FAKE

PART III: ANDREW

V: classmate

Missing school was fun. Not that that's anything new. School is a blur to me. Something so insignificant. I decided to go today because I have a couple of tests in some classes that I can't miss. If it weren't for that, I'd rather be anywhere than that trash excuse of a "private school". I don't feel welcome or safe here at all after my incident with Jason last month. It feels like such a long time ago but still so fresh in my mind. I was excused from school for a couple of days and had to return last week but I missed maybe four days out of five. They can't say shit because it's absurd they didn't hear the fight going on. No one heard it, as if it never happened. The only thing there is to prove it was my bruises and Jason's bruises. I don't really talk about that anymore because it's in the past. I arrive to school late as per usual. I walk into my class and I can feel those awful stares. That's the main reason I don't come to school. Everyone loves to make rumors, spread shit, talk crap, lie. No one is nice to you until something like what happened to me happens. They're only nice to me because they want to befriend me, later get information on what happened. Both Jason and I agreed not to speak about what happened. It's hard to tell if he's said anything but I sure haven't. Everyone wants to know what happened and why.

Andrew doesn't get as much stares, just mostly from girls but I don't mind. They can stare at him all they want but they have to stay as far away from his as possible. I don't want another Jason happening. Jason is nothing to me. Most of my anger is written somewhere in a file on my laptop and I still feel some of it inside of me. Most of it has dispersed but it does sometimes creep into my mind that he used Andrew to try to split him and I apart. What kind of sick person does that?

I've tried and tried to move on from that but one month isn't sufficient. I'm gonna need a few more to finally forget about it entirely. Maybe even a year, who knows. He knew he was going to use that video to cause harm. Andrew didn't know. Sometimes I still want to punch Jason so hard because of that but I have to control myself. That's what the doctor told me.

Only Jason, Evelyn, and Andrew really know of the fight between Ashley and I so that's why people were shocked about my "first" fight but that damn sure wasn't my first fight. My doctor knows about the Ashely fight and they made me take some anger management classes for two weeks at the end of September to control my temper. I don't like talking about it because it was so stupid to be there. If someone messes with me, I'm not going to stop and breathe. I'll snap back at them. No one fucking messes with me. Maybe I do have anger issues.

I tap my pencil repeatedly on the desk and someone from behind me taps my shoulder. A classmate. Since the incident, none of them really talk to me in class. They talk to me mostly at lunch.

"Hey, my name's Robbie," he looks at me with his eyes wide.

"So I'm not sure if you heard this already but, uh, I heard that Ashely told one of her friends she's coming for you and your boyfriend. They said that Ashely told her group of friends she's going to do anything in her power to tear you guys's apart."

I stare at him blankly for a second and then respond with,

"Watch her try."

I turn around back in my seat and feel the heat rush all over my face. She's so pathetic if she thinks she's going to ruin my relationship with Andrew. She's so low if she finds happiness in doing so.

I honestly feel bad for her and all of the friends she's spreading this to. Watch her try, watch her try.

When school if over, I rush to my car and lay my head on the steering wheel What's it going to take to get Jason and Ashley to shut the hell up? What did I ever do to them? Why can't they just let me live? I push all of those thoughts down and hear a sudden knock on my window. It's Andrew. I roll the window down, asking him what's up.

"How'd your day go?" He asks.

"Like shit. I hate this school."

"I know exactly how you feel. How pathetic," Andrew laughs and looks at me.

His soothing voice is like like music to my ears and his melty brown eyes look into mine. There's something that he isn't telling me but I brush it off. It's probably just me overreacting like I always do. It's probably my mind thinking about what that kid said to me in class.

I open my car door and step out, wrapping my arms around him and kissing him.

I'll say it again, Andrew is the only thing that makes me happy.

There's just one thing. His voice sounded different when he said that, though. Distant.