The Mysterious Case of the Blackbird Rorschach » Zaylena

13: Hike

{Hike-verb; to walk or march a great distance, esp. through rural areas, for pleasure, exercise, military training, or the like.}

"So, then you just beat him up?" Anna asked with an enthusiastic gleam in her eye.

"Yes," I said for the millionth time.

"Wow. You're so macho." She giggled. "I can't believe you pounded into Mike like that."

"Why? I did it." Harry shrugged.

"Yeah, but you're a brute. Zayn's so nice," Rose said.

"I am no brute, missy," he argued, "although, I do think Zayn is completely badass now."

"I told you guys, it was all 'Max'," I sighed.

"Blame it all you want on the other dude, but you were hard to get a hold of."

I think this was the hundredth time that I had told this story. Each time it seemed to get less interesting to me, but they just soaked it all up like I was some hero. Currently, Anna, Louis, Rose, and Harry were sitting around the lunch table with wide eyes. They expected my story to change, but it never would. The facts were all the same. It was kind of funny that they now saw me as a badass. I still felt like the same Zayn. "Max" was the guy they wanted. He was the cool guy. The fight was just two days ago, but it felt like people had been talking about it for ages.

"But still, Selena said you were really angry and kept punching him." Rose sat up eagerly. She was displaying as much emotion as I had ever seen out of her, and it was still just a drop of excitement.

"I guess I just got out of control."

"What does Desmond have you on?" Louis asked, taking a bite of pizza.

"A couple mood suppressors I think."

"You poor thing." Anna hugged me tightly around the neck. "You must be so scared. What if 'Max' decides to visit us when you're least expecting it? How will you control him? What are we going to do to protect you? Oh my, we need to put some security measures in place."

"Calm down, Anna." Harry scoffed. "He won't hurt us."

"I don't know that. I can't be sure," I admitted. "What if Anna is right?"

"But you know us. I think 'Max' will be on our side," Louis said.

"We can't take any chances."

"So, you don't want to hang out with us anymore?" Anna's bottom lip trembled.

"No, no, I do but I might hurt you."

"We'll just slap you out of it. No biggie," Louis muttered. "'Max' isn't anything we can't handle."

That's what they said now, but we didn't even know what might happen in the unfortunate case that I might snap. It scared the hell out of me. I was trying to keep myself away from everyone, but Anna dragged me out of my room today. She said I couldn't stay cooped up for the rest of my life. I begged to differ.

Selena, on the other hand, was off limits to me. I refused to talk or even be near her. I couldn't live with myself if "Max" did something to her. She had come to my room a couple of times, but I refused to answer the door. I had a feeling that I wouldn't be able to keep this up much longer.

"You're so cool; like a biker." Anna kept up her excitement with my newfound fame from the beating I gave Mike. I wouldn't apologize for it because I would beat the hell out of him again, but I knew I still knew the difference between right and wrong. A good thing about Max's appearance was that I could remember beating Mike. Desmond thought that was at least progress.