New Days [Completed]

New Days: Nine

Long installment! Even if you get tired/bored halfway, be a darling and read on till the end, alright? I don't write things that are unnecessary...and that should give you motivation to read on. Then comment kay? Vote if you want to

Nine

 I hadn’t slept well the night before – not that it was much of a surprise, considering that the bout I had with Nick kept replaying through my head. I hadn’t a clue as to what I’d supposedly done – but that didn’t bother me as much as it did that Nick had changed so much. I kept thinking about how he’d been so strong; his voice so full of hatred – then the image of when we were younger. He had been such a sweet guy! He’d been a bit shy, and wasn’t the kind of person who could be mean to others – you just couldn’t imagine it, you know? The conflicting images of him - one of him as my sweet reserved best friend, the other of a rage-driven venomous stranger – kept appearing in my head…which brings us to ‘I hadn’t slept well.’

I was still thinking about all of this (as well as that I was hungry and sleepy) when I woke up the following day, asking myself what had gone wrong. One thing for certain was that lying in bed wasn’t going to bring any answers (aren’t I brilliant?) – I had to go to school. To confront Nick.

When I got to school, surprisingly enough, it was Nick that came to me. I was at my locker when he showed up.

“Hey there. I got to admit, I’m surprised. To what do I owe the pleasure?” I had started out as genuinely genial, but then his expression kept getting stonier, so I decided to speak more dryly.

“You’re on the basketball team.” He stated, then started to walk away.

I was on the basketball team? Huh?

“Whoa, hold up. What’s all this about?”

“Maxim needs you.” I was so touched…not. Someone wasn’t too happy about this, I could tell..I wonder why.

“You don’t though.” I won’t lie and say that when I said that, I wasn’t hopeful. I was – I was hoping that he’d perhaps look at me, I don’t know, normally and say “I do, actually.” Or something, but alas.

“I don’t.” He looked at me in the eye as he said that (another change – before he barely could) and sadly, there was no deep hidden sorrow or regret in his eyes – just pure hatred, with a touch of indifference. Wow, cold.

He started to leave again, I he still owed me a confrontation.

“Wait up. I’m not done talking to you.” He ignored me and kept walking away, so I made a grab for his wrist. That got him to look at me. His expression hadn’t gotten any softer, in case you wondered.

“I’m done talking to you though.”

Ha. I’d seen that one coming – people are so predictable! What I hadn’t seen coming, however, was his retaliation – he broke my grip by twisting his wrist thereby getting hold of mine. He pushed me away.

Whoa. Who was this guy?

He smirked. “I said I was done talking to you. Get it through that thick skull of yours – this conversation is over.”

Albeit strong, he was still little, and I was still Max Grey (I still am yeah). I grasped his shoulders and pushed him roughly against the lockers. He wanted to be difficult, fine. I was tired of playing nice.

“I said I wanted to talk to you. Get that through that thick skull of yours – we’re going to talk.”

“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” he growled. He was struggling to get free, but note how I say ‘struggling’.