Against Myself.

Chapter 16.

Blake ended up taking me home and cleaning up the blood on my face.
We then went up to his room and turned on a movie. We talked about how shitty his teammates were and how stupid most of the people in the school were.

"I'm glad I won't have to see the fuck faces two years from now." He said.

"Oh, that's right. You're graduating next year, right?" I asked.

"That's the plan."

"Thinking about any specific schools?"

He shrugged. "Not really. Mom's been trying to get me to, but I'm not that worried about it."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"I'm not sure I want to go to college at all, really. I just kind of want to leave this town behind and see where life takes me."

"Me too." I said.

I ended up falling asleep in the middle of the movie.

•••

Pills.

Blood.

Mom.

I felt Blake's hand on my shoulder.
"Cole, you okay? Hey, wake up."

My eyes shot open and I realized that I had a nightmare.

I turned around and rubbed my eyes.

"Are you okay?" Blake asked.

I nodded. "I'm fine. Just a bad dream. I have them all the time."

"Oh, okay."

I heard a woman's voice approaching Blake's door. She knocked, and then opened it.
"Hey, Blake. Dinner's done." She looked at me. "Who's this?"

Blake stood up. "This is Cole. He's a friend from school. We just came here a few hours ago and watched a movie."

She nodded. "Does he want to come eat with us?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

We went downstairs and sat down at the table as his mom gave us plates.

Once Blake's mom sat down, she turned to his dad.
"Mark, this is Cole, Blake's friend."

Blake's dad looked up before looking back down. "I thought I told you to call me James."

Blake's mom chuckled before turning to me. "He's so weird about his name. He says he doesn't like it. What do you think, Cole?"

I swallowed my food. "I think it's a perfectly okay name." I said. "My dad's name was Mark."

She gave me a confused look. "Was?"

I cleared my throat. "He died about 5 years ago."

Blake glanced at me.

"Oh.." Blake's mom gave me a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry."

"How did he die?" His dad asked.

I felt tears threatening already. Fuck.
Blake was looking at me too, he probably wanted to know.

"We used to make really low income. We could only afford one car. My mom had to use it one day to go grocery shopping. He had to walk me home from school. A semi was driving where it wasn't supposed to be driving. It hit him. He died instantly."

Blake's mom put her hand over her heart. "I'm so sorry."

I shook my head. "No, it's fine."

After we finished eating, Blake took me home.

"I'm sorry about my dad." He said while we were in the car.

"Sorry? For what?" I asked.

"Well, my dad. He kind of seemed like a dick. He's not, though. And when my mom asked about your dad. I know you probably didn't want to talk about it."

I shook my head. "No, it's fine. You don't have to apologize."

•••

"We're here." He said.

I said bye before going into my house and hearing my mom yelling at my brother from upstairs.

"Your sister is nothing to support! She just wants attention! Can't you see that? None of this is real! You don't raise a girl and get a boy! That's not how it goes!" She screamed.

"He was always a boy, Mom. He just got born in the wrong body by accident." I heard my brother say.

I heard a slap.

"Don't you dare say that! You know it's not true! God created us how he wants us to be!"

"Then God made his brain, right? Maybe he made his brain a boy and accidentally gave him a girl body." He said.

Multiple slaps.

"That's stupid of you to say! If I ever see a stunt like this again, I'll hurt you worse than just a slap!"

I heard Mom coming down the stairs. She was holding a piece of paper in her hand.
She looked at me.

"Thanks, Chloe. That's for corrupting your 10 year old brother."

She threw the piece of paper away and stormed off to her room.

I walked over to the trashcan and picked up the paper and ran up to my room.