Was Any Of It Real?

Boxing and Small Things

Thursday, November, 16, 2023

In chemistry we started talking like always. The boy band also know as the four guys I'm surrounded by in chemistry are Jake, Luca, Tylar, and Cameron. I've known Cam for three years. I found out last year that he'd had a crush on me almost the whole time, but I honestly just couldn't like him like that, and the whole time had him brother zoned. I wasn't trying to do it as a mean thing though. I had figured out that he had liked me in my freshman year. I chose to ignore it for almost the whole school year because I didn't want to hurt someone I actually thought of as a brother.

Ty I met this year but we got along fast; talking about covers of our favorite songs and our favorite TV shows. Luca was quiet, but nice. I tried to talk to him to get him to speak when I could because quiet people usually aren't that quiet. Something I found out once I got Rosey, Rosaline, to start talking three years ago.

Finally, Jake better referred to as Sunshine. I've known Jake since Freshman year, when I was dating Jaxson. I had been hurt and Jaxson had been nice to me, I fell for him and of course I just had to tell him. We had been cute while leaving hints for each other, but I didn't know what he had been saying behind my back. I dumped him after two and a half weeks. It's been over a year since and I have never once regretted it.

Jake I think is different from his dear friend, though. Even Sel agreed that he was different. Even though he's a jock and so is Jaxson. I had said so many things after the break-up, one of those many things being a complete lie, and I didn't even know.

"I learned from my past mistakes." That was in regards to my ex. After dating him, I had learned that most jocks are jerks. I thought that the teen movies were wrong, that my friends were just over-protective, but I was the one who was wrong. The movies had warned me, and I've watched dozens of romance movies. My friends weren't over-protective; they were just trying to keep me from getting hurt.

After I broke up with Jaxson, they thought he had broken my heart, but I never gave him my heart. I mean, we weren't even together for three weeks. I wasn't broken; I was hurt. I had trusted him, and I shouldn't have. I had liked him when I knew better. I thought he was cute, and never should've fallen for that face.

A minor pain surged through my knee. Reminding me to grab the ace bandage from my bag and brace my knee that will never seem to be better. Luckily, it had been warm, the shorts I wore today making it easier to wrap my unhappy knee. I hadn't braced it in my dance, pe, class second period and didn't have time or the room till now in fourth period. As I start wrapping my knee, I hear my name.

"Bry, why are you wrapping your knee?" Sunshine asks completely confused.

"Remember how I was hurt for pretty much all last year?" I try to remind him.

"Yeah, why?" Obviously, he wasn't connecting the dots.

"It's still screwed up, it never really got better." I hate that truth; I was fourteen I'm not old and decaying I'm young. Yet it still hurts, pops, clacks, and is a complete nuisance.

"I didn't know," You and everyone else. I couldn't help but think.

"Not many people realize, it's fine." Something that most of my team didn't realize was that when I was finally cleared, they had taught me how to walk again. I had crawled through the beginning of physical therapy struggling horribly. Then had finally been cleared to walk without a crutch. Running, though I still wasn't there, most of my strength gone. Physical therapy didn't get me back to a hundred percent. They had even told me that when they gave me the clearance forms. I was only back to about seventy-five maybe eighty percent on a good day.

My first day back to wrestling, we ran a mile and after, I was in so much pain. I wouldn't let anyone else know that though. I had been out because of my injury for six months and everyone thought I was just being a crybaby about it and using it as an excuse to skip practice, but in reality, I just couldn't get cleared. They didn't need to see how weak I actually was, especially after everything they said. Diana had told me all of it, every single thing they had said about me while I wasn't able to practice. She hated it but I told her to ignore them because I didn't want her getting on anyone's bad side. I mean I can take a few insults, and if anything, they were saying it behind my back because they didn't have the balls to say it to my face.

After taking notes, our teacher gave us the rest of the period to do whatever we wanted. I started working on the work.

"Hey Aubry, look at this."

"Why, what is it?" I asked, knowing not to trust the guys. I have a brother and whenever he wants to show me something, I usually wish that he didn't.

"It's just me boxing." Jake says and now I'm curious. I know curiosity killed the cat, but...

"Fine," I wouldn't mind watching that. "Did you win?"

"Yeah," He responded with a proud smile creeping on his face.

"Oh, yeah that's the thing the football team does when they box in the back of the locker room, right?" I ask the statement like a question.

"How do you know about that?" The surprise on his face absolutely hilarious.

"Why am I not supposed to know about it?" I tip-toe around the obvious fact because I find it fun to play with him.

"No one is supposed to know about that, so who told you?" 

"I guess I'm good at being no one then." The look on his face was priceless when I said that. I just had to continue... "I'm not going to rat. Plus, didn't you just show me a video of you boxing, so you're not keeping that secret very well, now are you." He was trying to find a way to answer me, but he couldn't think of an answer that would make me wrong.

"Whatever, Bry," I won. Sel's older brother Isaiah had told me, but Sunshine obviously doesn't need to know that. As Jake pouted in the corner, I couldn't help but smile because he made me laugh. Even though I didn't want to like him. I didn't want him to be the reason for my laugh or smile, but he was.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope all the insomniacs go to sleep and the morning people enjoy the sun.