Don't Believe Everything You Hear

"Selena, what was the math homework?" Jonathan asked me.

"Lesson 6.7, numbers fifteen to forty seven odds," I told him.

"Really? That'll take forever" he whined.

"Sorry, it's not that bad though, most of it was review," I told him.

"Okay, and that Austin guy was here," Jonathan said. "He looks impati- OW!' he said. "What was that for?" he said. I looked at him oddly.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"Austin just kicked me!" he whined and walked away, leaving Austin to walk into the room.

"Good job Austin, you made Jonathan cry!" I yelled loudly so he could hear me.

"Shut up!" he yelled back at me. I laughed a bit.

"So what did you need?" I asked Austin. "I'm pretty sure we don't have projects to work on," I said.

"I left my binder here the other day, and I just noticed yesterday," he said, smiling sheepishly.

"So you didn't notice over the weekend, or- you know what, okay. Let's see, where was that thing?" I asked myself. "Give me a second," I told him.

"It's no problem, I'm not in much of a hurry," he smiled at me. It's so different then how he acts at school, it's strange. I thought for a second before blurting out with my question.

"Austin, what's your problem?" I asked him.

"What do you mean, what's my problem?" he asked.

"Why are you always so bitter?" I asked.

"Do I seem bitter?" he asked in a sweet voice.

"Not here, you're nice here. And if you were always like this, then I think we could be good friends, but you're never like this out of here," I told him. I felt bad for giving him this, but still, I just wanted to know what was up with him.

"Like I told you before, it's complicated," he sighed.

"What's so complicated about it?" I asked.

"Can I just have my binder?" he asked, sounding like he was getting annoyed now. He probably was too.

"Tell me, then you can have your binder," I told him.

"Why won't you just give up?" he asked.

"Because, you're a nice guy when you want to be, and I feel the need to figure this out," I said to him, putting my head down a little bit.

"Fine!" he yelled, "Honestly, one day of having to hang out with you and I haven't stopped hearing about it from my friends, I'm just tired of it," he sighed.

"So you're bitter at school because you don't want to be seen with me?" I asked, sighing a little bit.

"It's not that," he said, "Ugh, I just don't like getting bothered for it!" he yelled.

"Okay, so you don't talk to me in public because you don't want crap from your friends," I said, making sure I caught it all.

"I guess you could say that, yeah," he sighed.

"If your friends give you problems for talking to a person, then just give them problems right back," I said.

"It's not that easy," he said. "I've known these people for years, I can't just give that up for one person who has been here for a couple weeks," he yelled.

"Whoa, inside voices," I said to him. I didn't like it when people yelled really. It made me feel uncomfortable and like I did something terrible.

"Geeze, it just-it doesn't work like that," he sighed. "If I could find a way to keep my friends and be your friend in public, I would, but that doesn't seem like an option right now," he said annoyed. I handed him his binder.

"So your friends hate me, and they've never talked to me, you can't just tell them that they should get to know me?" I asked.

"Again, it just doesn't work like that," he said.

"Okay, well whatever works for you," I sighed.