𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 • 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐛𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤

thirty-nine

I continued to walk to school from that day on. Ain't no way in Hell I was ever gonna talk to Hero again.

That Friday, the day after it happened, I went to Sam's house after school to visit Colby who was occupying the tree house.

"Hey," Colby said once I entered. He looked horrible, and yet somehow, he was still the most beautiful being I had ever encountered.

"Hi," I replied, plopping down on the couch next to him. I studied the bruising on his face, and I didn't even dare to check what it looked like under his t-shirt. "How is the pain?"

He shrugged and threw his arm around my shoulders to pull me into him. "It's bearable, don't worry. How was school?"

"Same as always, except more lonely," I chuckled and laid my hand down on his chest. I felt his heartbeat underneath my fingers, and calmed me down in an instant.

"Sorry," he replied. "Who did you eat lunch with?"

"No one. I ate at the empty house," I spoke. "Anyways, that doesn't matter. How was your day?"

"Eventful," he said as he let out a short laugh. "I accompanied Sam to the supermarket and I ran into my mom and uh... we had an interesting talk."

I frowned. "Was it good?"

He shrugged. "There was good news, and there was bad news. The good news was that she's divorcing my dad."

If that was good news to him, I was happy to hear it. "And the bad?"

He shook his head, resting it on top of mine. "That's a worry for later. I don't wanna think about it right now."

"Okay," I replied, sinking further into his side. "That's fine."

"Thank you," he sighed out. "Weren't your parents coming home this weekend?"

"Yeah, tomorrow. And then they leave again next weekend for their trip to Europe, while I have to spend my Christmas break with Hero, at home alone," I rolled my eyes.

His hand that wasn't around me, reached up to clutch my hand that was resting on his chest. "Why won't they take you both with them?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Don't get me wrong, I love them both and I know they both love me, but sometimes I truly think they never really wanted kids."

Colby let out a chuckle. "They would be stupid for not wanting you. Also, I thoroughly believe I was an accident. so I kinda get it."

I snorted. "Look at the both of us. We're a fucking mess."

"There's no one I'd rather be a 'fucking mess' with," he laughed back, readjusting himself on the couch.

"Uno reverse card," I chuckled quietly.

And then, after a while of us sitting like that on his couch, I had to go home. And the next day my parents got home, somehow not taking notice of how blatantly Hero and I were ignoring each other. On Monday, I got my mom to drive me to school.

I walked into class early that morning, hoping Mr. Williams would already be there. To my luck - he was.

"Goodmorning Arabella, you're early," he said as he noticed me, looking up from the quizzes he was grading.

"Goodmorning, I needed to talk to you about something," I replied, sitting down on the desk in front of his.

He put down his pen and looked up at me. "Yes?"

"As you may or may not know, Colby has fallen ill and I would just like to inform about his grades. I'm just curious to know if he passed with my help and I'm sure he'd love to know, too. Unfortunately he can't get to school himself," I explained.

"Ah yes, the grades. I was going to pass around the list later but I can already tell you that Mr. Brock has nothing to worry about. You helped him well and he succeeded. For which I want to thank you, I know you didn't want to do it at first," he smiled.

I smiled back at him, as the first students of the day started rolling into class as well. "Thank you so much, and it was my pleasure. It turned out not te be so bad."

He nodded and went back to his papers, as I walked back to my desk. I pulled out my phone and opened my messages.

You to asshole: congratulations colbs <3

I wasn't expecting him to be awake, but then he replied.

asshole: on what???

You to asshole: you passed math ;))) x

asshole: ARE YOU KIDDING ME SKSKSJSJS
YOU ARE THE BEST

You to asshole: i'm aware ;)

asshole: damn you really saved my ass

You to asshole: and i got it beaten

asshole: stop that, it wasn't your fault

You to asshole: i'll see you after school <3

asshole: i'll see you then <3

With a small sigh, I locked my phone and put it away, as Mr. Williams began his class. I wasn't really paying that much attention, instead my mind wandered off to Colby and everything that had happened these past few months.

• • •

[author's note]

i really wrote this during my breaks from studying lmaoo hope y'all enjoy ily x