Killjoy ; SetoSolace

| 14 |

| 14 | This Is More Than I Bargained For

***

"Way to be subtle," I grunted, stopping in the middle of the hall. I wiped my nose with my sleeve, still surprised to see the blood was still gushing. I licked my lips; it tasted metallic.

Ty shook his head, "Knowing that you're an underage smoker, I had a hunch you might've broken his heart or something."

"To tell you the truth, I had practically nothing to do with him ditching school. On that night, I was hanging out with Brice and one thing led to another—"

"You? Hanging out with Brice?" Ty interrupted, struck by awe. "That complete asshole of a person?"

"He's not a bad guy, don't assume things. Now shut up and let me finish," I snapped. "We were watching movies in his room when I got a phone call from Jason to meet him at Cemetery Drive. I was uncomfortable, and Brice knew that, so he dragged me away. Simple as that. Wouldn't you want someone to be your wingman and save you from an awkward confrontation?"

"That's the truth? Jason told me a completely different story."

I nearly choked at those words, "What did he tell you?"

"He told me that Brice sucker punched him and dragged you away as if he was your doll," Ty explained. "Somethin' along the lines of that, but it was gruesome. Honestly, most of us thought you were murdered by Brice or some shit. Rumors spread like wildfire; when you both were absent for a long time, everyone had thought that you were dead and Brice was on the run from the cops. But then, when that photo showed up—"

"Photo? What photo?"

"The photo of you and Brice on that roof with the caption faggot or something—"

I grimaced, rubbing my temples out of habit, "People at our school saw it?"

"Yeah, I mean it's cute but whoever made the caption is a complete asshole."

I curse, kicking the nearby locker with my foot. There's a dent in it now, but hell if I care. I groan in frustration, holding my head, "Fuck!"

"What do you mean fuck? It's just one photo," Ty grasps me by the shoulders, preventing me from breaking anything else. I don't know what got over me. Maybe it was the adrenaline of the moment, or perhaps I felt as if it would be better to explain everything, but I began to confess everything that occurred when I had moved from Wisconsin. Ty stood there, nodding his head and listening.

"Seems to me that your parents don't want to ruin your family's reputation," Ty murmurs. "That's why they're not looking for you. If they called the police, surely headlines will be all over the place."

"But if their reputation is ruined, then surely I'm going to pay for it!" I argued, biting back tears. It's impossible, this can't be happening to me. "I bet it was Shelby who posted that photo!"

"That's reasonable, she has a reason to ruin everything for you both."

"Will you help me confront Shelby?"

Ty's quiet for a moment, pausing in his tracks. He leans against one of the lockers, biting his lower lip while thinking, "I'll help you under one condition."

"And that condition is?"

"We stay out of Adam's line of sight."

"Deal. Now, let's go to the nurse. I'm still bleeding, y'know."

His eyes lock on the sight of my bloody nose and he gags, tugging me down the hall and towards the nurse's office. I continuously wipe the dripping blood with my shirt. From a third person perspective, it looked as if I had just ate someone. Thank god no one else was wandering in the hallways.