How to stitch wounds

7. Cheater

Nathan POV

Why did he run out like that? I think to myself as i frantically unbuckle my seatbelt. I grab my bag and run after him. I glance around the hallway trying to spot him in the sea of other students trying to get to class. I realize that he's gone and head to my locker where Kayla was,waiting.

"We need to talk." She says with her arms crossed. "Can't it wait?" I huff as I get my books out.

"Yeah, it can,so after school you'll meet up with me on the football field?" She asks with an angry look on her face. 

"Who pissed in your cereal?" I scoff. She fakes a smile and shoved past me, nearly knocking the books out of my hands.

"What a bitch?!" Tyler says with a smirk as he walks over to me. "Tell me about it. I didn't do anything wrong except for blow her off one time, and she does it all the time. I should be mad not her!" I answer angrily.

"Bro, calm down. I've never seen you so worked up before, except for the time when Troy got tackled." Tyler laughs.
"He did an illegal tackle, the whistle was already blown!" I huff. Tyler continues to laugh as they make their way to class.

After school, I made my way down to the football field so I could talk to my girlfriend about whatever it is she wanted to talk about. I figured, the longer I put it off, the longer she'd bitch at me.

"Finally! Took you long enough." She scoffs.
"I'm sorry,geez!" I sigh heavily as I sit down on the bleachers.

"I need to tell you something." She says reluctantly. "Ok, what?" I ask, half ignoring her.
"I'm cheating on you." Those four words snap me out of my daydream and pulls me into reality. I stare at her, dumbstruck by her words.

"I've been cheating on you for almost two months. I was going to tell you yesterday but you ignored me and spent time with someone else. I felt bad, but how can I when you ignored me." She says with a sad smile.

I continued to stare at her with a blank expression.

"You forgive me though right? We're still together?" Kayla punches my arm playfully with a smile.

"Why would you ask that?" I say, frozen by her ignorance. "What do you mean? I'm asking because I wanted to confirm that we are still an item. Aren't we?" She asks me again.

I stare at her for another minute before letting my emotions show.

"Why would you tell me you're cheating on me then except me to forgive and forget? Are you insane?" I shout.
"Hey calm down! At least I told you!" She says angrily.

"Yea,two months later." I sigh.
I get up and make my way to the school parking lot.

"Hey, you can't just leave me!" She shouts. "Oh yeah, watch me!" I shout back.
She begins running behind me to catch up. She grabs my arm and pulls me back to face her.

"What?!" I shout.
There were tears in her eyes as she begged me to forgive her,  but I refused. I'm not dumb enough to make that mistake twice.

"I only did it cause I wanted your attention!" She sobbed.
"My attention was there for you. I begged you to go on dates and out to the movies. I asked you everyday if you wanted to come to my house and have dinner. I was here! You were always somewhere else." I said softly.

I was done yelling, and done with her. I wasn't going to let her do it again. She's just manipulating me and I won't stand by it.

I got in my car and drove off. I had no idea where it was I was going, but if it was away from her, it was already an improvement.

Somehow, I found myself at Micheal's house. A place I probably shouldn't be at but still managed to end up at. I saw a car in the driveway and assumed it was his parents. I went up the stairs and knocked on the door.
To my surprise, an older man opened the door. He looked unkept and under the influence of something.

"Can I help you?" He said hatefully. His voice was like gravel and reeked of beer. "I came for Micheal. Is he here?" I used as much respect as I could. This did not look like the type of man I wanted to piss off.

"No, he's not home yet, and I wouldn't let someone like you hang out with him anyways!" He said angrily.
"Why? I haven't done anything." I asked, getting slightly agitated with the man and his odor.

"He doesn't have friends and the useless pipsqueak doesn't need any!" He spat. He was also getting angry and probably wanted me to leave.

"He isn't useless!" I say defensively.
"Oh so what, I'm gonna listen to his faggot boyfriend? No, and you can get the hell off my property! I see you again and I'll rip your head off! That understood!" He takes a step forward with the beer bottle in hand in a threatening manner.

"Clearly!"  I huff. I then choose to back off and head back to my car. As I turn the corner, I see the small boy walking down the street towards his house. I roll down my window so he could hear me.

"Hey, your dad's a little drunk!"I yell at him. He jumps at the sound of my voice and nearly trips on his own feet.

"He's always drunk!" He mumbles as he walks up to my car. I give him a questioning look but he ignores it. "It's fine. He'll pass out and sleep the rest of the night. It's not a problem." He mumbles the last sentence as if he didn't believe what he said.

"Are you sure? You can stay at my place if you want. It might be best." I say as I wave him to get in the car.

He stared at the ground, contemplating whether he should or not.

"No, I think I should go home. I probably need to check on him."  He fakes a smile and starts to walk off.

"Wait, If you need anything or change your mind, call me. I'll be there, no matter what time." I hand him a piece of paper with my number on it, hoping for him to take it.
He stares at the paper as if I was handing him a  time bomb about to blow.

"R-really? You will?" He said disbelievingly.
"Of course, that's what friends do." I say with a smile. For the first time since I met Micheal, I finally saw his genuine smile, though he tried to hide it. He took the piece of paper, glanced at it, then handed it back.

"You don't want it or?" I asked confused.
"No, I memorized it. I'll put it in my phone later." He said softly, still smiling.
I nodded in response as he continued to walk towards his house. I still had a bad feeling about his father so I turned my silent mode off on my phone just in case.