The Two Middles

Chapter 26: I Don't Just Stop At The Fish

Expectations. They have a way of letting you down, don't they? You expect certain things from certain people, and when they don't deliver exactly how or what you wanted, you get pissed off. It's human nature. Parents do it to their kids, friends do it to their friends, and teachers do it to their students. When you expect, there's no scope at all inside you to prepare yourself for what'll happen if your expectations aren't met. You're so busy expecting, you don't have time to think about the expectations not being lived up to. People expect. That's that. I do, you do, the person halfway across the world sitting on his couch eating out of a bag of chips does. They expect for whatever reason. Because they think the person is potentially capable of it; because their expectations have been met before, and so they expect again; because they know the person to well to not expect from them. Everyone has different reasons to expect when they do. Me? I'm just stupid.

And my stupidity has brought me to this place, almost crying because I thought I did something horrible. Honestly, I felt like slapping myself for crying. How stupid do people even get?  I hadn't done anything, so why was I here, in the bathroom, staring at myself in the mirror, almost shedding tears and not enjoying the first day of school after a horrible winter break with the rest of my friends, simply because Jaden absolutely refused to acknowledge my presence?

Because it hurt.

Right, that.  Honestly, I'd expected him to talk to me. I'd expected him to tell me what was up. And I'd expected things to go back to normal. Of course, I should've known things wouldn't go back to normal after the goddamned winter break. I'd stopped trying to contact him, after a while, thinking he needed space for whatever he might've been going through. I gave him is freaking space. And I got nothing. Shouldn't have expected. Half the day was over, and I'd passed Jaden in the hallways countless times. He looked away as soon as he saw me, and if possible, changed the goddamn direction he'd been walking in. 

I stalked out of the bathroom, shrugging everything off as I walked to Biology. He didn't look at me at lunch, and his friends didn't even sit with us.  

So I walked, my poor, dispaired self walking down the corridor, just wishing for this day to be over with, and this happened:

"He didn't even look at her today! I told you, didn't I? He couldn't get over me that easily. I think this winter break gave him time away from my face and he realized how much I meant to him, or something. All I know's he's got his brains back. He's totally ditched that Audrey loser." Of course, our dearest just had to go and point this out in the hallway, and I just had to overhear her saying it. Fuck. My. Life.

She continued, "He's realized how stupid he was in the first place to go around with her. He still likes me, Clara, I swear it. That's the only reason he didn't get back at me for ditching him."

The other Popular, Clara, sneered and said, "Yeah, he totally deserved that, though. The ass didn't set you up with Shane. And then he got Shane to stop talking to you! Like, what the hell?"

And I snapped. I wasn't about to just stand there and overhear her goddamn insulting us. I wasn't just going to leave this shit be. I don't care what Jaden said about not letting them get to me. This bitch needs to learn.

"For the last time," I said, stepping in. "It's Aubrey. It takes hardly any of your minuscule brain to remember that. Also, you need to shut up. The world's getting dumber as you speak. Your zombie brain cells are infecting the rest of us."

It took her more than a second but she figured it out, "And what business have you here?"

"Absolutely fucking none."