Bully (Jack Avery) *COMPLETE*

Chapter 3

"Nice going Seavey." Jack said, still glaring at Daniel.

"Oh... I uh... think someone's calling me... got to go bye." Daniel ran off the porch and down the driveway.

"What was that all about?" I asked Jack as he shut the door. "What was he talking about? Tell me what?"

"Come here." Jack said, then led me to the couch. We sat down and turned to face each other. "I need to tell you something."

"Yeah, I think Daniel made that pretty clear." I rolled my eyes.

"Would you just shut up and listen?" He raised his voice a little.

I shut my mouth right away. I know it's stupid, but I'm actually kinda scared of Jack sometimes. I don't know why though.

"Thank you. Now, as I was saying, there's something I need to tell you. The truth is..." He hesitated. "The truth is I like you ok? I always have, that's why I've been so mean, because I like you. I know I'm a jerk, constantly around you and all, but that's because I like just being around you. When we first met in like first grade, you completely ignored me when I asked if you want to hang out. I thought you wouldn't want to be friends. So I decided that if I was mean to you, then you'd eventually give up and let me be around you, and that's what happened. I tried to spend as much time with you as possible, and I thought the only way to do that was to be mean to you. I'm so sorry." He finally stopped talking.

I was just frozen. I didn't know what to say. How am I supposed to respond to that? Before I could stop myself, and before I realized what I was doing, I stood up and slapped Jack across the face. I grabbed my bag and ran out.

I ran home, unlocked the door, and slammed it behind me. I just burst into tears, and I have no idea why. I ran up to my room and buried my face into my pillow.

I was crying for about 30-45 minutes until I couldn't cry anymore. I didn't think it was possible, but I ran out of tears. I looked at my clock and it was almost 5:00. My mom should be getting home in about 30 minutes or so.

My dad left when I was a baby, so it's always just been me and my mom. We would always do everything together. She was truly my best friend. We told each other everything. We couldn't keep secrets from each other.

I just sat down on the couch. I turned on some music and just sat there, drowning myself in my thoughts.

Why would Jack say that? Why was he mean to me? Why didn't he just tell me he likes me sooner? There are so many questions that I need answers to. Before I knew it, I heard the front door open.

"MOMMY!" I yelled and ran to my mom. I gave her a big hug, and started crying again. Huh, I guess I did have some tears left after all.

"What's wrong? Are you ok? What happened?" She started asking tons of questions.

"It's... it's..." I tried to say Jack, but I just couldn't.

"Let me go change, then I'll be right back and we can talk. Ok?" She asked. I just nodded my head, and she ran up the stairs.

She came back down a couple minutes later, wearing jeans and an old t-shirt instead of her work clothes. She sat down next to me and started combing her fingers through my hair like she always does.

"Ok, now tell me everything that happened."

I told her everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. I told her about Jack bullying me since we were little, I told her about his friends, and how they helped out making fun of me sometimes. I told her about having almost every class with him. I told her about giving him a ride home, And finally, I told her about what he said.

"Oh my." Was all she managed to get out.

"I know right. I'm still trying to process it all myself." I responded.

"Well what if that's actually how he feels? What if he actually does like you a lot?" She asked.

"But I don't think I like him though. I mean, yeah he's good looking and he was kinda sweet earlier... but before today, he's made my life miserable. I don't know if I could forgive him." I laid my head down on her shoulder, but I had finally stopped crying.

"Well that's completely up to you. You decide if you forgive him or not. If he really likes you as much as he claims to, then he'll wait until you're ready. Now lets get some dinner, oven pizza sound good?"

"Sounds great." I smiled. My mom always knew how to cheer me up.

She got up and put a pizza in the oven. I turned on Netflix and started to scroll. After a couple minutes, I remembered something I saw the other day.

"Hey mom, I found this new show called 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'. It's a Lemony Snicket thing. Wanna watch it?" I suggested.

"Sure. Get it set up, the pizza is almost done."

I got the show set up and ready to go, and my mom took the pizza out of the oven. She split it evenly onto 2 plates and handed me one. I started the show and we just sat there and watched it.

This was usually what we did when one of us had a rough day. Pizza and Netflix. It always cheered us up somehow.

After watching almost the entire first season and a whole pizza, a bag of Doritos, and a bag of popcorn, we decided we should probably get ready for bed. It was pretty late and I still had school tomorrow.

I went upstairs and took a quick shower and threw some pajamas on. I brushed my teeth and got in bed. I tried my best to not think about Jack, but it wasn't working. I couldn't get him out of my mind. Eventually I let tiredness take over me, and I was asleep.

This was going to be a long year...