Chapter 7: Stay Away From Him

I woke up the next morning feeling dazed and completely out of it. I balanced up onto my elbows and looked down at the bandaging and thoughts of the incident filled my head. I pushed my knees up to chest and thought about it. I didn’t want to like him, but having him there with me, made me feel warmer..in an odd way. It wasn’t easy to talk to him and get to know him, but it wasn’t easy ignoring him and staying away. He couldn’t be that bad if he apologized a million times and walked me all the way to the nurse’s office, his hand around my arm softly. I couldn’t help but feel some comfort when I was in his presence. His eyes were amazing, his structure built so well, his consideration for me was sweet. But he was the man of the school, I’m sure the crowd of girls who surrounded him everyday, probably wanted him badly and would do anything to me to get him. I shivered at the thought of girls physically fighting each other for him. I sighed,  pushed my thoughts of confusion aside, and stared at the clock. I knew I was going to be late, but trudged out of bed slowly anyways. I had no ounce in me to do anything; my energy was completely drained.
“Honey?” I heard, with a knock on the door.
“Come in, come in,” I whimpered, trying to put an outfit together. I was stuck and my attempts failed.
“How are you feeling? Did you eat anything? Remember, you need to eat fruit to create more blood, honey,” she rambled on.
“I know, I know, I know,” I started, “I will. I’m fine, just running late.”
“Alright,” she said blankly, and left the room. She stuck her head back into the door, “if you don’t feel good, call me, okay?”
I nodded and grabbed my white v-neck and Victoria’s Secret sweats and ran into the bathroom. I stared in the mirror for quite some time. I looked really--what was the word--tired. I hated that, but it would have to do. I moved my hair out of my eyes and stared. My long, dark hair was in messy waves, my bangs slanted across my forehead as if they were ordered to remain there at all times; no strand out of place. My eyes sat on top of what seemed like light bags of sleep deprivation. I smiled a cheesy smile and laughed at my stupidity. I ran back into my closet, pulled on some Uggs and ran out of the door.

“Hold me, and love me, just wanna touch you for a minute,” buzzed through my phone on the passenger seat as I entered the high school parking lot. I glanced at the screen to see Robbie’s name flashing over and over. My face lightened up, she always made me feel better.
“JC! How are you feeling? I hope you’re okay, do you need anything?” she asked as quick as lightning.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I replied, “Are you at school yet?”
“Yes! School’s starting a little later because the construction had some gas leak or whatever and they don’t want any students inhaling it.”
“Woah, a gas leak? How long’s the waiting time?” I asked, nervous now. I wanted the day to end quickly, so I could run back to home and jump onto my bike and zip through the dirt.
“Maybe 45 minutes, who knows, but anyways I gotta stop talking now,” she said, with a slight excitement to her voice. I was confused. I blamed having no energy for this.
“Why do you have to stop talking, is something wrong?”
“No, there’s someone here who wants to talk to you!” she exclaimed. Before I could ask who, or why, or anything else, I heard his voice.
“Hello?” he asked, lightly. It soothed me, “Feeling better?”
“Much better,” I lied.
“I’m really sorry. It was stupid of me,“ he repeated, “I wanted to see if you were feeling better, if there was anything I could do.”
“I’m fine, really. But I needed to say something too,” I replied, getting a little edgy.
“Shoot.”
“I wanted to say,” I hesitated, “Thank you. For taking me to the office yesterday, it was really nice of you.” I smiled to myself at the thought of his hand around my arm. I wanted to like him, but something inside me told me otherwise. “Thanks for returning my lyric book too.”
I could hear the happiness in him, “It was no problem, glad you’re feeling better. I couldn’t stop thinking about if you were okay or not.”
I stopped before saying anything else. Hearing he couldn’t stop thinking about me, warmed my insides, eased the pain on my arms, and brought a real smile to my face. 
“Hello? You there?”
“Sorry, I was thinking.” I answered, breaking out of my own twilight zone.
“About what?” he asked, smoothly.
“About how you are the farthest thing from a jerk,” I said, full heartedly, my mind racing in a million different directions.
“So you finally realized that?” he joked, laughing warmly.
“Hey, everyone learns at different paces,” I added, with a soft laugh.
“Like me in Edward’s class, huh?”
He was so chill, relaxed, and really funny. The conversation lifted a huge boulder off my shoulders.
“Well about that,” I began, only to start laughing, “I’m kidding, you’re doing fine in that class.”
Before he could start his sentence, I heard a “I need my phone back!” It was definitely Robbie. I waited a few seconds and heard a sweet, familiar voice.
“Well, well, well,” she started, “look what we have here!”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, biting my lip, trying not to smile. If I knew anything about Robbie, I knew she was going to bring up something about me and Tyler.
“JC and Tyler sitting in a tree,” she sang, chuckling in between.
“You would sing that to me, this early in the morning,” I replied with a smile.
“It’s true! Why would he worry about you if he didn’t really like you? And why would he bump into me, right when I dialed your number? Coincidence, much? I think not!” she exclaimed, excitement taking over her. I smiled and thanked fate for our meeting; she was the only friend who had been happy for me in this way, it was remarkable.
“We’ll talk about it when I see you, okay? Okay!” and with no further a due, I hung up, got out of the car, and made my way to the front of the school.

