The Broken Ones

Chapter 4

Taylor:

School went by in a blur. I figured I should have been used to the boredom that echoed through the halls. After all, we did really only have a month of high school left. Kat nagged me about college, which I returned with a truthful answer. "I don't know." It was a topic that I had all the time in the world to ponder over, yet I chose to stress about it every day. What was I going to do? The future scared me, or rather change scared me.

Felix and I met out in the front by his car, said our goodbyes to Kat, and headed off to the store. I admired the scenery of the country as we drove past, the chilly air coating the golden fields. It was comforting. Felix spoke, snapping me into reality. "You think Kat will be alright?"

I looked at him. The sun seeped into his golden eyes, and I thought I could see tiny specks floating around in them. He really did have beautiful eyes, almost mesmerizing. I nodded my head and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"Yeah," I replied. We sat in silence for a moment before I continued. "It just pisses me off because apparently, that crap is funny."

"The locker crap?"

I nodded and he shrugged. "I don't really know, Taylor. The sad part is I'm sure she expects it."

I stared at my black combat boots in deep thought, resting my chin on my knees. As I spoke, my head wobbled up and down against my knee. "It's almost over."

"I hope you're right."

I looked back out of the window, my face sinking when I realized we entered the town. The old, rickety houses blocked the view, but you could distantly see a single tree, holding on for dear life, tilted on the side of a mountain. I couldn't understand why, but the sight was inspiring.

We arrived at the store a few minutes later, which wasn't extremely busy. Then again, when was anything ever busy in this town? When we entered, the tall, pimpled, teenage guy gave us a lazy nod of greeting and returned his gaze back to the floor. We grabbed a basket and walked to the closest aisle together. "Bread," I said. I stood on my toes and observed the towering signs above my head. What sounded similar to elevator music played in the background as I struggled to find the isle I desired. Felix, being how tall he was, had no trouble at all.

"This way," he said.

I followed him down a few sections and to a large area, holding bread, donuts, bagels, cracker-basically anything that could make your mouth go dry. I walked over to a loaf of bread and grabbed it, setting it in my basket. "No donuts?" Felix asked.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What?"

"Really? You love donuts." He grabbed a pack of simple glazed donuts and set them in my basket. "I'll pay."

"No, Felix, you don't have to-"

"Seriously, I'm really more getting them for me." He added a smile and a nod. I bit my lip and stuffed my hands in my sweater. "Where to next?"

"Soup."

He nodded and walked with me to the soup section. "He asks you to go shopping for him?"

I glanced up at him. "I don't mind."

"He knows you don't have a car, right?"

I shrugged.

"What a douche."

"Exactly," I agreed.

The trip went by fairly quick, Felix tossing in a few packs of cigarettes before we left. The sun was setting as we drove back to the houses while munching on a few donuts. I had to admit, I forgot how much I really did love the artificial taste of the fried, golden rings. Felix raised his eyebrow and smiled through a bite of donut. "Save some for tonight," he said.

"What's tonight?" I questioned, wiping my fingers on my jeans.

"I just got a new pack of cigarettes and donuts. I think that means a night in the ally."

I thought back to the several time Felix and I have stayed in the ally for a whole night, sometimes with Kat. We would usually bring a crap tone on blankets and pillows, build a small fort, Netflix on a laptop, and all the junk food we could find. It was kind of like our escape. Considering neither of us wanted to be at anyone's houses, we just chose to stay there. I personally found it perfect. "That sounds amazing," I said.

He grinned at me. The corners of my mouth twitched as I held back a smile when I noticed the small crumb on the side of his lip. His face grew serious. "What," he asked.

I reached over and brushed the corner of his lips with my thumb. "A crumb," I said. For a moment, I almost thought he was going to swerve off the edge of the road due to his gaze on my face instead of ahead, but he quickly adjusted himself with a sharp cough.

"Hm," he grumbled.

I couldn't help but grin. Somehow, he always managed to force some sort of amused expression out of me, even if it was small. It felt good, considering I didn't do it much. I remembered my science teacher saying it was scientifically proven that smiling was good for your mental health, saying that we should do it more. I thought his words were off slightly, however. I didn't think it was the smile that caused happiness. People fake smiles all the time and can still be dying on the inside. Your brain needs to accept the feeling that a smile represents.

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