Broken Promises (#4 in the 'Outcast' series)

Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

Andy's Point of View:

The week went by rather quick, and the next thing I knew, it was Monday and I had to go back to school. Juliet had gone home on Saturday, so I was by myself again.

I came to a halt at the bus stop, a few people looking over at me as I pulled my phone out and just played around with it for a bit. Tara, Connor and Aiden were already here, and Tara came over as I ignored the looks from the other few people.

"You alright today?" she asked as I turned my music down a bit so I could hear her.

"Could be better," I said truthfully, not looking up from what I was doing. "Why? How're you?"

"Ah, good I guess," she said, seeming to be a slight bit caught off guard by my question. "Mom's been trying to sort everything out for you."

"I'm sure she has," I responded, still not looking at her, as I didn't really believe her. "She tries real hard to do everything for me."

Tara just sighed to herself and we fell quiet.

"Y'know everyone at school knows what you did," she said after about a minute or two of silence between us.

"So what?" I asked with a slight bit of annoyance, finally looking up and meeting her gaze. "They're all gonna be talkin' behind my back; staring at me whenever I go past. It's nothing new to me Tara. I've always been that one freak of a kid that people always talk about and stare at."

She just looked at me sadly as I turned my attention back to whatever I'd been doing on my phone, turning my music back up as the bus arrived and I was forced to follow everyone on.

I just tried to ignore everyone as I took my usual seat at the front of the bus. Everyone'd been staring again as I'd gotten on, and it still made me feel uncomfortable to have people do that.

I just turned my music up a bit louder and turned my focus to looking out the window.

After a few minutes, someone sat down next to me, and I was pretty sure I already knew who it was. Though he knew to give me my space first thing in the morning, there was only ever one person that'd sit near me.

"Good to see ya man," CC said as I took one of my earphones out and looked at him. "You look better than last time I saw you."

I just gave a nod, and he clearly sensed something was up.

"Already having people having a go at 'cha?" he asked, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Not yet," I said. "But I've already got people staring."

CC frowned and looked around, seeing that I'd been telling the truth. The bus wasn't real loud with the chatter of everyone today, and a lot of people had their focus directed in our direction. CC looked back to me.

"That's slightly unnerving," he admitted as I just shrugged.

"You get used to it," I said, having to turn my music down a bit, as it was rather quiet. "I've gotten it most of my life."

CC gave a nod, but I could tell he felt a bit uncomfortable having so many people looking in our direction.

"Well, glad to see you're ok..." he said. "Guess I'll head back to where I normally sit."

"Y'know I can always go somewhere else if you guys don't wanna be constantly stared at for a while," I said. "You shouldn't be dragged into my problems."

"I don't think anyone's going anywhere just yet," he said with a bit of an attempt at a reassuring smile.

***