Friends With Benefits

Even though school was the absolute last place I wanted to be Thursday, my mother still insisted on waking me up, force-feeding me breakfast and making sure I was there on time. She said I had enough of a vacation the day before and needed to perk up, face my demons, and try to work through all of my emotions. I wasn’t happy, but when Eric’s car pulled up in front of our house, I knew there wasn’t going to be anything I could do to stay home. Between my mother and Sara, I was going to school that day whether I liked it or not.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to endure another painful ride in the backseat with Chuck that morning since he was currently in the dermatologists office getting a mole removed. For months now, Chuck had been bragging about the mole on his wrist that was slightly shaped like the state of Texas. He showed it off to everyone, as if it was something that belonged on “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.” Of course, Chuck’s obsession with his mole had quickly calmed a few weeks before when it developed two painfully ingrown hairs and then turned a slight shade of purpley-black. Though it was unlikely that Chuck, whose skin was a pasty egg-shell white hue all over, had skin cancer, his parents and dermatologist agreed to remove and test the mole just the same. The rest of us could only hope the removal process didn’t leave a Texas-shaped scar on Chuck’s wrist because, if it did, he would never shut up about that either.

It was a slow, awkward ride to school. Not being in the best of moods, I hadn’t put too much thought into my appearance. I was wearing old sneakers, a pair of ratty jeans, one of Matt’s college hoodies and underneath, a shirt Fletch had let me borrow one time when we had gone swimming and I forgot to bring a cover-up. The shirt smelled like him and I had put it on the previous night before I went to bed. I knew Sara was a little concerned when she caught me sneaking my head down under the hoodie to smell the traces of Fletch’s musk still clinging to the fibers of the shirt. I had also kept on the cheap braided bracelet he had won for me at our only real “date” to the arcade as well as kept the pirate bandana close at all times. They felt like my last connection with him in some ways, even though I had built a semi-shrine to our relationship in my room the night before.

I had filled my poster board with pictures of the two of us and had played all of the CDs he had bought me over the years constantly. I even found a rather violent horror movie he had bought me as a joke gift for Christmas one year and looked like a maniac as I cried blubbering tears through all the scenes of dumb teenagers getting mutilated by a masked serial killer. I nearly broke down the previous afternoon in the grocery store several times and felt my eyes go watery when Eric’s car drove past it on our way to school. It was getting to the point I doubted I would ever be able to set foot in the grocery store again, especially after what had happened when my mother and I stopped off there for my break-up foods the day before.

Initially, I refused to go in because Fletch worked there, even though he definitely wasn’t there during school hours. I had to hold my tears when we passed by the shrimp display because it was Fletch’s favorite seafood. I nearly lost it when we passed his favorite brands of cereal and again when we passed the Rocky Road ice cream in the freezer section. My mother thought I was insane when I started tearing up near the store’s selection of green beans. The worst, however, was when we came to the display of the brand of chips Fletch had basically stolen for me.

Throughout the car ride, Sara tried to be sweet and encouraging to me, while never straightforwardly broaching the topic of Fletch and how things between the two of us should be fixed or just gotten over. Eric didn’t say a word for fear of upsetting me more and undoing what little progress Sara had made with me. It seemed that Eric’s role in my recovery was allowing me rides to school and turning the radio on to happy upbeat songs as if listening to them would suddenly cure my depression. I ignored both of them for most of the ride, preferring to get what whiff’s of Fletch I could from his old shirt or twisting my bracelet around my wrist absent-mindedly.

When we finally arrived at school, I was no less ready to take on the day than I had been when my mother had forced me out of bed that morning. Fletch was in all of my classes but my first period with Sara. Monday and Tuesday, my friends and I had tried to talk with him in whatever classes we shared with him, but after the blow out Wednesday, it became apparent negotiating with Fletch wasn’t going to improve things. I knew I couldn’t very well ignore him in class and it would be gut-wrenchingly painful for me to sit across from him the whole day knowing he hated me. I had only a week where Fletch and I were a recognized couple at school, but as brief as that time period was, I found myself experiencing symptoms akin to withdrawal now that was not able to exchange sly smiles, flirtatious glances, or playful antics with him.

Eric’s car pulled into the parking lot and the three of us got out of it, ready to head into the school building. I tried to keep my head down, still wallowing in my misery, though I could hear Eric and Sara whispering behind me. I knew they were probably talking about me and what to do about the fact that I was completely inconsolable, especially when I looked up slightly to see the worried looks on their faces. I sighed and tried to adjust my backpack to distract myself. When I looked up again, I found Eric and Sara had stopped in their tracks. I followed their gaze to find a large crowd of boys and a few girls gathered in a circle near the front entrance to the school.

