✔︎ | Part of Me (Trilogy)

34 | Maggie

34 | Maggie

I don't want her to go

I hardly slept last night. The party got a little wild, lots of people were drinking, and doing stupid stuff, so Axel and I ended up giving Will my keys and leaving early to walk along the beach and around town. He told me more about himself, and about his family. He was, in fact, named after Axl Rose, because his parents were huge Guns 'N Roses fans. And his favourite colour is yellow, because when he was younger, his family lived beside a sunflower field and that was the time his mom was happiest. 

He took me by the shelter he had to stay at when his stepdad kicked him out too. He almost cried thinking about it. I wrapped my arms around him held him, and we went back to his place until Will picked me up at 2 a.m.

I'm going with him to see his mom in the hospital today, waiting for him at my locker, trying not to yawn every few minutes, or think too hard about what I'm gonna miss in English. 

I see two girls approach me out of the corner of my eye as I check my phone. At first, I think they're going to pass me, but they don't. I'm not friends with either of them, but I've talked to the one that's in my homeroom a couple times. 

"Hey, Avi," she says. "Happy belated birthday." 

I smile at her. "Thanks, Maddy." 

"Um, so," the other starts, leaning in a little bit. Her name's Tina. She likes to gossip. I almost roll my eyes. This is going to be about Axel, or Will and Sam, because everyone's noticed that she's not around. "You and Axel, huh?" she asks. 

I was right. And I'm already not in the mood. 

"Yeah," I mumble. "He's great."

They both kind of tense. I almost tense too. What if Axel is hiding things from me? What if he's not as amazing as I think he is?

"Well," Maddy says, "we're not gonna tell you who we think you should see, but just know that Axel's done some pretty fucked up stuff. And we just want you to be safe."

"Like," Tina interrupts, "did you know he almost killed his dad?"

Step-dad, I almost correct.

I sigh. I want to bitch at them so bad. But I make myself believe they think think they're doing the right thing. "I know enough about Axel to know he's a good guy. People make mistakes, sure, but I trust Axel. If there's something he hasn't told me, that's fine. He will when he's ready." 

"It's nice that you trust him," Tina says again, "but I have a bad feeling about him. I mean, first, he's slept with like half the school. And he like, fights people all the time. I don't want you to get hurt. You seem really nice."

I choke back a laugh. It's funny how people think they know others. I wonder if either of these girls have ever tried getting to know Axel. I wouldn't be surprised that if they had, he would have avoided them. I bet they know nothing about how much Axel cares for his little sister, or how much he loves his mom, or how he tries to keep me safe.