I approached the large crowds gathered in front of the school as if it were a congregation. I skimmed through the pool of faces until my gaze met that of my true friend, Robbie. I smiled, waved, and walked over to her. We embraced into a hug and sat down. I could tell she was excited to hear everything about Tyler, the topic on hand. We conversed about everything and anything we could.
“Well do you like him?” she finally asked.
“I’m not sure, he’s really nice,” I started.
“So you do like him?”
“And funny.”
“Well?”
“And sweet,” I continued, almost blushing. What was going on here? Was I blushing, thinking of Tyler Giamatti? I started getting this funny feeling in my stomach and my heart started bouncing against the walls of my chest. Robbie laughed and looked around and then tugged at my arm.
“What is it?” I asked, returning to reality. She was pointing to the fountain in front of the school. I didn’t understand what she was asking me to turn to my gaze to.
“Tyler,” she whispered, “he’s waving!”
I looked over, smiled, and waved back. He motioned to his arm and mouthed out “You okay?” He was so cute, it was unbelievable. His basketball sweatshirt complimented his face amazingly and his shoes were incredible, like always. I swear this kid had to have had connections with Nike or something, he had so many different kinds. His hair was in all sorts of directions, but it looked nice nonetheless. And there were his eyes, his eyes amazing eyes that brought out the hint of tan to his ivory skin color. My infatuation was getting the best of me. I was still indecisive on the entire situation but I couldn’t help it.
“I’m going to go get a mocha coffee, alright?” Robbie mentioned, getting up. “Want anything?”
“No thank you, I’m good,” I added with a smile.
I pulled my bag onto my lap and grabbed my phone, skimming through text messages from old friends asking how I was, from my mom insisting I stay at home, and an alert from ticket master saying there was a motocross event coming to the city. I instantly jumped in excitement and started reading up on it. There was nothing like a good show to get your blood pumping. I got to the ticket information, when something blocked the sunlight and brought me into a shadow. I looked up to see the same blonde girl who had given me dirty looks before, glaring down at me.
“Hey b***h,” she said, folding her arms. She was enraged. “What the hell were you doing with my boyfriend yesterday?”
My eyes widened, hearing the words “what were you doing with my boyfriend.” Who did she think she was, to come at me like that?
“Excuse me?” I asked, irritated.
“You think you can go around kissing my fricken boyfriend on the hallway floor?” she demanded.
“You have your story twisted,” I murmured, getting up.
“I think you do,” she said. “S**t,” she whispered under her breath.
“Me, a s**t? That’s funny, coming from someone who dresses like one,” I added, getting heated.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Robbie heading towards me. She seemed really agitated.
“What’s going on?” she asked, staring down the blonde nuisance in front of me.
“Who the f**k are you?” she asked, menacingly.
Before Robbie could get in a good word, Tyler approached our area, with a look of confusion and anger on his delicate features.
“Who the f**k am I? Listen, you need to get it straight,” Robbie began.
Kelly spotted Tyler and turned to face him, “what were you doing kissing her on the hallway floor, hm?”
“Wait, what?” he asked, shocked and confused.
“I heard you were kissing this b***h on the hallway floor yesterday. I want to know why. Why her?” she moved back into my face and sneered, “Stay away from him. I know you’re game, it’s not going to work.”
I was so lost, I didn’t even see Tyler slip through us, infuriated.
“What are you doing? Are you crazy? I don’t know what the hell you heard and from who, but we did nothing, and I mean NOTHING on the hallway floor. She’s not a s**t and she‘s not a b***h, she didn’t do anything,” he grimaced.
The look on her face changed from pissed off, to in awe. She was speechless. He turned around to face me, as I looked down. I couldn’t help but think about how this was my fault. He held my arm as we turned around to leave.
“Don’t worry about her, everything will be fine,” he whispered, close to my ear, from behind me. I felt angry, hurt, sad, and guilty all at the same time and it definitely showed.
“Where are you going, Tyler? I cant believe you,” she shouted from behind us.
He turned around and looked at her, “Of course you can’t believe me, you believed a stupid rumor you heard from someone else.” He turned around to walk again, but turned himself to face Kelly one more time. “Oh and I’m not your boyfriend, so stop telling people that.”
Her jaw dropped , her eyes getting intense with rage, and her cheeks filled with red as she turned around to walk away. I looked back to see her friend asking her if she was okay, only to be yelled at and pushed away.  I stared back at the ground and sighed. He turned around and looked down at me.
“I’m sorry about all this, I didn’t imagine anything like this happening,” he said. I only had 3 words to say at that point.
“It’s my fault,” I stated, sorrowed by the words.
He put his hand on my back and escorted me to a bench to sit down. I looked up at his face, which had been covered with worry.
“Hey, c’mon, don’t worry about it,” he replied with the kind of smile people use to cheer you up, “It’s not your fault.”
I still wasn’t convinced. I didn’t want this right now. I didn’t want to be called a s**t or a b***h, or to be known as one for that matter. I looked back at him and tried to smile, but it came out as weak as I was that day.
“What am I going to have to do? I haven’t made silly faces in a while,” he began, a little indecisive,” but if it cheers you up, I’m willing to give it try,” he added, flashing a perfect smile.
I smiled genuinely; a 100% JC kind of smile, and laughed a little as well.
“There we go, there it is,” he laughed, nudging me in my ribs.
“You’re really good at that,” I pointed out. “You know, making people smile.”
He got up and pulled his backpack onto his shoulder and stared down at me, “Why would I let a pretty girl sit here and be sad?” His lips turned into a smile, “I’ll see you in Edward’s. Let me know if she bugs you again, okay?”
I smiled, in complete shock  and amazement of his choice of words and nodded. I got up and watched him stride into the nearest building for first period as the bell rang.