Owen

You're Joking, Right?

Alec kept his pace slow as we made our way to my locker. We were the only two in the hallway for at least another ten minutes.

"You're in a better mood." He said casually.

"Huh?" I glanced up at him.

"You've had a smile on your face all morning. Just wondering what changed." He commented. "Haven't seen you smile so much since before..."

"Before I broke my neck?" I blurted out when he didn't finish.

"Yeah." He ran a hand through his hair uneasily.

I didn't blame him, it wasn't anything that anyone really spoke of directly, with the exception of my doctors. All anyone talked about was the ifs and when's of recovery.

"I am really sorry about that night." Alec said.

He didn't have anything to be sorry for. It was all me.

"Don't be." I told him. "Believe it or not it's not your job to take care of me."

He chuckled, sensing the irony of it all. All Alec ever did was help me out, especially at school. To be honest I was surprised that Bre was cool with it. Sometimes it felt like he spent more time making sure I was good than her. Bre was pretty chill for the most part but every girl had their breaking point. I wondered if she'd hit hers yet.

"How's Bre?" I asked.

"She's good." His face lit up. "Her parents are out of town this weekend. We're just going to have some quiet time."

I knew where he was going with the sentence. "I thought you knew this but you guys aren't quiet."

He burst out into laughter, I had a smile to match.

"Fuck you man, you and Jae were never quiet either." He said through his laughter.

My smile fell, the thought of Jaelyn cheating on me with Drew infiltrating my thoughts. I still wasn't any closer to figuring out what I was going to do about it. I knew I needed to break up with her but I wanted answers.

"Hey, you okay?" Alec asked, noticing my 180 in attitude.

I shoved myself forward a little harder, speeding up.

"Owen?" He said. "Was it something I said?"

I clamped my hand down on left wheel, pulling it backward as I whipped myself around. Alec stopped walking, his eyebrows creased together in confusion. I had to know if he knew. I had to know if he'd been lying to me too.

"Did you know?" I demanded.

"Did I know what?" His eyes were wide, searching mine for clues.

"Did you know she's cheating on me?" My heart was slamming in my chest, panic rising slightly. I wasn't sure what I was going to do if he knew.

"She's what? With who?" His voiced boomed through the empty hallway, bouncing off the metal lockers.

"You swear to fucking god you didn't know?" He seemed genuine enough but so had Jaelyn. "Because I swear Alec if you knew and you didn't tell me..."

"I swear man. I swear. You know me. I wouldn't have been able to hold that in."

I stared at him, taking everything in, the shock on his face, the anger starting to boil in his eyes. The way he shoved his hands through his hair, shaking his head in disbelief. I wanted to believe him. I kind of needed to believe him. I needed Alec on my side.

"Do you know with who?" He asked after a minute.

I laughed bitterly. "Yeah I fucking know."

"Who is it?"

"Who's not here?" I asked him.

I spun around, continuing the trek to my locker.

"You're joking, right?" Alec called, still standing where I had left him.

I shook my head. "No, explains a lot though huh?"

"I'm gonna beat his ass." Alec growled.

He was back by my side as the two of us reached my locker. "Don't."

"Why not? He deserves it. What the fuck was he thinking?" It made me happier than it probably should have that Alec was pissed about it too.

"I'll handle it." I told him, spinning my combination. "Don't say anything to anyone. Even Bre."

I heard him unzip my bag, rifling through the books that were in there. He pulled a couple out, exchanging them with what I'd need for the first part of the day.

"Do you think Bre knows?" He asked as the first few kids started to trickle in.

"I don't know. She's Jae's best friend. Chances are pretty high." I said. "But seriously Alec, not a word to anyone. Please."

He shook his head, not pleased with my request but he agreed anyway.

"Are you staying in your hoodie?" He asked me.

"Yeah."

I wasn't going to admit it to anyone but I was sort of looking like a rolling skeleton. Between the muscle loss and how many meals I skipped out on due to either frustration or anger, I'd lost a decent amount of weight. And I didn't have any to lose before hand, I'd always been leaner than everyone else. Nan and Jase kept yelling at me but I couldn't help it. Or maybe I didn't care enough to help it. My doctors had called me out last time I saw them too. And I was just trying to hide it from everyone else. Hoodies were good for something at least.

Alec slammed my locker door, the two of us heading off to our normal destination. It was going to be interesting, to say the least but hopefully Alec could keep his shit together when he saw Jaelyn and Drew.

"Hey you never said, what had you so happy this morning? Ya know before...everything." He asked.

Katie waved her hand at me as we passed each other. She was probably loving that Alec and I were out of her way. I waved back, glancing up at Alec as we navigated the hallway.

"Nothing, man. Just woke up in a decent mood." I said.

I wasn't about to tell him the truth. That I'd hung out with Mina all night. That I laughed, I smiled, I felt normal, or as normal as I could in a wheelchair. She had made me feel apart of society again, like a normal 18 year old. That I got to see her smile, I got to learn more about her. I couldn't tell him all that. Not yet anyway.

"Yeah, sure. It looked like a whole lot of nothing." He said sarcastically.

I laughed, the weight of Jae and Drew lifted for a few moments as we made our way. My thoughts on Mina.

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Game of Thrones is going to make me lose my mind! There's only one more episode too 😭😭😭.