Afterlife (A7X)

Chapter 19: The Decision

~~~~CHAPTER 19~~~~

The Decision~~~~

"I don't really think this' very fair," I said to Brian as we both made our way down the corridors after school that day. "I mean, I never wann'ed to go in the first place and yet here you guys are, basically making me go along when I'm able to when I said I didn't want to."

Brian gave a bit of an unenthusiastic shrug as he shifted his bag on his shoulder before shifting mine, as he was carrying mine as well like he always did; he felt like he still needed to help me out even though he knew I was probably capable of it by myself.

"Well y'know how it is Zacky," he said with a bit of a sigh. "We don't wanna leave you behind; who'd stay with you anyway? Jessie's determined to come along with us to help us figure this out; you'd really wanna stay with her brother or someone?"

"You could stay?"

Brian came to a halt, making me halt as well, kinda glad he'd stopped; I was starting to get sick of the damn crutches, as they made my arms tired real quickly.

"Listen Zack, I'd love to, but I know Jimmy and Matt would want me there; they want you there as well," he said, a hint of sadness in his tone. "We just really need to get rid of the damn Hunter. I mean, you almost died when he set fire to your house and then Matt nearly died on Saturday or got seriously injured 'cause of the car and everything; we can't afford him hanging around any longer man. Someone's gonna get killed if this goes on any longer."

I just looked at him and he sighed before ruffling his hair up a bit, making it stand up a bit more than it normally did when he wasn't wearing his fedora, even though it was still the same length; he still hadn't decided whether or not to cut it shorter.

"I'll talk to Matt about it then," he said, making me smile a bit, as he always gave in. "Just don't expect him to say yes to me staying behind, got it?"

I gave a nod as he started heading off down the corridor again. I quickly tried to catch up as he reached the stairs and came to a halt on the second last step. He grinned at me.

"C'mon slow coach," he called with a laugh as I finally arrived at the stairs. "You're keeping me waiting."

I shot him a glare and he laughed. I shook my head before just laughing as well; it was impossible not to.

"You're so impatient Brian," I said as I slowly descended the stairs, Brian just shifting the weight of both our bags as he watched me with slight amusement. He crossed his arms.

"Just throw away those crutches and walk like a normal person," he said, his expression back to being unreadable like always, the dark eyeliner around his eyes making him that bit more unreadable.

I came to a halt at the middle of the stairs, making him roll his eyes as he shifted his weight to his left foot.

"I'd like to see you try being on crutches and then tell me how easy it is. I can't just throw them away Brian; I'd be stuck," I said with a laugh as I continued on my way down the stairs, a hint of amusement in Brian's eyes and a brief smile on his face.

"Alright, fine," he said as I finally made it down the stairs and came to a halt. "I'll try the stairs."

I just looked at him as he put both of our bags down near the wall near me and indicated for me to hand over the crutches, almost like I didn't need them. I smiled in amusement and did as asked and leant against the wall as Brian walked up the stairs and came to a halt.

"Why're you shorter than me?" Brian asked as he tried to make it down the stairs using the crutches. "This makes it impossible man."

"Don't readjust 'em," I said as I watched on with amusement, laughing a slight bit. "You're not that much taller than me."