Take a Sad Song and Make It Better

“No, you seriously don't understand!” I nearly shouted the words in Alex's face, my anger bubbling to the surface. Alex scoffed and shook his head, arms crossed over his chest.

“I swear to God, you are the dumbest person on the face of the Earth.” He said, glaring at me and still shaking his head. “Why are we friends again?”

I rolled my eyes, “Why can't you just admit I'm right, you bastard!”

“Because you're not!” Alex yelled, throwing his arms into the arm, “Fall Out Boy is so not better than Blink-182!”

“Oh God, not this again.” Kara groaned, walking towards us with Rian attached to her hand, a smile on both their faces.

“You guys have been going at this since this morning.” Rian sighed, “When are you going to give this up?”

“When she realizes that I'm right and she's wrong!” Alex replied, “Blink can so kick Fall Out Girl's butt any day.”

I rolled my eyes, “But Patrick Stump has a better voice, he's better looking and Pete writes better lyrics...and he's also better looking.”

“Okay, we're going to stop this conversation right now before we are all late for-” The bell rang, interrupting Kara's sentence, “-class.” The brunette sighed, looking over at Alex, who was playfully glaring at the side of my head. “Come on, Lex. We better start walking before Mr. Jennings throws another hissy fit at us for being late,” She rolled her eyes at Alex, who smirked back at her, “again.”

We all began walking, smiles filling our faces and laughter filling the air around us. At school, the period I had Chemistry with Rian, Kara and Alex had English together, so we made it so that we could walk to class together. That way, Alex and I could talk, while Kara and Rian got to hold hands for a few more seconds. Really, I loved Rian's relationship with Kara; they were that sickeningly cute couple that made you want to barf adorableness. If Zack got the balls to ask her, I knew he and Bailey could be that couple as well.

“So, you gonna grow a pair today and meet me at the field during last period?” Alex asked, nudging me with his shoulder. I laughed and nudged him back.

“Yup, and my pair will be bigger than yours could ever dream of being.” Alex made an over exaggerated gasp, clutching his hand to his heart, causing me to burst out laughing.

“How dare you! You know I have a tiny, crooked blue penis!” His loud voice caused many students to turn in our direction, confused looks on their faces. “What are you motherfuckers looking at?! As you were!” Most of the onlookers turned back around. Really, the whole ordeal was quite hilarious.

“Shit. We're here.” I groaned, looking over at the chemistry lab door. I heard Rian groan from behind me as, he too, saw the closed door. “I freaking hate this class.” I mumbled under my breath, causing Alex to chuckle softly.

“Then skip with me. I fuckin' hate English, so let's go!” I giggled softly and shook my head.

“Sorry, I need this grade.” Alex nodded and pulled me into his chest for a hug. Peering over his shoulder I saw Rian and Kara exchange a sweet kiss before they parted ways. But that's not what really caught my eye.

Turning around the corner was a blond and a red head, their eyes immediately on me and boring into my face, as if they thought they could burn a hole in my head. The red head beckoned me with her finger, the blond nodding her head in agreement. I sighed and pulled away from Alex, his face covered in confusion.

“What's wrong, Jay Bird? You look stressed?” Alex asked, looking between my eyes. He knew me so well, it was almost scary. I looked away before he could find the answer he was looking for.

Maybe it's because there are two bimbos standing behind you that are going to kill me for being your friend, “Um, I just hate chemistry is all,” He didn't buy it. “You better get to class.” Alex nodded and gave me one final hug before running to catch up with Kara. The second he was gone, the bimbos stepped in.

“Hey, Bates.” The blond sneered, looking me up and down in disgust. I rolled my eyes; I seriously wasn't in the mood for their antics.

“What do you want?” I asked exasperatedly; I just wanted to get this over with.

“I thought we told you to back off Alex?” The red head glared at me with such fierceness, you'd think that Alex was her boyfriend.

I shrugged and looked around the empty hallway “Yeah, you did,” I answered nonchalantly, “But I'm not going to.”

The blond and red head began walking forward, causing me to back up to maintain the distance we had between us. When my back hit the cool metal of the lockers, the space decreased and I was met with their makeup coated faces.

“We gave you a warning, Bates. Maybe this one you won't forget so easily.” Before I could react, the red head had planted a fist in the center of my face, catching me off guard and slamming the back of my head into the lockers behind me. I crumbled to the ground, my hand instinctively going towards my lip. When I retracted it, I saw the small drop of red liquid collecting on my forefinger and middle finger. My first reaction was to jump to my feet and pull back my fist.

“I wouldn't do that if I were you.” The blond sneered, a perfectly malicious smile on her face. I pulled back my hand and looked at her, my glare in play. I had put up enough of their bull shit for one period.

“And why the fuck shouldn't I?” I spat, looking between the two, twin evil grins on their faces.

“Because if you do, we can tell Lisa, who, in return, will tell Alex. Do you want Alex to know that you've been threatening us?” I widened my eyes in shock. These girls knew how to play. They were evil, but they at least weren't as dumb as I expected them to be. “We can make your life here miserable, Bates. Don't make it come to that.”

With that, the two walked away, arm in arm, as I stood against the cold lockers, my lip bleeding down my chin.

I hadn't expected to be threatened in my life time. I never thought I would have been the girl to be beaten up in school, let alone for someone that I had met the previous month. Was I a wimp? Should I take their words into consideration? Was Alex even worth all this?

Yes. He was.

