Instead of Me

∆38∆

"Would whoever took Mr. Rush's glass eye, please return it to the main office? Thank you."

Annie and I snickered, trying to be as quiet as possibly while we were in the nurse's office with Heath, Mr. Rush, and Mr. Miller. Annie dabbed my face with a washcloth, now pink that used to be white. The nurse was examining Mr. Rush's eye socket, making sure that his cheek wasn't too swollen and it would be alright for him to put his glass eye back in whenever it was returned. Mr. Miller sat across from them with his shoulders slumped, eyeing the ground, as Mr. Rush screamed at him while the nurse used all of her effort to keep him steady. Heath sat in the corner, sitting kind of funny so as not to hurt his bruised ribs while he waited for the nurse to help him. He glared at Annie and me, but Annie refused to look his way. 

"Wait until I tell Dr. Williams what you did to me! You'll be lucky if you keep your job!" Mr. Rush spouted insult after insult, pointing his finger at Mr. Miller. "You are foul! What made you think punching a teacher would be okay, especially in front of students?" 

I flinched as Annie cleaned a cut on my eyebrow. "Careful," I muttered. 

"Sorry," Annie said, pulling the washcloth away. "I cannot believe that you instigated a fight against Heath," she whispered under her breath. "What made you think that was a good idea?" 

I rolled my eyes. "He turned me in."

"For what? Smoking on campus? You're lucky he just now turned you in. Honestly, you're lucky you haven't been caught before." She folded the cloth over and pressed it back to my eyebrow, the pressure stinging me. 

I looked at her curiously, searching her face. "Are you defending him?"

"No, Finn, I'm just saying that maybe you should quit smoking. Addictions never end well. I would have thought you would be able to figure that on with what happened with your dad and whatnot." She looked at her lap as she talked, avoiding looking me in the eye. 

I leaned back, pulling myself away from her care. "Seriously? You thought saying that would be the best thing right now?" 

She let out an exasperated sigh. "I just want you to take care of yourself." She dropped the bloodied cloth to her lap. 

"Yeah, well I don't need you telling me what I should and shouldn't do. You aren't my parent. Frankly, I don't have any of those left." 

"Finn. . ." Annie reached her hands out, but I pushed her away. "C'mon."

I turned and stood up. "Thanks for cleaning me up. I don't need your help anymore."

Her jaw dropped. "Finn, I'm just trying to help you!"

"Yeah, well you should stop! I don't need you to act like my therapist or mom or anything, Annie. I need my best friend, but you apparently can't act like that anymore. I was being foolish thinking that we'd be okay after what happened." I was facing her now. We were both on our feet, red in the face. 

Her nostrils flared. "You  know what? I regret having sex with you, too!" The room fell silent around us, but we didn't care. "That was clearly the worst decision I ever made! I should have known feelings would get in the way! You're always so emotional!"

"Me? Emotional? What about you? You've always had feelings for me, but once freakin' Heathcliff LaMontagne comes in on his valiant steed you flip a switch and tell him you love him within three weeks of actually getting to know him! Don't tell me that I get too emotional, Annie, because your heart lives in your vagina!" Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Heath awkwardly rubbing his neck, staring at his untied shoes. 

Tears were spilling down Annie's cheeks. "You shut up! You are such a jerk sometimes!" She thrusted her index finger into my chest.

"Yeah, well you're a bit-"