Trapped

11

e l e v e n

On the drive to school, I couldn't stop thinking about Christopher and the kiss that we had shared mere hours before this. My driver parked a few spots away from where Zeke usually does and waited for him to arrive. I really needed to talk to him. About ten minutes later, there he was. He grabbed his backpack from the passenger seat, and he stepped out of his car. I did the same.

"Hey Zeke." I said, and he just gave me a look.

"Hey..." he said dryly, and I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Look about Bryson. I never asked to see him face to face, his mother just seems to have this weird thing about me. I did ask her about you, and she says she'd love to have you in there but she's afraid that you're not 'gentle' enough."

"Okay." he said, and I was slightly taken back.

"Are you upset, Zeke? And if you are it because you haven't been able to see Bryson or is it because I have?"

"What do you think?"

"I-"

"Of course, I'm fucking upset!"

"But why?"

"I like you; I really do. We all do but you're just not right for Bryson, okay! There I said it!"

"What?" I asked, slightly hurt.

"You're a great person, Na'lini. You're gorgeous, you are most guys' dream girl. And Bryson feels that way too, but I don't see it, and I sure as hell don't feel it. I have tried for months to try to accept it but all that I've been able to accept is that his picture-perfect dream is becoming a living nightmare. You mess with his head too fucking much.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're always messing with his damn head and don't you dare try to deny it. It's like you don't care about him at all. You're always disappearing, have so many secrets, and you're always running off. I threw a fucking party for you, and you ran off! What does Bryson see in you?"

My eyes started to tear up.

"It's like you think you're too good for us."

"I have never, once in my 17 years of life thought that I was too good for anyone! And I don't know who you think you are getting all up in my face and spilling this bullshit to. I thought that you were my friend, I thought that all of you were. But in the end the truth always reveals itself doesn't it."

"He's always looking for you, chasing after you, it's like a never-ending loop. You stick around long enough to give him the bait and then end up nowhere to be found in the end. He always sneaking off with you, just like that night."

"BUT I WASNT THERE THAT NIGHT! YOU LEFT ME IN THE FUCKING LIBRARY!"

"Well with your track record," he said, and my nostrils flared, and I angrily ran a hand through my hair. "Now if you didn't have a history of vanishing-"

"He still would have left. Just like the fucking rest of you! And I cannot stress that enough."

"And when I found out that you weren't with us at all, it all made sense why he was in such a hurry. He was chasing after you. But if you could have just stayed put for once maybe he wouldn't have been in a rush, maybe he would've been more careful, maybe he would've stayed!"

"No... NO! You cannot put that on me."

"I mean if the shoe fits. WEAR. IT." he shrugged and left me standing there in the parking lot.