5

"So..."

"So?" I furrowed my brows waiting for his response as I saw my house coming to sight.

"I'll be picking you up for school." He replied receiving a shrug from me.

"if it's okay with you. I can be a handful sometimes." He chuckled and stopped infront of my house.

If I had met this James eight years ago, then we would have been and still be best friends and that would mean that there will be no Dany and Cheryl.

Nope I liked how everything played out, I'm keeping my two best friends. I got my seatbelt off ready to get out but James stopped me.

"By any chance can I get your number?" He asked nervously.

"I mean we're friends right?" He added squeaking at the end making me laugh. This guy thought I was still mad at him for what he did a decade ago.

"James I'm not mad at you, it's been a couple of years and you were silly." I teased poking my tongue out at him and he laughed.

He muttered a thanks after taking my number.

"And I'd really like it if you called me Darien." he said scratching the back of his neck, I smiled and rolled my eyes as I waved before entering the house.

I looked through my window to see him driving off and sighed shaking my head. Who would have thought that this would happen? That I'd meet him after so many years.

I turned ready to greet my mom in the kitchen but she was already there staring at me with lots of questions swimming through her eyes. I was just waiting for her to start interrogating me.

"Good evening Mama." I smiled and didn't even get to ask her where my sisters were. The questions just started flowing.

"Who was that?" Her accent evident in her voice this time.

"That was James, from the Walls family." I answered waiting for the next question but her eyes beamed and she grinned.

"Oh right, he's back." I raised a brow quizzically staring at her but she shushed me with her hands still grinning.

"He's a good boy." I staggered with my eyes open, okay maybe that's not the same boy we're talking about.

"He used to help me every time I came back from grocery shopping."

Huh? James? I still wasn't getting it. James Walls sweet to my mom and siblings but he was very mean to me.

Now I was mad. I was seriously mad at him. Man treated me like hell. I never showed it but it stressed me out, a lot.

I could see the tables turning in my head ready to give him what he actually deserved when he comes to pick me up tomorrow.

"What are you talking about mama?"

I asked her and she still had the grin on her face. I haven't seen my mom grin at any of the boys who came to do home works with me in high school.

Whenever I brought a colleague from school especially a boy to the house, it wasn't pretty.

The boys mostly swore to never come again because of the hard glare they got from my her any time they were here. I winced when I saw her ranting about James.

"Tell him to come for dinner when you see him again."

I nodded with my mouth in a tight grip as I left to my room. I made a mental note to tell him my mind when I saw him the next day.

The next day came pretty quickly and James no-Darien stopped infront of the house with his sporty car. I rolled my eyes and quickly sat in before my mom could talk to him.

I obviously was moody the entire drive and he cleared his throat not once but thrice to dissolve the tension in the car.

"Do you have anything in your throat?" I snapped and he mistakenly pressed the horn button.

"Jeez, who knew you were grumpy in the morning?" He said trying to make me laugh but I wasn't having it.

"And who drives a sporty car to school!" I snapped again and he sighed, "because I want to." He said and went back to getting us to school on time.

"What's making you so grumpy this morning anyway?" He asked as he made a turn at the intersection.

"None of your business?" He snorted, looks like I was making fun of myself.

"Do I look like a clown to you?" I asked bitterly as he entered campus and stopped at the parking lot.

"Well if you behave like this every morning then you look like one." He replied amused, I growled taking my seatbelt off to open the door. Such a prick, here I was so angry at him and he was making fun of me.

I almost got out when he grabbed my hand and pulled me back into the car.

"What is it? Did I do something wrong? Tell it to my face and stop being a wuss." He snapped making me even angrier. He had no right to be angry. He shouldn't.

He treated me like I was nothing whiles everyone had the nicest treatments from him, what a hypocrite?

I know I said he was forgiven but this was too much, he even had the affection of my mother.

"You want me to tell you? Fine! My mother was so happy when I told her you dropped me off yesterday.

