Always Almost

Chapter 3

Blake

Adam sent me that one text in the dead of the night.

There was no way for me to see it coming.

'I need a favour.'
That was all it said. He said transfer to Horizon High and he will tell me.
How amusing, huh?

Adam wanted me to transfer back to the school that made my life hell. Come back to the people who destroyed my family and my life.
Come back to the place which made my mom distrustful of my words.

And yet, I came here.

And now where the fuck was that bastard?  Currently sitting in LOL cafe with Charlie, ignoring the numerous calls and messages I've sent him by now.

And where was I? Sitting here in the parking lot of the same fucking cafe because as much as I wanted to drag him out of the cafe by the collar of his shirt, I didn't want to do that in Charlie's spectacled vision.

I rested my forehead on the steering wheel.  I could feel a headache coming on.

I had no idea what to do now. It's like I was in my own personal hell.
Coming back to this school, made me more angry. More rude. I didn't want to be mean to Adam or Charlie.

Both of them were probably the only people who stuck with me even when things got worse back then. And I was so scared, so angry, so prideful, I pushed them both away.

Yeah, being ignored by Adam made me furious. It struck a nerve.
It was like being back to those days when I was bullied by Ash and his friends. And Georgia's sympathizers.

Within the same fucking walls.

But it didn't make me as angry as I felt.

This place was poisonous. It bled poison inside me with every breath I took.

It set me alight everytime I saw Ash's friends' gaze pass over me without even a hint of recognition.

It made my skin crawl when Georgia laughed and held Charlie with her hand to balance herself, as she laughed so joyously, as if... as if she didn't fucking ruin my life.

New faces. Old faces.

Everything pissed me off. I felt like a live wire ready to shock someone to death the moment they laid a finger on me.

I was raring to go for a fight.
And the bad part was that things had changed. A lot of the visible, mean bullying had regressed to subtle comments and after-school fights.

And a lot of people forgot who I was.
As if everything that happened to me, everything they did to me, was not something huge. Just a small gesture.

I was ruminating about making the dumb choice of transferring back to the hell hole when I saw the girl I had seen today, who Charlie hung out with when she wasn't with Georgia.

Emily. I think her name was Emily.
Blonde hair. Dark clothes. Uncaring attitude from what I had seen.

She parked in the same lane as my car, 2-3 cars away. She got out, spinning her car keys around her index finger, headphones hanging off her neck.

She looked cool. Chill. Stuff I could have been if that shit incident did not happen. If it did not fill me up with enough anger to char someone just by getting close enough  to them.

Emily sauntered off into the cafe, her head held high.

The feeling of an oncoming headache was more intense now.

Mom was against me transferring here. There had been only a few things I have seen mom be so adamant about.

I could understand her. I felt her fear, her worries.

I was scared of how I would react coming here. I had no idea how much I had changed and how bad this school might be a place for me.

And yet, I came here.

Adam never asked for favours. He could have a black eye, a dirty purple bruise on his back, or he could square up to Ash and he never asked for a favour.

He did it all himself. His good boy, brave boy, bad boy, all his images were his own.

And that's why when he asked me to come back, I even got in an argument with mom to do what he needed help with.

There were so many questions in my head. And I had no answers.
I wanted to punch him. I wanted answers. Why the fuck did I come back here?

I let out a shaky breath. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I typed a message for Adam. Sweet and short.

Fuck you, Adam!

So what if this anger was a consequence of being bullied for months? So what if Adam didn't deserve it to be directed at him?
I knew what Ms. Wilson would say.
That it was misplaced anger. That it was probably me projecting at someone.

Probably. The word she always added to her sentences because she didn't want to seem like she was trying to interpret me and my actions.

And yet, for a moment, I didn't care. Sending a text wasn't nearly as gratifying as punching Adam in the face would have been. But it was a start.

I closed my eyes and leaned against the backseat. My phone buzzed. It was a text from Adam.
I'm sorry, Blake.

A/N:-
I'm sorry I'm not able to update as frequently as I'd like. I'm on a vacation right now and things are a little hectic.
But I can't say for sure if my updates would be more regular had I been back at college with a structured atmosphere.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy reading this story and have fun.
Till the next time, Bye Bye!