Charlie
"St. George, my man! Where are you?" Luke's voice asked me as soon as I picked up his call.
After helping my friends cover up a murder, I knew how to lie without stuttering or being nervous.
"Just...you know? Gardening." I replied, as I saw Mrs. Down checking on some flowers in her own back yard.
Wait...do jocks even do gardening? Well, I guess I haven't learned lying that much yet.
"Dude, are you okay?" Luke asked me, chukling to himself. "When did you started liking gardening? And in this cold weather too?"
I have the same question.
"Well," I started saying, as Mrs. Down spotted me at her window and waved at me. "My dad wanted me to just look over our garden. To see which flowers are still... blossoming."
"Well, good luck with that." He replied. "All the boys are meeting at Torres' house in one hour. Hope to see you there."
"Yeah, of course." I said, confused by this sudden invitation. "See you then."
Luke cut the call, and I began thinking about when exactly the whole football team started keeping secrets from me.
Oh yeah, when Monty died and also got framed for Bryce's murder.
Monty treated everyone as his brother when in the team. He was always there when someone needed him to be. That's the reason no one on the team believes that he would have killed Bryce Walker.
And to think, I was one of his brothers once. Well, I sure broke his trust by planting that tape in his locker.
I never liked lying. My mom used to say that a lie was never a solution to any problem.
But, in my defence, I was lying to protect my friends.
"Charlie?"
I turned around to see Alex and Tyler as they had opened Tyler's door to check where I went.
Alex Standall and Tyler Down, the two people that I've been spending time with for the past few weeks.
Actually, everyone has been spending time with Tyler. We all wanted him to get better after the trauma he went through.
The trauma Monty put him through.
But in the recent weeks, I've seen him improving. He voices his opinions on things, and doesn't look scared as I had seen him when I joined the school.
Alex Standall was a different person, altogether. He has been a great friend to Tyler, hanging out with him more than the others.
But I'm pretty sure it's because our other friend, Zach Dempsey, haven't been around much.
Alex is a nice person. As I've heard from Tyler (I maybe asked him about Alex), he went through a lot after Hannah Baker's tapes were passed around.
That's why he tried to kill himself.
"Charlie!"
Tyler snapped me out of my thoughts, waving his hand infront of my face.
"Yeah, sorry." I said, embarrassed that I was thinking about Alex, again. "I was just thinking about Christmas."
"Okay." Tyler said, slowly wondering what's wrong with me. "I was asking who were you talking to."
"Oh, it was just Luke." I replied, giving both of them a smile. "Informing me that all the boys gonna hangout in a hour."
Tyler and Alex nodded at me.
"Hey, Ty, I need to leave." Alex informed, turning towards Tyler. "I'm meeting my dad, we are going to get the Christmas tree."
Tyler nodded again, and hugged Alex.
See, he is improving.
"I will get going too, then." I said, as both of them turned towards me. "I still need to get some Christmas gifts, then meet the team."
"Well, okay." Tyler hugged me, willingly. "Thank you for being here."
"Of course." I smiled at him, genuinely happy that I could help him by just being there for him.
Me and Alex made our way towards the front door, Tyler following us, but Mrs. Down's voice stopped us.
"Alex? Charlie?" She asked, as she joined us in the corridor. "You boys leaving so soon today?"
It was just 6 in the evening, so yes we were leaving early.
"Yeah, Mrs. Down." Alex replied. "Two days till Christmas, and we both still need to do some things."
I just nodded in agreement as a reply to her.
"Well, come visit soon again." Mrs. Down said, as she put her arm around Tyler. "I've said this to Clay before. It means a lot that you boys spend your time with Tyler. After everything that happened, I'm just glad he has friends like you. Thank You."
"You embarrass us, Mrs. Down." I replied. "Tyler is a good friend. All of us wants nothing but the best for him. If we being there is helping him then we would always be there."
"Yeah," Alex agreed with me. "Believe me, Mrs. Down. Tyler also helped me in my bad times. I am just glad that I could help him too."
