Aggressive Me, Passive You

Chapter Two

EDITED

Chapter Two - Meeting Hunter

There it was.

The Buddy Club.

I stood outside of the library watching students interact with each other. Some students actually looked engrossed in their conversations, contrary to my opinion of how I thought people would act. My feet were planted on the floor; I couldn't physically force myself to walk through the double doors of the library. What was I afraid of? For a girl who put up a tough front, I sure seemed nervous to go through with this whole idea. No one knew about my problems—except for the principal and my family. My 'buddy' would be very disappointed in me because I was not opening up to anyone about my problems. I should have taken the five months of detention.

My feet dragged across the floor and to the main desk of the library. The librarian smiled when she saw me. All these fake smiles from the teachers were going to be the death of me. It irked my nerves so bad. They couldn't be that happy. Or maybe I was just a miserable person. That was probably what it was—I was just miserable.

"Hello, what's your name and ID number?" She started flipping through some papers.

"Aniya Wells. 017654."

"Alright," she crossed my name off the list, "go to table ten and you'll meet your Buddy."

Low key, I felt like I was returning to elementary school once again. Whose idea was it to make this silly club? I could tell I wasn't going to enjoy anything about it.

I nodded my head and walked to the table that had the card with the number ten on it. I internally groaned when I saw a white boy with his head staring down at his phone. He was dressed in a white button down shirt with khaki joggers. He had on the latest Lebron's. His skin was darker, like he came out of a tanning booth. He had wavy, brunette hair and I couldn't see the color of his eyes because his attention was on his phone. However, I could tell that he had a very chiseled face, everything was sharp, including his jaw line.

He didn't lift his head up, so I grabbed a chair and scooted it out from underneath the table and took a seat. That was when he looked up at me. We caught each other's gaze and his eyes were a forest green color. They were bright and big. He kind of looked like a deer stuck staring at headlights.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there. I'm Hunter," he held his hand out after putting his phone in his back pocket, "what's your name?"

"Aniya." I stared at his hand for a while before shaking it.

"So, I guess I'm your Buddy for the rest of the year!" He smiled. Even his teeth had no flaws. They were white and straight. I had seen a lot unkept smiles, so this was like a breath of fresh air. I had a really bad habit of talking about people, but I hated when people talked bad about me. I was such a hypocrite, but at least I could admit to it.

"I guess so." I crossed my legs and my arms. "What do we do in here?"

"Well," he got comfortable in the wooden chair, "we basically just talk about your problems. We hang out and study and do homework together. The whole point of this program is to make a new friend. The message is that you're not alone, your Buddy will always be there for you."

Was this guy kidding me? If he actually thought I was going to talk to him about my problems he had another thing coming. I was only here because I didn't want to have detention, but this seemed like it was going to be much worse than detention. I could run out of the library and never return.

"You make it sound like I'm troubled for real." I snickered, glaring at him.

"What?" He furrowed his eyebrows.

"It's not like I lost myself or somethin'. I just have a bad temper and fight a lot." I shrugged my shoulders.

"Go figure," he chuckled.

My eyes widened and I sat up straight in my seat. What was that supposed to mean? Was he trying to say something without actually saying it? He just didn't know, I'd beat the bricks out of him, boy or not. I would throw hands whenever and wherever. I was about to snap before I realized that Mr. Todd would find out about it in some way, so I stayed calm while asking him, "what's that supposed to mean?"

"It's just that most bla—women of color have a bad temper." He scratched the back of his neck. "Plus, most of the fights in this school happen because of them. You're here because of fighting."

"And you know this how?"

"Well, I don't know if it's true—"

"—so why would you assume stuff about me?"

"You said so yourself and you're getting angry with me right now." He gulped nervously. I was intimidating him. Good. However, he did make a good point. I was getting out of hand with him, but he had to know that he could not say stuff like that.

"I ain't getting mad. I'm just askin' you questions." I smirked. I was bluffing, but he did not have to know that.

This white boy was easy to scare. This was going to be a lot more fun than I thought it would be. If I got to mess with him like this everyday, then time would seem to fly by and I'd be done with this dumb program before I knew it.

"Okay," he smiled small, "let's just change the subject. How was your day?"

"It was okay." I shrugged my shoulders, picking at my nails.

"This is the part when you ask me how my day was." He attempted at a joke.

However, I didn't crack a smile and I definitely didn't laugh. I stared at him blankly. "I don't care to know how your day went."

"Okay." He dragged out the 'O'. "Um, do you play any sports?"

"Do I look like I play sports?" I rolled my eyes. None of these questions pertained to me. I really didn't want to be here, and especially not after he said that smart remark about black girls.

"You should really get involved in school. I'm in this program, beta club, tennis, and cross country."

"Oh, you're cute, smart, and athletic!" I sarcastically said, clapping my hands. "Bravo."

I was trying to see if I would get a reaction out of him, but the guy seemed unfazed. Of course he looked uncomfortable, but it was nothing he couldn't handle, clearly.

"Are you always this sarcastic?" He asked. It was a question that I felt was genuine and not staged. This school was full of crap.

"Do you always ask this many questions?" I shot back.

"Touché." He nodded slowly. "It's my job to."

"If you are gonna ask me questions, the least you could do is make them original." I cocked my head to the side, observing his face.

"So, you really think I'm cute?" He clasped his hands together and smiled.

"No." I chuckled.

"You said cute, smart, and athletic. You also said to come with my own questions. That was original." He nodded his head.

"Well, you're not cute." I shook my head.

"Okay, I'm just gonna pretend like I didn't hear that." He pursed his lips together.

The rest of the hour went by slow. Hunter asked me loads of questions, but I barely answered any of them seriously. I didn't know anything about the guy except for his name. He wasn't getting any answers out of me.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Aniya." He held out his arms and I shot him a confused look.

"I just treated you the worst way ever and you want to give me a hug?"

"It's what we're told to do after it's over . . ." He said quietly.

"Of course it is."

After he realized I wasn't going to give him a hug, he put his arms back down by his side. He started to collect his things.

"See you later." He smiled and waved as he turned to go out the other entrance of the library.

"Yeah, bye." I said and followed some students out of the double doors.