The Swap

Partner From Hell

Recap:

"What's wrong with you?" He asked referring to my glossy eyes. "You won, didn't you?"

I felt too emotionally drained to come up with a sarcastic response, and all his words did was break down the mental block that I put up to keep me from thinking about my parents. To keep me from crying in the middle of the hallway.

"You know Jaxon, some people have more things to worry about than winning some stupid fucking soccer game." My voice broke and I dropped my head down before quickly moving past him and out of the school.

I barely made it to my car before I broke.

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I sat in my car in the school parking lot wiping the years from my cheeks. A few students had passed by, but none had paid attention to me.

I breathed deeply, trying to calm myself down. I tried to remember that I should consider myself lucky, even in this situation.

A lot of people didn't have the luxury of talking to their parents. Some people didn't even have parents, and I did. Just because I hadn't seen then in six months wasn't reason enough to start crying. They were alive, and I knew they loved me. I just needed to suck it up.

I took another deep breath before starting my car up and driving out of the lot.

I made it back to Mel's house and noticed my friends' cars parked down the driveway. I checked my face in my mirror and groaned when I saw that my eyes were pink and my cheeks were flushed and puffy.

I sighed and got out with my backpack in hand. I made it through the front door and heard laughing coming from the living room. They hadn't heard me come in. I took that as my chance to run up to the bathroom and take a quick shower, hoping that it would help my face look a little more normal.

Ten minutes later I was out of the shower and in Melanie's most comfortable pair of pajamas. I walked down and joined my friends and sister.

"Hey what happened, you didn't say anything when you got home." Clara said.

I shrugged. "Yeah I had P.E. today so I really needed a shower."

Melanie gave me a strange look.

"Did something happen?" She asked.

"No, nothing happened." I said shaking my head. "It was fine. In fact, I kicked Jaxon's ass in soccer today."

Clara caught my sad attempt in trying to lighten the mood and stood up walking over to me.

"You've been crying." She said.

My eyes widened.

"No I haven't." I pushed her away and walked to the kitchen.

I didn't want to talk about what happened because if I did, I would cry again. I hated crying more than anything. It made me feel vulnerable, and that was something I couldn't tolerate.

"Is anyone else hungry? I'm gonna make some Mac and cheese." I kept my eyes away from the group as they entered the kitchen and stared at me.

"Cut the bullshit act Brynn, it isn't working. Did that asshole at school do something?" Marina asked.

"Marina, you can stop trying to play Sherlock, because you kinda suck at it. Nothing is wrong because nothing happened." I pulled out the macaroni and a pot. I know that seemed kind of harsh, but in this friendship that was nothing.

Maeve pulled me from the counter and pushed the pot away from me. I was about to protest when she started talking.

"Your parents called, didn't they?"