Cassiopeia

Why People are Jerks- Aaron

I used to have friends, I liked them to. They were nice, until they all started drifting away. It wasn't until I found out that my girlfriend was cheating on me, and all my friends had a different group chat just to complain about me, that I ditched them. I didn't really like people, they all seemed to hate me too, so I was okay with that.

But when Benji came running up to me I forgot that I hated people. Instead I smiled and greeted him, like I'd known him forever.

"Oh hi Benji!" I said with a smile.

"This school is really big." He said. I nodded and started walking up the stairs. "It's nice that you're here." He said. I felt my heart drop, I just didn't know why.

"Hey Aaron!" Another voice said. When I said that no one liked me, I meant almost everyone. But there was one person who wouldn't leave me alone. I turned around and looked at her, she looked the same. Her hazel eyes staring at me, and her fake brown hair shining under the sun.

"Oh hi." I said quietly.

"Who is this?" Benji asked. I shot him a look that I hoped would send the message that I didn't like her.

"Hi! I'm Avery, I'm Aaron's girlfriend!" She said with a smile. I looked over at Benji, whose face was showing an emotion, almost like jealousy.

"Uh, ex girlfriend." I said quickly. "We aren't dating anymore."

"Oh come on!" Avery said in her whiny voice. "I already said I'm sorry!"
"I know you did Avery, but you still cheated on me. You can't just say sorry and expect it to be okay!" I snapped.

"B-but I'm really sorry." She said with fake sincerity.

"Come on Benji." I said annoyed and grabbed his hand. I dragged him inside and around the corner. "Ignore her."

"She seems, uh... interesting." He said.

"Where's your locker." I asked, desperately trying to change the subject. He looked down and grabbed a piece of paper from his back pocket.

"Number five hundred and three." He said.

"Wait really?" I asked. "What's your last name."

"Davidson, why?" I looked down at my piece of paper with my schedule and locker number.

"I'm locker five hundred and five, we're really close to each other." I told him.

"Oh that's cool." He smiled. We walked over to our lockers and then left to go to our homerooms. I didn't expect anyone to really talk to me, and I was right. People knew my name, and some even knew what I looked like, but I was the quiet kid. I guess that's how they knew me.

Once lunch came around I sat down at my usual table. Sometimes another kid would sit down, but only for that one day, and then they never sat there again.

"Hey Benji sit with us!" A voice said. I looked up and saw Benji walking into the lunch room. I looked over to where the voice came from, and I saw them.

I had friends, I liked them too. The only problem was they didn't like me, and so I like to say we drifted apart. But we didn't, my girlfriend cheated on me, I was quiet, I wasn't popular, and eventually my friends just left. And even though they were the ones to leave, I was the one they hated.

I looked at them and knew that this is how Benji and I would drift apart, and eventually I'd be alone again. But he looked over to where I was sitting and smiled.

"Sorry I'm gonna sit with Aaron today." He said to them and walked over to me. I felt my stomach drop, maybe it was just because he knew me, but I was happier than I should've been.

"I see you made friends." I said as he sat down.

"Oh them, yeah they're in my gym class. Why do they even have gym in the morning." He complained. I saw one of my old friends come over to us, he had this fake smile on his face. His girlfriend was also with him, she looked ready to kill me.

"Benji!" He said with a grin. "Why don't you come over to our table?"

"Oh sorry dudes, it's just Aaron has no one to sit with, and I've known him longer." He said, I could sense he was getting annoyed. The girlfriend sat down on the table and smiled at me, with her cold eyes staring at my soul.

"Forget him, all he does is talk about the stars." He said.

"Stars are cool." Benji told him.

"Aaron isn't popular." The girl said, as if I wasn't even there. "He's actually really boring."

"Aaron isn't boring, and who cares if he's not popular." Benji said the anger creeping into his voice.

"You really know nothing about him. No one likes him, even his own girlfriend cheated on him. He's so quiet too, just look at him!" He said. "All in all he's boring as fu-"

"Shut up." I mumbled. The boy looked over at me and frowned.

"Did you say something?" He asked annoyed.

"I said shut the fuck up." I said and looked at him.

"Oh so you can speak." He laughed. "Sorry I didn't know, since you don't ever say anything."

"You know what I'm tired of your bullshit. Ever since you straight up abandoned me for popularity you have sucked. What the hell did I even do to you?"
"Oh my god Aaron, you're so annoying. We just want to talk to Benji, you're not even a part of this." The girl said.

"Hey I don't want to talk to you." Benji said. "So could you leave us alone."

"Fine, but just so you know, Aaron has secrets, and the fact you are sitting with him just tells me he hasn't told you anything." He smiled and looked straight at me before leaving. I felt my stomach drop, and my throat close up.

"What secrets?" Benji asked and turned to me. I felt my breath get heavier, and my brain started to hurt.

Stars, stars all I can see are stars.

"Aaron!" Benji said, surprised. All the memories were coming back, like a flood. I couldn't stop the tears, and before I knew it I was almost passed out. "Aaron, calm down."

"It's nothing, ignore everything he said." I told him, finally getting my breath under control. But I knew that I couldn't ignore it forever, and the flashbacks were getting worse. But Benji just nodded and changed the subject, and for once I felt kind of okay.