Queen II Barzal

Chapter Twelve: Tyler

 Dad told Mom about what happened and Mom was not happy. She yelled at me for an hour telling me how irresponsible I was being. Dad was almost set on going to school with me on Monday and beating the shit out of Alex. I told him that he really didn't need to because I took care of it. Plus, he probably wasn't even going to show up anyway.

I went back to school on Monday and glared at Alex down the hall. Thank God he didn't notice me, otherwise, he would have let me hear it. Knowing what he's capable of now, he could probably hurt me.

I haven't told anyone else besides Zack and my parents yet. I wasn't planning on telling the guys because they didn't need to know. It didn't help that they were asking about it. I went to AP American History with Finn and we sat in our normal spots. I tried not to look at Alex as he went to the other side of the classroom.

"What happened to his face?" Finn whispered.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I was the one who did it?" I asked.

"Yeah," He said. "Wait a damn minute, did you?"

I nodded.

"What did he do?" He asked. "I can beat him up more if you need me to,"

"He was just being a jerk, that's all," I fibbed a little.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yup," I lied.

"He looks pretty fucking mad," Finn said.

"No shit, Sherlock," I whispered. "I punched the guy, of course he's mad,"

"Or he's scared of you," Finn said.

I looked at him by the other side of the room.

"Yeah," I said. "He's definitely scared of me,"

I never did see Alex at school after that day. He probably moved out of my class. That, I was thankful for. I don't need the reminder of how I broke my parent's trust and almost got killed. Okay, I'm being a little dramatic, but I'm seriously traumatized. I wonder how many other girls Alex did that to. How many girls let him get away with it?

My nerves were all over the place, thinking about how many other people are affected by Alex. I'm not the only one, even though I hoped I was. I never wanted to talk about it again, though it was always in the back of my mind.

When I got home, I threw myself on my unmade bed. I tried not to cry into the pillow, but the tears spilled anyway. I couldn't get the image of him out of my mind. The thoughts of my parents yelling at me. Now, they don't even trust me with my friends anymore. Mom won't let me hang out with any of them alone, which I find ridiculous, but I understand. I was being immature, but I knew how to handle it at least. The tears kept spilling into my pillow until it was soaked. My white pillow had black mascara marks on it, dripping wet from my tears. I guess Riley heard me crying because he knocked on the door.

"Tyler?" He asked softly. "Are you okay?"

Wow, since when has he cared?

"I'm fine," I said. "Go away,"

"Can I come in?" He asked.

"I said, go away," I told him.

He opened the door anyway.

"Mom and Dad aren't home," He said. "What happened?"

I tucked my body under my blankets and covered my face.

"Tyler," He said softly. "You can tell me,"

"Since when do you care about me?" I snapped.

"Don't be a bitch, I was trying to help," Riley said.