Savannah dropped my arm, and I let it dangle on my side as we entered the girls' restroom. She takes three steps back and forth before pausing and turning her heel around to face me.

I really couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something written on her face that I couldn't identify. It seemed as if she was hiding something from me, and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to accept it or not.

"What's the matter? Is everything all right?" I questioned. "Is everything at your house or with you and Jeffrey, okay?"

She scratches the back of her head before looking at me, "Janice told me about this guy...." I notice she was fidgeting her fingers as she continues to say, "This guy whose name starts with an A... I forgot his name, but Janice told me about that, and I've seen this guy."

I look at her, confused, "What's your point?"

She stops me from trying to speak further by raising her hand midway in the air and inches away from my face, "I've seen his face, and I just realized that you're hanging out with that guy."

"And so?" I felt my voice slightly raising with my questioning tone of voice as my left eyebrow raises in concern.

"You need to get away from him," she says, "No, actually, you need to cut him out of your life."

I rolled my eyes as my lips tugged into a playful smirk, "Because?"

"Because he's not good for you. I believe he has intentions of hurting you," Savannah says as she folds her arms to her chest.

I placed my hands on her shoulders and say, "And you're saying all of these because Janice told you?" Then, I stare at her, "Have you ever met him?"

She ignores eye contact with me as she falls silent, "You haven't spoken to me in weeks, and you're approaching me now just to advise me to cut him off? Are you even aware of what you're talking about?"

I don't know, and I am not sure what I sounded like when I said that, but her gaze was drawn immediately to mine. She shakes both of my hands off her shoulders as she says, "I only want what is best for you!"

"Best for me?" I questioned, "By listening to Janice, you believe you know what's best for me? So, I thought we were both in agreement that she was a jerk who gossiped about other people's lives?"

"But we both can't deny that she also speaks about the truth," Savannah says. "You know, it's just a matter of you accepting it."

I shake my head with my eyebrows furrowed—annoyed as I say, "What does that even mean?"

"That what she told everyone about you was the truth, and you just can't and won't admit to that," She deadpans.

All I did was stare at Savannah as I could not digest everything she has told me up at this point. I felt as if I were dreaming, and I desperately needed someone to wake me up from my nightmare.

There were two things that I couldn't understand: (1) Why is she talking to Janice all of a sudden? Is it the end of the world or something? Just because I am not there—not here beside her, she'll start running towards Janice? And lastly, (2) How can she trust what Janice says about someone else they haven't even met?

"How can you just say that?" I find myself saying, "So, you're telling me that you believe her when she told everyone that I escaped a mental facility?"

Savannah rolled her eyes as she sighs, "That's not what I meant by that—"

"—Then what?" I cut her off. "Why are you speaking to her in the first place? Have you forgotten about what she did to me? What impact did it have on my way of thinking? Are you aware of the people she has hurt, too?"

It was a little irritating that we were arguing about someone who nearly broke me when I was grieving the deaths of my sister and parents at the same time. We were arguing over the person who told and reminded me every day when I was at school that I should just simply kill myself instead of living.

"I know what she did to you and what she said about you—the things she spread around this school that hurt you before—"

"—Why do you say that as if you are invalidating the way I felt just because that happened a long time ago, and that now I should simply go on with my life and stop thinking about what she did because, after all, it's in the past," I say in a mocking tone.

My throat became dry as it tightened. I was fighting the tears that were welling up in my eyes. Yet, at the same time, I felt baffled, angry, sad, and disappointed. I don't know what else to do except feel baffled, angry, sad, and disappointed in her.

"You think you're the only one suffering here?" Savannah says in a low voice. When I heard her, my expression softened, and all of the contradictory feelings I was feeling —baffled, angry, sad, and disappointed—just evaporated into thin air.

"What—"

"You weren't there when I needed you. You were so preoccupied with your grief and sadness over your loss—your family's death—that you forgot that I had feelings, too."

All of a sudden, I'm feeling guilty. At this point, I didn't know what to say or do to her. It felt as if all of my feelings and all of the things I'll have to say to her are unimportant and that I should simply shut up and listen to her.

"My parents decided to get divorced," Savannah says, making my heart drop to my stomach. "I didn't have anybody else to depend on. I tried contacting you, but you didn't return my calls and texts. So then, Jeffrey decides to end our relationship the next day my mother told me about the divorce."

"Even before," Savannah continues, "I wanted to tell you that I needed you and that I wanted to cry because I found that my dad had been cheating on my mom. I didn't tell my mom since I thought he'd change, but he didn't."

"Janice was there to help me out. I know we had a rocky relationship with her in the past, and I still don't trust her, but she was there for me. She reassured me and made me feel like I wasn't the only one who was going through what I was going through."

I understand her point of view. Savannah was there for me through those two years when I was on the edge of killing myself due to the amount of pain I was in. She was there to comfort me and remind me that she loves me and that she wouldn't be able to bear it if I died.

I think I was so preoccupied with finding answers to my own questions and issues that I completely forgot about Savannah and never asked her how she felt. I knew something was wrong in their home since I overheard her mother and father arguing when I was outside their house two years ago to visit her. Why didn't I ask about her feelings? Why did I choose to be blind? Why didn't I bring it up with her?

I open my mouth to speak and say something, but I knew that I would just end up making up excuses to defend my way of coping with my own problems.

I'm sorry," I told her in hushed tones as tears welled up in my eyes. "I apologize for not being present and for being blind to recognize that you, too, needed comfort. I am really sorry."

Savannah shakes her head as she wipes the tears away from her cheeks, "You know what? Just forget it," she says as she scratches her nose, "You do whatever you want. I told you what you needed to hear. So, don't come running towards me when you realize I was right all along."

She walks away with her bag slung over her shoulder, leaving me alone in this unclean place. I'm still trying to make sense of everything that's happened. All I knew was that I had been a terrible friend to her. I'm just hoping she's wrong about Aaren.