Page 2 of Total Obsession

I saw her approaching our meeting place with what I knew to be the Chorale Spectrum kids. I was quiet but that didn't mean I didn't pay attention. If anything, I picked up on things that others missed because they were always talking.

She locked eyes with me, and I smiled. She started heading toward me and her friends followed. I shrunk back a little bit from the new group. "Axe," she called out to me.

"Wait, you know that kid?" one of the girls to her left asked.

The other one on her right scrunched her face. "He's super weird."

I watched as Zoey looked between the two of them. I waited for her to stand up for me. She always stood up for me. I was sure she would do it today, too.

"Um, he lives next door to me," she said instead.

My stomach dropped as I heard the words. I didn't just live next door to her. I was her friend. Why wasn't she telling these girls that we were friends?

"Ew," the one on the left said. "That's horrible."

"Yeah," the one on the right echoed. She gestured for the other girls to gather around her. "I heard that his dad is a pedo."

"A what?" the girl on the right asked.

"A pedo," the girl on the left said with wide eyes. "You know like," she hesitated. "Pedophilia. Like, he's into kids.

“I heard he was on the sex offender registry," Zoey said.

"Oh my God, Zoey, you can't live next to someone like that," the other girl chimed in.

The one on the left snorted and covered her hand. "How much you wanna bet the little weirdo lets his dad touch him."

The other girl laughed. I just stood there. I just watched them. I looked from left to right.

Left girl.

Right girl.

Left girl.

Right girl.

Zoey was in the middle.

Zoey was silent.

Why was Zoey silent?

Then she opened her mouth. Finally, she was going to make this stop. She was going to make them stop teasing me about my darkest secret. About the hurt I'd experienced. About something I had no control over. About the thing I had never told anyone about, because I was too scared. It was just an accident for her to say what she said.

She laughed. "Yeah. I bet."

"Well, come on. I'll give you a ride. Maybe you can crash at my place or something," the right girl said.

"Okay," Zoey responded.

She walked off.

I stood there.

She walked away.

I looked at her the entire time.

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