Forgetting You.

****

VALLEY VIEW HIGH SCHOOL.

Sitting at the farthest end of the assembly Hall, he adjusts his glasses on the bridge of his nose as he watches them stroll into the hall..

They were three in number,all beautiful, charming, exuding confidence...

But they weren't his concern.. His main concern was her..

Hailey Bloom...

Their leader....

He cranes his neck and that's when he sees her entering after them..

She always liked to walk behind...

A smile automatically breaks on his face as he watches her stroll in,her long beautiful legs leading the way...

Her dark lustrous hair braided into an all back cornrow, revealing every contour of her beautiful oval shaped face...

Her pretty brown eyes rolling,scanning the auditorium,probably searching for an empty seat....

****

His gaze was torn off her when he felt himself nudged roughly from his seat as he tumbles onto the floor...

Laughter rang endlessly in his ears as he struggled to find his glasses that had fallen off his face...

"Hey nerdy.. Looking for this?" A deep voice says beside him...

Jason squints his eyes and nods immediately when he realises it was his glasses...

"Here take it"

Jason stretches out his hand to take it only for the guy to pull back..

Again,laughter rang in his ears...

It took him a while to realise they were mocking him.. Making fun of him..

He sighs..

This has been his daily routine at school...

They always made fun of him at the slightest chance they got...

And to make matters worse, they had found out he had a huge crush on the schools most popular girl...

He knew it was impossible to get Hailey to notice him.

They were totally the opposite of each other.

It was like mixing water and oil..

They would never merge..

The oil would always end up on the surface of the water...

Hailey...

He sighs again...

She was every guy's dream.. The kind of girl every one wanted to hung out with...

She was beautiful, intelligent, confident, independent... Name it..

And he,Jason Michaels had always admired her from afar...

"Hey nerdy!!!"someone screams,jolting him out of his reverie.

"Give me back my glasses please" he says in exasperation..

"Give him the glasses Jack" a female voice commands and he notices the owner of the voice immediately.

He didn't need to see her face before recognizing her. He had imprinted her voice in his brain.

He could feel his teenage heart beating loudly against his chest as she knelt him,giving him his glasses...

"Here" she says softly..

Jason takes it and puts it on immediately...

He stares at her and gives her his best smile

"Thank you"

Hailey doesn't smile back.. She gets up,brushes dirt away from her skirt and begins to walks away..

His heart sunk but he doesn't give up.. Not now.. Not when he had finally managed to have her this close....

He gets up and rushes out after her..

It was dark outside but luckily there were no teachers supervising because usually it was a Friday. And teachers don't usually supervise prep on weekends.

"Hailey wait!" He calls out...

****

Hailey frowns when she hears her name. She stops walking and turns,waiting for her caller to catch up. Whoever it was needed to make it fast else she was going to snap any moment...

"Hi" a lanky guy says as soon as he gets hear her. She raises an eyebrow,refusing to answer

"Umm. Thanks for the help. I'm Jason" he tells her as he stretches out his hand for a handshake.

She stares at his hand,frowning..

"Since you already know my name, why not cut the introduction. It's wearing me out" she snaps,getting restless.

She needed to get out of here else she will go crazy.

She could feel her fingers beggining to tremble.

"Uh OK.. Well I.." Jason begins when she cuts him off.

"Listen,go have your chit chest else where" she snaps again and walks out on him to find HIM..

*****

She walks into the pavilion and sights him smiling, rolling the transparent bag between his fingers.

He was expecting her.

He knew she would come.

She always did.

Hailey rushes to his side and makes an attempt to grab the bag but he pulls it out of her reach...smiling..

"Please, just a sniff" she begs, scrunching her nose and scratching her head vigorously.

"Tsk tsk tsk... Not so fast beautiful" he grins...

"Please Jack.. I'm out of stock.. Please just a sniff please" she pleads.

"You know what to do. Don't make me talk too much"

"Not today Jack. Not today"

"You sure about that beautiful? You sure?"

Silence..

"Okay fine" Jack says and begins to walk away..

She was alert now. Hailey grabs his legs with one hand,scratching her head with the other.

"I will... Do.. Anything.." She stammers..

He grins michieviously...

"Then get to it baby doll" he commands.

Hailey nods quickly as she begins to unbutton her shirt,her fingers shaking, a tear escaping her left eye..

She didn't want to do this. She never wanted to. But it was the only way Jack would give her those drugs. She was too addicted to it. She had no choice...

She flings her shirt away after unbuttoning it and sits down,waiting for him to do what he always did..

In less than five seconds, Jack was already kneeling in front of her,both hands grabbing her bre*sts and squeezing hungrily, roughly....

Releasing one hand,he let his slide into her skirt and up into her underwear. Without waiting for her reaction, he pushes his finger into her private part and Hailey cries out in pain as his long nails grazed her delicate flesh.

She shuts her eyes refusing to welcome the pain.

He always did this to her whenever she needed those stupid drugs.

