One Of the Boys [An All Time Low Fic]

The End of an Era?!

A light blue cast wrapped around my wrist. I’d never broken a bone before in my life, which was surprising, considering the fact that I was clumsy as all hell. I had been out of school for a few days and spent most of the time watching cartoons, playing video games as best as I could, and avoiding Kat and my mom’s questions about everything. I talked to Coach Kensington more about Belinda’s punishment. Apparently, her parents are petitioning to get her back on the team. They have some outrageous claim that I’m faking my injuries because I’m afraid Belinda will outshine me on the court. Yeah, right. Like that oaf could take me. She had to use force just to get a basket.

I spent most of my first day back with my head down, pretending that I wasn’t there. I got most of my school work done except in Chemistry where Michael kept teasing me every time I even slightly moved. Back in the day, Alex would’ve gotten in his face about it, but now, I don’t think he even notices the pain I’m in. I mean, I’m sitting right next to him in that class and I’ve never felt more alone than I do now.

It wasn’t really Alex that got to me, though. I had hope somewhere deep inside that he had already forgiven me and that he would soon be on my team again like Rian is. It was everyone else. It was Carter who would laugh at me every time I walked by. It was Melanie and Lisa who rolled their eyes and whispered in hushed voices whenever they saw me. It was Adrianna who would shoot me dirty stares and shake her head at me. It was Michael who would cough the word, “slut” whenever I was in direct contact with him. And most of all, it was Claude, who would ignore me every time I tried to really talk with her. That killed me. I remembered all the times we would talk until the late hours of the night. Sleepovers at her house with pizza and movies and we’d stay up late playing board games or telling ghost stories until her mom yelled it was time to go to bed. I thought about singing karaoke with her. We always chose, “Bohemian Rhapsody” and we’d always butcher the song whenever we sang it. I knew I messed up by kissing Jack. I just wanted her to see that I never intended to hurt her. Now, she replaced me with Adrianna and it just killed me.

I needed to find a way to make her listen to me. She couldn’t ignore me forever. We had to talk. So, I decided to just be bold and walk up to her during lunch. She sat there with Jack and Adrianna. The three of them were laughing loudly about something that happened in one of their classes. I stopped right in front of her and said, “Claudia.”

She turned, staring daggers at me. “Can I help you?”

I nodded. “Can we please talk in private?”

She leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms, and lowered her eyes. Classic Claude move. “I don’t have anything to say to you, Schechter.”

I sighed. “Maybe I have something to say to you.”

“Then say it.” She stated harshly. “We don’t need to run out of the lunchroom. Say it. Right here, right now.”

I looked over at Jack and Adrianna. Jack sipped his bottle of water slowly, his eyes avoiding my face. Adrianna had mimicked Claude’s stance only she looked less menacing and nosier. I wished she would just go away. I looked back at Claude as she goaded me with her eyes. “I know I made a huge mistake, Claude. I violated your trust in a big way, but you have to realize that I was drunk and scared and I thought he was someone else, OK?” Claude looked down. I continued. “I never meant to hurt you or Jack or anyone else. You guys are my very best friends in the whole world and I was a total dick to you guys. I got a taste of the high life and I just lost my way, but now I’m back and I’m sorry and I’m not gonna fuck any of you guys over again.”