Chapter 2: Just Another High-School Story!
"Ah! We will be late again," cried Leah; she added, bitterly, "Don't you remember what happened last time, how can you be so careless?" Seeing how Leah was freaking out, Linda replied, "Lee, stop freakin' out. Sis, I am about done here." Leah impatiently ordered her to move.
Back in middle school, they were supposed to show up for a talent show, and Linda had been tardy making Leah miss out too, one drawback of being a twin was that you could not possibly live life separately, also, their dad could only drop them off once. Making two round-trips was never part of the plan.
Linda grabbed her sling bag, and they got into their car. Leah was looking chic and Linda rocked her look. They wore matching lockets. Leah drove and they got to the "Magical theatre. They had to perform a play called, "Things I didn't tell ya" with some other fellow mates and friends. Leah was fond of writing, it was the only thing she felt like she could do, without being fake and uncomfortable, this play was her own creation, she had written it specially for this talent show, she wanted to start off her year perfectly by winning, would she win? Let's see!
Things I didn't tell ya,
Leah: "Why didn't you tell me that Damon is here?"
Linda: "What do you mean? I didn't even know."
Linda lied through her teeth with an innocent look on her face.
Leah: "You know how hard it was... after he left me," she whispered, "You still didn't tell me."
Linda: "I swear I didn't know...", Leah cut Linda short by slapping her.
Leah: "Liar... crazy liar...", she said as she started crying. "The girl he was cheating on me with was... was... you!" She managed to get it out between sobs. Then she took her purse and left angrily, slamming the door behind her.
Linda stood there baffled and after a while she started laughing like a maniac. "Crazy wench, ah, my face hurts!", she said as she rubbed her cheek.
Linda: "He was mine to begin with. You stole him from under my nose... so I stole him back.", said Linda as if talking to someone else but she was just looking in the mirror.
As she was admiring her reflection, she dialled Damon's number.
"Hey, Linda, 'sup?", said Damon as soon as he answered.
"Where are you right now?", asked linda with a stiff voice.
"I'm buying us shakes... chocolate for you, right?" he asked and then sensing Linda's indifferent tone, he asked, "Is everything alright?"
"I need to see you!", she ordered, "Wait for me." She ended the call leaving Damon more confused than ever.
She'd dated him for about two weeks now and by dating, we're talking about practically living with him twenty hours a day.
Leah and Damon had broken up in a cafe, Leah was looking pretty and Damon seemed happy too, so Leah was completely taken by surprise when Damon's expression changed to a dark and a serious one, in a couple of moments. Then he took her hand and said, "I've been seeing another girl for a while now." , with a bitter look in his eyes and frustration as if in a hurry to get over with everything, "I kissed her... multiple times now."
Leah was taken aback as just last night, he'd texted her a goodnight message that read, "ILY, sleep tight and dream about me!"
What changed in one night?
"You cheated on me...", Leah asked her eyes wide with horror. She'd never even thought of something remotely close to cheating was going on. Sure, Damon looked a little withdrawn lately but she had no idea, this was the reason.
Leah started crying, she dug her nails into her palm and tried to calm herself down. "Why...?", she asked trying to control her voice and etiquette, even in this moment, she knew she loved Damon too much to let go.
Damon: "I just think I'm not into you anymore." he said as nonchalantly as possible but his eyes told an altogether different story.
After Leah heard his reason, she wiped her tears off and left.
They'd not seen each other since and this morning she'd received an anonymous text that had pictures of Linda and Damon kissing each other on the 'lover's rock' in the nearby forest. It was a heart shaped rock so everyone called it 'lover's rock', Leah'd kissed Damon here, he was her first kiss.
Linda pulled up in front of the Starbucks near their house and walked in, her eyes furiously searching for Damon, "Hey," she said as normally as she could when she saw him. He was sitting alone, sipping on his shake, "Chocolate for you?" Was a code meant that Damon had done everything Linda had asked him to. She'd threatened him and said, "If you don't hurt her in the worst way possible, I will out your mom." Linda had been acting crazy since their senior prom and now she was acting viciously, no one knew what had gotten into her.