You want to know why I'm angry, it's because of how my mom praised you yesterday. I've never seen her do that to anyone I know." I finished still shaking by my level of anger.

He looked at me bemused and looked around to see people at the parking lot staring at us.

I cussed when I realized I hadn't closed my door. Darien also grumbled and rolled up the widow before talking.

"I told you I didn't know why I was picking on you, I just felt like doing that. Your mom has been good to me ever since she saw me in- it doesn't even matter.

I told you I didn't know why I was doing that to you. I thought I was forgiven." he raised his voice this time throwing his hands in the air.

"You don't know why you were picking on me? Are you serious right now? I know you are lying to me, I was an ordinary girl James, a normal kid who was always in the shadows. You would have known better since you were always in the spotlight."

He flinched when I mentioned that name and almost felt bad but I was too angry to stop ranting.

"If it's because of my skin color then I know you're wrong because my family is black.  So give me a one damn reason you were always picking on me because I remember clearly that your stupid minions stopped but you, you never did." I yelled back at him with my face too flushed to notice his eyes were red.

"It was because I was depressed damn it! You wanted to know right? There's your answer.

I was a shitty depressed child and you were just too happy for my liking. My life was ruined and you had yours perfectly going well. You were always so free spirited." I saw red immediately he finished that statement.

"Who said I was happy? When we first came here, did you see my father with me?

Did you see us with our father? Exactly! Because we didn't have one. I didn't have one. The only thing I craved the most! A complete family!

When it was time for administrative meetings at school, I didn't have anyone to go in there for me. When it was time for fathers to come to school for their children. I wasn't there with any.

When we were sleeping in a shitty apartment, he wasn't there. When we didn't have anything to eat, we didn't have anyone to turn to so don't tell me I was happy.

Don't sit here and assume what you don't know." I yelled again and brushed my face with my hands to stop those stupid tears that were angrily falling down my cheeks.

"You also assumed for me." He silently spoke with his head down and I profusely shook my head.

"You damn did!" He growled and raised up his head. He was also crying.

"I didn't." I shook my head but he wasn't even listening.

"I saw you every day, staring at our house what was that huh? "He sneered again and I sobbed harder.

I thought he never saw me.

Every time I went to stand and gaze at their house, I always wished I had my old life back. With us moving around our house and going for piggy rides on my dad's back.

"I thought you were an ungrateful whenever I saw you hiding in the bushes. I didn't like the fact that you weren't content with what you had. You have a wonderful family even if you didn't have your dad in your life.

I was living in a house where my mom would beat my dad everyday!" He yelled still crying but laughed painfully.

"If you had wanted my life so bad why didn't you tell me then I'd have made us switch places." He snarled making me sob harder. I couldn't control myself.

That was why he left. That was why he didn't want to talk about it. And here I thought he was living a life of a dream, a life of a billonaire but he was also suffering, just like me.

"I was jealous of you and you were jealous of me." He laughed painfully with tears and sweat on his face.

"But that doesn't justify my actions. That was why I did it." We were both sobbing harder when he finished.

Unconsciously, I took his hand in mine and he held mine tightly as we cried together.

"I'm so sorry I didn't know." he shook his head at my statement.

"it's fine, your mom knew that's why I used to see her often." I nodded and rubbed my nose on my shirt.

"I'm sorry too for picking on you." he apologized and I sincerely knew I couldn't keep this in heart forever so I forgave him and we hugged as we kept on crying.

When we had cried all our eyes out and cleaned our faces, our first class had already started forty five minutes ago.

We had to get to class even if we had to walk with shame to our seats. With our eyes so red and puffy, we managed to get into class but luckily for me, I had my glasses on.

Embarrassment still on our faces, our lecturer grumbled about us being late but I shrugged it off.

I knew my friends had reserved a seat for me but I smiled and shook my head at them indicating that I'd sit at the back with Darien. We both took our seat at the back and finally started typing our notes.