The Arrogant Asshole

Broken

We snuck out, made out, jerked off, ran off, ate together, slept together, walked and talked for hours.

Until it was time.

I stood at the end of the worn dirt path I had hated so much at the beginning, now never wanting to leave. I knew my parents would never let me keep Max, so I had taken off the leather collar I bought at the petstore and set him free to do whatever he wanted. Turns out he wanted to follow me.

I couldn't stop the flow of tears streaming down my face as I got in the car that would take me back to the home I didn't feel welcome in. My heart shattered when I had to have Jedediah hold onto Max so he wouldn't chase the car. My heart broke those shatters when I saw Jedediah silently waving and crying, growing smaller as my parents took me 'home'.

That day, I decided I would never open up again. I built walls around myself, distancing myself from anyone or anything that could hurt me. I stopped talking. Stopped smiling. Stopped caring.

Now I was protected. Ready and prepared for whatever happened next. My thoughts were the only thing I couldn't control, but I could ignore them.

School started again, leaving me without free time once again. That was the only good thing about school because studying and homework distracted me from those thoughts and memories that never stopped.

During lunch, I sat outside, and I found myself making flower crowns out of stray dandelions nearby. It wasn't a conscious action, more of a dive back into memories. I hated it.

One day I was tearing up one of these flower crowns when I heard a voice from behind me.

"Damn, what'd it do to you?"

My heart jumped, and an excited sheen covered my eyes before I turned around and saw who it was.

Kyle the jock.

I relapsed back into sadness, cursing myself for ever thinking it would be him.

Kyle was notorious for being handsome and sarcastic at our school. He had an obvious crush on Victoria, a short girl with freckles I had math class with. Why he decided to talk to me, I had no idea. I refused to talk with him, but he didn't seem to pick up on that.

He sat down close to me, making me scoot away, and started rambling on about his unfair life or something.

And that became his daily routine, much to my discomfort.

It was around Halloween when he asked me a quite personal question.

"Why're you so quiet?" He said between a mouthful of school lunch.

I tossed him an unamused look, then returned back to my homemade sandwich. I liked him better when he talked aloud and not to anyone in particular.

"Did someone hurt you, or something?"

I hated how carelessly he said that. I stood up to move to somewhere else, but he apologized quickly and went back to babbling about his life.

That was one of our most endearing conversations, I believe.

My life led on this way until Christmas break ended. When I returned, there was more gossip and rumors than usual. I ignored this unnecessary chatter and went to class as usual. But today was different. It was a bad day. I knew from the sun in the sky, and the birds chirping. I knew from Mr. Westbury making us give a presentation on a history project. He stood there with that mean glint in his eye, no fucks given to whether I was shaking in front of the class and stammering or not.

I knew it was a bad day because of the Pacer Test in gym class. I was heaving and bent over the water fountain when the day got worse. A spray of water hit me straight on, making my clothes stick to me. I was uncomfortable and upset. I think this bad day was the closest I came to feeling emotion all semester.

The bad day continued spreading hate to me until my last hour. English. As soon as I walked into English, my day reached the climax of grimness. I ran sobbing to the bathroom from one look at what was in English class.

It was too good to be true.