This Is How We Do It

Chapter 3: Tanner

TANNER

The school bus came to a screeching halt, knocking some of us out of our seats. I climbed out of the yellow school bus and stepped foot onto Chaplan High School. The warm spring air breezed through my hair as there was no clouds insight. I started walking, making my way towards the school.

“Ay, Tanner!” someone called me.

I looked around, trying to figure out who it was that was calling me. The quad was crowded with people mingling about the usual: their significant others, gossip and plans for tonight.

“Tanner,” someone put his hand on my shoulder. I started to jump when I realized that it was Cam.

“What up bro?” I sighed with relief as we dapped.

“Nothing, just got the rest of the invites to pass out. Here take some,” Cam handed me a stack. “Oh, and do you have the list of what all we have to go over for today’s meeting?”

“Yeah,” I reached into my binder and retrieved a blue folder. “Here.”

Being the vice-president for our senior class next year was a lot of pressure. But Cam and I could handle it. We both loved school, which was kind of surprising due to the people we hung out with. Gage was the party animal; Harley Rojas and Shanice Banks was the cheerleader. We were like a melting pot of high school cliques.

“Thanks.”

We started for the cafeteria to get a quick breakfast before the meeting. Along the way we passed out flyers for the party to underclassmen girls and boys. Once, we reached the crowded cafeteria, we zigzagged our way to the breakfast line.

“Where’s Harley?” Cam asked as we both picked out our breakfast. The smell of French toast sticks and syrup emanated throughout the breakfast line.

Harley Rojas was my girlfriend. She was the most beautiful girl in my opinion at our school. Ever since the first day I met her last year I knew she would be mine. I loved her brown eyes and dimples, to her long silky, black wavy hair that touched the nape of her back.

“She’s somewhere around here,” I replied as we exited the breakfast line. “She’s been acting strange lately.”

“What kind of strange?” Cam asked as we sat at an empty table near the back of the cafeteria. “The good kind or the bad?”

“I don’t know, maybe the bad?”

Harley and I have been together for eight months and these last couples of months were the hardest on our relationship. From her thinking that I cheated on her; to her not wanting to have sex with me had me on the edge.

“Maybe she’s pregnant? Did y’all ever do it without a condom?” Cam questioned as he dipped his French toast stick into the syrup. Cam was a truly good friends but he didn’t have the best advice when it came to relationships. Partly was the fact that he hadn’t had sex and the other part was due to because he rarely had a relationship. He mainly liked just playing with girls.

“No, I thought about that too. I made her take two pregnancy tests and they both came back negative.”

“Don’t sweat it, she’s probably just been stressing lately?”

“Maybe, but things between us are getting rough,” I vented. It felt good to tell these things to someone. There was no way I could talk about this kind of stuff to Gage. “I’ve been trying to talk about this stuff with her but I couldn’t find the right time.”

“Well the right time is ten feet away,” Cam smiled as he nodded over my shoulder.

I turned around to see Harley and Shanice on their way over to us.

“Hey boys,” smiled Shanice.

“Hey,” Cam and I replied as they sat down.

I looked over at Harley who sat next to me. She was too beautiful. I stared at her for what seemed like an eternity.

“Tanner?” Harley snapped her fingers at me.

“Yeah?”

“Can we talk?”

“Sure.”

“Alone?”

“That’s my cue to go,” Cam arose. “You mind walkin me to Mrs. Newman’s room so they can talk?” Cam turned to Shanice.

“Sure,” she smiled and followed him out the cafeteria.

“What’d you want to talk about?” I asked, looking at Harley. She didn’t look at me; she sat there, her eyes fixed on the table.

“I…I wanna break up?” she murmured.

“What?” I asked. I couldn’t hear her over the loud talking of the kids surrounding us. “Come over here.” I took her hand and led her out in the hallway by the vending machines. “Now what did you say?”

“I’m breaking up with you,” she gulped.

“Is this a joke?”

“No,” she replied not looking at me.

What the fuck? There was no way this was happening. What did I do wrong, that would make her want to dump me?

“What did I do wrong?” I caressed her cheek. Tears fell from her face and hit the ground like bullets.

“It’s not you, I-I’m just not in love with you. I love someone else,” she grabbed my hand. “I still want to be friends though.”

Friends? The bitch wanted to be friends? I introduced her to my family. I even told her that I loved her. How could this happen? Was she fucking someone else? I was engulfed by rage.

“Tanner? Are you okay?” Harley started to hug me.

I pushed her off of me. There was no way that this was happening. She pulled me closer towards her.

“Stop it,” my voice croaked.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she continued to cry.

I pushed her off of me and punched the vending machine behind her, drawing blood.

“Tanner, please this isn’t how I wanted this to happen.”

“Fuck you,” I laughed. I turned around and started off to Mrs. Newman’s room for the meeting.

There was no way that I could let her see me cry. I loved her. But tonight I was gonna get even. There was nothing else I could think about to dull the pain.

Tonight my alter ego was coming out.