Chapter 28 |Part 1|: The Kids Aren't Alright

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

 "Alright, what's wrong?"

I turned my head to Alfie, who was sitting beside me in the middle of the football field. He had an eyebrow raised, reading my face and waiting for me to pour my heart out.

"The fuck are you talking about?" I asked, acting innocent.

No way was I going all Moaning Myrtle at nine in the fucking morning.

He hung his head. "Don't make me beg."

I looked away, shook my head, and said, "It's nothing."

"Seriously, your denial is stronger than my life goals. Spill it."

I sighed.

Rehashing it was the least of what I wanted to do right now. But I knew my best friend. He wouldn't shut up about it until I tell him something.

So I did.

I told him about my conversation with Finn McKinley, all the gory details. Of course, I couldn't left out what I overheard Halo admit to Scout. It still kinda haunted me.

"Halo's been avoiding me for a couple of days," I mentioned.

Obviously, she didn't like the fact that I missed our tutoring session because I was sent to detention for goofing around with my ex-girlfriend. Damn. Even I thought I sounded like a douche in my own mind.

I wanted to make it up to Halo, probably explain and all that shit. But she was fucking good at hiding from me. I was starting to see a pattern.

Alfie whistled. "Wow, too much drama."

"Tell me the fuck about it," I grunted.

"Isn't it weird that we seem to bear all the problems in the world," he started, staring off to a distance, "and we're only eighteen fucking years old? Where's the justice in that?"

I snorted. "I got enough of this shit to last a lifetime."

Seriously, some people had it easy. They didn't have to deal with all this chaotic mess. But to some of us who weren't lucky enough to have a pass for a boring life? Well, what else could we do but deal with it? We all had our own problems.

It just so happened that ours were a bigger shitfest.

"Why'd you stay?" asked my best friend.

I glanced at him.

"I mean, dude," he said incredulously. "Why'd you let your ass stay there and listen to whatever crap Finn McKinley had to say?"

I took a deep breath, my eyes wandering to the trees beyond the metal bleachers.

"I guess I knew I needed someone to say it to my face," I admitted quietly, frowning a bit at how lame that sounded out loud.

I caught Alfie shaking his head, making me face him.

"You excel at everything you do, except this. Guess you really can't have everything," he chuckled, trying to lighten up the mood.

The corner of my mouth turned up.

I laid my back on the grass and sprawled out. I gazed at the cloudy sky as the cold wind brushed my face. With everybody inside their classrooms, it was quiet. Peaceful.

If it's not obvious enough, we're skipping. Because that's what we do. Besides, it's too much of a nice day to spend it locked up inside the walls, you know?

Well, hell. Never thought those words would ever in a million years cross my fucked up mind. But another thing I never expected to think about?

Me. Walking away. From everything.

As I stared up at the clouds, I couldn't help but feel envious. They went wherever the fuck the wind blew them to, and they were cool with it. They were free.

No grudges. No enemies. No messed up families.

Just them and the horizon.

Am I too damn weird for envying that shit?

"After this, I'm done," I declared, more to myself.

Alfie looked over his shoulder to stare at me.

"I wanna be a fucking cloud," I told him firmly.

My best friend had what-the-fuck written all over his face. I sat up, ruffling my hair as I thought of a way to put into words what I wanted to say.

"Man, I don't wanna spend the last few months of high school messing with Scout and his sissy team," I explained, with a frown. "I wanna fucking enjoy it with you mofos," I added, starting to smile. "Just us, no more shit."

His eyes narrowed as he considered my words. He was looking at me as though seeing me for the first time. I could see in his eyes that he knew I was right. He might never admit it, but I could tell he was tired of it all, too.

"Early retirement, huh?" he nodded slowly, a smile growing on his face. He turned his head to his front, staring off to space. As if he was seeing something he liked, he murmured, "Sounds good to me."

"One last ploy," I decided. "Then, it's game over."

No more problems.

"What about your love triangle?"

Shit.

"There's no love triangle," I said indifferently.

