With You┃Dylan O'Brien ⓵

Chapter Thirty-Four : Blood Sweat and Tears

It's been three weeks since we've buried Avery, but I'm feeling much better about it now. I do get a little sad at times when I happen to think about it... Though, for themost part, I believe I've come to accept what has happened, and I only strive to make my cousin proud every day.

These past few weeks have been quite wonderful, mostly in thanks to my friends and of course my Dylan, more than anyone else. The only thing that has been able to bring me down every now and then are my parents' arguments.

I try not to let them get to me, and I usually cope with it by falling asleep with either Dylan or Naomi on the phone, or a couple times going as far as to spend the night at one of their houses.

Besides those arguments, however, these recent days have been pretty enjoyable ones for me, and the streak of easiness seems like it'll last for a while.

Only on Wednesday, unfortunately, life smacks me in the face with a cold, hard slice of reality.

Dylan and I have left lunch a couple minutes early to walk leisurely in the hallways, hand in hand, before we have to head to Chemistry. The two of us wear easy grins while speaking humorously about the way our Chem teacher oddly never makes eye contact with anyone while teaching.

Our relaxed happiness quickly dissipates, however, when I hear a harsh voice behind us.

"O'Brien," the voice calls fiercely, obviously coming from a male.

My boyfriend and I turn to look simultaneously, where I instantly frown seeing that one boy... The main boy who'd made it his main priority at school to make Dylan's life a living Hell. I can't remember his name, but I know his face well enough to feel great anger and slight fear at the sight of it.

Just behind him walk his two friends that always travel with him, at least when it comes to confronting Dylan. Why do they always travel in a trio? They're cowards, weaklings. I notice, though, that James Collins isn't a part of the trio anymore, and has been replaced with some other boy.

After spotting the three of them, I grip Dylan's hand incredibly tightly and tell him, "Keep walking. Don't worry about it, just keep walking." We turn around and do just that, but the main boy persists.

"O'Brien!", he calls harshly. "I know you hear me talking to you, you'd better not ignore me."

We only keep walking and looking straight ahead as I notice a few students eating in the hallways paying attention to the scene. Apparently, us ignoring him makes him even angrier. Suddenly, I feel and hear them coming close to us, and quickly at that.

Dylan instinctually turns us around to face them while taking a defensive stance in front of me, though I truthfully feel like I should be the one standing in front of him. As the three boys approach us, I realize there's no more ignoring them.

"When I talk to you, you listen," the main boy says as he comes to a halt just three feet away from us. "It's called respect."

My boyfriend looks quite hateful but not very afraid when he speaks, "What do you want, Anthony?"

Anthony, that's his name! I know the other one's name is Kevin, but I've got no idea what the name of James's replacement is.

Anthony stares intensely at Dylan while speaking, "You got Kevin and I into quite a bit of trouble, I seem to recall. Neither of us could go to Formal, and both got suspended from football until just this week."

I start to grow a bit fearful of the situation as my eyes grow a bit wide and my hand automatically grips Dylan's tightly. He, on the other hand, seems to be handling himself pretty well.