He was the only one that knew my whole story and actually could relate to it. He had let me cry on his chest and had been the only one that I could open up to. He was a true friend, and no amount of pummeling and threats could change that.

And he was also never going to find out about this.

I wiped the blood flowing from my lip with the back of my hand and walking into the classroom, taking my seat next to Rian at the lab table.

“Jesus, Jay. Where were-” I continued looking straight forward as Rian finally turned to face me. I could feel his eyes widen as he looked at my bleeding lip. Fuck, that red head sure packed a punch, and to top it off, she had a ring on her hand which had probably been the cause of my now bleeding lip. “What the fuck happened to you?” Rian whispered, grabbing my chin in his hand and turning my face so he could get a good look at my lip. I pushed his hand away and picked up my pen from off the lab table, beginning to write the notes from off the board.

“Nothing, okay? Just drop it.” I whispered back, trying to concentrate on writing, but it was seemingly difficult with Rian's eyes boring into my face.

“Bullshit,” I turned to face Rian, his gaze meeting mine. “Come on, Jay. I know this isn't nothing. It can't be. I mean, you're fucking bleeding.” I wiped my lip again with the back of my hand. Sure enough, my lip was still bleeding profusely. “What happened?”

I sighed and began telling Rian the story, starting with the party where the bimbos had first threatened me, to what had happened out in the hall a mere few minutes before. When I finished, Rian's eyes were sufficiently bigger.

“Do you think that...maybe Lisa could be doing this?” I asked, looking down at my paper. The thought had just occurred to me; maybe Lisa really didn't like me.

“No. Lisa's a sweetheart and if she really didn't like you, she wouldn't be acting so nice around you. Trust me. Lisa is a sweetheart to every she likes, but she can be a real bitch to those she hates.” I looked over at Rian as he doodled into his notebook. “And plus, she told me she likes you and wants to be friends.” I smiled up at him as Rian smirked, doodling a picture of a cow into the corner of his page.

“Should I tell Alex?” I whispered. Rian stopped his drawing and looked over at me.

There was a pause before he answered, “I think you should do whatever you want to do.” I nodded and drew a flower next to the cow he had begun drawing again. We both laughed softly under our breath, continuing our conversation.

“You know, Alex wasn't completely happy after...” Rian trailed off, but I had picked up what he was trying to say.

“After his brother's suicide?” I suggested, causing Rian to look up at me in surprise.

“He told you that?” I nodded, “Wow, he must really trust you. He doesn't like to talk about
that, like, ever.” Rian whispered, starting in on another doodle.

“I guess. I mean, I tell him stuff too, so it's not like he just blurts out shit.” Rian chuckled and nodded.

“True. But I mean, Alex wasn't really, himself after all of that shit. He tried to be the same guy he was before, but it kinda, took his toll on him, ya know? It was super difficult for everyone, don't get me wrong, but definitely for Alex,” I nodded and started on drawing squiggly lines in the margin of my notebook paper, “When you and Bailey came along, Alex, he became more like the guy we used to know.” I smiled up at Rian, his piano teeth flashing down at me.

“Thanks, Ri. It means a lot to know that I can bring back you're bestest buddy!” I exclaimed, wrapping my arms around him in an exaggerated way. Rian chuckled into my shoulder, but returned the hug nonetheless.

When we broke apart, Rian kept the smile on his face, “So, I was definitely the first friend you made at Dulaney, but we never talk. What's up with that?!” Rian exclaimed, throwing his pen at me.

“I don't know, buddy. Do you want to hear my life story?” I sarcastically responded.

Rian shrugged, “Not really. But a good summary of what has happened since you've gotten here would be much appreciated.” I laughed and Rian and I dove into a full fledged conversation.

I sauntered outside and towards the field, gripping the strap of my backpack on my shoulder. Alex was already waiting for me, that much I knew. I had been dreading seeing him since chemistry a couple of periods previous. He hadn't seen the damage my lip had taken and I had actually considered going to math class, just to avoid the conversation I knew would be occurring in merely a few seconds.

But I had sucked it up, this conversation would have to happen at some point. I couldn't hide it forever.

As my feet hit the soft plush grass, a contrast to the hard cement I had been treading on before, I fought with myself whether or not to tell Alex about what had happened at the party and before chemistry. How would he react? I didn't want to cause drama with him and most likely his girlfriend and her friends, but I didn't want to lie to him. Why was life so hard?

“Hey, Jay Bird! I beat you, pay up. My dollar-” Alex stopped abruptly as I dropped my backpack to the ground next to my feet. “What the fuck happened to your lip?” He exclaimed, jumping to his feet and cradling my face in his hands, his eyes inspecting my split lip. The bleeding had finally stopped, but the questions on how I had received it had not. So far, no one other than Rian knew the story. I planned on keeping it that way.

“I, uh, ran into one of those,uh, goth kids and my lip hit his jacket, tore it, and gushed blood. Pretty fucking gross if you ask me.” I lied straight through my teeth. Alex looked deep into my eyes and I was determined not to look away. If I did, he would realize that I was lying.

Either he had believed my lie or understood enough to realize I didn't want to talk about it, because, the next thing I knew, he was laughing, “You would do something like that, Jay Bird.” I smiled, making sure not to grin. I had learned the hard way in history class when my lips split again and blood came gushing out. It hurt pretty fucking bad.

“Yeah, I would.” I chuckled weakly. A feeling of immense guilt rushed over me. I told Alex everything. Why couldn't I tell him this?

I was, most definitely, a wimp.