The Broken Promise - Miscellaneous - http://maxpages.com/buffyspage/The_Broken

“Zoe, have you heard the news?” Elisha Mallet exclaimed as she approached her
best friend.
“What news?” Zoe Cappelli asked as she turned around to face her friend.
“There’s a new kid! His name is Jack. He is sooo fine! I wonder who he’ll ask
out first. I just wonder.” Elisha laughed. Zoe had been crowned homecoming queen
her freshman and sophomore years. She was one of the most popular and most
liked people in Fansom High School. And if that wasn’t enough, she was also voted
nicest person, easiest to talk to, and most likely to succeed.
“C’mon, Elisha. Not every guy who’s ever met me or will ever meet me has or
will want to go out with me. So, I suggest that you stop thinking negatively and go
after him. If you want to go out with him, I’ll back off, OK?”
“Promise?” Elisha asked doubtfully.
“Promise. Besides, I don’t think I will want to go out with anyone for a while
after the incident with my blind date last week!”
The girls laughed at the memory. Zoe’s date had been a German who had just
moved to America. He was tall, thin, handsome, and had a great smile. There was
only one flaw. He didn’t speak English very well, so they couldn’t understand what
he was saying.
“I can understand that. But this guy is different. There’s just something
about him.” As Elisha said this, she looked up just in time to move out of the way.
Zoe came tumbling toward her, books flying.
Zoe pulled herself together, gathered her books, turned around and said,
“Hey! Watch it, buddy!”
“I’m really sorry,” said the tall, well-built figure. “My buddy pushed me. He
can be such a jerk sometimes.”
“That’s o-” Zoe didn’t get to finish her sentence.
“Ah...Zoe, this is Jack Mason. Jack, this is Zoe Cappelli. I’m sure you’re very
happy you met. Now if you will excuse us, Jack, we have to leave.” Elisha grabbed
Zoe’s arm and dragged her into the ladies’ room.
“You promised!” she screamed.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know who he was. It’s not my fault.”
“Fine. Just don’t flirt with him anymore. You promised. I am going to ask him
out and I don’t want him rejecting me because of you.”
“Because of me?” Zoe asked in astonishment.
“Yes, because of you. I guess you didn’t realize the way he was looking at
you. He was soo checking you out.”
“Was not!” Zoe argued.
“Was too. Listen, I’ll drop the whole thing if you don’t ask him out. Deal?”
Elisha asked hopefully.
“Deal,” Zoe said reluctantly. That kid was fine, she thought.
“Good,” Elisha said and walked out of the bathroom.
“Oh, well,” Zoe said to herself. “Maybe there’s some other prince charming
out there for me. Yeah, right. Like fairy tales are real. I mine as well stop looking
for Mr. Right, since I’ll never find him. Jesus, Zoe! Listen to yourself! You sound
like a single 35 year old mother. You’re not even out of high school yet. Get a grip!”
Zoe dug into her back-pack and pulled out her hairbrush, lipstick, and mascara. She
looked in the mirror and quickly applied her make up. She reached for her brush
which she had set on the sink counter and put her hair in a flawless braid.
Just then, she heard the bell ring.
“Great. I’m late for my first class. Ohh,” she complained, “and it had to be
Proctor’s class didn’t it?” She put all her things back in her bag and walked toward
the door. When she was about two feet away from the door, she turned around and
ran back to the mirror. She glanced into it and blew a kiss. She smiled as she did
this and, for the first time in her life, she realized she was pretty. She stole one
more glance at herself then ran to the door and pulled it open. She burst into the
hallway.
“Wow. It’s quiet. I’ve never walked through these halls when no one was
here. It’s kinda creepy. Well, I better get to Proctor’s geometry class before I get
the first detention of my life.”
She walked to room 203, Mr. James Proctor’s geometry class. No one liked
Mr. Proctor. His students despised him because he gave the hardest tests and a
whole lot of homework. He was just that teacher that no one likes and nobody could
ever care for, except his wife. No one really believed that he was married.
Everyone thought that it was just a rumor. But no one really knew.
When Zoe reached Mr. Proctor’s room, the door was shut. She opened it and
found that he had already started the lesson.
“These are geometric shapes,” said Mr. Proctor, holding up a square, a
triangle and an octagon. “And these are numbers.” He started writing them on the
green chalk board. “You count them like this: 1;2;3;4;5 and so on and so forth.” He
turned toward the door and spotted Zoe. “Look who decided to join us. Please take
your seat Miss. Cappelli. I would like to see you after class, if it’s not a problem.”
“Great,” Zoe mumbled under her breath.
“What was that, Miss. Cappelli?” the teacher asked.
“Nothing, Mr. Proctor.” Zoe answered and walked toward her seat.
“Good. That’s what I thought. Now, back to work.”
Zoe was so angry that she couldn’t concentrate. You’ll pay, Proctor. You’ll pay
for embarrassing me in front of the whole class like that. I promise you’ll pay. Then
she thought of Jack. Sweet, tall, handsome Jack. A smile formed across her face.
“Is there a reason why you are smiling, Miss. Cappelli? Or do you like figuring
circumference and the area of geometric shapes?”
Zoe’s thoughts were popped like a bubble. She looked to the front of the
room and found that Mr. Proctor was looking at her.
“No, Mr. Proctor. I’ll get back to work.” Zoe put her head down and started
the worksheet Mr. Proctor had given her.

