I'd parted ways with Jae in the hallway. She planted a kiss on my lips, her cherry chapstick lingering there. She'd been all over me since our moment in the hallway a few days prior. She was either trying to convince me what I knew was wrong or she had no idea I knew and was trying to improve her act.
Whatever it was, the smile I had forced onto my face was gone instantly once I had my back to her.
"Hey."
I looked to my side as Chelsea fell into step beside me. "Hey."
"Colby asked me on a date." Her hair was pulled back into a braid like usual.
"Yeah?" I smiled at her.
"Yup." She said popping the 'p', a smile lighting up her face.
"That's great." I was genuinely happy for her. "Just remember what I said though, guys are fucking stupid."
"You do realize you just sort of called yourself stupid, right?" She had a mischievous spark in her eye, a smile still spread across her face as she looked at me.
She wasn't wrong.
"I mean, I think I'm sort of the poster child for fucking stupid." I told her, granting me a laugh.
You couldn't get much stupider than diving into the shallow end of a pool.
"Yeah, you're right." She agreed.
A laugh burst out of me, the first one in days. "Gee thanks."
"Hey you said it not me."
The more I got to know Max, Chelsea and Mina the more I could understand why they were all friends.
"But I actually just wanted to say thanks." Chelsea said, sobering up. "I know the only reason you said he wanted to walk with me was so you could be alone with Mina but, I don't know, sort of worked out in my favor."
She shifted her books in her hands, a shy smile on her face. I hadn't pegged Chelsea as shy.
"Yeah no problem." I didn't really want to take responsibility for hooking them up incase shit went wrong.
She took a couple steps backward, the conversation ending as she said, "see ya around Owen."
They even talked the same. It was a common phrase yeah, but I'd now been told by all three of them that exact same thing, word for word.
"See ya."
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"You sure you don't want me to stick around?" Alec asked.
I was sitting outside in the pick up loop of the parking lot. Alec was next to me, his varsity jacket slung over his shoulder. It had been cold enough for a coat this morning but now as I sat there in the sun, I could feel sweat run down my back. Alec had already asked if I wanted my hoodie off and I'd declined.
"My grandpa's picking me up." I informed him.
And unlike Jase, Pops wouldn't be late.
"Alright." Alec resigned. "Just call if it changes."
I nodded my head in agreement before his hand landed on my shoulder, squeezing. I watched him walk off, my mind flashing back to the days when Drew, the girls and I would pile into his Jeep after a football game and go to whatever party was being thrown. How I was naive and thought there wasn't anything that could ever wedge itself between us. That we'd be our parents age and still best friends.
I was fucking stupid.
A shadow fell across my side, I could tell who it was without looking over. I ground my teeth together, watching for my Pops' van. He had a lot of nerve standing next to me.
"Owen?"
The sound of his voice made me want to hurl.
He let out a sigh. I was waiting for another apology. Like he had down a little while ago, before I knew. Back when I thought the only thing between us was his awkward ass. That we could have made it past. That could have been fixed. But him fucking my girlfriend? Nothing was going to change that knife he'd shoved into my chest.
"How'd you figure it out?" He asked, his voice low, keeping the conversation between us.
I snorted. Was he serious? How I found out didn't matter. What mattered was why the fuck he did it.
My eyes followed Pops' van as he pulled into the parking lot.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I muttered at Drew, clamping my hands around the tires of my wheelchair as I started down the line.
I didn't want to wait for Pops to make it to the handicap pick up spot. I couldn't stand to be next to Drew any longer than I had been. And I knew Drew wouldn't follow me.
When I reached the van, Pops already had the passenger side door open.
"Hey Bud, how was school?" He asked, a cigar still burning in his mouth.
He always asked and I always said "fine."
Pops had stopped asking if I needed help. I'd successfully gotten myself into his van every day since Mina forced me into her car. It was a step, a small one but one nonetheless. I wedged my chair up to the door, glancing through the window as I prepared to transfer. A scowl spread across my face as I saw Drew, still standing where I left him, watching me.
"Is that Drew over there?" My Pops asked, following my line of sight.
"Yeah." My voice cold and angry.
I grabbed onto the handle at the top of the door frame with my right hand, my left reaching for the seat as I lifted my body out of my chair and to the seat. My legs banged against the frame of the car before I lifted them in.
Pops started to fold up my chair, puffing smoke into the air. I'd told him before that the school was a no smoking zone but he didn't care, mumbling something about "just a rule for the kids".
"At some point you'll need to forgive him for whatever he did." Pops said.
I looked over at him as he climbed back into the van. He just flicked the ash of his cigar out the window, pulling back out into the school traffic. Everyone knew we weren't really talking but I hadn't told them my recent discovery.
"Not for him though, but for you."
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