A Twist in this Story pt. 3
Bryant
Bryant was really more of a morning person. He got up with ease, and jumped into the shower without the urge to take five more minutes of sleep. Brushing his teeth was a cinch, and surprisingly, doing his hair was fast and easy to. He laughed at the thought of Derek and Mitchell, probably in the bathroom taking hours on a single strand of hair. Bryant only had to take two minutes to brush it out and spike it up. Unlike Derek and Mitchell, Bryant had a lot more going for him besides his spiked hair and a tone body.
Bryant yelled goodbye to his dad, and stepped out onto his porch. He sat on the bench and waited for the arrival of the bus. Well, more like dreaded. The one part of the morning that was worse than getting up, was getting on the bus. Because once he got on the bus, school began. And for him, school… well to put it generally… sucked. Not because of Derek and Mitchell, though they were a big part of it, but because of the expectations placed upon him. He was supposed to be the representation of the school. The leader of the campus, the one everyone adored who couldn’t make a single mistake, the football captain, the “quarterback.”
Huh, Quarterback. Aspen had called him that multiple times. And honestly, anyone who classified him as a “quarterback” bothered him more than ever. But he would rather have heard her call him quarterback a million times more rather than being without her. He thought of where she could be. How he could find her.
He didn’t want to come across as a stalker or a creeper, but he knew that he needed to see her and remind her that he existed. Honestly he felt like that wouldn’t be a problem, since he had kissed her the first time they had met.
He didn’t want to creep her out, but now he understood why some couples would never leave each other’s sides. Because they don’t want to leave them. They enjoy every second of each other’s company. Unlike the football players he knew and their cheerleaders, couples who actually had feelings for each other actually proved it through their actions towards each other.
And he knew now that how he felt was true with Aspen. He just had to hope that she felt the same way towards him.
There was a loud screech and a repetitive honk and Bryant shot up out of his seat on the bench. In front of him was the bus, with its tinted windows and black writing. It’s large mechanical doors sucked you in and wouldn’t release you until they wanted to. And that was the thing all kids dreaded. When the doors opened and shoved you out just before homeroom was about to begin.
Of course, Bryant didn’t mind homeroom that much anymore.
He dragged his feet onto the bus, and immediately a paper airplane hit him in the face. “Hey football jerk! What’s your damage?” Ricky, a freshman skater, laughed loudly in his seat at the back of the bus. But it wasn’t his laugh that was funny; it was the fact that absolutely no one was laughing with him.
Bryant was used to the ‘bad boy’ bothering him. He had been getting airplanes thrown in his face all year. He just didn’t know what was the matter with Ricky. Maybe he just wanted to “stand up to society” or something. Maybe he just had a thing against football players, like Aspen obviously did. At least she didn’t make airplanes out of old math worksheets and fling them in people’s faces. Man that would’ve been weird.
He sat down in the front and slouched in his seat. Another day, another lecture. But also, another chance with Aspen. All he was hoping for was to find her under that tree. Then, thousands of possibilities would open up. And he might actually be able to reach her. Somehow, he had to.
Little did he know, she wouldn’t be there.
~ ~
Aspen
Aspen spent the entire night in the treehouse, cuddled under the dirt-stained quilts and dusty blankets. And when morning came she hadn’t even bothered to look at the time. Because either she would find out that she missed school, or that she could still make it. And if she could still make it, well she would probably feel guilty if she skipped. This way, she didn’t have to feel guilty, because for all she knew school could have started three hours ago. Besides, there was something she had to do. And it was to get all of her stuff, and leave her house forever.
She sat up to check her shoulders and back, and immediately the pain came back. The blood had dried, but it was obvious that it needed medical attention. Good thing she had been in these situations before.
But this situation was different than all the ones she had been in before. She had actually ran away from it. Like a coward. And instead of protecting herself and going for help, she secluded herself in her memories of her father and cried the night through. To her, it was pathetic. She shouldn’t need help defending herself from her mom. She should’ve known better. In her opinion, she didn’t need help. She would learn and make sure it wouldn’t happen again.
She yanked open the wooden hatch and the light slapped her in the face, blinding her until her eyes adjusted. She climbed down the ladder and clumsily landed on her feet, catching the side of the tree to regain her balance. She hated feeling so weak. And the fact that she couldn’t sustain on her own bothered her even more.
She knew she had to go back home. I mean, it wasn’t that big of a deal… right? Just extend the distance from her and amy... and never tick her off. Rebel silently, and secretly send the transfer papers. Perfect. What was the worst that could happen?
~~
Bryant
It had been two days. Two days since Aspen had been at school. And it was slowly squeezing Bryant to a pulp. Every second of lunch he was thinking of where she was. It was the weirdest thing, like she was stuck at the back of his head during every class period, every part of the day. And the weirdest part? He loved the feeling more than anything. But the feeling of her not being at school, was more worrying rather than loving.