Damon's mom had just realised that she'd had breast cancer for a while and she was very embarrassed about it, she'd made Damon swear not to tell anyone. Only he and Leah knew about it. Unfortunately, Linda had heard by eavesdropping on them and now threatened Damon with this secret. It was like he was sitting with a sword dangling over his head; unaware when it would crush his skull.
"What did she... we, even do to you??", asked Damon feeling wronged in every way possible. He hated the fact that he'd had to choose between the two women that he loved most in his life-- Leah and his mom. But he knew that once Leah understood the reason, she'd not be angry, since if she were in her shoes, she'd probably have done the same. Linda's lips curled into a devious smile and she said, "Nothing, just that she gets everything... I liked you first but she started dating you...", before she could continue, Damon interrupted her, "But weren't you dating Lucas this whole time, how could you even?" "Just because!", replied Linda.
Everything was alright at first; they were good friends, no one was thirsty for anyone's blood, quite literally. But things took a turn when they got into high-school. The competition, constant comparison, peer pressure, drove them insane. They did crazy things crashing parties, trespassing, anything-- as long as it was 'cool'.
Linda felt broken an dis was acting out. Hurting the ones she loved.
After a while of furtively sneaking around, avoiding Leah at all possible costs, one day Leah ambushed Damon in his driveway. She walked towards him, her eyes full of passion and intensity, Damon was quite confused, it would be appropriate to even say, that he was terrified of her.
Not so much of her, as of facing her. They were soon gonna be off to college and away from their hometown. They'd made so many memories together. How could they just forget? Leah didn't say anything, instead, she pulled Damon in for a hug... at first Damon was taken aback and then he pressed his body against hers. Nothing mattered in this moment. The truth would always come out. A lie could only go so far.
"I don't know why you did what you did, but I am sure of one thing. I love you.", said Leah, as she looked at Damon, with a longing expression. "I don't wanna go to college and have regrets later. Better late than never.", she said as she lunged closer to him, closing the distance between them and kissed him. "I'll always love you, you know?", Leah asked, though this wasn't a question, it was more of a reassurance. "I love you too!", Damon said as he embraced her tighter. "I'll grab something to eat for us and I'll come back and you will take to me, understand?", Leah said domineeringly. Oh! Just how much did he miss this attitude of hers. "Definitely," he said grinning and continued, "I will be waiting for you."
Leah walked to their nearby cafe and saw that a kitten was badly hurt and lying in the middle of the street. Fast cars drove past it and it barely escaped death with every single passing car. She looked around and noticed not many cars were there, she could easily swivel up to the cat without anyone noticing. She was horribly wrong, however, as the moment she decided to risk it, a car came fast towards her and since she was kneeling to carefully pick up the kitten, the driver didn't see her. She sped and hit Leah, who saved the kitten but fell hard after flying a few meters away due to the impact. Funnily enough, Leah missed Linda before she closed her eyes. She thought that this was it for her... no second chances, no second glances, no sorries, no I love you's, everything was over. She regretted only one thing and that was not making up with Linda. She muttered softly, "I'm sorry," as the nearby cafe owner had run to help rescue her. She was driven to the hospital and the first contact on her phone was Linda's. They were sisters after all, boyfriend stealer or not, Linda was still her sister. The officers tried calling Linda about ten times before giving up. The only other saved number was Damon's. They called him and he picked up, blissfully unaware of the tragedy that had occurred. "Hey, what do you say to a movie and ice-cream sundae?", he asked before the officer could speak. "Sir, we're very sorry to inform you that the owner of this phone is lying in the emergency room right now, with multiple fractures and severe neck injuries and spinal trauma." Damon gasped in horror, as he didn't wait for the officer to finish and asked, "Where?" "Kid, get your head straight first, she needs someone mature, don't drive when you're clearly too emotional right now!", the officer advised dutifully, hearing Damon gasp loudly and take consecutive breaths. He understood from Leah's image that she was a high schooler and assumed the same for Damon. Damon's voice was crisp as he said, "Officer, please tell me where she is? Which hospital?" "The Second General Hospital.", responded the officer. "Will you be able to drive?", the officer asked but Damon was already on his way. "Stupid kid, why'd she have to be in the middle of the road like this?", cursed the officer furiously when suddenly the cafe owner snuck up on him, covered in Leah's blood. "She saved a kitten, poor kid.", said he, shaking his head, "Who the hell hit her and ran?", he asked. "We're looking into it right now, the officer said. Then they left to check up on the security footage from that area and located the license plate of the car. "5678P", it was Linda's car.
