Closer

Chapter 13

Y/n's POV

Now that everything was sorted out with Madison, I felt a lot better about what happened. Thats not to say I wasn't dreading stepping foot back in that school. I had a feeling Jack and his merry band of morons were going to be all over me. There wasn't an ounce of me itching to have another round with him. Especially after just convincing Madison I still have all my marbles.

Our relationship would be doomed before it even starts if I continued to only show her my violent side. I had seen how that worked out for my parents.

I stared down at the tight grip my fist had on the strap of my backpack. My knuckles were still in pretty bad shape but the swelling was almost unnoticeable. April had done a good job of wrapping it so I'd expect another day or so until I was back to normal.

Rounding the last corner, a car horn blared down the street as it passed me. I payed it no mind, assuming some poor girl was being catcalled but as I looked around, I was still the only one walking. After the second car came barreling the same way, I noticed some kids from my school inside pointing at me and whispering.

It wasn't until the third that I finally got the message. Considering it was yelled in my face when the widows were rolled down.

"There he is!" Someone I had only seen in passing in the way to classes shouted from the windows. "How's your hand, Y/n? Better than Jack's face I assume." They say back in their seat laughing loudly as they skidded off.

The fourth was when I dawned on me that I was in for a world of bullshit.

I pulled up the hood of my navy blue hoodie in an attempt to shield myself from what was coming. My sleeve was pulled further down my arm to cover the black bandage around my hand and I kept my eyes on the ground.

Moving through the parking lot was simple enough. Ducking under card and speeding past groups of people was a normal thing to do. It wasn't until my hand was inches from the door handle that everything fell apart.

The door swung open from the inside and a kid a year younger than me stood there frozen when our eyes met. The look in his face was pure terror as he started backing away from me.

"Uh-um sorry, man." He raised his hands, unfortunately catching the attention of the people sitting around us.

Whispers and murmurs felt like they were closing in on me as more people looked over at us.

"Did you hear what happened?"

"Oh my god, look at his hand."

I pushed past the kid and moved down the hallway. My good was doing little to hide me now, but still I clung to it like my life depended on it.

And I wasn't entirely convinced it wasn't.

"He's a maniac, really."

"It's always the quiet ones."

Still keeping my head down, I avoided as many eyes as possible. It wasn't hard to do considering everyone jumped from my path like they were yanked away by their self preservation.

It's not like I'd just start wailing on the first person who didn't conform to this strange reality.

I rested my head against my locker, ignoring the lingering stares. With a deep sigh and my good hand, my fingers twisted the lock in the usual pattern I did. Slowly, the metal locker creaked open to hide me from half of my—well I couldn't tell if they were scared of me or thought I had finally become too cool to talk to.

"When I said we needed more friends, this isn't what I meant." Eddie leaned against the locker next to mine to with his arms closed over chest. "At least Jack hasn't said a word to me." He shrugged.

"He's here, too?" I groaned. I had seen enough movies to know he most likely would be but the confirmation was doing wonder for my impending anxiety attack.

"Saw him pawing at Madison for forgiveness when I walked past the music room." Eddie pointed behind him. "You should know, her telling him to fuck off has been the highlight of my year."

The corners of my mouth twitched as I fought the smile on my face.

"Thought that'd make you smile." Eddie smirked. "I'm pretty sure she's still there is you wanna, y'know."  He raised his bushy eyebrows suggestively before yanking the hood off my head. "It should be a crime to his that handsome face."

With a wink, Eddie took a pack of fruit snack from the box I kept in my locker and moved on to his own.

I shoved the books I didn't need from my backpack into the small space. There was still ten minutes until the bell rang and I knew exactly where I wanted to spend them.

I pulled my sleeve back up, exposing the hand wrap for everyone to see. If they were going to gawk, then so be it.

With newfound confidence, I made my way to the music room. I had a plan to woo Madison off her feet with my natural boyish charm. But like the theme of the day, none of it mattered when I got an eye-full of Madison and Jack swapping spit.

Fuck me.

👀

-Andrew