Him

Chapter fourteen

We had the same teams as before: Randy, Dylan, Jerry, and me.

"Hey." Jerry mutter to me as I sat down for attendance.

Dylan was leaning against a wall, looking pissed off.

"Hey. What happened there?" I asked Jerry, nodding in Dylan's direction.

" Not sure. He was fine during lunch. Hey, where did you go?" He asked.

" I got lost." I lied

" For thirty minutes?" He asked. He obviously didn't believe me.

" Yeah." I sighed. " Here." I replied as the teacher called my name.

We got into our teams and Randy was insistent on beating Dylan, which meant it was Randy and Jerry against Dylan and I.

" Fuck this." Jerry groaned into my ear before he slouched over to the other side of the net. We were playing badminton.

Dylan didn't say a word to me while we were playing, which I was surprised by. At one moment, we hit each other's arms with our rackets, mostly my fault.

I apologized and he still ignored me. I was confused, but I had more to worry about.

After class was over Jerry and I walked out to the parking lot. He looked like he was going to puke and punch someone all at once. Becca was waiting for him so I went to the sidewalk.

I saw Dylan leaning by his car with his arms crossed. He was looking in my direction, but not at me. I sighed and gave up.

I started walking back home. When I got to the street Dylan left me at yesterday, his car pulled up with screeching tires

I whipped my head around and saw him sitting there with his window down.

" Get in." He grunted. I was frozen in place.

" Get in" he repeated, louder this time.

" Why?" I yelled. That wasn't what I wanted to say at all.

" Get the fuck in the car" he enunciated every word. I stood silent on the street. It was only the next sound that made me jump into his car.

I heard my father's car starting. He refused to have it fixed, so it's roar was distinctive.

I was in the passenger seat of Dylan's red Toyota and within seconds we were flying through the neighborhood.

" Why are you doing this?" I asked as the familiar scene faded to a highway.

" Why can't you listen?" He sighed. He was clearly annoyed with me, though I had no clue why.

" What's your problem?" I couldn't believe he was still here.

" You!" He yelled. I jumped involuntary and his tone changed.

" Your my problem," he sighed." I let your life and your words affect me."

My words? My life?

" I helped you, twice! I never help anyone, but I helped you. And then my stupid ass had to go and yell at my father. " He was yelling now. The car inched faster and faster.

Our small town was out of view, we were on the small two lane highway that led to the next town.

" And my mistake, was letting you leave." He chuckled, but there wasn't a trace of humor in it.

" I let you leave and look what happened!" He pulled my sleeve up, exposing the bruises on my arm.

" I can only imagine there are more." He sighed. His hand was back on the wheel.

" I never asked you to care." I said quietly looking straight ahead.

" Neither did I." He exhaled. I was more defensive than ever.

" Then why do you?" I yelled back. The car slammed to a hault and within seconds we were on a shoulder.

He turned to me now.

" I don't know. " He rubbed his eyes. We sat silent for a moment. I was thinking about everything he just said to me.

" How did you know?" I whispered, breaking the silence.

" Your eyes." He replied. I knew it. Despite seeing the bruises in his face, I could still see the shift in his eyes. And what I feared was true: he could see it in mine as well.

All I wanted to do was run and hide, but that was impossible now.

"What happened to you?" I asked moments later. He sighed.

" I was so angry Last night that I decided it was a brilliant idea to yell at my father. I pissed him off and he got me good. Although, since I was so mad, I beat him up pretty badly." He shifted around in his seat as he spoke.

" You were beat because of me?" I asked in a detached voice. I was shocked. I couldn't process this fact.

" No! It was my own fault." He said quickly. My face must have showed pain or disbelief because the next thing I knew, we were back on the road.

Headed for our town.