Tyler and his mom both gave us thankful smiles, and I can't help but notice how similar their smiles were.
"Your moms would be so proud." Mrs. Down said, as we exit through her house. "To have sons like you two."
Yeah, right.
"Hey, Tyler." Alex suddenly said. "Don't forget, tomorrow everyone is getting together at Clay's. Justin is coming back, so it's going to be a small party."
"Yeah, I remember." Tyler replied. "Charlie, can you give me a lift tomorrow?"
"Yeah, of course. I will message you when I leave my house."
Tyler nodded, then me and Alex greeted him goodbye and went to where my car was parked on the road.
"Hey, do you need a lift?" I asked as Alex stopped infront of my car.
"No, it's fine." He replied, smiling slightly. "My dad is picking me up from the end of this block. He would be there soon, so I better start walking."
"I'll drop you there then." I insisted, hoping he agrees and I get to spend more time with him. "I'm actually going that way."
Before he could deny again, I got in my car hurriedly and opened the door to the passenger seat.
C'mon. I gestured to him, as he gave me a look.
He rolled his eyes at my tactics but still got in the passenger seat.
One point for me. Yes! Wait, who am I even competing with?
"Tyler's been improving a lot." Thankfully, it was Alex to start the conversation. "Now he willingly hugs people."
"Yeah, I noticed that too." I replied to him, glancing at him sideways as I drived the car to the end of the block. "It's nice, right? I mean, you all will be going to college next year and we wouldn't be there for him then."
At the mention of college, Alex got a thoughtful look on his face.
"College...yeah." He replied, as I stopped the car. "A place many people can't even make it to."
But our friends did. You did.
"Well, high school can be hard for some people." I said looking at him, even if he kept his eyes in the front. "We can't always help everyone."
"What about the one's we are responsible for?" He responded, kind of angry, but still couldn't look me in the eyes. "You heard Tyler's mom. She thinks we are some innocent kids, but no one here is innocent. We all are fucked up."
I wanted to keep my hand on his but knew it would come inappropriate, so I just let him continue.
"Even if you play a role in all this, Charlie, you can't understand." At that, he looked me in the eyes. "You weren't there."
A knock sounded at the passenger seat's window, and Alex rolled it down to see his father standing there.
"Hey, Alex. Hey, Charlie. How you been?"
"I'm great, Deputy Standall." I replied, as Alex got out of the car.
"Thank you for the ride." Alex said, looking at me. "See you tomorrow."
I nodded at him, and he and his father got into their car, and went their way.
Shit. That was well... interesting.
I didn't expected Alex to go all Jessica Davis on me.
He was right in a way. I wasn't there when everything with Bryce happened at the pier. I didn't even knew this people when Hannah Baker committed suicide.
But I wanted to be there for him.
I groaned at the thought that has kept me awake at nights.
This thoughts, this feelings for him had started when we both started hanging out together with Tyler.
It has been about a month now that Monty got killed in a jail fight, and everyone decided to blame Bryce's murder on him.
Let the dead bury the dead. This was what Ani had said, and everyone has agreed. For Zach, Jessica and Alex.
Everyone was responsible, one way or another, and that's what kept us all tied. Because if one collapses, then all are going down. And I didn't wanted to be the one.
As I have testified from Tyler's side, they all trusted me enough to keep the secret. And during all this, Tyler had actually became a good friend to me.
As well as Clay, Ani and Alex.
But the thing is, I'm having all this feelings for someone that I shouldn't have. Because as far as I knew, the certain someone had always been interested in girls.
I am pretty sure I've a tiny crush on Alex Standall.
Ugh. I need some cookies.
×××××××××××××××××××××
Hey everyone! Glad to see you all here.
As far as we knew, Charlie had googled about TBIs because of Alex.
That meant he had a crush on Alex for some time now.
So I decided to write about it too because during the whole season, they didn't show much about him.
I know the first chapter is kind of long, and to be honest I haven't planned everything yet, but let's hope it all works out.
Enjoy!
And if you like it, Vote too!
Bye.