Of Jerks & Drama

Chapter 4

I stare at the plain white walls, covered in pastel posters of inspirational kitten quotes and get well soon notes.

Bet the nurse thought those posters would make her office less creepy, but to be honest, it still kind of is.

I stare at my blood caked fingernails and how it contrasted with the snow white bed I'm sitting on.

As the frail old nurse walks back in to check on me for the fifth time, my grip on the ice pack against my nose tightens.

"How you doing dear?" She asks, pulling out a clipboard.

"I've been better." I shrug, with a small smile on my face.

"Does your head still ache?" She asks, scribbling on the clipboard.

"No." I shake my head. I look above the petit nurse and a wall clock stood above her. It was away past closing time. "I better get going."

She nods and gives me a pat on my back as I go.

The hallway is practically empty so that means the girls locker room would be equally empty too.

I change at the speed of lightning once I enter and pack my things then evacuate the school.

The parking lot is empty too, except for a blue Ford car...

Dammit

My bike was parked around the area Foster's car is and he's casually leaning on it as if he's waiting for someone. I could take the long way — that is, go round the entire school — so he wouldn't see me.

But that would be stupid. I just have to keep my head head high and ignore him.

As I come near, he spots me and an emotion I can't quite decipher flashes in his eyes, but it left as quick as it came.

"Riley, come here." He commands.

Keep walking Riley, you got this.

"Are you seriously going to ignore me?" He laughs as if it is the funniest thing he had ever heard.

I walk past him and toward my bike and he says, "Are you seriously going to ride your bike with just one hand?" The grip on my nose tightens

So he suggests I walk home?

A chill breeze seeps through the fabric of my clothes and nips at my skin, answering my question for me.

"Come on get in." He stands up straight now.

But stubborn me stays rooted to the spot I'm on.

But lazy wants to go so badly. I can't risk getting pneumonia because of my hurt ego.

"Why?" I question. "You literally destroyed me with a damn dodge ball and now you wanna give me a ride home? Why the sudden mood change?"

He opens his mouth and closes it like a fish out of water and a little smile played on her lips, happy at the state I left him in.

I walk over the passenger seat, letting my lazy side take over.

He quickly recovered from his previous state and joined her.

"I'm only doing this because my mom said I should." He said after thinking long and hard of an answer.

"Right." I mumbled.

He started the car and the engine roared to life.

Silence dawned on us as neither one of us felt like starting up a conversation. The air between us is so tense, It's suffocating.

I rest my head against the cool window and I close my eyes.

Foster must have started choking on the tension, since he was the first to speak.

"Remember that time you climbed that tree in the park." Foster casually states as if we were the closest of pals.

My eyes snaps open at the memory. That was one for the best days of my life, even though I got severely injured.

A little smile plays on my lips.

"I fell Foster." His chest rumbles with laughter. Even though he's making fun of me right now, my smile grows wider. I marvel at his laughter and how deep it sounds now, before it was like a cat that got run over by a trailer.

"You also broke your leg." He laughs some more. I throw the nearest thing I can find — a pen — at him and he doesn't even flinch.

"And do you want to know why I fell?" I ask, turning fully at him. I take in his flushed expression and continue. "Because a certain somebody said they'd catch me."

"I said I was sorry." He says and I roll my eyes.

I believe that because once the ambulance came he sat in there with me and let lean on him, and I was a snotty mess, might I add.

"I was in a cast for three good weeks dammit." I throw piece of paper at him but it didn't even reach him. It came back and hit me like a boomerang.

"It was supposed to teach you not to trust seven year old boys... but you didn't learn." He grins from ear to ear and glances at me for a second then turns back to the road. "You went up that tree again and expected me to catch you, I didn't though."

"God I'm so dense." I mumble and slam my head on the window.

He mumbles something I can't quite decipher and we leave it at that.

I hold the ice pack up to my nose again. I look at Foster and he was a ghost smile on his face, then I wonder if he is the same Foster who literally wants to see me crash and burn.

He says he hates me but it's like he has forgotten how to do so.

We finally reach our neighborhood, the route to permanently etched in my brain.

Foster stops by my house and turns to me.

It looks like he's about to apologized to me or something. Maybe he has realised that hating his ex-best friend is a total waste of time. It might be the start of a beautiful frie—

"Get out of my car dammit!"

Or not.

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