Chapter 36

After telling Mr. Eaves to file, my first step was to call Chef. He’d put this all in motion and was paying for everything, so he deserved to know.

After I explained everything, including my reasoning for not waiting, Chef asked, “Are you sure about this, Charlie?”

“Yes. It isn’t getting better and it’s almost certainly going to get worse. It will be almost Christmas before anything happens, which considering how crazy things have gotten since I got home from the tour, is a lifetime. I’m not exaggerating or being a teen who thinks everything is immediate and dire. Things have gotten very bad, and they’re going to get worse. I can’t wait. I know you said you wanted me to take some time and really think it through, but I’m sure this is the right decision for me and I can’t afford to wait.”

“I’m not second-guessing you; I just want to make sure you’re prepared for this. I’ve already arranged everything with Arthur, so you should be all set. You aren’t alone in this, Charlie. We’re here to help if you need us.”

“Thanks, Chef. I don’t know how I’d...”

“It’s okay. Just keep your head down and make it through this. Things will probably get worse before they can start getting better, but I know you’ll be okay. Just remember to stay calm and think before you do anything. The person who can hurt your case the most is you.”

“I know, and I will.”

“Good.”

When I finished telling him, I told Mrs. Phillips, who essentially had the same reaction. She was a little disappointed that even after agreeing to take some time to think about it, I still went ahead and made the decision on that first phone call anyway, but she also understood my reasoning.

I felt like a weight had been lifted, even though nothing had really changed. Just knowing there was a path out and having the decision made was enough to take some of the pressure off. The weirdest part was, even though my entire life felt like it had changed, the rest of the world kept moving along.

I got to school the next morning, and everyone was just going about their day like nothing had happened. True, nothing had happened to anyone else, but I guess when you have a monumental shift in your life, it feels like the rest of the world should change with you.

Worse, the high school drama continued unabated. I got to the front steps of the school to find Rhonda in Sydney’s face, finger inches from her nose. To Sydney’s credit, she wasn’t backing down or flinching and looked pissed off instead of scared. Rhonda might have thought Sydney was some shrinking violet that she could threaten, but she wasn’t. Sydney might have been against fighting or breaking the rules, but she had a backbone and she wasn’t going to let anyone walk all over her.

Rhonda wasn’t alone this time. She had several girls with her, including Camille, who apparently hadn’t learned from her experiences at the end of last year and was back to being one of Rhonda’s groupies.

“ ... till we find you alone. One good ass kicking and you’ll find out why you shouldn’t chase after other girls’ leftovers.”

Sydney was pissed, and I thought she might break her rule and actually punch Rhonda, which with my luck, her dad would take as somehow being my fault.

“Why do you care who I date?” I asked. “You dumped me, remember? Actually, you screwed Aaron while we were still dating and then dumped me. Hell, you also slept with Harry. How sad is that, sleeping with a more pathetic version of Aaron.”

“Doesn’t change the code. You don’t go out with another girl’s ex,” Rhonda snarled back.

“Bullshit. How often do you break that rule? Hell, how many exes did Aaron have when you got on your back? If that was a rule, no one would date anyone. I don’t care what stupid idea you have in your head about needing to prove yourself so you can be queen bee or whatever, it doesn’t give you a right to talk to her like that.”

“F•©k you, Charlie. I wouldn’t have had to sleep with Aaron if you were more of a man.”

“Probably true, but if I’m such a sad sack, why do you feel the need to run off my new girlfriend? How sad does that make you?”

“I don’t care. What are you going to do, beat me up too?”

“No, but I could start talking to the other guys in conditioning class. I’ve never said anything against you to anyone, even as you’ve made up all kinds of shit about me to kiss up to Aaron’s old crew. How about I start talking about you?”

“Like they’d listen to you. No one likes you around here anyway.”

“Really? Because after that article in the paper I’ve had people constantly stopping to talk to me. You’re probably right though, Harry and his group won’t care about what I have to say about you. They only care about how good Harry said you were in bed. I’m sure they’d still be glad to date you, based on his endorsement.”

“F•©k you, Charlie.”

“You didn’t. That was the problem, wasn’t it?”

She turned and stormed off, her posse following in her wake. It was sad to see the direction she had decided to go in. She’d had potential last year to be a good person, and she’d thrown it all away in her quest to try to be queen bee.

“You didn’t have to do that, I could have dealt with her,” Sydney said.

“Yeah, but you looked like you were about to smack her in the face, and I couldn’t have you getting in trouble because Rhonda feels like she needs to make some kind of statement.”

“What’s her deal, anyway?”

