Chapter Twenty
Someone
She Is Someone.
At one time in her life,
she felt she could never
truly be loved.
Then he loved her.
She Is Someone.
He forced her to believe in herself
when she felt she was nothing.
He knew the truth
that she didn’t want to believe.
She Is Someone.
If he wouldn’t have loved her,
she may never have realized who she is.
She wouldn’t feel
Beautiful
Important
Wanted.
SHE IS SOMEONE.
^^^
The past two days I've spent focused on my schoolwork, most specifically Creative Writing. I took home a bronze for my poem, and after a discussion with my professor, I think I want to try my hand at fiction. Janna has been busy, too, making up all the classes she missed while on her little “break.” I don't know how she got the school to reinstate her, but she did. I'm impressed.
I'm tired. I've been working on this story for ages it seems. Really just about three hours, but it's exhausting. I want to make this work, but I’m afraid I may fail. Professor Howard has confidence in me, so I have to have confidence in myself. He keeps reminding me of that, and I need that.
The hospital released Olivia the day after it happened. She didn’t return to our dorm room though. She sent a text thanking me for helping her and that she’d be staying with a friend for a few days. That’s fine. Right now I don’t want to see her or Jesse.
Except I do. I want more than anything to see or hear from Jesse. After I hung up the phone with him, I played his voice in my head over and over again. I miss everything about him—the way the left side of this mouth raises a little higher than the right when he smiles, the smell of his neck when I wrap my arms around him, and mostly how he makes me forget about my past and only look forward to the future when I’m with him.
I need to take a break from the writing. My mind is floating in a fog, all the words scrambling together and I can’t make any sense of them. I’m in need of a Mountain Dew and Cheez-Its. I toss my notebook and pen to the side when there’s a knock on my door.
I open the door and Jesse stands before me. He’s in a tuxedo, and it looks amazing on him, and his hair is so short I can see his ears! He reaches a clear container toward me. Inside is a teal and white corsage.
“Jesse? What’s going on?”
“Violet Duncan, will you do me the honor and be my date to the prom?”
The prom? What is he talking about? And why is he dressed up like he’s going to a dance? “You aren’t making any sense. Prom?”
“Yes, prom. I saw you that day when you first arrived here and the minute I laid eyes on you, I knew I wanted to be with you. I want you to have everything. You didn’t go to your prom. I’m asking you now. Will you go to prom with me?”
My dad told him I didn’t go to prom, that no one asked me. He’s pitying me. “You don’t have to do this, Jesse. I helped Olivia, and that’s that. End of story. I wasn’t trying to win you back or make some point. I never cheated on you. I want you to know that though.” The least I can be is honest with him. He deserves to know the truth.
“I know you didn’t.”
He what? “Wait. That day…you said you saw the pictures, and you were so upset. You know it wasn’t real?” I mean, the photo was real. I was at the party store with Will and I did touch his arm, but there wasn’t anything romantic about it, and that wasn’t my Facebook profile.
“I know what I said and how I acted. I’m sorry.” He rakes his fingers through his hair. So much of it is gone now. “I wasn’t able to find out who is behind that website, but I did find out that Olivia posted the photo. And that she made the fake profile. Her friend Brynn works at the store. She took that picture.”
That’s where I knew Brynn from! She looked so familiar but I could never place her.
“Once I had that bit of information, I confronted my sister. She confessed to everything. All of it.”
“All of it?”
“Yes, the shaving cream, the College Slam website, that day she tried to steal your umbrella. I know all of it. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Yes, I did. I didn’t believe you. I should have believed you.” He kneels down and holds the corsage out. “Violet Duncan, please be my date to the prom.”
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about. There is no prom. Homecoming—but that was months ago.”
He stands and takes my hand, placing the corsage on it. “Just say yes, and I’ll show you.”
I glance down at what I’m wearing. “Can I change? I’m in jeans and a Maroon 5 T-shirt.”
“No.” He slides his hand up my arm, over my shoulder, and places it on my chin. “You’re perfect.”
Fireworks explode inside me, and I want to kiss him. Not yet, though. Not yet. “Why did you cut your hair?” I ask as I shut the door behind us and start walking with him to wherever he’s taking me.
“I thought I’d do something different. Do you like it?”
I touch the side, and it’s slightly shaven. “I can’t run my fingers through it, but I’ll get used to it.”
“You won’t believe how much shampoo I used this morning. Way too much, and I feel like I’ve lost about five pounds off my head.”
We have a few laughs as we walk until we finally arrive at the quad. Our place.
When we enter, lights are strung throughout, and a small group of people dressed in evening wear surrounds the perimeter. A DJ is there as well and plays “All of Me” by John Legend.
“What’s going on, Jesse?”
“Violet,” I hear from the side. I look over and Olivia is standing there next to Janna. I do a double-take, confused at this point. Olivia approaches me. “I’m sorry for the way I treated you. The way I treated everyone in my past. The fact that you stood by me when I was such a bitch, and after I broke you and my brother up, I can’t say enough good things about you. You’re a great person. And my brother should be lucky to have anyone like you in his life.”
I stand there, speechless. Is Olivia apologizing to me? She’s owning up to everything she did and in front of all these people.
“Jesse and I, well, we’ve been through a lot. Our parents died when we were young, and we were shipped off to live with our uncle. He wasn’t a good parent in any way, so we went into foster care. I didn’t know how to deal with any of it. I didn’t want to let anyone in, and I certainly didn’t want to lose my brother, the stupid idiot.” She’s crying now and laughing as she calls her brother a name. I turn over to him, and he’s smiling, too.
“Olivia knows she’ll never lose me. I have room for both of you in my life.”
“And I should be so honored as to have a friend like you, Violet. And Janna, I’m sorry about the dance. You’re pretty awesome, and I was wrong.”
Janna nods, accepting the apology, and I don’t doubt she’s squashed it. Janna doesn’t care, but I’m touched Olivia even said she was sorry.
“Thank you, Olivia. It means a lot.” And it does. So much she’ll never even know. Because she’s never been in my shoes just like I’ve never been in hers. Maybe that’s how it works. Everyone deals with their own struggles in their own way. I write poetry. Olivia lashed out against anyone and everyone. Maybe, just maybe, every single person I’ve known in my life, all the people who have called me names and bullied me into the bathroom at lunch were dealing with their own demons. They masked their fears by doing and saying horrible things. It doesn’t make it right. It doesn’t make it easier. But maybe recognizing this now, I can move forward.
“No need to thank me. I thank you and thank you for caring for my brother so much.”
And I do. I care for Jesse more than I could ever imagine.
“Shall we?” Jesse reaches his hand out for mine as the song switches to James Arthur’s “Say You Won’t Let Go.” I smooth my hand over his and he pulls me close. “I love you, Violet.”
My eyes mist over and before I bury my head in his chest, I say, “I love you, too.” I press myself against him, counting his heartbeats as they thump into my ear. He hugs me tighter, and I know he’ll never let go. And I won’t either.
I’ve never felt more beautiful.
The End