Hunting the Fairy Tale

Chapter 83 - Fighting Demons

Galen

I lie on me bed listening to Dex starting our mam's car and driving away.

Agitated, I reach out with a hand to touch me guitar, propped against the wall near me bed, but I'm feeling too riled up to play, and me fingers just glide down the smooth wood and return to come to rest on me pillow.

Seeing Paisley, having her in me arms, and kissing her was like a kick in the bollox, dislodging years' worth of stuck memories since that is the area I use to do most of me thinking... according to Dex. Now, I'm lying here wondering who I am and what life is all about and why I'm just pissing it away when I really don't have it all that bad right now.

Well, it's a common thing for me to be wondering about.

I'm finishing high school in a few months, and I still have no idea what to do with me life unless I get picked up by a professional Ice Hockey team. Perhaps Asher and Hunter have the right idea about joining the army; I could do that too. Just, ye know, a different army. Become a soldier of fortune.

Who the hell am I kidding? 

I'll probably get kicked out of the army or end up killing me commanding officer. I have some issues with authority figures, mainly the fact that most of them are dicks who get off on bullying people with less power than themselves... and I don't trust men much...

Sure, some are not that bad. Briar Cove High's headmaster is a man, and he's alright. He could've expelled me many times but chose not to. I can also stand one or two of the teachers, and the rugby coach is not a total bastard. Chief Job loves to bust me ballox every chance he gets, but he's also bailed me out of trouble many times, so he's not all bad, either.

Coach Dev? Is he an authority figure or just an instrument of torture? Whether I like him or not all depends on his mood and whether he got a new stupid training idea into his head to torment us with or not. Yeah, fine; I guess he's mostly okay. We've had some laughs together.

Is Uncle Ryan an authority figure?

I have no idea why he looks out for me the way he does. Maybe he cannot tell Dex and me apart. In that case, he probably calls Dex Galen too. Why does he even care? Is it because I'm Dex's brother, and he cares about me by default because of it? He loves Emmy. He really does, and she adores him. If he loves me by default, then he should technically love her by default too, but I don't think that's true.

If loving Dex defaults to loving me, then Hunter should not hate me either, should he? But he does. Clearly, that yoke doesn't do anything by default... except talk shite. I thought that he didn't want me near Paisley because he thought I was vile and disgusting after the whole mess with Mrs Winkler's Book Club... and I actually agreed with him on that. I didn't buy his story about me, just making time with Paisley to piss him off. Why would I do that?

Now, I don't know what to think. Did he even know that I was part of that manky business?

One good thing that came out of the book club is me friendship with Tanner. We fought all the time because I liked to take jabs at him where it would hurt him the most. He is so fecking pretty, and he has a bit of a temper if you just nudge him hard enough. I obviously regret that now. I didn't know how messed up he was. I wouldn't have used him to vent me frustration if I'd known. I thought he was an arrogant golden boy who had it all.

Turns out, he is even more banjaxed than I am.

We somehow ended up being pool-and-garden boys for the mayor's wife, and she loved to invite her friends to her poolside book club whenever we were there. I never saw one damn book at those book club meetings of hers. Well, not the kind you read, anyway.