The bell meaning the end of fifth period rang. Zoe passed her paper forward
from the back. Everyone stood up and headed for the door. Zoe packed up her
things and walked slowly to Mr. Proctor’s desk.
“I suppose you have a very good reason for being late for my class today,
Zoe. Do you?” the teacher asked, lifting his head at the end of his sentence.
“I’m afraid I don’t, Mr. Proctor. I really didn’t mean to be late. I was in the
ladies’ room. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to be late. Honest.” Zoe was on the
verge of tears. She really didn’t want to get in trouble, especially by this teacher.
“Well, as you might know, I’m not the kind of person to let people off the
hook. But, because you are my best student, I’m not going to give you detention.
You must understand, though, that next time you are late, I will have you stay
after school. Is this clear, Miss. Cappelli?”
“Yes, Mr. Proctor. Thank you so much. I promise I’ll never be late again.
Promise!” Zoe was so excited. She jumped up and down and then ran to her next
class.

School was finally over and Zoe was walking home when a navy blue Maxima
came up behind her. The guy behind the wheel rolled down his windows and said,
“Hi, Zoe.”
Zoe turned to find herself staring at Jack Mason’s face. A beautiful natural
smile spread across his face.
“Oh, hi, Jack. I didn’t know it was you,” she stammered.
“Hey, you wanna a ride? Looks like you might have a way to go,” Jack
offered.
“No, thanks. It’s OK. I’m used to walking. It’s exercise. Besides, I’m not
rushing for anything.” Zoe was nervous. She really did want to get a ride from Jack
but she had promised Elisha that she wouldn’t flirt with him. And she thought
taking a ride from him was just as bad.
“Oh, c’mon. It’s probably on my way. Hop in.” Jack moved some junk off the
passenger seat of his car.
“OK. You win. I’ll tell you the way.” What’s one ride? He’s just trying to be
nice. What harm can it do? Zoe thought. What she didn’t know was that her best
friend, Elisha Mallet, was watching the whole thing from 25 yards away.

Later that day, Zoe was in her bedroom doing her homework when the phone
rang.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Good evening. There is a collect call for Zoe Cappelli. Is this the right
number?” an operator asked.
“Yes, it is,” Zoe said confused. Who would call her collect? she wondered. All
the people I know would just call me regularly. Not collect. This is weird.
“OK, sweetie. Here you go,” said the operator sweetly.
Then there was a crackling on the line. Then an odd voice. It said, “I saw you
today with him. You stay away from him, you hear me! Don’t ever talk to him again!
You wouldn’t want anything to happen, would you?”
Zoe slammed the phone down. She was very frightened. Who could that have
been? Certainly not Elisha. Why would she do something like that? Sure, she likes
him but she isn’t the type to start threatening people when she doesn’t get her
way. Who else did I see him with? she thought. She couldn’t think of anyone. She
tried to go back to her work but she kept hearing the stranger’s words, “You
wouldn’t want anything to happen, would you?”
“OK, Zoe. Calm down. It was just some stupid prank. No one saw me with
Jack. Some jerks randomly selected a phone number and it happened to be mine.
They called it up and made a stupid threat. Nothing big,” Zoe reassured herself.
But she had to admit it was some coincidence.
“Get a grip, Zoe. Concentrate.” She took a deep breath. She put her head
down and finished her homework without thinking of the phone call once.

