It Should Have Been Him

Chapter 17

Then

It was a cold, crisp morning.

The sun was shining,

the birds were chirping,

all was great.

I woke up and ran my fingers against my temple, which a scab had crusted over. When I went down the stairs for breakfast, my mom was standing at the kitchen counter.

"Corrin, there's a boy outside," she said, as if boys were a foreign object. I smiled on the inside; Bryan really was waiting for me outside.

"Yeah, he's my friend," I said, going into the pantry to grab a protein bar.

"Just don't let it get in the way of your school work," she said, sipping from the coffee mug in her hand. I held back to urge to roll my eyes.

"I won't," I said, grabbing my bag and walking towards the front door. When I stepped outside, sure enough, Bryan was standing there, his bike nowhere in sight.

"Hey, how you feeling?" he asked, looking at my scarred temple.

"I'm fine, thanks for saving my ass, I owe you," I said. He made a pfft noise out of the corner of his mouth.

"Don't sweat it."

"No bike today?" I asked.

"No, I'm not really in a rush."

Once we walked through the back doors, I showed Bryan where my homeroom was. I saw Tyler standing beside the door, same place as usual.

"Hey Corrin, got this note too," he said holding up a bright green sticky note. When he saw that Bryan was by my side, he smirked.

"Wow, are you cheating on me?" he asked sarcastically, as he scanned Bryan.

"You're such an asshole Tyler," I muttered, as Bryan and I walked past him. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, trailing behind us.

"Oh come on, you know damn well why," my voice was rising in volume.

"No I don't, Corrin, what did I do?" he asked. I turned around in frustration. He scanned my face and saw the scarred temple. Once he registered everything in his head, a horrified look washed over his face.

"What happened?" he asked. I laughed, but there wasn't an ounce of humour in it.

"You sent Mike after me yesterday, ring any bells?" He looked at me in confusion again.

"I still don't get it," he denied. I hated that he was playing that game with me. This was his way of making my life miserable. Well, it wasn't going to work.

"Are you kidding me? Yesterday I was walking home from school, and Mike emptied my entire backpack, grabbed me, told me to stop putting notes in your locker," I vocalized. Tyler had an expression on his face that I couldn't really read.

"I never told him to go after you," he said numbly. The way he said it almost made me think that he was talking to himself.

"Save it Tyler," Bryan muttered bitterly.

"Wait, no I swear to god Corrin, I'd never ask him to do something like that, I'm not even friends with, I don't know him," Tyler said. I scoffed; he was putting a lot of effort into this.

"Just leave me alone Tyler," I said brushing past him.

"No, not until you believe me."

"Ha, now doesn't that sound familiar?" I taunted, putting a hand on my hip.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, for a second I thought he was being sarcastic, but a few seconds past and I realized, the dumbass actually had no idea what I was talking about.

"Oh I'm sorry, for the past 3 days, you haven't left me alone, accusing me of putting notes in your locker, and you won't believe that I'm not doing it," I shouted. Tyler's face fell, and for the first time, possibly in his entire life, he was speechless.

"You don't have to listen to him you know," Bryan whispered. I nodded my head, he was right. I didn't have to put up with Tyler if I didn't want to. I kept walking down the hall. I heard Tyler call my name, but I ignored him.

"Behind you!" I heard him yell, but I didn't get it until someone came up beside me and shoved me into the lockers, full force. I banged the side of my head against the metal and the whole world vibrated. I gripped the side of my head, and watched Mike walk past me.

"Sorry about that Corrin," Mike mocked as he walked past me.

"You're such a jackass Mike," Bryan yelled, he turned to me, "are you okay?"

"Yeah," I mumbled, "what's his problem with me?" I asked, rubbing my bruised shoulder.

"Well it doesn't help when you have Tyler sending out orders," Bryan said, just loud enough for Tyler to hear. I kept walking down the hall with Bryan, but Tyler of course couldn't let me walk more than a few feet before grabbing my shoulder and pulling me back.

"Corrin I swear I didn't-"

"Tyler don't touch me again," I said between my teeth, cutting him off. I brushed his hand away and continued to walk down the hall with Bryan, happy that after almost a week, I had finally won a battle.