“Like I said, she feels like she needs to make a statement. Since there’s a chunk of the school that really hates me, and they tend to be the ‘popular’ kids, she has to somehow explain away our relationship. I guess the easiest way for her is to make sure I never date anyone and disappear socially.”

“Well, I still appreciate the white knight bit, even if I didn’t need it,” Sydney said, leaning against me and wrapping her arms around my waist.

“Hey, you’re my girl. I can’t let someone take a shot at you without doing something.”

“I am your girl,” she said, giving me a squeeze before letting go and taking my hand so we could walk to class. “Although, as your girl, I’m wondering why I had to hear from my dad that the windows of your car were smashed in.”

“That was Harry, I’m almost positive, but he was smart enough to break the camera pointing at that section of the parking lot before doing it. Sorry, I meant to call you, but it’s been a hellish weekend.”

“Stuff with your dad?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to talk about it here. Call me later tonight and I’ll tell you about it.”

“Okay,” she said, squeezing my hand.

I knew anything I told Sydney she’d keep to herself, but the halls had ears and I didn’t need this gossip spreading around. I’d barely reconciled myself with it, and hadn’t talked to anyone but Kat.

“Something surprising did happen with my windows getting smashed in, though,” I said, changing the subject slightly. “After writing up the report and everything, your dad offered me a ride to the Blue Ridge.”

“See, I told you he wasn’t like you thought. He’s a good guy. You just have to give him a chance.”

“We’ll see,” I said, but I knew how important it was to her that I liked her dad. “It’s a good sign at least.”

She was beaming at me as I dropped her off at her class. I knew she was kind of a daddy’s girl, and I appreciated my liking him was important to her, but I still wasn’t sold that he and I wouldn’t come to a head. Not with everything that was going on. Still, I did need to try.

For her sake.

It was as if there was a flyer or some kind of notice to all the people who hated me that I was having a hard time, the high school bullshit continued after I dropped Sydney off at her class. I needed to swing by my locker, which was near my first class and had just gone around the corner when I saw Harry by my locker, looking really guilty, leaning in close to cover up my lock with his body. I knew he was at my locker, because his locker was in the short row of lockers just outside the athletic department, as were all of his friends’.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I asked, coming up behind him.

Harry, dumb as a stump as always, practically jumped out of his skin and spun around to face me. He’d been looking left and right constantly, I guess trying to see if the coast was clear, and somehow missed me walking right up to him, because he’d forgotten there was an entire hallway at his back and other people could see him.

“I’m not at your locker. I’m just waiting here?”

I looked left and then right, dramatically, before saying, “For who? None of your friends are over here, you have history first period all the way on the other side of school, and the bell is about to ring. Who the hell are you waiting for?”

I know it was weird that I kind of knew Harry’s schedule, but he was one of the people I tried to avoid, if only to avoid the bullshit that came with being in the same vicinity as him. Besides, he had a history with Coach Bryant, and even Mr. Packer wasn’t a big enough asshole to put me within a mile of the Coach, considering what happened the last time we saw each other.

“F•©k you, Nelson. I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

“If you screwed with my locker, you do. Or you could explain away the foot I’m about to shove all the way up your ass.”

“I’m sick of you threatening shit. If you want to throw down, I’m ready. All your fancy Asian shit isn’t going to keep me from giving you the beating you need.”

That was a surprise. Harry had found a pair of balls lying around somewhere. I’d be impressed if I had the time to deal with his nonsense. I wasn’t particularly worried about Harry actually hurting me and the odds of him laying a hand on me were so slim as to be non-existent, but I didn’t need the hassle that would follow it. Unfortunately, my bright idea of challenging him to keep him from bothering me was blowing up in my face. I couldn’t back down either, or he’d take that as a sign that he’d won, and things would get ten times worse with him.

The real question was, which was more of a pain? Dealing with Mr. Packer and suspension or dealing with an emboldened Harry? I didn’t get the chance to find out either way. As we started to buck up one another and things were clearly about to go down, a teacher came out of their room to look down the hall, probably to see if any kids were still out of their classrooms, since the second bell had rung and everyone was supposed to be in class now.

“What are you two doing?” she called out, starting our way. “You two, get to class.”

“Next time,” Harry said, leaning in close and saying it in what I guess was supposed to be an ominous whisper, but which only sounded relieved to me.

“Whenever you want, princess,” I said.

I swear the idiot almost stopped and threw a punch then and there, in front of a teacher. He managed to get a hold of himself, but just barely. Fist-balled, he stopped, turned, made a move toward me, noticed the teacher, and then marched away, muttering under his breath.