Broken

Chapter 12

Ethan

Taking a deep breath I open the frosted glass door.

"I heard you called for me? " I ask her.

A woman in her 30s, wearing red horn-rimmed glasses looks up from her book.

"Yes! Ethan! Come in, Come in." She says as she puts aside the book and gets into her " school counselor" mood.

The comfy and warm atmosphere of the room doesn't change the fact that I Don't wanna be here right now.

"Is this about THAT again? " I sit on the chair and place my bag down on the floor. She always has a bowl of sweets placed on her desk. I bend over and pick one.

" Well, yes but I also wanted to talk to you." She says with a concerned look.

I simply nod my head. I already know where this is going.

" So how have things been going lately." She starts with a casual question.

" My grades are good, there's no trouble in my social life, I'm not getting bullied inside or outside school and I'm not isolated by my classmates. All in all, I have no reason being here whatsoever. " I answer her honestly.

" When was the last time you hung out with your so-called friends. What about after school? Do you go anywhere except home? You still get involved in police affairs. That isn't a place where a high schooler should be spending his time." She says tapping her index finger on the table when questioning.

" My Aunt told you to do this, right? What? Is she upset I missed breakfast this morning? You know she gets worried over everything. Look, I'm fine. Can I go now? " It gets really irritating when people treat you like you have a problem because of this one time you messed things up. I reach for another sweet but she moves the bowl away from my reach.

" She said she was worried that your isolating yourself from others. Also the fact that Zane always complains about you showing up at the police station like some personal playground." She says. I bet my aunt said more then that. She's a nice woman, caring and sweet but she worries alot.

" She's just overthinking it. I do hang out with friends, just not in large groups. It's very tiring. I don't know why you guys are making this in to such a big deal. It's normal." I say clearly annoyed.

She sighs. " Ethan. Your father was a dear friend of mine. When....he died, you were the one most affected since you were the closest to him. Ever since then you've made this...invisible barrier around yourself keeping everyone at a distance. Never getting too close. Afraid that you'll end up experiencing the same pain once again." She starts.

I look away. I'm sick of this.

" I'M FINE. You guys need to stop assuming things just because I don't like getting involved with stupid people. Plus I think it'll be better to talk to Zane. He's the one who's having nightmares." I say to her we've already been through this so many times. I just wanna get out of here. School goes off in about 2 minutes. I need to go to Morgan's school to find out about her.

" Pretending It doesn't exist won't solve the problem." She says. A stern look forms on her make up caked face.

I get up from my seat. " With all due respect miss Martha, but the only problem I'm seeing here is you people not moving on from the past. Yes, my dad's death was very painful for me. Yes, I gave everyone a hard time because of that. Yes, I needed help. But I moved on. I've changed. I'm enjoying my life! Everything is going great but you guys just always have to interfere. I'm not a broken person that needs fixing. So when next time my aunt calls, tell her- " I'm cut off by the sound of the school bell. It's go time.

" Thats my queue! Bye now" I say as I pick up my bag and walk towards the door.

" Ethan, wait!" She calls.

I stop when I touch the handle of the door. I Turn around and go back to the table. Quickly Grabbing a handful of sweets, I rush out of the room.

Once outside the school, I try to control my breathing. Stuffing the candies inside my bag. I look around.

Everyone going in different directions. Minding their own business. Something that my family needs to learn about.

" Yo, Ethan! " a friend of mine, Andrew, calls and comes over to me.

" Hey! What's up? You all going somewhere?" I ask seeing as how he has his other friends with him.

" Yeah, there's this new restaurant I heard that makes great Pasta. You should come too, have some pudding or whatever sweet things you like." He says.

" You know, that sounds amazing but sorry, I need to be somewhere right now." I decline as nicely as I can. Andrew is a nice guy and all but hanging out in groups is not my cup of tea.

" Oh, It's ok. Since you never hang out with anyone outside school, I thought I'd invite you. Well then, see you tomorrow." He waves and he and his friends walk away.

I turn around and start running towards Morgan's school. I think that school also going off at the same time. I remember I searched its location and everything about it last night. It's not that far from here.

I suddenly notice that I passed through a shiny window of a store. Stopping and taking a few steps back, I look at my reflection on the mirror-like surface of the window.

Just what about me looks like I'm troubled? My platinum blonde hair may look weird to some people but I think it's really cool. My clothing style is casual and a bit artsy. I'm always positive. I smile brightly at myself in the mirror. It doesn't matter what others say about me, I know myself better than anyone.

" Oh right! The school!" Internally face-palming myself for getting sidetracked, I continue running towards my destination.