Let My Heart Rest In Pieces

Let My Heart Rest In Pieces 017

Drake

“Dad! For the last time, I will be perfectly fine!”

“But what if you have another-“

“The doctor said I would be healthy. He wouldn’t have let me go if he didn’t think so.”

My dad’s eyebrows furrowed together as he thought through what I had said. The second my alarm went off to tell me to get up for school, he had been at my side, helping me with things that I didn’t need help with and asking me if I was ready to go to school. At first it was cute that he was worrying so much about his daughter, but now, it was getting kind of annoying.

“I guess you’re right,” he sighed, finally giving in. I smiled and leaned in to kiss his cheek.

“I promise I’ll be extra careful today. I’ll even put on gallons of sun screen and make sure to get out of the water if there are any sharks nearby. Can I go to school now?”

Reluctantly, he nodded his head and hugged me goodbye. A hug which I had to fight my way out of. I laughed and waved my way out the door with the van keys in my hands. I was taking the van today because there was no way all twelve of us were going to fit in Ray’s small and dinky car. Not unless we all went to clown college first.

I climbed into the driver’s seat, throwing my bag in the back, and buckled myself in. Once everything was to my liking, I started my short drive to school.

“Aw crap, parking is going to be hell,” I mumbled as I turned into the school's parking lot, seeing no free spots in sight. This is why I walked to school.

When I saw one just a little ways down from where I was at the moment, I let out a little sound of victory and started to maneuver the van so that I could get into the spot in one try.

Unfortunately, I was forced to slam on the breaks when a white Honda Prelude wiggled its way into my parking spot. As if I wasn’t angry enough at the fact that my space was taken, I was even more pissed at the girl who emerged from the car.

“Hey there Eve!” Alice, the blond chick that Frank had introduced me to, said in her annoyingly high pitched voice. A voice that all parking spot stealers had, probably.

I gave her a fake smile and a wave before zooming off to try and find another place to park.

Eventually, I did find one, although it was no where near the school. When I walked over to my group of friends, I let out a huff of irritation.

“Yo, what’s up V?” Jepha asked, being the first one to notice my already foul mood.

“This chick stole my parking space,” I announced.

“Who?”

“Alice.”

“Oh, the one I introduced you to?” Frankie asked, his first words to me since the event at the hospital, “I’m sure she didn’t see you.”

“Yeah, of course not,” I said sarcastically, but he didn’t catch my tone.

“Who’s ready for the beach today?!” Dan yelled out excitedly as he ran towards us, bumping into Mikey and causing them both to tumble to the ground.

“Get off me!” the smaller boy gasped, rolling out from under Dan when he could.

“I think you crushed my rib cage,” he moaned.

“Are you calling me fat?!”

Rolling my eyes, I turned away and smiled when I saw Roxy heading over to me. She grinned in return and we hugged in greeting.

“How are you feeling Envy?”

“A lot better than the last time I was here, that’s for sure.”

Our group continued to talk until the warning bell rang throughout the school, telling the kids that already hadn’t left for their classes that they would soon be late.

“I’ll see you guys later!” I shouted as everyone started to disperse. Everyone yelled something along the lines of a bye and I headed off to English.

When I walked into the classroom, Mrs. Colt looked up from the papers she was grading and smiled at me.

“It’s good to see you here today Envy, I’m glad you’re feeling better. I heard that you had the flu.”

“Yeah, for a little while, but I’m fine now.”

“That’s great. Here, let me get the assignments that you missed.”