Jack throws the transparent bag at her whiles he grins at her helplessness.

Hailey quickly opens the bag to reveal a white powdery substance. She scoops some with her thumb and begins to sniff the drugs into her nose hurriedly.

She sniffs more of the drug as she feels her body relaxing bitbby bit...

She was stuck. She knew it.

She was addicted to cocaine and for as long as her addiction continued,she would always give her body to Jack in return as payment..

She sniffs some more before tucking the rest of the drugs into her bra.

"Money"

Hailey's head snaps up.

'Huh?"

"I said money. Did you think this cocaine is for free?" Jack grits his teeth.

"I.. I don't have money"

"Then you know what to do Hailey. Meet me at our usual spot. Make sure you aren't wearing underwear" Jack grins as he gets up and walks away, leaving her half naked..

****

Hailey sighs as she wipes the powdery substance from her nose and gets up,buttoning her shirt.

She sniffs back vigorously, fighting back her tears.

Until when was she going to use her body as payment for drugs.

And until when was her addiction going to end?

Maybe, maybe after her captor gave her her freedom.

Freedom, something she would pray to have for the rest of her life.

*****

Jason checked his wristwatch again as he stood under the big tall coconut tree waiting, just like he did every other Saturday night.

He cranes his neck again, getting impatient by the second...

It was half-past 5:00 pm since he had sent that little boy and there was still no sign of him...

He was almost giving up when he sighted the boy walking towards him.

He sighs and smiles when he gets nearer...

"So? What did she say?" Jason asks eagerly.

The boy shrugs "nothing. She just told me to go"

"Did she open it?"

"No"

The smile on Jason's face instantly falls.

Like every other Saturday, he would be going back to his dormitory feeling dejected.. Again.

"Okay. Thank you" he tells the boy before pushing some money into the boy's palm.

He grins and runs off.

Jason sighs again...

Ever since he set eyes on Hailey, two years ago when he was a fresh student, he had never been able to stop thinking about her.

He might be just an eighteen-year-old boy but he knew what he felt wasn't the usual hormonal rush in most teenagers. His' wasn't just a crush.. It was love.

Pure and undiluted love.

That was what he felt for Hailey.

And for the past five months, every Saturday, he would give her a gift through that little boy.

Sometimes, he would send her roses. Other times, it would be chocolates and most times letters that he wrote himself baring his heart out and writing things he knew he wouldn't be able to say to her face for a lifetime to come.

But today, he had taken his time to make a painting of her...

But like every other Saturday, neither did she come to meet him, nor did she reply to any of his letters or show appreciation for the gifts...

His mind drifted back to last night when she had spoken to him rudely and walked out on him.

He sighs again.

Hailey would never notice him.

Maybe, just maybe he was going to love her secretly forever...

Jason stares at his wristwatch one more time and walks back to his dormitory.

****

Hailey was seated on her bed, resting her back against her pillow that propped up against the wall...

She was staring at the gift in her hand and a small smile played along her lips.

She runs the tip of her fingers over the beautiful ribbon on top of the wrapper covering the gift...

Whoever sent this must really love her...

But she couldn't love him back.

She couldn't love anyone for that matter...

If there was one thing she knew, it was the fact that the one who sent this gift was the person who sends her gifts every weekend...

All those letters she had received, she had tucked them away carefully and read each every night.

It was her haven.

Her solace.

Her peace.

She sighs as she pulls off the ribbon. It comes off, making the wrapper loosen up.

She unwraps it and gasps audibly when she sees the painting.

It was a painting of her, smiling at the skies, her deep dimples as prominent as ever...

Saying it was beautiful was an understatement.

It was exquisite, perfect.

She was perfect.

Such a painting could be sold for thousands of cedis.

And he, J.M had given her this portrait..

J.M.

That was the initials that was always below every wrapper each time she received a gift.

And staring at the same initials below the painting, she knew without a doubt it was from her secret admirer.

*****

A tear escapes her eyes...

If only she could love. If only...

But no. Her freedom had been taken away from her...

Yes, she was the school's most popular girl. But that was just a fake facade she put on.

Every girl admired her confidence beauty and intelligence.

But behind all that confidence was a broken and lonely girl. A girl who was broken beyond fixing.

A girl whose life was being controlled like a puppet.

When she was alone, and not in the midst of people, her real self surfaces.

She was a girl whose past always haunted her every single night.

When everyone yearned for the sun to set so they could have a good night's sleep but she?.

She always dreaded nightfall. Because it was when all her nightmares and past came haunting.

No one knew of her sufferings because everyone saw her as the perfect one.

Clutching the painting against her chest tightly, she lays back in bed and shuts her eyes...

She couldn't love anyone.

Whoever did, ended up dying.

Just like in the past...

**

Hailey chewed at the tip of her pen continuously as she continued to stare at the blank sheet before her.

It had been almost an hour since their third term examination began and she hadn't written a word...

No. It's not as if she was dumb. Far from that.

She was amongst the most intelligent ones in her class.

