Slapshots {BOYXBOY}✔

Chapter Ten {Joey}

The next day the pain in my nose was ten times worse, not only was it red and bruised, my right eye ended up being black too so it looked like I got into a fight and got my ass kicked. My parents both accused me of starting a fight. But then laughed their asses off when I told them I got hit by a bathroom door.

And though most of the team knew the truth, because they were at the diner. Not everybody did, which left me with a lot of people eyeing me and way too many people stopping me to ask what happened.

One of those people was, of course, my girlfriend.

Harmony had cornered me in the hallways after fourth period looking like she just watched a dog die in Science class.

"Matt what happened?!" She took my face in her hands, her soft hands holding my cheeks as she looked my face over. And her doing that somehow brought me back to last night when Henry looked my face over while his hand held my face still. "Mattie?"

I blinked the thoughts away. "It's nothing babe." I smiled, taking her waist in hand. "Just got into a little accident last night. No big deal."

"Are you sure? You looked like you got punched in the face." Her lips pressed together, the gloss sticking a bit when she went to spoke again. But I cut her off before she could go more into a story that never happened.

"Yeah." I laughed turning us both so we were walking down the hallway and into the large lunch space. "Punched by a door. It's really nothing. It'll be gone by next week."

"A door?" Harmony lifted her perfect looking eyebrow, tilting her head up to look at me, just enough to loosen the mesh fabric choker on her neck to slide down just a bit.

"The door at Don's diner." It was embarrassing telling her that. But we both laughed it off as we sat at our normal table in the lunchroom. And for the first time ever I took out homework from my backpack instead of getting food.

If I was going, to be honest, I wasn't that hungry as of late. Ever since Monday, I hadn't been eating as much as I did before. I thought it was just nerves from the game, but now I thought that maybe it was because of studying with Henry and the fact I didn't have this stupid sheet finished yet. I still hadn't gotten past question three and I was angry with myself. I didn't want any help, not Harmony's, not Henry's. But that's what Henry was there for right? Helping me learn French so I could pass and give Joey Tents a big fuck you for even telling my bad about me failing, even though he was more than likely to find out seeing as his wife was the teacher. Not that he was going to throw me under the bus, because mom didn't like to flaunt my bad grades out to people. But because once we got into finals dad was required to get everyone on the team's grades to see who could keep playing.

Speaking of Joey, he was sitting a few tables away with a few of the guys from the swimming team, the other sport he was in, eating his lunch. And I hated everything about the way he ate. The way he laughed. The way he looked over at me with that evil look on his face because he knew he was the reason I was studying during our lunch period.  His smug little look and his stupid lack of anybody hair beside his orange hair Afro and freckles on his face. I grabbed the fork that Harmony left beside me so we could share her poutine and stabbed into the fries picturing Joey's face.

I didn't just hate Joey for telling my coach. No my hate for Joey went deeper than that. It really started in grade two. When Joey was in my class and every day and recess when the other kids started playing kickball in the far field he wouldn't let me play. Always taking the ball from me and telling everyone I was skipping line and cheating. Honestly, if it wasn't for Henry back then I would have punched him in the face.  He always had the same group of friends who never talked to me, and if they did it was some smart ass remark that made me feel stupid. Though I never showed that it did because I didn't want them to see me as weak.

They would always laugh when I got something wrong in class. Like one time in sixth grade when our teacher was asking the class a math problem and Joey volunteered me to answer, even though I had no idea what the answer was and was made a fool in front of the whole class.

He was my bully. But I was bigger than him, he might have been smarter. But I had the brawn and Joey wouldn't dare try to start something with me face-to-face because he knew he would lose.

"Matt. The bell rang like two minutes ago, are you going to class?" Harmony's voice broke through my thoughts.

And just like that. It was time for French class.

Again.