The Remedy

Chapter 10

The image above is Aaron again.

The last bell of the day rang and Allison run toward me. "Clara! I know what we should do today!"

"What?" I asked. She was always thinking of fun stuff to do together.

"Let's go to the mall and try on dresses for prom. I need a dress, and I'm assuming you do too. What do ya say?" She grinned.

"Hold it. I never said I was going to prom. I don't want to go without a date!"

"I suppose you're right. Just a second. I'll be right back." She started to run off and I realized she was up to no good.

"Alli!! Come back here! What are you doing?" I hollered. She better not be telling someone to ask me. That would be embarrassing. Besides I would probably say no. In all honestly I wanted Jax to ask me. He probably wouldn't, though, and that was okay. Prom would be lame anyways.

I squeezed through the crowd of bustling kids, trying to make my way to Alli. I saw her go outside, and by the time I got out, she was out of sight. I was going to kill that girl.

"Clara?" I snapped my head around to the startling sound of Aaron's voice. Even after how jerkish he'd been to me, his voice made me nervous. So he'd finally wanted to say something. Weeks later. Thanks, Aaron.

"What?"

"Can we talk?" He looked sincere.

"I guess. Just for a little bit."

"Okay, let's sit over there." He said, pointing to a bench near some bushes. We sat down, and he started talking. "I'm sorry about everything. I got jealous. When I like someone, that's what I tend to do. I really took it badly when he came here, and you seemed to like him. I guess I was used to you staring at me and getting all nervous when I'd talk to you."

I blushed. I hadn't known that he actually knew. I guess one would have had to be blind not to see it. Still, though.

"So when I saw you with him, I realized I liked you. A lot."

"Then why did you ditch me when I got up at the restaurant? The first chance you got. And then you didn't talk to me for days. What kind of guy who 'likes you' would do that? It seems to me all you want to do is win. You don't want Jax to like me because you're scared you'll have one less girl drooling over you. And that's all you care about. Girls and sports."

He winced. "You know what? You don't even know me. You haven't tried to strike up a conversation about me and ask me about myself."

"That's nonsense! I was asking you all about yourself on our date! You had nothing to talk about other than how fit you are, blah blah blah."

"Well maybe there's a reason I am who I am. You don't know me. You don't know my story."

He was right. I didn't know him. But maybe there wasn't a good enough excuse for the way he acted. Maybe even if there was a reason, it wasn't acceptable to walk around playing with girls minds and leaving them in the dust. "Have you ever thought about all the girls whose hearts you break? The poor girls who you just use and throw to the side like trash?"

"Of course I have! I've got emotions too, you know. I've been hurt so many times that I just try to mask the pain. I try to forget, and girls are the way I do that. I've been called multiple things I'm not proud of. I know what this school thinks I am. And maybe it's true but... It still stings."

I guess I'd never thought about it from his point of view. I'd never considered that maybe he didn't want to be the way he was, but he didn't know how to stop. I'd never considered that he was broken and didn't know how to cope with it.

"I'm going to show you something I haven't showed anyone." He took a deep breath and started to take his shirt off. What was he doing?! Why was he taking his shirt off? No... We were in a secluded area so nobody saw us. I started to panic. Then I saw it. The marks on his skin. There were scars all the way up his toned abs. They went around to his back. He leaned over and I saw the horrible slash marks all over him.

My mouth was open and I was terrified of what could have done that to him. He spoke then, "Yeah. Those are mostly from my dad. The rest are from me. " He covered his face with his hands. "A few times he made me hold the whip and do it myself. He claimed it was to teach me a lesson, and each time he would give me a speech about how it was for my own good. He always said he was 'just disciplining me.' That I'd messed up and this was how it had to happen."

He lifted his face up again and looked at me. It was clear he was trying not to break down. He sniffed.

It was horrible. Nobody should treat their own flesh and blood like that. Nobody should treat anyone like that. "I'm so sorry, Aaron..." I didn't know what else I could say.

"It is what it is. I just thought you should know that I've got my reasons for doing what I do. And I know you didn't deserve to be treated the way I treated you. It's just habit."

"I get that. It was wrong of me to be like everyone else in assuming the type of person you were and not thinking why. I guess when you hear a bunch of stuff going around, you just take that as the truth even if there's more to the story."

"Yeah."

"Well, Aaron, do you want to be friends?"

"Clara, I meant what I said about liking you. I want to be more than friends, if I'm being honest."

"But, there, um... I'm kind of like, with Jax. I don't know, actually. I mean it's not official or anything but we had a moment yesterday. I feel like I can't just go telling him that we're over and just come to you."

"Right. I guess I found you too late. If I would have just talked to you more before he came here. Man, I'm an idiot."

"Nah, you're not an idiot. If Jax wasn't a factor, I would have said yes. I just can't do that. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me too."

"Well, I better get going.." I walked away feeling like maybe I was making a mistake. Maybe I was supposed to choose him.

"Clara! I was looking for you!" Jax said. He had a goofy grin on his face that made me smile.

"Oh yeah? How come?"

"I wanted to ask you a question. Do you want to go to Prom with me?"

I had been wanting that. I still did. "Yes, I'd love to!" ...but just not quite as much as I had a few minutes before.