My aunt had grounded me for two weeks. One week for leaving school in the middle of the day, and another week for all the shouting and the mess we created in the bedroom. Aunt Macy did not care about what the shouting was about or why exactly our bedroom had glass shards scattered all around it. All she cared about was that we disrupted her sleep because we were ‘acting like hooligans’.
The school went easy on me and decided that since I was such a good student, I didn't deserve after school detention for having one massive fuck up. They could see I was in distress and felt bad for me. That was one good thing that came out of the mess.
I came home to find my phone completely shattered on the ground. I did not know how it happened, as the phone was fine before I stormed out of the house that night. My siblings insisted that it had nothing to do with them.
Speaking of my siblings, they were pretending like nothing had happened and went back to their usual way of only speaking to me when necessary. We did not acknowledge the fight. That was fine by me because the only way I would have tolerated talking to them would be if they apologized for everything. Otherwise, I wanted nothing to do with them.
I was studying. I opted to study in my bedroom instead of the living room because my siblings were in the living room. We had cleaned the room earlier, but not completely because I was still finding tiny glass pieces. I was fine with potentially sitting on glass shards if it meant a quiet space away from everyone.
"Hey dumbass," my brother called me as he stood in the doorway of our room, staring at me. He continued, "Your weirdo friends are here."
Ricky, Kailey, and Bella entered the room quietly behind him, and their jaws dropped at the sight of me. Easton chuckled slyly and earned a scowl from Bella before he left.
Kailey threw a hand over her mouth, shocked. "Oh my goodness, your eye."
Bella and Kailey sat on the edge of my bed while Ricky leaned against the wall.
"You haven't been answering our calls or texts at all,” Ricky said. “What happened?"
I smiled at the concern my friends had for me. It was a sad smile, but still a smile. "Sorry, my phone is broken."
"What happened?" Ricky repeated, his tone more insistent this time.
His persistence for my answer was well intentioned, but a bit annoying. My eyes focused on my hands as I fidgeted with my fingers while all three of my friends awaited my answer.
"Was it Cortez?" Bella’s eyes narrowed as she asked. "Because we all saw him run after you when you left the gym. Did he catch up to you and do something?"
Javier went searching for me?
I shook my head after I comprehended what Bella had said. "No, I never saw him."
Kailey turned to Bella. "Javier isn't the type to hurt anyone. He may not be the nicest to Eli, but he wouldn't hit him."
"How do you know what type of person Javier is?” Ricky asked his girlfriend, his tone oddly dull with a hint of annoyance.
Considering he gave me a place to stay even with how much of a jerk I constantly was to him, I would say that he was a decent person.
Both Bella and I noticed the odd atmosphere between the couple, but we chose to ignore it. Before Kailey could reply and create an argument, I spoke up. "I just said it wasn't Javier, so drop it.”
The three of them shared a look with each other but stayed silent.
“Look, it was sweet of you guys to come, but I'm grounded. If my aunt catches you, you won't see me again because she'll make me sleep on the cold basement floor," I deadpanned. We didn’t even have a basement.
My friends reluctantly nodded, knowing that them being around would only make things worse for me. Bella sucked in a shaky breath. “But you’ll tell us everything soon, right?”
“Of course.”
Tell them about the night I spent with the guy who I had sworn since freshman year that I hated? Pass.
***
It was an ungodly hour of the morning, a few minutes before class started. I stood and watched as my best friend rummaged through his locker.
"I don't think I'll be able to go," I mumbled.
Ricky threw out an old banana peel and it hit me in the face before falling on the floor. "Sorry. Go where?"
I picked up the peel and dropped it on his head, to which he quickly knocked it off and rolled his eyes at me. He then tossed it back into his filthy locker.
