The Tainted Rose

Chapter five

Do you have friends or do you have acquaintances? Do you even know the difference?

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(Knock, Knock)

"Aiden, what are you doing here?" professor James seemed confused. "I thought you missed school today."

"Ummm, no professor, I didn't," I responded a little nervous.

"Then, why weren't you in my class today?" he asked while taking his reading glasses off.

"That's what I came here to tell you, professor. This morning after the first period, Ashley had a little problem with her supposedly good friends. They bumped into each other in the hallway and then, Yoana and her little posse started calling her fat and ugly. Ashley ran out of there as fast as she could and when she was far enough, she burst into tears. I stayed with her the entire second period to make her feel better. That's why I didn't make it to your class." I explained

"I can't believe that even they are making fun of her. They were supposed to be her friends." The professor seemed a little ticked off with everything.

"That's the thing professor, there are not a lot of friends left in this world. Everyone that calls themselves your friend, will leave you the moment things start to get ugly." I know that for a fact. When the events with my stepfather happened, everyone just looked at me differently. The ones that were supposed to be my friends just left me. I was alone all the time; in classes, nobody wanted to sit with me and at lunch, I had to eat alone because nobody wanted to talk with me.

"Guess you're right Aiden, but hey at least Ashley did find one true friend. You." He seemed dead serious.

"Me?" I wasn't sure I was a good friend. Not that I wanted to be JUST her friend.

"Yes you, she may not notice it right away, but I'm sure she'll come around. Anyway, about the class, you're good with me. You did the right thing, and also it's not like you missed that much, I put the documentary about Hitler. I know that you know that documentary like the back of your hand."

Oh, boy do I. He used to put that documentary every year and apparently still does. "Yeah, I do remember it very clearly, but you know? It wasn't because you put it like every year, it's that I did a lot of research." I said with a smirk on my face.

"Yeah, sure you did. I'm sure you did," he said sarcastically.

"Well, the bell is about to ring and I still haven't eaten anything, see you tomorrow James don't go changing on me ever. Also, thank you for being so understanding." I shook his hand and left for the cafeteria.

"See you tomorrow and thank you for looking out for her, she is a good girl."

Well, now that that's out of my way, I can go to the team's practice after school and then, study with Ashley.

That's exactly what I did; after school, I went directly to the field. I couldn't see Ashley anywhere on the bleachers, so I just thought that she was already at the park waiting for me. As soon as the practice ended, I grabbed my stuff and zoomed out of there like a bat out of hell. When I arrived at the park, I looked all over the place for Ashley, but I couldn't find her. Where could she be?  We were supposed to meet there to study.

I went home confused. Maybe she didn't want to spend more time with me or maybe she had something. I'll ask her tomorrow.

The next day, at lunch, I looked everywhere for her. I couldn't find her, not even in her famous corner, but I knew that she was in school because earlier that day, I heard her talking with a teacher. As last resource, I went to the baseball field looking for her. I could see her in the distance, alone under the bleachers.

"Hey you, what are you doing here?" I smiled expecting the same from her, but boy was I in for a different treat.

"Hey you!? That's all you got to say!?" Tears were running down her cheeks.

"Umm was I supposed to say something else?" I asked confused.

"Yeah! How about where the fuck were you yesterday at lunch?... And after school? You can start there." She seemed very angry.

"Well, at lunch I was with James explaining why I missed his class, and after school, I was at the team's practice," I explained. What was happening?

To be honest I was a little scared of her right now. She was really mad, but sad at the same time. It was like I was waiting for a bomb to go off.

"And you couldn't tell me that you had practice yesterday?" She asked angrily.

"I... I thought you already knew. I went to the park after practice but you weren't there." I really thought she knew, she was nearby when the coach told me that I had made the team and it's not like he whispered it or anything.

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock. I wasn't there because you didn't tell me you had made the team and that you had practice. I waited for you the entire hour, but you didn't show. So yeah! I went home angry at you and everything because I thought you ditched me." I thought she was gonna punch me or something.

"Hey, just calm down. Why are you so mad? What happened and what's that you got in your hand?" I asked curiously.

She handed me the paper on her hand and when I opened it, I could see why she was so mad and sad at the same time. It was a drawing of a giant whale with her face and on top of the whale it said "Ashwhale".

Not that I'm on the side of whoever did this, but to be honest it was a great job. The whale's body was perfectly drawn and her face was accurate down to the smallest detail.

" Ashley, who did this?" I asked looking at her straight into her eyes.

"The drawing was Jaylen and the word was Damien." She said feeling ashamed and lowering her head.

"Yesterday while you were with James, Damien called me that in front of the whole school and today I received this."

"I'll kill them, I promise." I was so mad that without even noticing, my hand formed into a fist.

"No! Don't do anything stupid. If you confront Damien, the entire team will beat you."

She was right, if I had touched Damien all the other jocks were going to kick my sorry ass. Jaylen on the other hand, who the hell is he? I guess it's another one of my victims now.

After lunch, I had to deal with Yoana, Rose, and Alex.

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"Why are you wasting your time with that bitch Ashley? I mean you could get someone better." Alex was really close to my ear. Now let me tell you those Harry Potter glasses were really not helping her. I was expecting a big guy named Hagrid to bust her out of the school at any moment.

"You know what? If you leave Ashley maybe you could get the three of us. How's that for a deal?" Yoana asked as Alex and Rose touched me.

"You know what? I got a better deal. Why don't you take wingardium leviosa looking ass and Oompa Loompa with you, fuck off and leave Ashley alone?" I answered.

"Are you saying that you prefer to be with that fat bitch more than you wanna be with us? We run this school whatever we say goes." Yoana said as Rose and Alex stopped touching me.

"You know what? As a matter of fact, yeah I am saying that." I responded annoyed.

"Mr. Morris, do you wanna share something with the class?" My English teacher asked.

"No mam, I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

Those girls better not mess with me or Ashley because if they do, they'll end up on my list like all the other boys and it's not a Christmas list.