Bad Luck

Break Up

Adam instantly turned defensive. "He's been my friend since we were in kindergarten. You don't know him like I do, okay? He's not a bad person, he's just... going through some things in his life right now."

"Well, that's no excuse to behave the way he did and to say the things he said to me yesterday."

He glanced down, guilt written all over his face. "I know that."

I felt bad for snapping at him so I tried to pacify things. "Look, you'll see this is for the best. He's your best friend, you know him forever, I get that. But I can't stand the sight of his face and I never will. So I'll go back to live my pathetic loser life alone with my stupid sick cats and you go back to your cool friends, okay?"

He looked up at me, his big brown eyes full of hurt.

I felt like I had just kicked a puppy.

"Fine. Whatever." He muttered upset. "I was only trying to be nice to you and maybe be friends because you don't seem to have many of them, but if you want to stay alone that bad, I won't bother you anymore," he told me and before he left, he added a little jab as payback for his hurt feelings. "You know, you can't blame people for calling you a loner, you try very hard to be one. Oh, and don't worry, I can buy my dog's food somewhere else too. Don't want to risk Russell seeing you with me, God forbid. I'll get out of your way. Have a nice life, Mia."

"Fine, Adam! Buy your dog's food wherever you like! See if I care!" I shouted and Lucky hissed loudly at his retreating back.

Ugh! Like I said before: Boys are only trouble, headache, and a pain in the ass.

This only confirmed my decision to stay away from boys for as long as I possibly could. I fumed behind the cash register all day long while a few customers came and left in a hurry, because of my bad mood.

But remember how we should never say 'things cannot get any worse'?

By the end of the afternoon, Marissa Miller stormed inside the store with murdering rage rolling out of her eyes. Lucky, who had been curled up by the floor, tried to hide beneath the counter when he saw Marissa approaching us.

"Hey, Atkins! Who the hell do you think you are to attack my boyfriend like that?" She shouted at me.

Marissa was Head Cheerleader and the most popular girl in our school. She was the personification of a Barbie doll: tall, thin, long-legged, blond, fashionably fabulous, and filthy rich. Oh, did I forget to say she was also Russell's new girlfriend?

"E-excuse m-me?" I asked and mentally cursed myself for stuttering.

"No, you're not excused. Russell told me about what happened. You and your cats are a danger to society! You're not getting away with this, Atkins. Not this time. Your cat is a menace! It's attacking people! It's very serious what happened, my baby Coop had to have stitches done. He almost lost his leg!" She wailed in hysterics. "I was thinking about suing you and your mother, but I don't think you'll learn your lesson, so I'm going to start a petition today to have that menace put down. Say goodbye to your filthy cat, Atkins, because I'll have him dead until the month is over!"

"Russell attacked my cat first!" I tried to argue. "If he didn't have tried to kick him, nothing would've happened!"

"Oh, that's so typical. Blame the victim." She sneered down at me. "Coop was only trying to protect himself from a vicious attack. You can protest all you want, it won't matter. I'll make everyone sign this petition and have him killed and there's nothing you can do about it."

"You can't do that! You can't force people to sign something like this."

"Watch me." She spat out again. "You even managed to offend Adam today, and he's the sweetest guy I know," she said, crossing her arms and glaring vindictively at me. "You really should stay locked in your dungeon downstairs, Atkins. Do us all a favor and go die in that hole already, why don't you? I'm sick of hearing people complaining about you everywhere I go." She snapped out again and turned to leave. "Oh, and stay the hell away from my boyfriend! You're the one that will need stitches if I ever catch you near him again!" She threatened by the door before stomping out.

I stared at the empty air with my mouth hanging open in shock. What the hell had just happened here?

Lucky meowed worriedly at me, shrunk by the floor next to the counter.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I shouted, making him flinch in fright.

I was angry at Russell for once again turning my life into hell. Mad at Marissa for being a cruel, heartless witch. At Adam for making everything worse. But I was mostly mad at myself for not standing up to Marissa and for bringing even more trouble to this poor cat. People wanted to put him down now because of me!

I grabbed him by the armpits and stormed outside. None of this was his fault, but I had to make him think that it was. I had to do something to make him leave. His life depended on it.

"Go away! Get out of here!" I yelled, holding my tears so he wouldn't see me crying as I tossed him on the sidewalk. "I don't want you near me anymore! I'm sick of hearing you whining at me all the time, can't you see that? You're annoying and I can't stand you, okay? Stay the hell away from me! You need to leave! Get away from me!"

He cringed and looked at me wide-eyed and too scared to move.

"GO!" I shouted like the crazy lunatic everyone already thought I was.

He skidded away, not daring to contradict me for the first time since we'd met. He knew I really meant it this time. He should stay away from me. He would be better off. I brought him nothing but bad luck.

I stomped back inside, hands shaking and my mind in turmoil.

"Mia, sweetie?" Marie's hesitant voice called out. "What happened?"

"Nothing," I mumbled, dabbing at my eyes with the sleeve of my hoodie. "I tossed Lucky out of the store. I don't want him near me anymore."

"Oh, honey. I'm so sorry..."

"I don't even want a pet anyway. It will be best for the both of us if I never see him again."

"Listen, I think you can close the store if you want." She offered with a sympathetic weak smile. "You look like you need a time-out."

"Yeah, okay," I said numbly. "I'm going upstairs to get some food to store up my fridge, okay?"

"Of course. Take anything you want. You don't need to ask, Mia, you know that," she said quietly. "Sweetie, are you going to be all right?"

No, because I had just tossed the only one who had made me feel better and listened to me and brought me comfort when I needed the most.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Don't worry, I'm just tired. I couldn't sleep well last night, because Lucky kept me awake. But now he's gone and I don't need to worry about that anymore. If you need me, I'm going to be downstairs for the rest of the day, okay?"

"Mia..."

"I don't care that he's gone." I lied again. "He was never going to stay with me anyway."

It was better that he had left now before I could get too attached to him. The more I delayed this, the worse it would be when I finally had to set him free. He was probably not even going to remember me in a few hours, I thought to myself.

And that only broke my heart a little bit more.