Alive and Shattered

Alive and Shattered: Chapter Ten {Dylan's POV}

Thanks so much to IamSiobhan for the awesome movie poster on the side!

Dylan's POV:

 

“Move! Go!” I yelled as Grady rapidly pushed buttons on his controller. He made it to the other side and shot the guy from the watchtower, allowing me to make my guy run and catch up with him. Grady paused the game and got up.  “What are you doing?” I wondered.

“Calm down! I’m hungry!” He laughed, leaving the room for a couple minutes. When Grady came back into the room a Doritos bag in hand, ‘I’m a barbie girl’  began blasting through my phone. I quickly picked it up and looked at the number, even though I knew who it was.

A picture of Jackie and I sat on my screen. I turned off the volume on my phone, setting it back down. I looked to Grady, his eyebrow raised in question.

“You like barbies?” He laughed.

“Shut up,” he sat back down and put his bag on his right side, picked up the controller and started playing the game.

“Who was it?” He questioned a second later.

“Jackie.”

“Why didn’t you answer?”

“I’m playing a video game,” I suggested.

“Oh come on. I remember the first time you guys started dating. You always answered the phone.”

“Not during video games,” I shot back.

“Especially during video games.” He replied.

“I guess things just… Aren’t the same?” I said with a shrug.

“Why not?” He questioned, attempting to move his guy and grab a chip at the same time.

"She's just always so... angry. I can't handle it sometimes."

"Why would Jackie be angry with you? You didn't do anything wrong."

"I don't think she's mad as much as she is jealous."

"Jealous?" Grady questioned. "Why would she be jealous?"

"Because I've been talking about my English project.... a lot."

"She’s a very angry person," Grady teased, shoving a chip into his mouth.

"It's not that she's angry, she's just very... opinionated," I said, almost sounding like I was suggesting it.

"So," he paused the video game, turning to me. "If she's very "opinionated"" He put air quotes around opinionated. "Then why are you dating her?"

"Because... She's helped me with so much… like getting me a scholarship for football!"

"I see how you avoided the word love." He mumbled, turning the game back on.

"Why are you going all philosopher on me anyway?" I questioned.

"Because your my friend and I care about you. What, is that a crime?" He snapped back. I decided not to reply. After all, he was just being a good friend. The only sound that filled the room for a moment was the sound of our fingers hitting the controls. But, of course, Grady was back to his goofy self soon enough: "So if you had to guess, how many people does Jackie hate?" I couldn't help but laugh at him.

"A lot..." sadly, was my reply.

"Does she hate me?" He asked throwing a chip into his mouth.

"Of course not!" I denied.

"Really?" He questioned.

"No, she hates your guts.."

"Maybe I wouldn't return the hate if she wasn't a stuck up bi-"

"Dude?!" I yelled.

"Sorry!" He yelled back. "I just don't get how she can hate me. Dude I'm awesome!"

"Ehhhh," I said, causing Grady to pause the game and chuck his controller at me. I laughed and tried to dodge it but failed miserably, taking a hit to the shoulder.

"Ow, that hurt! I am in severe pain!" I cried out in mock pain.

"Get over it!" Grady teased, taking his remote back. "So, she unfortunately hates me, who else does she hate?"

"Uhmm... Adena."

"What?!" He yelled, looking like he was about to chuck the remote towards me again. I leaned back, eyeing the controller.

"She hates Adena's guts..."

"Oooh! That angers me! Adenas just so.. nice!" Grady sighed, turning back to the TV and turning on the game.

"Yeah...I know..." I mumbled; my thoughts turning to her sweet smile. My thoughts distracted me and I ended up dying in the game. Why was I thinking about Adena?

"Why does she hate Adena?" Grady asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. He tossed another chip into his mouth.

"Uh..." I thought for a second; still returning to earth from my thoughts. "Adena is my… English partner.”

"So she hates her because you guys are working on a project together?"

“Yeah...I guess…” I responded.

“Why Adena? I mean it’s not like she talks to anyone.” He mumbled to himself.

"Why is that?" I questioned.

"I don't know. She's always been very.. distant from everyone. Including Quinton and I."

"How exactly do you know Adena?" I wondered. Were they dating?

"When I first moved here, I didn't know anyone. Quinton was the first one to talk to me and over time we just became friends. It's taken Adena years but she's finally warmed up to me. I see her as a little sister.." Is it odd that I felt a little relieved and happy they weren't dating?

"Oh, cool!" I nodded.

"When I was going through my parents divorce, they were both there for me. And now that Adena's going through some family problems, I'm going to be there for her and I will do anything to protect her.” He threw some  more chips into his mouth.

"What do you mean family problems? Are you talking about her mom leaving her?" Grady turned to me, mouth open in shock. “Dude! Close your mouth before all those chips fall out!” I exclaimed.

"How did you know that?" He asked, ignoring my comment.

"Adena told me."  

"She told you?" Grady questioned in shock, I nodded. "Gosh, she must really like you! She never talks about that.. like ever! But her stepmother treats her horribly. She's always calling her names and forcing her to do all the chores and babysit the younger ones. And all she does is yell at Adena when she doesn't do all of that perfectly."

"But at least she has someone to call 'mom'," I mumbled to myself, not sure if Grady had heard me. I felt myself thinking about my mother and becoming extremely upset.