Oddity

17

Once Zack was out of the hospital, Mom and Dad decided that it would be best for everyone if I stayed with Mom for a while.

I did not like it at Mom's house, but they refused to let me go home for at least a week so Zack had some time to recover.

I had never felt this distraught before, especially for this long.

I had never had problems with my temper. Never to the point of violence. I hadn't meant to hurt Zack.

I was terrified. What if I hurt someone else? Lauren. Mitch. Myself.

It was something I never wanted to happen again.

My phone was taken away for the first few days, so I wasn't able to text Mitch and tell him what happened. I had to wait until school to explain why I hadn't answered his texts all night.

He looked so disappointed when I told him. He told me that I should have handled it better, so told him what Zack had said.

And Mitch told me that I still overreacted.

For some reason that made me angry. I had stuck up for him, and he saw that as overreacting.

I did not speak to Mitch for the rest of the day. I did not go over to his house after school like I said I would. And I did not care when Mom told me my phone was blowing up with texts and phone calls from Mitch.

...

The next day I was no longer angry, and I approached Mitch's locker like I did every morning. "Good morning," I greeted.

Mitch did not speak to me. He continued transferring books and folders from his locker into his backpack. I furrowed my eyebrows at him. Maybe he did not hear me.

"Good morning," I repeated, a little more impatiently this time.

He closed his locker with a little more aggression than usual, before walking past me.

The fact that Mitch was not speaking to me made my stomach hurt.

I turned around quickly, before jogging around so I was in front of him, "Mitch," I demanded, but he simply walked around me.

I bit the inside of my cheek, trying not to get angry.

I reached towards him, snatching up his wrist in my hand, forcing him to turn back towards me.

"Why aren't you talking to me?" I demanded.

"Let go!" he hissed, yanking at his wrist, but I was stronger than him. I knew that if I let go, he would walk away and not talk to me, so I kept his wrist in my hand.

"Why aren't you talking to me?" I repeated.

He scoffed and continued pulling at his wrist, "It must really suck to have your best friend ignore you, huh?" he spat at me.

I let go of his wrist, not wanting to make him any angrier at me. "I did not have my phone," I replied truthfully, although that was not the reason I had ignored him.

"Yeah, I know, but I called your house phone and asked your Mom if I could speak to you, and she told me that you said you didn't want to talk to me. And why? Because I told you sending your little brother to the hospital was overreacting?" he challenged. He huffed, "Some friend you are," he murmured.

I narrowed my eyes at him, hurt by his words. "Some friend I am? Better than someone that just uses their friend for sex," I retorted before walking past him. I wanted to be away from him before I got angry and lost my temper again.

"You think I'm just using you?" he questioned. It did not sound like a challenge, he sounded genuinely perplexed.

I turned towards him. "Yes," I replied simply.

He shifted nervously before turning and walking away without another word.