Peer Pressure

Playing the Blame Game

I end up spending the night in the Nurse's office to heal up my broken bones. I'm woken up in the morning to see Shane walking in.

"Can I talk to him in private?" He asks the Nurse, sounding unusually assertive.

"Sure, I'll just be going now." The Nurse replies, leaving the room quickly.

Shane just glares at me the second we're alone. "What the hell were you thinking?" He checks.

"What do you mean?" I retort.

"What did you say to Laurence?" He growls.

"I didn't say anything to Laurence-" I try.

"-YES YOU DID! YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE TO BREAK US UP!" He snaps at me.

"My life doesn't revolve around you." I mutter.

"No, it revolves around you – getting what you want!" He hisses.

"I could barely fit any words in! He just started punching me before you arrived and stopped him!" I stress.

He glares hatefully at me. "You make it sound like he was being unreasonable! You were the one out of line!"

"In what way was I out of line? When I was punched or when you were about to kick me?" I challenge.

I can see that he physically tenses up at the sound of this. "I don't even wanna look at you." He growls.

"Good, then don't." I retort.

He just paces over to me, kicking a chair on the way. "What the hell were they supposed to think? With you giving me those googly eyes all through English? How the hell are you genuinely that stupid? No, not stupid, selfish! How could you do that to me? I warned you! I tried to make sure that you would not keep following me like the twisted dog you are! You deliberately did that to me! You wanted to ruin the relationship I had with Laurence and you just didn't care that I was happy at all, you just wanted to push me away from Laurence so you could have me all to yourself – you selfish idiot!" He rants.

"I'm the selfish idiot? I didn't do anything!" I point out.

"Yes you did!" He snaps. "Well, I hope it was worth it!" He snarls viciously.

"Is that why you came here? To blame me for your ex beating me up?" I challenge.

"SHUT UP!" He yells, actually straining his voice.

I stop and look at him to see that he's actually crying. Seeing him completely break down makes me feel a lump forming in my throat.

"Luke j-just told m-me – I th-thought – I can't e-even l-look at you!" He manages before turning to leave. When he gets to the doorway Luke just so happens to walk in.

"Shane? What's wrong?" Luke checks.

Shane just brushes Luke off, disappearing instantly.

"What happened?" Luke checks.

"Shane just came in and started yelling at me." I reply.

Luke thinks for a moment before letting out a sigh. "You brought up Laurence didn't you?" Luke works out.

"He attacked me." I point out.

"If you had any idea on the state that Shane was in all night, you would have way more heart than that." Luke tells me, looking extremely disgusted.

"Luke, I understand that I shouldn't slag off Laurence but Shane was just having a go at me and I thought I should at least put the records straight." I snap.

"I can't believe you would do that, Shane was a wreck all night. I told him that he should try talking to you to help get over it and I had faith that you wouldn't be so heartless as to say the name of the boy who had completely broken his heart." Luke tells me.

"Shane was the one who left! It's not like he was dumped!" I recall.

"No, Shane wasn't dumped, he was betrayed by someone he loved way too much. Shane didn't just fall in love with Laurence, he basically breathed him. Shane might have been overdependent in your eyes but he has no idea how to be content and alone with himself. He needed to be with someone because he just can't be alone." He tells me. "And now, after four years, he is."

"It's not my fault! Kier somehow found out that I had feelings for Shane and told them! It's not like I was trying to split them up, I know that Shane can do better but I wouldn't do that to him." I point out. "You can't put someone that you love through that."

"I do believe that you didn't mean to put Shane in that position but he's really fragile right now. He spent the whole morning, watching Laurence making out with Kier, his self-esteem was never particularly high but now it's pretty much non-existent." Luke explains.

He notices that I've gone quiet. "I had no idea they would put him through that." I admit.

"I know, you're really stupid when it comes to this but there's no way for you to fix things now. I'll go talk to Shane and keep him from doing anything reckless." He points out, leaving the nurse's office.