The next day at school, Zoe was at her locker, getting her books for Mrs.
Magnelli’s chemistry class, when she saw Jack walking toward her. She quickly
gathered her books and closed her locker. She walked away from Jack, even
though it was the wrong way to any of her classes.
“Hey, Zoe! Wait up!” Jack called and ran to catch up with her.
“Oh, hey, Jack,” she managed to reply.
“It looked like you were running away from something. Was that something
me?” he asked as he put his hands on her shoulders.
“No, Jack. It’s just that,” she wiggled out of his grasp, “it’s just that I had
to go to the lave and I didn’t want to be late for class,” she lied.
“Oh. I’m sorry. I was wondering if you would want to maybe see a movie
tonight or something?”
“Umm... I have something to do tonight. I’m also busy all week. I’m sorry.
Maybe some other time.” Zoe was panicking. She didn’t know what to say. She really
did want to go out with him. She turned around and started walking toward her
class.
“What the hell?” she told herself. She ran back to Jack. “You know what? My
plans can be changed!” she said excitedly. She knew this was wrong but he was so
cute! Jack walked Zoe to her next class, holding her hand.

Zoe was walking home from school again and spotted Elisha across the street
about 60 yards in front of her.
“Elisha, wait up!” she called. When she did so, Elisha turned to look at Zoe
and turned back.
“Hmm...I wonder why she won’t answer me. Hey, Elisha!” she waved frantically
and then ran to catch up with her when she didn’t answer.
“Hey, Elisha, why didn’t you answer me when I called? Couldn’t you hear me?”
Zoe asked as she approached her from behind. “You turned then turned back like
you didn’t see me.”
“And I don’t want to see you,” Elisha said flatly.
“What? Why?” Zoe asked, even though she already knew the answer.
“I saw you with Jack. You made a promise and you didn’t keep it! I even saw
you holding his hand on your way to a class. You don’t think I see anything, do you?
Even if I hadn’t seen you, someone would have. And eventually it would have got
around to me. So go out with him, marry him. I don’t care anymore. Just leave me
alone!” Elisha screamed and ran up the street with tears in her eyes.

Zoe walked home stunned. She couldn’t believe what was happening. Her best
friend had turned against her because of a guy.
Suddenly, she stopped. She thought about everything that had happened in
the past two days. Jack coming to school, her making a promise, then braking it, the
really weird phone call, and then Elisha’s reaction. Somehow it all pointed toward
Elisha. She had to have been the one who had made that phone call, but why? Elisha
wasn’t like that. She was usually sort of quiet. But there was no one else that Zoe
could think of.
When Zoe reached her house, she went up to her room and tried to make
sense of the whole situation. Then the phone rang. Zoe was unsure if she should
pick it up or not, but within a few seconds, she had made up her mind. She grabbed
the phone and said hello, although not in a very friendly manner.
When the voice on the other end answered, she immediately recognized it.
It was Elisha’s.
“Zoe,” Elisha said. She sounded as if she were crying. “Zoe, I can’t stand it
anymore. My whole life has been a waste. There isn’t any use for me. I’ll never be
able to find a job, or ever go on a date. I called you to say goodbye. You have
always had good luck. Every guy wants to go out with you. I just get left behind.
After tonight, you will go on as if nothing happened. So I guess it doesn’t matter
what I do. Goodbye, dear friend.”
Zoe could not believe what she was hearing. After Elisha had hung up, Zoe
ran downstairs and out the door. She ran and ran until she finally saw the Mallet
household. She ran faster than she ever had in her life. Finally she reached the
door and burst inside. She ran to Elisha’s bedroom and there she found her friend.
Elisha had taken a bottle of pills from the medicine closet and swallowed them all.
Zoe saw the empty bottle and looked at it in horror. Right then, it hit her.
“I have to call an ambulance. She can’t die. She can’t!” she said out loud. She
ran to the kitchen where she knew there would be a phone. She dialed 911 and told
the operator everything she needed to know. Then she went back into Elisha’s room
and stayed with her best friend until the ambulance came.

The funeral took place two weeks after Zoe Cappelli had received a phone
call from her best friend Elisha Mallet. In this call, Elisha had said her good-byes.
Zoe wept silently as the priest read from the bible. She still couldn’t believe
what had happened. Her best friend had taken her own life because one guy didn’t
want to go out with her. But Zoe wondered if that was the only reason. She
thought it might be because Elisha might have been jealous of her.
None of this would have happened if I had just kept my promise! Zoe
screamed inside. She was so mad at herself for letting this happen. She blamed
herself. No one else. Zoe misses her best friend. And to this day, she still blames
herself for what happened to Elisha. But she has moved on. She had told Jack
Mason that she couldn’t see him anymore and he didn’t argue.
When Zoe married, she could feel Elisha’s presence. She knew that Elisha
doesn’t blame her for her death. She felt that Elisha was content where she was.
And Zoe Cappelli would no longer torture herself with the memory of that horrible
night.

The End

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Page Updated Fri May 7, 1999 4:28pm EDT