Anger Issues

thirty three

Austin

The days had passed and sadly I woke up early for school. Taking a shower and getting ready, I went downstairs for breakfast.

"Austin, you have dance today," mom reminded me. "Okay, thanks," I nodded, biting into my bagel.

"You look pissed," Caleb said. "Tini's tired," Becca teased. "Stop calling me that," I complained, while Mom and the other two laughed at it.

"She's always called you that," Caleb said. "I had no idea," I sarcastically said, narrowing my eyes at him.

When Becca was a baby, she couldn't say my name properly so she'd always call me Tini instead of anything else. She grew to learn my name but kept calling me that as a nickname, and it's embarrassing, but everyone else loves it for some reason.

Caleb put his hands up in surrender as a way to tease me even more. Luckily though, it was time for me to leave anyway.

I said bye to everyone before going out to my car, and calling Jess.

"Hey," she tiredly answered. "Hey, I'm on my way," I said. "Okay, I'm ready," she said. "Okay, give me a few."

I drove to her house and waited about a minute, before she came out of her house.

"Hi," she bluntly said. "What's wrong?" I asked. "I'm so tired," she complained. "Should we make a coffee stop?" I asked. "Please," she nodded.

We got our coffee, Jess sighing in relief as she took a sip of hers.

"We have dance today, too," she complained. "It's too much," she dramatically said. "I think you'll get through it, don't worry," I chuckled.

We didn't talk much after that, but it was relaxing. We were both tired, and the silence was calming.

"You look cute today," Jess said. "I look cute?" I glanced at her. "Very," she nodded. "I'm not cute," I denied, preferring different words. "Yeah you are," she teased.

I smiled and shook my head, allowing her to say whatever she wanted.

"I think you look very pretty today," I told her. "Thank you," she smiled.

--

Lunch time rolled around, and I was extremely exhausted from the entire school day. All my classes were boring and we had to do so much work, but I just needed sleep.

Kayla was sitting across from me at our usual table, when Jess and Kyle walked into the cafeteria.

"Are you getting lunch?" I asked Kayla, standing up. She tiredly nodded her head, following me to the line.

Jess and Kyle joined us there, both of them clearly having more energy than us.

When we sat down with our lunch, I found that the food was barely edible. The chicken sandwich was soggy and hot, and the mac and cheese just tasted like cardboard. My fault for getting cafeteria lunch.

I threw out my lunch, and sat with them again.

"Uh-oh, look who just walked in," Kyle said in an annoyed voice. Damon Holbrook walked through the double doors of the cafeteria. He took time off of school after our fight because of "medical reasons."

I snickered and turned my head back to my friends.

I saw Jess suspiciously eyed me from the corner of my eye, but I pretended not to notice.

"Were you aware of our trig test?" Kayla asked Kyle and me. "What test?" I asked.

"The test based off of the last unit to refresh our memory," he quoted. "It was hard," Jess sighed.

Jess was smart as hell, so if she said something was hard, it would be harder for anyone else.

"Yo, Chanel!"

I turned around to see Damon call my name, surrounded by his friends. Eyes landed on us and people immediately took out their phones.

I wasn't even in the mood to fight him, I didn't have anything against him. It would be pointless.

I started to get up, when Jess stopped me by the arm.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna do anything," I assured her.

I walked over to Damon, standing face to face with him.

"I'm gonna admit something I've never done before," he began. "I got respect for you," he said.

I played it cool on the outside, but really was actually truly confused. I couldn't tell if he was lying or not, but I went along with it.

"Nobody's ever beat me, and you're just a junior. You did good," he put his hand out.

I hesitated, but then clapped mine against his, nodding my head.

"Thanks," I said. He nodded, but in a way that made me uneasy.

Ignoring it, I walked back to the table, seeing the disappointed faces as they put their phones away for there was nothing to see.

"Who in hell would do that.. ever?" Kayla asked. "Damon... Apparently," Jess said.

"What did he say to you?" Jess asked. "He just acknowledged how freaking amazing I am," I smiled, causing her to playfully roll her eyes.

"Did he actually?" Kyle asked. I nodded. "He was all I got respect for you beating me," I spoke in an unusual voice.

"Bullshit," Kayla shook her head. "Agreed," Jess nodded. "Why?" I asked.

"Damon Holbrook? The literal jerk of the school, being chill with the guy that ruined his reputation," Kayla spoke.

I shrugged, not thinking much about it.

I really should have, though.

Damon Holbrook, the biggest jerk in the school. He had ties with everyone, always sneaking his way around to get things.

Yeah, I should've been more fucking careful.