Chapter 11- Adolescence and hormones

"Do you think this is funny?"

I realized I was fuming at the idiots ahead of me, so my question came out sounding more like a death threat.

One of the imbeciles chuckled, "Oh, come on. We're only having some fun here. No need to be so stiff, girl."

"Is your idea of having fun making another person suffer?"

One of them was about to say something before I interrupted him, "Wow, congratulations. Really, you should just open an amusement park and invite everyone here."

The other idiot opened his mouth and started saying something, but I made sure my voice stood over his as I continued;

"I could make the flyers if you want. It could say: 'Want to have a good time with your stupid brainless friends? Well, it's your lucky day, then! Come on in and have some fun bringing good-hearted people down and stepping on their feelings!" I probably looked like a mad woman, widely gesticulating my arms and making faces, but it wasn't that important at the time.

"Yeah, okay. You're being such a drama-qu-"

"Only today, with a 75% discount on the second ticket! We don't really care about the money, anyway. We are just plain mean!"

I finished, interrupting one of them once again.

"Okay", He let out a humorless laugh,"Listen here, you little bi-"

"Woah there, dude." Suddenly, Collin appeared out of nowhere, interrupting what the guy was about to say. I must have missed him approaching the table because of my almost blinding rage.

"Oh, hey Collin." The same bald-faced idiot who was about to give me some nice compliments greeted, "How you doing, man?"

"How am I doing what?" He replied with a serious expression.

"Um, you know... How is it going?"

"How is what going?"

I had to stop myself from snorting.

Even though the previous situation we were in was extremely unacceptable and wrong, I couldn't help but laugh right now at his antics and how he was clearly making fun of the two meatheads, who just looked at him confounded.

He then turned to me, still holding that blank expression, "Hey, you."

"Um, hi."

"Want to tell me what's going on here?"

I thought about it, but didn't know how to say it without making it awkward for Charlie.

Before I could even begin to form a decent sentence, another guy came to us.

"Yo, Zack, James!" He greeted, before doing a men's handshake with each. Collin's presence was acknowledged as well, with a 'Hey, man. What's up?' but the aforesaid didn't choose to answer him. "Fatty!" He put both hands on Charlie's shoulder from behind him. "I almost didn't see you there. But how could I? You don't exactly blend in with a crowd, do you?" He snickered, and the other two laughed along.

I opened my mouth to contest but wasn't allowed to as he continued, "You know what? I forgot to tell you. The bakery called asking for you, they want they rolls back." He finished, tapping Charlie's stomach and burst out laughing.

"My God, isn't that hilarious? You know who actually called, though?" I wish I had been the one who had said that, but I hadn't. "The zoo. They've been looking for their missing baboon for weeks now. Let me just give them a quick call to let them know I found him right here." Collin finished, looking directly at the third of them before pulling out his phone.

The lad looked offended, to say the least. Almost as if he was betrayed. His face turned red and his eyes narrowed slightly, before he glanced at the people around our table after hearing their laughter.

"Whatever, man. C'mon, let's go." He finally said, pulling his friends along and walking away, heading towards the cafeteria's door.

"Dude, that was sick." Joey commented chuckling and Collin just shot him a stiff look.

"I'll get going now. See you later, Carson." He nodded at me.

"Mhm." Was all I managed to spit out.

The mood turned solemn after that. Everyone fell silent and so I decided to pull Charlie along with me to our next class, which was one of the few we had together.

He still looked despondent and even dejected. I didn't know what to do to cheer him up, so as we walked I just tried to tell him not to listen to what anyone says, and to have in mind that he's an amazing person with a huge, kind heart. That seemed to relieve him a bit, and I was glad for it.

We entered our class and I sat next to him, occasionally shooting smiles whenever the teacher wasn't looking. He managed to smile back everytime, making me both proud and happy.

The rest of the day went by quickly and, before I left school, I took the first opportunity to thank Collin for what he had done earlier, to which he responded with a smile and a 'no problem, love'.

I walked home with Charlie and Kathy, the walk being extremely silent as all three of us were naturally quiet people. Save from a few comments about homework and things like that.

We used to walk together before, all of us girls and it was a little more exciting. But I guess getting a boyfriend means taking occasional rides home, even if that meant ditching your friends sometimes.

Not that I'm complaining or anything.

Kathy got to her house first and we said our goodbyes. About seven minutes later, with me trying to do some small talk with Charlie, we got to my place. I waved him goodbye as well, frowning when I saw the look of something not good on his face. It looked like he was still in pain.

Still, he waved at me with a small smile and I turned around, walking towards my front door. Then I decided it wasn't okay to leave him like that and turned back quickly, surprising him by squishing him with one of my hugs.

"See you tomorrow, okay? Just talk to me if you need anything." I assured him, my voice sounding muffled through the hug.

He simply nodded in response and when I backed away, I was more than delighted to see a smile on his flushed face.

I finally went inside, shouting him a final goodbye.

Then started the usual getting home ritual. Mom asking me how was school, if I had any homework and all of that.

After washing my hands and grabbing an apple from the fridge, I went upstairs to get changed and already heard mom calling me to help her with something from work. And so I went to her rescue, as I always did.

In the evening, I was already exhausted from all the chores I had done and went to take my nice and hot shower.

A warm shower is one of the blessings in life. I thought, feeling the hot water come in contact with my head and down to my back.

That should be a famous quote one day.

A good 40 minutes later, I got dressed in my pajamas, ate another apple, flossed and brushed my teeth, said goodnight to my parents and got in my room to not come out until tomorrow.

Finally. I sighed, lying down. 12:37 A.M.

Shutting my phone off, I placed it on my bedside table and closed my eyes.

That's the time when my thoughts flow freely on the sea of mess that is my brain. Flashes of Charlie's face appeared to me, and I felt a small pang remembering the agonizing and desperate look it exhibited, making me wish I could have helped him more.

Then my mind drifted to Avery and how she has been spending too much time with Joey and not giving me much attention. I quickly tried telling myself not to be such a jealous and petty best friend.

Shame on you, Donny. Can't you just be happy for your friend? Her happiness doesn't revolve around you.

Yeah, I know.

Then, for some unknown reason, my lovely little brain decided it would be a brilliant idea to start thinking about Collin Benson and how cute he looked today, especially when he acted so supportively towards Charlie.

His jaw is really sharp.

Oh, shut up. Go to sleep.

Ugh. I rolled my eyes at myself.

Yay adolescence and hormones.