The Love of My Bully

Could he walk away without hurting her?

Every single time, he’d done something to hurt her. What would he do now?

She waited for him. The tension in the hallway grew. She felt sick to her stomach.

The decision was taken out of his hands as three teachers rushed toward them. Like all the other times, it was right after the problems had been done. The damage was already there for everyone to see.

Sean was a bloody mess. Drake stepped back, his fist lowering. She turned toward Sean and tried to help him up. He pushed her away and she stumbled back.

“What is going on? Our first day back, and already a fight.”

“It was nothing,” Drake said. “Or was it, Sean?”

Pru looked at Drake then back at Sean, who glared at Drake. Her heart pounded and she had never felt so afraid in her life. This was the worst kind of feeling in the world.

“It was nothing,” Sean finally said after a couple of minutes passed.

“If it was nothing, then why are you bleeding?” Mr. Wheeze said. He taught English and she knew from experience that he wasn’t the best kind of teacher. He liked to pretend to be everyone’s best friend. She didn’t find him the best person to be around and there were far better teachers at the school.

“I fell into the locker. Honestly, it’s nothing.”

“Sean!” Mr. Wheeze didn’t look happy.

“I’ll get him to the nurse,” she said, putting a hand on his chest and hoping that would do the trick.

“I don’t like lies and I know something was going on here,” Mr. Wheeze said.

With no one willing to stand up and say what was going on, there was nothing anyone could do.

“What about you, Prudence?” Mr. Wheeze finally looked toward her.

“Me?”

“Yeah, what did you see?”

The sickness had come in full force now. Licking her dry lips, she glanced at Drake before looking at Sean. Every other time, she wouldn’t think twice about speaking out against Drake. This was different. Sean went after Drake. He’d wanted to start a fight.

She didn’t know why and didn’t know where this new best friend had made an appearance. They hadn’t spent all that much time together in the summer. Had she missed so much?

“I didn’t see anything.”

****

The first day of school could have gone a million times better as far as Drake was concerned. He never wanted to hurt Sean, especially not after getting his goodbye kiss from Pru. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her and all he’d ended up doing was just that. He couldn’t win.

He didn’t know what the fuck to do anymore.

School, this relationship, it wasn’t supposed to be this hard, and yet, it felt so far from what he’d ever wanted to do. By the end of the day, he was pleased to see the back of school, and he wanted no part in it, no part at all.

Ignoring his friends, he climbed into his car and took off, driving out of town. He knew he had to see his girl, but before he did, he really needed to get control of himself.

This thing with Pru was turning into a nightmare, not one he wanted any part of, either. When had his life gotten so fucking complicated? He drove out to the middle of nowhere just so he could think. With his parents back in town, he wasn’t going to get much time away from them. They were going to want him to play the doting role of a loving son, of course, and he’d try to fake through it.

Climbing out of his car, he looked out at the view. Nothing really caught his attention. There was a light breeze, which was nice for the time of year. He could get used to the weather like this.

You’ve got to get back in the car and go and talk to Pru.

He didn’t move.

Maybe ignoring her was for the best? He hated second-guessing himself. There was nothing worse. There was no way he could stay and wait this out. He had to go back and talk to her, at least clear the air between them. Their first day of school and already he’d fucked up. Seeing Sean touch her had pissed him off more than he realized. Sure, Pru thought she was friends with Sean, but Drake wasn’t an idiot. He saw what the guy was all about, and he despised him for it.

Giving up on his little tantrum, he rushed to his car and climbed inside. After starting up the engine, he took off, going toward Pru’s house. With any luck, Sean wouldn’t be around, trying to make her feel sorry for him.

Damn it.

Why did he have to let the little prick win? Why couldn’t he have just walked away? It wasn’t exactly hard to do.

Parking his car twenty minutes from her place, he clicked the button, locking it, and made his way toward her house. This secrecy shit was getting old, really fast, and he didn’t know how much more he could take. The moment he got to Pru’s house, he was happy to see there was no one home. That was what he wanted.