Another World | ✔️

Chapter Twenty-Two

Trigger Warnings
None!

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Hey.
I heard you got beat up.
Is that true?
Do I need to fight them?
Because I don't mind to.

Don't.
It's not worth it.

So it is true?
Hudson and Tucker?

How did you find out?

Alana.
Connor told her.

Oh.

Do I need to take them?
I swear I don't mind.
It would be nice.

I don't know why you
even care.
I probably deserve it
anyway.

Why do I care? Why do I care?

I know I don't act like it, but I do care about Evan. Sure, I say that we're just family friends, but that's not completely true. I actually kinda like talking to him. He's easy to talk to. Really, he's the only person I can talk to. He's the only person who likes me enough to talk to me.

I decide to not bring this point up now though. Instead I focus on the reason I texted him.

Why would you deserve it?
You never did anything to
them, did you?

No.
I've never said a word to
either of them.
I don't know why they
did it.

Are you good, man?

I guess.
Don't worry about me.

And why not?

There's no need to.
I'll get over it.

If you say so.
If you need me you know
where to find me.

Thanks.

I grunt slightly. I feel awful inside. Have I really made him feel like I don't care? We've known each other since we were kids. At one point, at least, we were real friends. It was nice. It was nice having a real friend, but then things got. . . Complicated.

"Aw. Look at Nerd Boy and his little Shy Guy."

"Do you like being friends with him, or do you just pity him? I mean, why would you want to be friends with him?"

"Why don't you come hang out with us instead? Just tell him something came up. He'll get over it."

All those words and so much worse. It just became too much. I didn't want to be the geek whose only friend is the antisocial boy who can hardly speak without trembling.

That first day of school when Evan asked me to sign his cast— turning him away was the hardest thing I've ever done. I truly wanted to sign his cast and show that we were friends, but I couldn't.

"We're family friends. There's a difference and you know it."

As I remember this moment, I feel tears streaming down my face. I take my glasses off and sling them onto my bed, covering my face with my hands.

"Ugh. Pull it together, Jared," I mutter, sniffling slightly. "He has a new friend now. He doesn't need you anyway."

In a few minutes, I'm able to clean myself up. My heart is still pounding as I walk over to my bed and grab my glasses, but my eyes are clearer now. It's not like me to cry. Not over anything. I'm only glad that I'm alone in my room now instead of surrounded by others.

I glance down out my phone, wondering if I should text him back. It feels right to. To make sure everything is okay and to let him know that I'm here, but at the same time, I can't bring myself to type a genuine message. Each word comes with new worries, and I end up deleting the message altogether.

He has someone else now. He doesn't need me.

That hurts to think, but I'm sure it's true. After all, he's hardly spoke to me since him and Connor started hanging out. The two just seem to fit together so well. Connor even came to me to ask if I knew if Evan was okay, and he was more certain of his analysis than I was mine. Yet they've known each other for less than a month.

I sigh softly and lay back on my bed. It's lonely here in my room. It really is. Dad is at work. Mom is at the store. It's just me.

"You can always bring a friend over after school if you want, Jared. Just let me know ahead of time, okay?"

It would be nice if I had a friend to bring over. It would be nice to not feel so alone every evening, but life just isn't that easy. It never has been.

"Nerd Boy!"

"Ha! You really think that I actually wanted to be friends with you? There's something called playing nice, geek!"

"You can't hang out with us! How do you even have the audacity to ask?"

The words burn into my mind, reminding me of all the times I've been hurt by others when I thought that I might have made a friend. Each time it ended in disaster. They played me. They do every time.

They say what they need to say, play who they need to play, and if somebody's in their way they crush them and leave them behind.

And that's exactly what I've done to Evan.