Maple Ridge

Chapter 15

Carson West

I see the look on her face as she sees me. I see the shock transform into worry, and to be honest, the fact that she is worried about me pleases me.

She rushes towards me, asking, "What the hell happened!?"

She reaches me and stops in front of me. Looking up at my purple-black eye.

"It's nothing. Just got into a fight." I say, pretending that it's not a big deal.

She suddenly holds my face in between her hands and her sudden touch sends a wave of pain through my skull. I grimace, at which she quickly drops her hand.

"I am so sorry. Did I hurt you?" she asks, sounding even more worried.

"No, no. It's fine." I say, taking a seat on the ground.

Fiona takes a seat beside me and turns towards me, "Tell me. What happened?"

Even though I don't really want to talk about it, I owe it to her to tell her what happened.

"Okay, I will tell you." I slowly say, trying to pass some time.

"Just tell me!" She says with a sigh.

"Okay. So, there is this guy at my school and he is really annoying. Basically, he got on my nerves and I may or may not have punched him in the face, like he deserved I must add." I tell her.

"And that he may or may not have punched you right back?" she says with a small smile.

"Yeah" I reply, rubbing the back of my head, a sheepish smile on my face.

"And why did this happen?" she asks again.

"Can't we just leave this alone?" I ask her, really not wanting to talk about it.

"No. I want to know what made smiley-Carson so angry." She pushes me to tell her again, nudging my elbow.

"Not always been so smiley." I say under my breath.

"What?" she asks.

"I have not always been this happy and good-tempered." I finally tell her. I do not want to keep anything from her anymore.

When she still doesn't say anything, I continue, "You know why I was transferred here? To this remote school in the middle of the mountains?"

She shakes her head and so I say, "I was kicked out of my previous school. Because I got into a really bad fight with a guy and he was hospitalized. I broke his rib" This all comes out in a small voice, I am not really proud of my past. The last year has been really difficult for me.

As soon as I say this, a gasp leaves her and her eyes widen a little. My mood goes dropping down when I see her shift back a little, but when she sees my expression, she comes forward and puts her head on my shoulder, her arm around my other shoulder. I lean into her.

"We all have our dark past Carson, it's nothing to be ashamed of." She says in a low voice.

Her presence calms me a little and encourages me to continue.

"I am a year back than I am supposed to be. When they kicked me out, I re-applied to every school near my house, but none of them took me in. So I was left with only one option."

"My relationship with my dad got really tense for some time though. He was the only one tolerating me after all.

"My parents are divorced, so I live with my dad whereas my little sister, Emma, lives with my mom." I tell her, suddenly, I really miss my sister.