Damon arrived and watched as the light of the OR was aglow with a dreadful red colour for six hours. They did a surgery on her spinal cord, treated her fractures, released pressure from her vertebrates and all in all, the surgery went well. The lead surgeon walked out with pride and said, "I heard she saved a life, god blessed her." Damon cried and thanked the doctors and nurses. "She's out of danger for now but we need to observe her for another forty eight hours, since she's younger, it is better to be on the safe side."
Leah woke up the next night at around 1:30 am and Damon hadn't slept at all, he was ruminating over the fact that he'd not been able to say sorry to her properly, he hadn't been able to explain anything either. "Hey," Leah said trying to force her eyes open, she had several fractures and she was in agony but she saw Damon cryign on her bedside, so she joked, "I've been out for a minute and look at you, you little baby." Damon jumped for joy as he heard her voice. It was like caramel syrup, the taste is always delayed but worth it, something he'd loved and waited for patiently.
The police had arrested Linda who'd waltzed into the police station and caused a ruckus. The police were debating her sanity.
The next day when the police walked into Leah's hospital room, they saw that she was in visible pain, hardly able to sit up. So they told her what had happened and before they even got to asking, she said, "No, I'm not pressing any charges on her. It must've been an accident.", she yelped in pain as she'd gotten a little too stiff for a second. "But still, she might be a little dangerous.", the officer wanted Leah to press charges, not only was the fact backed by evidence, it was weird that Linda hadn't stopped, for her own sister, as they later found out, the video that they had seen had shocked them, the speed of the car; the car had shown an acceleration at the end before hitting Leah, it signified intentional harm inflicted but the victim didn't wanna press any charges, so they couldn't do anything either; it wasn't the fact that they didn't believe it wasn't an accident, the fact that she didn't stop to look rendered her guilty.
They let Linda go and Linda hauled her butt to the hospital, she ran to the room that Leah was laying in and barged in, breaking into tears the moment she stepped in. Damon was reluctant to leave the room, but Leah eyed him, as if saying she-could-not-do-anything-worse. Damon knew better though and stayed guard just in case.
"Why...?", confused Linda asked in between her sobs, "Why didn't you press charges?"
"It was an accident, I know.", replied Leah.
"I am really sorry, I do not know what came over me, in that split second, I confused the brakes and the gas, I...", justified Linda.
"It's over now, I'm fine.", Leah lied though she couldn't bear to see Linda in so much agony either.
"I'm sorry...", they both said at the same time. They stifled a giggle and Linda went first. "Sorry for being a dick this whole time but I promise I didn't hit you on purpose, I was terrified, the thought of losing you made me rethink every single thought I've had... I didn't think I'd get a chance to say sorry. I'm so thankful...", "Same.", before Linda could say something more, Leah interrupted her with a smile on her face. "Love you.", they chorused and everything finally seemed to be right.
The end."
After their performance, Leah grabbed the mic and said, "I'm sure that you guys got our message, what I wanted to convey through this play was that we don't get second chances, that no matter how likely you think you'll get a chance to make things right, you might not. Live life in the moment. A moment can make or break everything.
Hug your parents, love your siblings and love life. Let happiness tickle you wherever you go."
Afterwards she bowed and everyone followed.
They got off the stage and when they went backstage, Leah let out a shrill cry of excitement. "I am really nervous, help me change?" She had to still perform 'Havana' by Camilla Cabello. She had always loved singing and dancing. But she had not been able to do much in junior high, or what you can call Middle School, because of classmates who had bullied her, unmercifully. Leah had always had body positivity issues but she could hide it well.
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