Ugh, work. I’d probably be getting lots today.

~~~~~

“The woman is unbearably mean! She knows I’ve been out sick, almost dying, and what does she tell me? ‘That’s no excuse and I have no sympathy for you.’ What a bitch!” I fumed to Mikey, who was walking me to my Economics class to make sure I didn’t pass out from my emotional outrage. Gah, that woman makes me crazy!

“Envy?”

Hearing my name being called, I turned around to see Drake standing there. I smiled up at him and he returned the gesture.

“Hey Drake.”

I felt Mikey nudge my side and I looked over at him before rolling my eyes. “Drake, this is Mikey.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” he said, holding out his hand for the lanky boy to shake. They did and I sort of felt left out when they began to talk to each other. When the bell rang, Mikey was forced to separate but he promised that the two of them would talk again.

“He’s a nice boy. We have a lot in common.”

“Yeah,” I said with a smile, watching the boy’s retreating back, “He’s a good kid and a guy you can easily get attached to.”

“Is he the one you like?” Drake asked, seriousness in his voice as we walked into the classroom.

“Mikey? No, I don’t like him more than a friend. More like a brother than anything.”

“Ah,” was the only thing he said before he sat down.

For the rest of the period, I wasn’t exactly sure what to do. Whenever I tried to initiate conversation, Drake ended up just giving me short answers or just responding with a nod. It was really frustrating and I wasn’t sure what I could do to fix anything.

I mean, I knew he liked me, he told me, but I promised that nothing would be different between us. He was the one changing things, not me.

The class seemed to end too quickly and soon, Drake was half way out the door before I grabbed his large hand in mine. He looked down at me with a questioning glance.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I just wanted to know what’s wrong with you,” I said, biting my lip as our brown eyes locked.

“There’s nothing wrong with me.”

“Really? Is that why you’re pretty much ignoring me? What did I do wrong?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong Envy,” he sighed, turning towards me.

“Then why-“

“I’m jealous, okay?” he blurted, leaving me there for a second with my mouth hung open.

“Of what exactly?” I pretty much whispered.

“I like you so much Envy, you have no idea. But you seem to be so infatuated with this mystery guy that obviously has no feelings for you. It just seems so unfair that I’m left hanging when we could have such a wonderful relationship.”

“Drake, I-“

“Could you at least just think about a possibility of you and me together? I don’t think I can wait any longer to know the answer. And I don’t deserve to be dragged around waiting for you.”

His eyes were so strong at that moment, and I had never seen Drake this way. It wasn’t really him. I nodded my head to his question, silently telling him I would think it over. He let out a relieved sigh.

When I went to walk away as the last bell rang, I hadn’t heard the first one because we had been too deep in conversation, Drake wrapped his hand around my wrist and brought me towards him. He had leaned down and crashed his lips against mine.

My eyes widened for a moment as he pressed me against the wall, but they soon closed as he continued the kiss. My hands cupped both sides of his face, keeping us together. Too soon, we had to break apart. He hovered over me and ran a hand through my hair.

“I’ll be waiting for your answer on Monday,” he whispered before he stood up straight and walked to his class, leaving me there.

Confused and… wanting more.

~~~~~

“It’s nice that you’ve joined us Ms. Moore,” Mr. Smith said as I tried to inconspicuously sneak into the classroom.

“Uh, sorry sir. Um, long line at the bathroom?”

I saw him roll his blue eyes at my lame excuse, but he motioned that I sit down. “Don’t let it happen again, got it?”

“Yes sir,” I mumbled, quickly sitting in the green plastic chair next to Taylor.

“Where were you?” she whispered.

“Long story,” I replied, blushing.

“I have two very important announcements,” Mr. Smith said as he faced us, causing Taylor and I to shut our traps.

“One, the chorus has been given the honor of singing for the Open House presentation two and a half weeks from now. On Monday we will be picking songs and having auditions for solo parts, understood?”

“Yes,” we all said, staying quiet for his next announcement.

“Second, I now have the sign up list for the County Chorus Competition. This is a week long event two months from now that will take place in Harrison, New Jersey. The winner and the runner up will have a segment in an annual concert that the city has at their philharmonic. If any of you would like to join, put your names and phone numbers on the list. In a week or so you should have all the information you need.”

He then handed the clipboard around, a silent signal that we were all allowed to talk now. I turned my chair to face Taylor.

“Are you going to enter the contest?” I asked her.

“Nah, I was never really good at those things. I get super nervous and I sing worse than a dying cow. You wanna join?”

“Yeah, I’ve been in one before, but it was states. I got third place, and it was pretty exciting even though I didn’t win. Maybe I could possibly get first place in this one.”

“Me and everyone else will be there cheering for you,” she replied with a smile and I grinned back.