new kid / h.s

epilogue

K A T

Today was going to be completely and utterly bittersweet for all of us. The day that we all parted ways, most of us going out of state for a higher level of education. However, if you were like me, you were staying in Philly and starting your freshman year of college a little later.

We all stood there, in our green caps and white gowns-- Eastern's colors, waiting backstage to be dismissed into the stadium. There we would be lined up by alphabetical order.

I searched the room desperately, looking for a face that I had become aquatinted with. When my eyes met Harry's, his glimmered and I assumed that mine did.

We both sprinted up to each other and met in the middle, embracing each other in a tight hug.

"I'm so nervous." I said, my teeth gritted, but I managed to muster a smile for Harry's sake. As expected, he offered one in return.

He shook his head and rubbed the small of his back. That was a habit he had taken on; him always wanting to make me feel better. "Don't be." he said soothingly. "This'll all be over soon."

He was right. There was no arguing with that-- it would be over soon, considering the ceremony was expected to last as little as fifteen minutes.

But there was some underlying factor, some problem that I wasn't quite sure what it was that was making me anxious for what was to come.

"After this we're going to officially be adults." I said, staring into space as it all started to sink in piece by piece. Harry seemed deep in thought as well. "Our parents will officially be able to kick us out of the house. Isn't that grand?"

Harry snickered. "If we get kicked out by our parents we could always live together." he said suggestively, but there was a hint of joking in his tone. Deep down I actually wondered if we could make that work. We were barely dating. We hardly knew each other, if I were to be honest with myself.

But instead of telling him all that was on my mind, I just said, "We could."

Harry opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by someone jumping in between the two of us and beginning to yell at me for no apparent reason.

But then I realized it was Hanna.

"You, my friend, have got some nerve!" she raged, and Harry didn't say a thing. He just let it happen, and honestly I did not blame him for that. "Going around and killing everyone then acting like you're a complete saint for it! News flash, you ended a life. Even if you thought you were in danger or they were a threat, you took the breath from them. And no one gave you that right."

By the end of her little speech, I was astonished. I had never expected Hanna to speak out like that, and it was weird that I had believed she was completely harmless; just a reject.

But I was angry. She thought that she had the library to just come up to me and say whatever she wanted? That's where she was wrong. I knew about my mistakes. I regretted killing them. And she acted like I wore that as a trophy.

Nothing could've made me more infuriated.

I grabbed her cap and threw it to the ground, and immediately she struck me across the face. My hand floated to the wound and when I pulled it away, it was covered in blood.

"Damn you!" I screamed, slapping her in return. Her cheek immediately turned a bright pink and blood surfaced where I had hit her, giving me a sense of satisfaction. "I do regret killing them. So don't act like I'm proud of it, you sick bitch!"

People around us were starting to stare, but I didn't care one bit. All I could focus on was how to channel my anger in the safest way possible, and that was not working. The words Hanna had said made me want to kill her, and just that thought made me think that maybe she was right.