Maybe what he was doing was a mistake. Maybe he was becoming too obsessed. His grades had started to falter, and his football skills had been reduced to autopilot motion. All he could think about was her.
He meandered down the halls, past the corners and towards his locker.
“Hey, Mccain! Get your ass over here!” His ears screamed as the laughing echoed through the halls. He could hear the steps approaching coming closer until he could hear them against the hard floor.
He laughed uneasily and swerved around to face them, “Hey guys…” He ran his hand through his hair as he occasionally did and leaned against his locker.
“You know, the football corner isn’t much of a football corner if the Quarterback and captain ditches.” Mitchell snickered as Derek stepped up to confront the quarterback. “You’d much rather hang out by your locker at lunch, huh?”
Even though Bryant was taller than him, Derek’s presence just made Bryant ‘s stomach churn. Not due to the trouble it would cause him, but the trouble Derek could cause in general. Sure he had always been that way, but Bryant just assumed he would grow out of it after the 6th grade. Guess he was wrong.
“Sorry guys, just grabbing some books for next period.”
Derek rolled his eyes, “You don’t need textbooks or a good GPA to play football, Mccain.”
Bryant’s inhaled, filled his lungs with air, and held it, “What do you know about a good GPA Derek?” He nodded towards Mitchell, as if his own stupidity wasn’t enough.
He laughed again, this time uneasily, “Well what do you know about keeping a decent reputation?”
Bryant shot him a look, “What do you mean?” Bryant must have been the least egotistical football jock on campus. Or maybe Derek was the most.
“Davids told me what you did, Mccain. Now ditching a game of throw for a girl would be fine if she wasn’t new, and she wasn’t… her. If you learn anything this year… “ He jabbed his pointing finger hard against his chest, “At least try to land a decent cheerleader.”
He started to walk off, and Bryant could feel a fire burning in his stomach. The shots had been fired, the fire had been lit. His soft side had cowered into the lockers, and his values had been dominated by the pure emotion set ablaze in his chest, “Hey!”
Derek turned on his heel, sight at the corner of his eyes, his expression full of fear but then converted to a smirk at the last second.
“At least I have a decent place on the field.”
Bryant didn’t even understand how he could have let those words come out of his mouth. It was the worst thing to do to make enemies with players on the field. Plus, why would he say that to anyone in general? What was bothering him so much that it had the power to turn off his filter? He was usually so focused. Arguing with Derek wasn’t something to be focused on.
However, Derek seemed to find his place. He exhaled, almost as if exasperated. He took one hard look, and although it didn’t seem like Derek to back down so fast, he turned back around, “ Once you’re done with your locker, football corner…” His voice seemed to shake, hiding his anxiety with a sheet of confidence.
“Like always.” Bryant nodded.
~~
Aspen
Walking in the door was the worst part. It would have been seeing her mom, but to her luck she wasn’t there at all.
Now Aspen had shut her bedroom door at least twenty times in the past couple days and she still hasn’t turned up. She had even tried slamming it, and waiting for a scream of annoyance. And to her surprise, nothing.
She knew it was stupid to skip school. But the gash had to at least look like a minor injury to pass the possibility of being sent straight to the nurse's office. Not even a football player could have had such a gash.
Bryant Mccain probably hasn’t had one of these either.
Why was she thinking of him so much? After the incident had happened and she had enclosed herself away from everyone, Bryant seemed like the only one she could talk to. Maybe she even wanted to talk to him.
Quickly Aspen stopped herself from overthinking it. She had gotten pretty good at that lately.
It was time to even out her odds and think of the things she couldn’t avoid, and the things she had to avoid.The things she wanted to avoid, and the things she didn’t want to avoid…
Either way she would have to go to school, or else Boston would be a dream. But in her condition, she needed a day to recover. So, one more day to heal, catch up on sleep,and take advantage of a first aid kit, and she would go back.
One day passed like a minute. She slept through most of it, after applying whatever ointment she could find onto her shoulder and back and patching it up with the largest bandaids she could find along with some toilet paper and scotch tape. Just the normal drill for her. That’s one drill she never wanted to memorize. In fact, that’s one drill NO ONE wants to memorize.
~
On day three, she stepped back outside.
Aspen learned something that day. It takes 147 steps for her to walk from her house to her school. And it takes 103 to run from her school to her house. Which means running is always faster than walking. Always.
~
Avoiding attention was going to be difficult. She knew that from the start. She had already thought of where to sit at lunch to avoid attention, also where to walk. It seemed like she knew everything she needed to know accept the information for the midterms. But that wouldn’t be hard to catch up on, right?
There was always the Quarterback, though. That one stupid decision of giving in to her emotions might have caught her a follower. But still, she had already planned out so much.. and it’s not like he could change her values or her plan… Right?
“I guess I could deal with talking to him… just for one more day.” She thought to herself as she made her way across her dew drenched lawn. Then, after a long walk, she stepped back onto campus grounds, ready to become invisible. Of course, Bryant wouldn’t let that happen.