It all started with a crush

A tough pill

(Daniel's pov)

The day trudged on and my mood worsened. Kelly's face kept replaying in my head. What did she see in that Johnny guy? This guy shows up out of nowhere and thinks that he can get with my girl? Who does he think he is?

"— good?"

"Huh?" I don't remember getting into Mack's car

" Are you good?" Mack asked.

" Uh, what do you think?"

" I think you are being visited by the green eyed demon"

" I. Am. Not.." I emphasized

" Okay then."

" But I don't understand what she sees in him. Like who does he think he is showing up here without any warning and trying to take my girl too? Like what? You see me here taking actual concern for this girl in front of me and you want to barge in? Not cool"

" Calm down. Maybe some competition will be good for your ego."

" Excuse me?"

" You heard me. You are possessive of a girl you never had. Do you see how wrong that is? It is obvious that she has taken a liking to Johnny even though it's his first day here. So yeah calm down and accept the fact that you have competition."

" But she doesn't know him. She will get over him and his new kid factor and see him for who truly is."

" Do you even listen to yourself? You are sounding like a fucking mad man" His knuckles tighten around the steering wheel. " You are not any better than the fool who lives on the other side of town. You were a complete ass her. You and bullshit ways of not sticking up for people has gotten you to this point. You know why she doesn't like you? Uh? It's because you have NEVER stood up for her. EVER. And that has made you an ass in her eyes. And quite honestly if I were her I would hate you too. No hate is a generous word I would despise you in fact. "

We screeched up to my house. The tension in the car choked me. I needed to get out.

"She despises me? And my best friend would too?" I thought. I gulped the tough pill down and tried to defend myself.

"I—"

" Oh, I AM NOT FINISHED YET. YOU SIR, ARE GOING TO SIT THERE AND TAKE IT. You have no right to claim someone that is not right and in some cases illegal. You need understand that. You can't be dissing a man that you have never met before-"

" I HAVE MET HIM. I KNOW WHO HE IS. I KNOW WHAT HE DOES TO GIRLS THAT MEETS."

We stayed silent.

"How-"

"Camp"

"How does-"

I sighed " He leads girls on and make them fall madly in love with him then he makes them do all of his dirty biddings for him and then when he gets what he wants he ends it with them."

We sat there.

" But what I don't understand is why are you so possessive of Kelly?"

" My dad hurt my mom and walked out on her. That day I vowed that I would never let her or my sister get hurt again. I also made a vow that if there was someone I loved I would protect them. I guess I AM possessive over her but your right she has every right to like whoever she wants. But I-"

"But you don't want her to get hurt the same way your mom did" Mack finished.

"Yeah" I whispered.

We sat there in silence looking down the empty street. Mack and I don't ever fight. As if with one fluid motion I found myself at my front door, then in my room. I looked out the window Mack's car was gone. I flopped on my bed I didn't care that I didn't change into my pajamas or into sweats. I didn't know whether to cry or not. Instead, I laid there with my mind replaying one of the worst days ever. I know that this between Mack and I was not as big as it could have been but the feeling of a big fight didn't leave. My phone buzzed three times ignored it. I buzzed again and kept on buzzing until I answered whoever was calling me. It was Johnny. Ignored it and him. He started texting and messaging me. I turned my phone off.

The red glow of my alarm clock glared 5:30 at me. I wasn't in the mood to do homework or go downstairs and start dinner for everyone. I may just be a lovesick fool. No, I am a lovesick fool who is an asshole to the person I love. But I can change that. Yeah, I can change that and show her who I really am.  With much effort and a new found motivation, I got up and grabbed my phone and went to the kitchen. I was on a new mission. I am going to do right by her. I turned my phone back on and saw 30 missed calls and over 100 messages. The majority of the messages were from my 'friends' about to days event, 3 were from my mom and the rest from Johnny. For the calls, 27 from Johnny, 1 from Mack and 1 from my sister. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the last caller. It was her.