Alfie scoffed. "You could've fooled me."

"Fooled me, too," I mumbled.

I admit it.

Snow brought back memories and damn feelings that confused the fuck outta me. But I realized that I had to face something about my past, in order to figure out some shit about the present. It was confusing as hell at first, but a night alone in the basement of my house with a bottle of tequila helped sort things out in my mind.

And when I did, it all just clicked.

I remember my protective side automatically coming out that night when I saw Snow almost get attacked. Honestly, I don't think that'll ever go away.

Snow's my first love. We'll always have some kinda bond. We'll always share a history. She will always be a part of me . . . in the past.

Now is a different story.

Like that dude in Smallville said, the funny thing about scars is that they're always there. But that doesn't mean they haven't healed.

I owed Halo for being a huge part of that healing process.

You know, I always used to think Snow gave me hope. But only now did I realize that Halo gave me some sort of purpose. I dunno, to live?

Man, that sounded cheesy as fuck. But hell, it was like I just realized I've been stuck in a dark tunnel, and I finally caught a glimpse of light at the end.

What was I even so goddamn afraid of? Why did I run like a fucking wuss when I found out she was in love with me? My heartbeat suddenly accelerated at the thought.

That was the moment I knew.

I might not be in love with Halo yet. But I was getting there – 200 miles per fucking hour. And I was scared shitless.

Where were my balls when I needed 'em?

Alfie nudged me then, dragging me out of my chicken shit thoughts. When I looked at him, he stood up and nodded to Kurt and Frisco who were walking straight to us. I got to my feet, preparing to get all business.

"Alfie's right," stated Kurt, as soon as he was in front of us.

"Of course, I am," snorted Alfie, crossing his arms.

"They're anabolics," continued Kurt seriously, looking me in the eye. "But McKinley ain't keeping 'em in his locker."

"It took us a while," said Frisco. He shrugged, and added, "But we found his stash."

"Where?" I asked.

"In his car."

"We debated whether or not we should nick it, but you know," trailed off Kurt, raising his eyebrows pointedly.

I nodded. "Yeah, it could backfire."

If Finn wasn't being a moron, he could heavily consider that we took it. Then, he could let slip that we were taking it. We'd be framed and end up taking the blame for possessing illegal drugs. Not gonna happen.

"Well," I breathed out, "that sure explains why he's acting like a PMS-isng bitch."

The shithead was way too hotheaded recently.

"So what're we gonna do?" asked Frisco, looking way too innocent.

I didn't answer, still thinking it through. Frisco's innocent face was distracting me that I had to look away. It was like he was a five-year-old kid waiting for his punishment from being caught redhanded.

"Blackmail him?" suggested Alfie.

I shook my head. "No, he's too much of a son of a bitch to be given a choice."

Kurt scratched his head. "What, then?"

"How old is he?" I wondered thoughtfully.

"Hell if I know," huffed Alfie. "I'm not his mother."

"I wanna get this over with," I deadpanned, eyeing them one by one. "The fastest way to do that is by letting other people do the work."

"I think I know where you're going with this," said Alfie suspiciously. "I can't believe you're even considering it," he added disapprovingly.

"What d'you think we should do, then?" I spat, facing him. "Blackmail him into what, quitting the team? That's too fucking easy for him."

Nobody spoke. They knew I was right.

"Alright, so we call the cops," humored Alfie, waving a hand. "You think McKinley will just let them search his stuff without a fucking warrant?"

I sighed, rubbing my face. Now, he was right.

"How 'bout we thrash his car, let it get towed or something?" shrugged Kurt.

Alfie snorted, rolling his eyes. "And expect the cops to show up at the repair shop like, 'Lookie, are those gym candies? Oh, my. Wonder who owns this car?'"

"When you say it like that, it sounds stupid."

"'Cause it fucking is."

I let them throw ideas, while I listened and considered each of them. But I kept going back to my idea about involving the cops.

We could make a secret call to Kurt's uncle about it. The problem was, it wouldn't stick because we had no solid proof. We just needed to give them enough proper evidence so they could ask for a search warrant.