It was obvious the guys were there to be macho and watch the fight while the girls there probably just wanted to impress whatever guy they were flocking around. Fights at our school weren’t terribly uncommon and we averaged about one small fight a week with about one major WWE worthy throw-down a month. Most likely, it was either some of our juvenile hall-bound classmates who spent more time in suspension than in class, though there were decent odds it could be a bunch of wanna-be white rapper-gansta type freshmen. I knew we would find out shortly what the whole thing was about as Luke Garretson approached, beaming from ear to ear.

“What’s going on?” Eric asked him curiously.

“Murphy’s getting his ass handed to him by Swain,” Luke shrugged.

“What? What happened?” Sara demanded to know. I had the same question but found myself unable to voice it.

“Well, they arrived at school at the same time and as soon as Murphy got out of his car, Will came over and started yelling at him about something…” Luke shrugged. “They screamed at each other for a good five minutes before Murphy launched his fist into Will’s nose a few times. After that, Will had him penned down on the ground and they started drawing a crowd…I honestly, I think Will’s got two-to-one odds to win. I mean, he’s got three years of football weight training on bean-pole Murphy…”

Before Luke could continue giving us the Vegas odds on who was going to win, I rushed off and pushed myself through the crowd, hoping to reason with or at least stop the two boys. I had a feeling the fight had to do with me and, even though I wasn’t pleased they were beating each other’s faces in, I had a slight hope getting out all of the aggression would allow things to go back to normal between the three of us. It was a lot easier than I thought to push through the crowd of chanting high school boys. What was hard was stomaching the sight before me when I finally caught sight of Will and Fletch wrestling around on the ground with each other.

I saw Will first since he was on top, penning Fletch to the ground with his legs. Will had a nose that was bleeding and looked broken, scratches on his face, and was repeatedly punching Fletch in the face. Fletch was on his back in the gravel, desperately trying to wriggle free from where Will’s knee was in his stomach, keeping him on the ground. Every once in a while, Fletch would manage to give Will a good kick to the shin or slug his chin, but Will obviously had the muscle and weight advantage. Fletch had a black eye, a busted nose, and there was blood steadily trickling out of his mouth and down his chin. Fletch’s glasses were off of his face, though there was an obvious indentation and a few glasses shaped scratches on his face where they should be. I didn’t have to look around to know they had probably been broken and discarded somewhere.

Before I could implore either one of them to stop, two of our school’s vice-principals and the SRO appeared. They pushed through the crowd and managed to grab hold of the two boys. Seeing authority figures – in particular Officer McFarland with his belt containing mace, a taser, and a gun – the crowd that had formed around the two boys instantly dissipated, leaving me behind to watch as they were restrained. Officer McFarland, who was much bulkier than our forty-something, balding vice principals, took hold of Will, who quit struggling once he realized he was in the arms of a police officer. Fletch, however, continued to writhe and struggle against the hold both vice-principal’s had on him, kicking Mr. Martino in the shin and nearly elbowing Mr. Gunner in the face. Even if they were physically assaulting each other anymore, Will and Fletch remained bitter, yelling at each other now they couldn’t throw punches.

“This is all your fault!” Fletch screamed at Will.

“If you could just listen to someone for longer than two seconds before hitting them in the face!” Will shot back.

“You deserved it!” Fletch shot back.

“You could have heard me out first,” Will snorted.

“I don’t need to hear any more of your bullshit!” Fletch screamed.

“I’m telling the truth! Ailee’s telling the truth! And you know exactly what you saw!” Will yelled at him.

“Yeah, I know what I saw,” Fletch spat at him. “I saw you breaking every promise you ever made to me!”

“You can be mad at me all you want, but don’t take it out on Ailee,” Will demanded. “She doesn’t deserve any of this!”

“You don’t have any right to talk to me about her!” Fletch screamed at him.

“He loves you, you idiot!” Will screamed at him.

“Fuck off!” Fletch screamed.

“Mr. Murphy!” Mr. Martino warned him, “Language!”

“You can fuck off too!” Fletch sneered at him. My stomach dropped and I knew things weren’t going to be good. With that final sentence, the vice principals and Officer McFarland carted both boys off to the principals office for a stern lecture and most likely terrible punishment.

Sara tried to comfort me throughout first period, saying that this might just be what Fletch needed to come around. Of course, her assurances were quickly drowned out by all of the gossip about the fight that had cropped up around the school. Most of the rumors were completely erroneous and I took no satisfaction in them, especially not the one that they were fighting over Maddie Schemer, which Maddie herself had most likely started. No one had even thought they might be upset over something that had to do with me, even if the three of us were practically inseparable for the past six years. The vicious rumors just continued to rub salt in my wounds.