Right now,staring at her blank sheet, her mind was else where.

Thinking.

She was thinking of home.

She dreaded going home whenever the term was about to end.

And like every other term, she was dreading it again because she knew that after writing chemistry,which was their last paper,they would be going home the next day.

And she didn't want to go home.

She never wanted to.

When every single student couldn't wait for the term to end,she always wished there was never a vacation.

She sighs.

In the eyes of every student,she was the perfect, charming,sexy,alluring and intelligent girl. She was every girls envy and every guys dream.

She shakes her head.

If only they knew that everything she did was just for show.

It was just a facade to hide her brokenness and pain.

Because if anyone were to ask her what was bothering her, she wouldn't be able to answer.

She couldn't confide in anyone else. Anyone who had the privilege to listen to her problems and secrets, they will die too..

And so to keep everyone safe,she had to act as the perfect girl and do anything to become the center of attention..

****

"Need help?"

A calm voice asks beside her jolting her out of her thoughts.

She turns and to her surprise it was the nerdy Jason guy whom she had saved from being bullied by Jack..

She has been damn rude to him...But wait! Was he also a science student like her?

If so,why hadn't she ever seen him in class..

Or maybe she never really paid attention..

She sighs and turns away.

"I could help" he says again and without waiting for an answer,he discreetly throws a crumpled paper at her..

She catches it,opens it and realises they were answers to almost all the questions..

"Twenty minutes more!" Their supervisor shouts and she cusses silently.

"Oh hell!"

She hadn't realised she had spent the entire time thinking of the place she hated most.

Home.

Without further ado,she begins to steal glances at the paper as she copies them in haste.

It's not as if she didn't know the answers.

She just didn't have time to think..

****

A smile played along Jason's lips as he watched her write in haste.

He was fascinated.

Everything about her fascinated him..

He smiles and looks away before concentrating on his own paper.

****

THIRTY MINUTES LATER...

Hailey sighs contentedly as she begins to pack her books into her backpack after submitting her exam paper.

Talking of exam...

Where was the nerdy?.

She hadnt even thanked him for his help..

Swinging the bag over her shoulders,she strolls to look for him.

****

Hailey found him seated at the farthest end of the dining hall.. As usual, he was alone..

She steps into the hall and walks towards him..

"Hi"

Jason looks up from the textbook he was reading and stares up at her..

His breath hitches,his heartbeat increasing a thousand times..

"Uhh.. Hi?"

"Can I sit?"

"Uhh sure" he shifts uneasily and she plops herself near him...

They stare at each other in silence..

"Umm. You are learning? We'll be vacating tomorrow so why are you learning?"

Oh shoot!!

Such a stupid question Hailey.

He smiles

"I had nothing better to do"

"Hmm.. Umm.. I wanted to thank you for the help today.. I don't usually cheat during examination.. Actually I don't cheat.. Ever!.. I just.. My mind was elsewhere and..I.."

"It's okay Hailey. It's not a big deal" he assures her and she stops rumbling..

"And I'm also sorry for being rude to you the last time. I was.. Er..." She trails off.. How was she supposed to tell him?

That hey,Jason I was rude to you because I needed my cocaine in order to make me act normal?

Hell no!!

"It's okay" he cuts in.

If this was a dream then he better not wake up. His long time crush sitting before him and having an actual conversation with him..

What more could he ask for?

"You're a nice person Jason"

Holy shit!

She remembers his name.

Oh someone pinch him.

He grins stupidly..

"And you're sweet and.."

He pauses when he sees the expression on Hailey's face change.

"What's wrong Hailey?"

He asks..

Silence.

****

Hailey's breath hitches when she spots Jack standing in a corner behind Jason.

He wasn't staring at her. He was staring at Jason.. more like he was throwing daggers with his eyes.

Oh no!!

How could she have been so stupid and careless to let Jack see her talking Jason..

She stares at him.

Jason was too nice and innocent and she wasn't going to let him become another victim.

No! He couldn't die because of her.

She gets up from her seat abruptly.

"Umm later Jason.. B..bye!" She stutters and turns on her kneels and runs out as quickly as possible..

****

Jason grins as she runs out.

Maybe he would search for her and take her number before every student leaves school tomorrow.

It was vacation after all and he could persuade her to go out with him.

Maybe,he would finally tell her how he felt about her.

He smiles,satisfied..

But little did Jason Michaels know that,that was the last time he was going to set eyes on Hailey. For a long long time to come.

***

"I'm going to tell boss that you've been violating his commands and making male friends" Jack grabs Hailey's arm and spins her around harshly.

"No.. I swear.. I.. Was just thanking him for his help. Please Jack. It won't happen again. I.. I swear" she pleads.

"Boss is the only one who gets to decide who you hang out with. No male is allowed near you until they pay. You know that Hailey.. Go pack your bags. Early tomorrow we're leaving straight to the club" Jack warns and walks out on her.

She stood in silence,her eyes pooling with unshed tears.