My eyes landed on Frisco.

"Get the stats on last year's basketball games, including this season."

He blinked. "From our school?"

"No, the private school down the street," I answered sarcastically. "Of course, our fucking school, asshat."

"Don't call me asshat, asshat."

The three of us stared at Frisco, dumbfounded. Then after a few seconds, we burst out laughing. He shook his head and started laughing, too.

"I should've said 'dickface'," he muttered.

"Nah. 'Butthead' is more your style," chuckled Kurt.

"Ain't that the truth?" laughed Alfie.

"Try to catch McKinley in the act," I told my best friend, all business again. He turned his attention to me. "This time, make sure it's caught on video. Be discreet, though. We don't want him to know that we're on to him."

"Aye aye, captain!" he saluted.

With a straight face, I flipped him off. He only laughed.

"I'll go with him," volunteered Kurt, raising his chin.

My eyes wandered to the football he was holding between his hands. I didn't notice it before, too caught up in my thoughts.

"What's up with the pigskin?" I asked him, nodding to the ball.

He shrugged innocently. "I like holding it."

I fought the urge to smile. I knew what he meant. Sometimes when I was at home, I'd hold a ball and close my eyes. Then, I'd pretend I was in the middle of the field.

It always used to calm me down. But I found another way of getting rid of the tension. Too bad, she was avoiding me right now.

I studied my friends, before asking, "Think we can do all that by this afternoon?"

I really fucking hope so. I want this over already.

"Easy-peasy," grinned Alfie.

Kurt flashed me a smirk, while Frisco made a thumbs up.

"What about Connie, though?" asked Alfie. "Aren't we gonna let her in on this?"

"She's too busy hooking up with Parker to hang with us," leered Kurt.

Frisco looked away.

"Parker the Pounder," said Alfie wistfully, shaking his head in disbelief. "Has she never been around us enough to hear us talk about the crazy shit he's done?"

"Maybe he changed," offered Frisco.

Man, he's too chill about this. Too damn nice, this kid.

Alfie snorted, crossing his arms. "He fucking better."

"It's cool," I sighed. "This isn't her fight to begin with."

She wasn't part of the football team. She just got caught up because she was one of the crew. I was wrong to let her help out with any of this. She didn't need more shit in her life. I shouldn't have gotten her involved from the start.

"Stop that."

I raised my head and met Alfie's eyes. He looked down and shook his head, any trace of amusement gone from his face. When he returned his eyes on me, his expression was grim.

"I know what's running in that fugly head of yours, Oz. You seem to be forgetting one tiny detail; Connie's part of the football team. Everybody knows she's like a fucking honorary member. More than that, she's one of us."

I stayed quiet, while I watched Alfie laugh humorlessly.

"Besides, you really think we could force her to do something she didn't want to? Even she knows it." With a solemn face, he added, "Don't exclude her. This is her fight, too."

I stared back at him, neither of us breaking eye contact. I was trying to figure him out. I could tell from his green eyes that he was serious, but then his face was as expressionless as Kristen Stewart. For the first time in the years that I've known him, I couldn't read his mind.

Kurt and Frisco clapped.

"Dayum!" laughed Kurt, slapping Alfie on the back. "That's the longest speech I've ever heard from you, man. Bra-fucking-vo!"

As if that broke the spell, Alfie suddenly grinned at the big guy.

"Why, thank you," drawled my unpredictable best friend, bowing his head a bit. "First of all, I'd like to thank God for blessing me with such a skillful tongue – that not only slays in speeches, but slays in other ways, too. Hashtag wink."

They laughed. I had to admit, even a chuckle escaped my lips.

"You're gonna tell the plan to Connie, then?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Pft, no," he scoffed, like it was the most ridiculous thing ever. "I'm no cockblocker. Besides," he paused to smile crookedly at us, then added, "we got this."

Right. Typical Alfie response.


_____________

Who here loves Alfie? Raise your pinky!

Tomorrow, I shall upload part 2. ;)


You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net