A Faultless Tragedy

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

If proof existed of anything which could surpass the unpleasantness of a Monday morning, I had not yet discovered it. Nate had muttered a quiet, mumbled apology for his behaviour last night. I thought it best to accept and told him that I would forget about it. It definitely seemed like a one-off. He didn’t seem the type to have a temper. 

Rolling out of bed with much difficulty, I somehow managed to put on my school clothes on with eyes half closed. Mindlessly throwing books into my bag, I looked at my timetable for the day. Crap, double PE. Much to my misfortune, it is someone’s unfunny joke that the ridiculous and humiliating acts of physical exertion which happen to be PE is mandatory until you become a senior. Oh well, at least I had English and music. The day was tedious and finished uneventfully. Music class was fine but Mr Tortolli, the music teacher, was in one of his moods and spent half of the lesson teaching us in incredible detail, all the useless theory behind music in the baroque era. Lunch was bland. Carole was sitting in the middle of her circle of godly admirers so Laura, Ashleigh, Jess and I sat together. I thought this would be a good time to tell everyone about my step-brother so I gave them all the details about Nate and how he would be attending South City in a mere 3 days. They seemed excited to meet him for the first time.

***

After about 5 minutes of staring at the back of Derek Maine’s beautiful head of hair, the bell proclaiming the conclusion of the school day finally decided to make an appearance. Stumbling my way towards my usual seat on the bus, as was customary considering my clumsy nature, I plopped down next to Dean and put my bag by my feet

“I did it.” he managed to muster in a forlorn whisper.

“What did you do?” I was confused as to what he was referring.

“She said no.”

Oh, Dean was talking about Christie. I guess she didn’t want to go out with him. Typical Christie, of course she would deny a sweet, kind, funny, attractive guy like Dean. Knowing her, she would probably end up dating the captain of the football team just to maintain her social standing. She was that type of person. 

“She’s not worth being upset over. You’ll find someone who deserves you, Dean.”

“She said she wouldn’t go out with me because she wasn’t looking for a relationship. Well, that’s definitely not what it looked like when I saw her making out with Austin behind the canteen after 3rd period.”

“What? Austin Shipper?”

Austin was beginning to look shady. First I caught him with Mia and now Christie? Kim really should know what her boyfriend was doing behind her back.

“Austin’s not even the QB. If she’s going around kissing someone, it should at least be Derek, not the measly half-back.” Dean said, looking down into his lap.

I knew I was right about her and the football team. Damn the superficiality of South City. I guess you were nobody unless you were a cheerleader, a footballer, or dating either the former or latter. Dean wasn’t a loser though. Dean left the team in 9th grade because he felt he was more inclined towards basketball. He was an excellent athlete, and he still remained the best of friends with the whole football team. Only narrow-minded Christie thought that because he was no longer on the team, he was no longer cool. 

I pulled my iPhone out of my pocket and flicked through hundreds of songs before I found “Not Afraid” by Eminem. Since we both shared a love for rap music, I handed Dean the other earphone and we listened together, not speaking for the rest of the bus ride. My stop was in visibility and I stood, preparing for my exit.