Like I Can | Tyler Down

chapter four

"why are you looking down all the wrong roads
when mine is the heart and the soul of the song?
there may be lovers who hold out their hands but
he'll never love you like i can, can, can."

-

the talk of the school wasn't tyler's testimony. surprisingly. it was all about sawyer's instagram post. sawyer didn't really think of how it would affect him and it was a selfish move to make him even more of the center of attention.

two months ago, montgomery de la cruz and sawyer flynn had broken up and he was still working everyday to get her back. and part of the reason she broke up with him was because of the way he treated tyler. and she was worried about the way he would react if he believed tyler and sawyer were more than friends.

after storming off from chloe's car, sawyer found herself at her locker, with several people coming up and asking her about tyler. which she just ignored, until it was tyler coming up to her.

"hey, um, i'm sorry. i'm probably bringing you way more attention than you would want. it wasn't cool of me" sawyer shrugged apologetically.

"no, sawyer, don't worry about it. i just came to ask you about something" tyler says, earning a nod from sawyer

"you and montgomery? what's going on there? he seemed pretty pissed with me. more than usual. shoved me against the wall saying something about messing with 'his girl'" tyler shrugged, worried she may think he's crazy since they only spent one night together.

"it's complicated to say the least" sawyer looks down feeling guilty. "we're broken up, we dated  over the summer. and he fell hard for me but i just didn't feel the same way. he's been trying to get me back for a while" she shakes her head

"i'll take care of it" she continues, hugging him quickly before walking off.

as her feelings for tyler got stronger, her care for him came before others. what if going back to montgomery would distract him away from leaving tyler alone?

all she knew is she needed to figure something out to make tyler's situation better.

looking down the hall, she almost forgot jessica davis and alex standall were coming back. "finally, something good happening today" sawyer said to herself before rushing down the hall.

"jess!"

"sawyer!"

the two hugged and sawyer smiled over at her closest friends "i missed you so much" she said, before heading alex chuckle a bit, clearly annoyed with how no one has noticed him

"hey, alex" sawyer says in a softer tone "how are you?" she asks, finishing her sentence.

"i don't need your pity, sawyer" alex tells her, and as she was about to talk again, the school bell rings.

"i guess i should be getting to class, i'll see you guys later" the blonde offered a smile.
-
sawyer went through the day, it wasn't a good day. quite annoyed with the amount of people suddenly considering themselves her friends when they wanted to judge her.

even cheer practice she wasn't looking forward too. the only thing good about it was the fact that jess was coming back.

but all cheer was was the girls all arguing or chloe telling everyone what to do. afterwards, sawyer walked up near jess "hey can i talk to you?" she asked, earning a nod from her good friend

"i know you have a lot going on and i shouldn't really reach out. but i have no one else. you obviously know tyler and i are close. and because of that, montgomery is threatening him and the bullying he once did is getting worse. what do i do, jess? do i go back to monty and make him think he's got nothing to worry about? do i actually risk having tyler get more damaged then he already is?"

saywer was clearly stressed out and in all honesty, jess had no idea how to help her. "no don't worry about it" she says before letting sawyer continue to speak "it's a tricky situation but you'll know what's right. tylers liked you since the third grade. it'll break his heart"

"so will montgomery if he continues to treat tyler like he's not human" sawyer says, with tears coming out of her eyes now

"you really want to go back to him? are you forgetting the way he treated you?" jessica asked. montgomery was in love with her but he had a short temper, they were constantly fighting and she had lost count of the amount of times he cheated.

"it's not the preferred situation but i don't really have a choice" sawyer shakes her head "i'm sorry for dragging you into this, i'll see you tomorrow" she said, walking down the street towards her house.

when she walked in, her whole family was home. sawyer's parents were still together and she had two younger siblings, both in elementary school.

her mom noticed something was wrong "honey, are you okay? did something happen at school?"

sawyer shakes her head and wipes her tears "just stressed. junior year isn't easy, school is kicking my butt and cheer is frustrating now that i'm not captain"

her mother hugged her gently "i'll never understand how coach turner though chloe was a better fit for captain than you when you've been cheering you're whole life" she nodded "if you need anything, just let us know. go get cleaned up and get some rest"

when sawyer opened her phone, she saw some missed messages. one was from clay, about some stupid project. chloe about cheer, sawyer was ready to ignore that text. one from tyler, him simply asking her how her day was and one from montgomery.

the text from montgomery, she read a few times through "tyler down, really? i lost my girl to tyler freaking down? the pervert? c'mon sawyer you know you still want me. and i'll be here waiting for you when you want to come back"

sawyer shook her head back and forth, she didn't want to be with him but she knew him. it would go away if she told him to stop. but the tears weren't easy to deal with.

her hands shook as she typed a response "i'm ready to come back." and she pressed send as so many hearts were breaking.

words : 1067