The Girl With the Cross

Chapter 27: Tyler

  Once school is out, I see Sarah putting her backpack on her shoulders and immediately smile when she looks my way. I briskly close my locker door and try catching up with her as she walks to the parking lot. Today is Friday; that means two more days until she's all mine, two more days until our first real kiss, just two more days . . .

  "Hey, beautiful." I say, swooping in to hold her hand as we walk outside.

  "Hi Tyler." She pulls away slightly from my grip and I instantly know something is wrong. I drop her hand.

  "You okay?" I ask, more gentle this time. She's hurt about something--bothered. I can tell by her eyes. Someone has made her upset.

  "Well . . ." She blows air out of her cheeks and pulls her hair out of the way by brushing it back with her fingers. 

  "You can tell me." I smile.

  "I can't, though. Not after all that horrible stuff with your dad this morning. It would just seem so pathetic and--" As soon as I see a forming droplet in her eye, I stop.

  "Hey," I lift her chin slowly, wiping the tear with my thumb, "please don't cry. Tell me what's going on." I say it as gentle as my voice will let me. I need to make her feel safe, supported. She looks away.

  "It's just my dad. He hates that I'm with you and it's just hard. We argued a little in the car this morning and I was rude to him when I really shouldn't have been. He's just trying to look out for me but he doesn't even know what he's actually trying to protect me from."

  "What? Sarah you should've told me earlier instead of worrying about me." I say, suddenly upset for her.

  "I didn't want to stress you out." She barely croaks out. My face is hot and full of concern.

"I don't want to ruin your relationship with your dad, Sarah. I'm sorry this happened, I really am." I say, cupping her face in my hands. Her face is so small-- dainty and fragile; it fits so easily in my palms.

  "I know you don't, and you aren't. It'll get better once he's used to it I'm sure. He's just really protective of me, that's all." She hugs me tightly and I hold her tight.

 I finally snap back to reality, pushing this aside for a moment as I see my friend JC looking over with such hatred. I promised I wouldn't date her. She's Christian and we swore never to date Christians. Even though we already broke into our separate life paths, I still feel guilt and I pull away from her.

  "Hey I have to go, okay? I'll catch up with you later." I say, running over to JC. My heavy backpack slows me down, but I don't stop until I reach him.

  "Yo dude-"

  "You still lied to me. Go away." He says, loudly. He's furious again. I cringe at his harsh tone. We still haven't quite recovered from our last fight over this, and this just adds another hit to our already weakened friendship.

  "Bro just let me-"

  "Bros don't lie to each other all the time. Don't call me that again." His voice is stone cold.

  "JC, please--" 

  "There's nothing you can say that will make any of this better. I told you not to date the girl, and now you're already kissy with her? No-- I'm done." He clicks the lock open on his bike and pulls it out.

  "Come on dude. God was speaking to me through her and I couldn't just drop her because you told me to. You know me better than that." I say, pleading with him.

  "Woah there man, God was 'speaking' to you? So you've been going to church too then? Another thing we agreed not to do even after our fight? You've gotta be kiddin' me." He says, rolling his eyes angrily.

"You know what? I was trying to keep our friendship, but you refuse to even listen to what I have to say. Yes, I've been going to church for the past two weeks and I will tell you that it's amazing. I thought God was fake, but now I can see the truth. Please just give it a chance and join us." I beg. He laughs.

" 'Join us'? How could you believe in God when he took away everything, everything from me? From you! He's not real! People made up something so they could stop worrying. Something to resolve their problems. But guess what? There's something called the real world, and we live in it. Come 'join me' back to reality. We have each other. We've always had each other, Ty." He says.

"My life is changing JC. I'm changing." I tell him.

"Well I don't need you." He spits his words like venom and I feel a sharp pain in my chest.

"I'm sorry, I wish you could get it." And just as I turn to leave, I feel the quickest blow to my cheek that spreads a sting through the left side of my face. My best friend just punched me.

"Now whatcha gonna do church boy?" We used to get into fights with other dudes for all different stupid reasons. It's how we solved problems after talking didn't work.

I turn back to him with the slowest movements I've ever made. Anger boils through me, starting with the redness I can already feel swelling on my face, and ending at the very tips of my toes. I am pure heat, complete infuriation. I look at him with tightly clenched fists.

  "Go ahead-- hit me back. No matter how many times you open up a bible, you're still just the same Tyler. So do it." He nods his head and narrows his eyes. He wants to prove a point. He wants this to end in blood.

Suddenly though, I feel a calmness wash over me like God knows I need help to get over this, and I take a steady breathe: "I'm not going to fight you." 

His eyes widen in disbelief as I turn and walk to my car.