The Key to my HeART

21 Therapy

M A X

School was going to suck. I knew it the moment I woke up Monday morning. Harper would already have told Lexi and Tyler. They already barely liked me, how were they going to respond now? I expected their ire, but I had not expected Krystal's.

She waited at my usual parking spot without Bethany or Jessica in tow. Her eyebrow was raised and lips pursed as I got out of the car.

"Is there a problem?" I asked. I tried to breeze by her, but she kept putting herself in my path.

"What did you do to Harper?" She put a hand on my chest to stop me.

"What business is it of yours?"

"You hurt her and I want to know what you did. And don't lie to me about it. I'm not a fool."

"Nothing. It is all a misunderstanding. If she hadn't blocked my number I could try to explain to her."

That had been a blow. My mom gave my phone back this morning with Harper's number deleted. I just had to text Zane to get her number back, but when I texted her, I got a message that her phone wasn't receiving messages from my number. I had not expected that from her.

"You're an idiot," Krystal said. "You could have your pick of half the girls here and you just throw us away like garbage."

Krystal wasn't the type to get mad. Over the summer, when I had been moody and spent time blowing her off, she didn't get mad. She got disappointed which was somehow worse. She was disappointed now. Her tone was soft and cool and she looked at me with narrowed eyes.

"How did you even know?" I slumped against my car door. I gave up trying to get past her.

"Harper came to me for advice about going out with you. She came to me to stay you'd broken up."

"You didn't tell her we dated, did you?"

Krystal rolled her eyes. "Of course I did. And it doesn't matter. She still went out with you despite that knowledge. Your dating past obviously doesn't bother her."

"This really is none of your business."

Krystal huffed. "You said that a lot when we dated and you would be in one of your moods."

I had enough of this. It wasn't any of Krystal's business what happened between Harper and me. "I need to get to my locker, Krystal."

I tried to walk by one more time, but she grabbed my elbow. She glared up at me. Her grip tightened around me and she shook her head.

"You were a crap boyfriend to me and now you've been a crap boyfriend to Harper. Whatever is making you this broody, douchebag, get over yourself. Nobody wants to deal with an immature jerk." Krystal let me go and stalked off.

I walked into school half expecting the student body to be ready with pitchforks and torches. No one cared. Harper wasn't at her locker. She probably hurried to first period to avoid me. I guess I couldn't blame her.

My heart felt torn in two and had all weekend. Since my parents arrived back in town for "family togetherness time" I felt sick. Things were going so great without them. Now things had completely fallen apart. I wanted to blame them for everything, but I knew, deep down, I had been responsible for what happened with Harper. I had kept Fortress Siege a secret from her and now I was paying the price.

~*~*~

The therapist's office was painted in an ugly eggshell white. It was supposed to be a neutral tone, but there was a bit of a yellow hue to it that annoyed me for some reason. Maybe it wasn't the color though, maybe it was the landscape paintings on the wall. Or maybe it was the therapist himself, in his jeans and button-down, purple shirt. He looked young, too young to be counseling a family.