BLACKMAIL | MATT CHAMPION

MAKING UP

"so, why am i here?" i ask, after my teacher made me follow her into this little wooden house, where i'm assuming the hosts stay in.

welsey, matt, and i, are sitting in these poorly constructed chairs while our teacher and josh are standing in front of us. she has her arms crossed, and looks really frustrated with us. i don't even know what the hell i did.

"i'm sending the both of them home," she faces me, "matt, is refusing to go home unless he can bring you with him."

matt, looks at the ground almost as if he's embarrassed.

"it's fine if you don't want to go, but he's really standing his ground." she points to him.

"can i just talk to someone for a second before i say anything else?" i ask. she agrees, and let's me off.

i exit, and see ian pacing back and forth, with his head hanging low. his head perks up when he hears me walking towards him, "everlee, what happened?"

"they're sending the both of them home." i answer.

"what does that have to do with you?"

"matt, won't leave unless i go with him."

his eyes widen, "are you gonna go?"

i shrug, "i don't think i should, i don't wanna leave you here alone."

"bitch, fuck you mean? you have to go!" ian almost yells, "don't worry about me!"

"ian, i don't wanna leave you here, it's already bad enough." i argue.

"go with him, i'll be fine on my own!" he convinces me.

"okay, fine!" i finally give in.

"i'll see you after this trip is over!" he says while he pushes me back inside the little wooden house.

i sit back down in the chair i was in, and give my answer, "i'll go."

-

our teacher called my mom to ask her if it was alright for me to go home with, matt. mom, explained to her that she's friends with mrs. champion, so it was okay for me to go.

we waited outside for, mrs. champion, to come pick us up. after a while she arrived in her car, she comes out, slamming the door shut and rushes towards us, "matt, why did you do this?" she observes his beaten up face.

he doesn't respond, and she looks over at me, "everlee, did you get in trouble too?"

i shake my head, "no, it's just that matt refused to leave if i didn't come along."

she glares at him, and i continue, "but it's okay, i want to go." i assure her, and she nods her head.

mrs. champion, tells us to get inside the car and wait for her while she talks to our teacher about the situation for a bit.

matt and i, sit inside the car, "why do you want me to come along?" i ask.

"my mom will go easy on me if you're here," he shrugs, as he looks out the window, "she's nice and all, but she's pretty fucking scary when she's mad."

i don't say anything while i see mrs. champion making her way back to the car. she gets inside, "you've never done this before, so why are you gonna start that now?" she has a sad look in her eyes.

matt, doesn't look at her and continues to stare out the window. she sighs out of frustration and drives home. the whole car ride was silent too, i could tell she was really disappointed with him.

once we arrive, she parks in front of her home, and orders matt to go up to his room.

"can i go over to, everlee's?" he asks. man, he's really pushing it.

she stares at him as if he just asked a stupid question, "no, you can't go over to her house. we have to talk about what happened."

"mrs. champion, it's okay, he can come over." i say, hoping she'll change her mind.

she closes her eyes and rubs them tiredly, "okay, you can go, but don't think you're off the hook. you're still in big trouble." she says.

we get out of the car and enter my house, it's quiet since my mom is at work right now. we go up to my room, and he plops himself on top of my bed, still without saying a word to me. i rush to my bathroom, and wet a clean towel for him to clean himself up a bit.

i break the silence, "so, why did you guys fight?" i ask, curiously.

he shrugs, taking the towel from my hand and dabbing it onto his cheek, "it doesn't matter."

"it kinda does." i try to get an answer out of him.

he stares at the ground, "i don't even remember what it was about," he takes the towel away from his face and winces, "i only remember that he really deserved it."

"you sure you don't remember?"

"everlee, it's nothing," he says annoyed, "can we just drop it?"

i stop interrogating him, and we both just sit in silence together. it's not awkward silence though. it's silence where we both just simply felt comfortable with each other's presence.

just sitting here, watching him press the towel against his face, makes me feel guilty. if i didn't drag ian off with me, then we could've stopped the fight. i feel like this is all my fault.

"i'm sorry," i blurt, and he looks at me confused, "this is all my fault, right? i'm really fucking sorry. not just for this, but for everything. i know that you don't want anything to do with me still, but-"

"it's okay," he cuts me off from my ranting, "and i'm sorry for how i've been acting, it's really childish. i didn't mean anything i said to you." he apologizes.

i nod, "it's fine, i deserved it."

matt, shakes his head, "no, you didn't. that's why i'm sorry, you didn't deserve any of it."

there's a pause, "so, does this mean we're okay now? we're on good terms?" i try not to get my hopes up.

he mumbles, "we're good now."

i sigh in relief, "finally, i thought this would never happen!"

"me neither." he grins.

his eyes wander around my room, and his grin fades when he sees my desk, which has his birthday card that i made him. i still kept it after he gave it back to me.

"can i have that back?" he points to the card, "i regretted giving it back to you the second i did. i miss seeing it every morning."

i smile, "of course you can have it back."