Fletch didn’t return to class in second period, which was sort of a relief for me since it and art were the only two classes I shared with Fletch. Whereas Fletch sat right next to me in math, our art classroom was usually such a flutter of activity we didn’t have much time to be near each other or really talk. Will returned to chemistry third period, though Fletch was conspicuously absent. We had an experiment due that day and, since Fletch was absent, Eric had to do all of the work by himself. Will’s nose was still blue and purple and had cuts and braises all over. He was still upset about what happened and, even thought it was against my better judgment, I asked him what had happened.

“I was just trying to talk to him,” Will sighed. “I hate seeing you like this, Ailee. I messed things up and I was trying to fix them, but Fletch wouldn’t listen. I got about three words in before he hit me. I mean, I know he has every right to want to hit me, but he could at least listen to reason before he does so. I would have willingly let him hit me if he had just let me explain what had really happened first…”

“Sara said he just needs time,” I sighed, “but no matter how much time I give him, it just seems to make things worse. I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m scared, Will. I’m really scared I’ve lost him.”

“You haven’t lost him, Ailee,” Will insisted. “Fletch is just stubborn.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I frowned.

“It’ll work out, okay?” Will said reassuringly. I nodded, even though I wasn’t inclined to believe him.

“So, how bad did you guys get it?” I asked.

“I got detention for a week for the fight,” Will said. “Although I’m not sure how much of that is Fletch willingly admitted he started the fight and I was attacking him in self-defense and how much of it is I’m on the football team…”

“Fletch admitted he started it?” I said quietly. “Well, that’s something… he could have let you take the fall…”

“Yeah, but he owned up to it while ranting to Mr. Martino,” Will flinched. “Actually, he said an awful lot of stuff he shouldn’t about how Mr. Martino has a God complex and just needs to push around high schoolers to make up for the fact that his wife left him…”

“Oh no,” I gasped.

“Yeah,” Will frowned. “Fletch is in in-school suspension for the rest of the day today and tomorrow. His parents were both called. They came in as I was leaving and ripped him a new one. Martino would have given Fletch a full week of out-of-school suspension, but I managed to calm Fletch down a bit and talk Mr. Martino down. I told him that Fletch was under duress due to a broken heart. Mr. Martino understood.”

“His wife did leave him for his best friend,” I admitted.

“Anyway, Fletch got off rather mercifully considering he kept dropping F-bombs in the principal’s office,” Will sighed. “Other than that, I just have to pay for Fletch’s glasses since I broke them.”

“You broke his glasses?” I sighed.

“Yeah. He’s not happy about having to wear his spares since they’re the really thick ones he had back in middle school,” Will sighed. “But I’m sure he’ll get over it soon. His mom is taking him out to get another pair this afternoon.”

“He’s not really hurt, is he?” I asked worriedly.

“No,” Will sighed. “Maybe I should have hit him harder, though. Might have knocked some sense into him…”

“I just want him to be okay,” I sighed. Will nodded and then tried to distract me by launching in to our experiment.

No matter how distracting my friends tried to be, they couldn’t jar my thoughts away from Fletch. I thought and worried about him all day. I hoped he wasn’t really hurt from the blows he and Will had exchanged. I also worried about what could be happening him now that he was in the portable where they kept the suspended kids. He was probably around a bunch of druggies, guys who got into knife fights, and our school’s who’s who of “Most Likely to End Up In Prison For Life.” I didn’t think Fletch would suddenly fall under a bad influence after two days with these kids, but I wouldn’t put it past him to be so painfully annoying he made them want to kill him. Or at least torture him a little.

It was my goal to try and speak to Fletch that afternoon before he left school. I asked to be excused early from study hall and made the quickest trip to my locker on record so I could be waiting for Fletch when he came out. I didn’t know how likely it was he would talk to me, but I knew I had to try again. I couldn’t allow myself to give up on him, no matter what ugly things he had said to me the day before. What I wasn’t counting on was the lazy teacher in charge of suspension to let out all of the school’s suspended students fifteen minutes early that day. When I reached the parking lot, I arrived quickly enough to find Fletch’s car speeding out of the parking lot. Defeated, I rested myself against one of the columns against the parapet outside the school. I shook all of the pathetic thoughts out of my head and decided I would return to my pursuit of Fletch with renewed vigor.

Fletch wasn’t making things easy, but I wasn’t going to give up without a fight.