A Secret Waiting To Be Spoken

Author's note: This is a scene from my book, Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, I rewrote it so some things are a little different. I wrote this fiction piece in the point of view of Annabel Greene, who starts the year with no friends but has a secret that no one knows about until a boy named Owen Armstrong helps her tell the truth about what happened that night with Will Cash. Her ex-bestfriend, Sophia, is against her because she thinks that her boyfriend, Will, cheated on her with Annabel. I just finished this book and I think it teaches a good lesson. That sometimes, it's better to tell the truth no matter whether you're scared or whether it will hurt someone because if you don't, the lies could make everything worse.

I walk among the crowded courtyard, shoulders bumping shoulders, the hectic pace of the first day of school. The sun beating down on all of us making the air thick and damp. I try to free myself and finally make it too the parking lot, looking for Whitney's red Buick since she was supposed to pick me up today. Oh, wait, I forgot my English, I turn and make my way through the crowd. I thought about the things that have happened this summer as I walked back, with Sophia and with my family, it's been impossible to keep up and sometimes all I want to do is give up.

I have to stop thinking about these things and I push the negative thoughts from my mind. I try to relax as I move back toward the courtyard but then I see him, Will Cash. It seems like forever since I've seen him and I was definitely enjoying the distance. In my mind I start to panic, feeling that familiar pressure on my chest, and getting a weird urge to puke. He spots me and smiles, waving me over. I barely can feel my legs but I find myself in front of his window.

"Hey, long time no see," he says, the smile gone from his face, back to the intense stare that I've dreaded for the past months.

"Well, I've been busy, you know," I mumble and start to turn away. Hoping he doesn't stop me, he does.

"I haven't seen you at any of the parties lately," he says, staring at me.

"Well, I've been busy, see you, I guess," I turn away and walk away as fast as I can, I can feel the vomit rising in my throat. I need to get out of here.

I keep my eyes on the pavement until I reach the courtyard and then all I see is Sophia, staring at me, I can feel the anger even from here. I try to turn the other way to avoid her but she marches up to me.

"What do you think you're doing?" she sneers, grabbing my shoulder to make me look at her, "I told you to stay away from my boyfriend!" Everyone looks at us, the entire crowd of students silent. I can feel the eyes on me and I know what they all label me as but I don't care, they don't know what happened.

I don't answer and suddenly I turn towards her, my hands grabbing her shoulders and shoving her away. All I wanted was for her to go away and just leave me alone. I hear her screaming as I walk away, toward the main building, I can feel it rising in my throat, burning. I begin to jog a little but it's too late and before I even know it I am on my hands and knees, puking in the grass. I feels weird to be like this, so out of control and weak. I can feel myself shaking, shaking so hard I can't get up. I sit there in the grass for minutes as I hear the crowd beginning to clear, as they leave to go home. The last thing I want to do is go home. The last thing I want to do is go home and lie when my parents get home and ask about my day. Fine, I'll say even though I sat by myself at lunch again, being ignored by everyone and was whispered at as I walked the halls, head down. That terrible, gut-wrenching feeling comes over me and I can feel the tears beginning to well in my eyes, my breath stopping short.

Then I see the hand, reaching down towards me and I jump because I hadn't seen it coming. I look up and I see Owen Armstrong looking down at me, his dark eyes just staring at me as I take his hand, pulling me up. He leads me a few yards away then drops my hand and reaches into his bag, pulling out a tissue and handing it to me. I wipe my face with it and ball it up in my hand. This feels weird, standing next to the kid that sat only a few yards away from me at lunch, listening to music. He is so quiet and huge, he towers over me which is kind of frightening, actually. He sort of looms over me for a minute before standing up and walking a few feet away.

"Tha-," I start to say, getting up and stepping towards him but my phone starts ringing. It's my mom.
"Hey, what's up?" I say, glancing at Owen, who is staring at me.

"I'm sorry, Anna, but Whitney can't come pick you up, she saw a sale at the mall and missed the movie so she's staying for the late showing," she quickly explains, "I could come pick you up but-" I could hear in my moms voice that she was busy.

"It's no problem, Mom, I can get a ride," I try to sound cheerful as I sit back down in the grass, plucking up some grass in between my fingers.

"Okay, thanks, Annabel, I love you and I got to go," she says.

"Bye, Mom, love you too," I hang up and slide my phone into my pocket. I look up at Owen, who is still standing there, earphones in his ears. Music is a constant for Owen, it's what he's known for. I get up and walk over to him.

"Thanks, again," I say, pulling my bag over my shoulder. I smile at him and he smiles back, which kind of surprised me. Owen armstrong does not seem like a happy type of person.

"No problem," he shrugs then says, "so how about that ride home?" he smiles again.

"Sure," I say and I follow him toward the parking lot, thinking that I'm about to get into the car with some complete stranger but for some reason I feel more safe than I had in months. I can hear the shocked whispers of the few remaining students as we walk back through the main courtyard but I didn't care want they thought and maybe, as I look back at this moment, I did sort of know that Owen would do more than change my life, he would become the most important part of it.