank me, Amy. That's what real friends do. Hold you up when you're down." After my words, she removed her head from my chest and looked me deep in the eyes. "You're more than just a friend Lillian. You're the love of my life" she had me shook by those words.

It wasn't the first time she said she loved me, but at that very moment, it felt like it was. Even after all the pain, humiliation and abuse she went through the moment she met me, Amy still had in her the ability to love, to care for someone unconditionally.

Most people in her place would lose all hope in others, they would have lost the ability to trust, especially trusting something as meaningful as their hearts to someone. But Amy Collins wasn't most people, she was my Amy, and my Amy never gave up on love, love that ultimately became the end of her.

Amy gently caressed my cheeks, taking turns between her palms and the back of her hands, I closed my eyes letting her work her magic on me, it almost felt like she was painting a masterpiece and using my face as a canvas. She suddenly stopped, making me open my eyes again to look at her godly face. She cupped my cheeks, closed her eyes and leaned forward for a kiss, everything was as perfect as it could be, no words could express how much we desired each other at that very moment.

But words could interrupt, and they did when Fiona's voice came between our almost second kiss. "Lilly?", both Amy and I looked at her in surprise, none of us expected someone to go after us, especially Fiona. She looked... strange, her expression was blank, but her eyes expressed nothing but hurt, as I said before Fiona wasn't one to show a lot of emotions, so seeing her hurt even if it wasn't visible on the naked eye made my heartache. I sware I saw her blink a few tears when she looked at me, but I did not have time to process what I witnessed because as soon as her eyes locked on Amy her whole attitude changed, she became possessed.

She threw every mean word possible at her, shaming her to oblivion, more than she usually did. I chose to block out most of the things she said, praying Amy would do the same, but she didn't. She chose to hear every single word, it was visible in the way she looked, she was broken, hurt, defeated, her eyes welled up in tears.

"She's mine do you hear me! Mine! And your nothing to her! Nothing Amy!" she yelled at her at the top of her lungs. I never fully understood where all this hatred for Amy came from, why she never wanted me around her. I always took her attitude as a rich girl who didn't want to lose her play toy, but the way she expressed her self at that moment felt... different. She wanted me all to herself as if I was the last drop of water in the world and she needed it to survive.

Amy's hands slipped from my face as Fiona pushed me away from her, at this point I looked like a rag doll, I was so shaken by Fiona's outburst that I forgot how to move, how to be alive. What followed next was even more surprising.

Remembered me saying that Amy was my first and only kiss, well I lied, but in some way, I didn't.

Fiona kissed me that day, but I never considered the kiss she gave me a real one. For me, that kiss was an act of desperation, it did not carry love or affection, it did not carry anything that Amy's kiss did. Kissing me was the only way she could win, by playing that card, not only she played with my heart but she broke Amy's in the process.

Sadly, that was the last time I saw Amy before she went away for good. And the last and only image I had of her from that point on was her heartbroken face.