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Love's Not A Competition: Senior Year

Chapter 8

I nodded and stood up, pulling her to her feet. She washed her mouth some water and toothpaste before we headed back out to the party. I saw Zeke staring at a piece of paper. He shoved it into his pocket when I walked over and I raised an eyebrow at him. Katie had disappeared again and I hugged Zeke. He ran a hand over my hair as I stared up at him.

“What was that piece of paper you had just had?” I asked him.
“Oh, that was nothing,” he said.

I could tell he was lying but I didn’t push it. He was finally with me and I didn’t want to push him away again. I managed to talk him into dancing with me and our friends joined us. People started leaving as time went by and soon we were nearly the only ones there apart from six other guys that were still sitting in the corner passing around the bong. I was tired and Brittney suggested we head home. We all agreed and Amy and Eric went outside to ring a cab.

“Are you coming?” I called to Katie who was curled up on the sofa with Jesse.
“No, I think I’ll just stay here.”
I looked at her and then the six other guys who were complete strangers to us.
“Katie, that isn’t a good idea,” Brittney said.
“You can think whatever you want but I’m not leaving.”
“Katie, don’t act like a child. You don’t know these people. They could gang rape you or something,” Zeke said.

“Come back to the dorm,” I said.
“No,” she said defiantly.
I felt the anger rush through me and shook my head slightly.
“I’m so sick of you acting like an idiot. Do whatever you want, I just don’t care anymore,” I snapped.

I turned on my heel before storming down the stairs. Two cabs were already outside and Eric and Amy were already in one. I climbed in with them and we pulled out just as the other three came outside. I was too angry to care. I had tried being a good friend to Katie but she had kept making stupid decisions. I knew that I wasn’t her mother and couldn’t control her life but I was just trying to help. Any good friend would try and stop their friend from doing drugs and from staying in an apartment with complete strangers who were all boys, right? I rested my forehead against the cool window and watched as the city flew by, letting my anger simmer down until it completely disappeared.

I walked down to breakfast the next day, feeling slightly better but still annoyed at Katie. It was really early so none of my friends were in the dining hall. I grabbed my usual breakfast and sat down, wanting to finish before they came down. I knew that I had probably annoyed my friends last night but I wasn’t worried. They knew that I had been in the right last night. They had even tried to talk Katie out of staying. It hadn’t been uncalled for. She had been acting like a child. But I didn’t want to think about it because it would just make me angry again.

I headed to the athletics track after breakfast. I sat on the bleachers, not wanting to run laps just yet. I breathed in the fresh air and tried not to shiver against the chill morning wind. I was just running a hand through my hair when I saw a figure walking across the field towards me. I sighed when Zeke came to a stop at the bottom of the bleachers. He looked up to where I was sitting half way up before walking up the stairs. He walked across to me and sat down on the seat below me. He crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back. He was silent for a long time and I didn’t think he was going to say anything before he finally sighed loudly.

“How are you feeling this morning?” he asked, not turning to look at me.
“I’m not going to yell, if that’s what you mean,” I said, staring at the back of his head.
He turned around and grinned at me. “Oh good, because it’s too early in the morning for yelling,” he said.

I nudged him playfully with my foot and he moved up so he was sitting beside me. He ran a hand over my hair before pulling my head against his shoulder. I felt his lips press against my hair and smiled.
“Let’s do some laps,” Zeke said.

I nodded and we both headed down the bleachers. We warmed up before running some laps around the track. We didn’t get competitive like the last time we were out here alone. I didn’t want another sprained ankle this year. We stopped after a few laps and walked back to the dorms. It was good to just be with Zeke, especially after his disappearing act last night. It made me feel safer about our relationship, no doubts anymore. I didn’t want to doubt our relationship but last night had definitely put it on edge. I was just glad that he was talking to him, joking about what had happened.

I wasn’t downstairs when Katie came back to school but Brittney came into my room five minutes after it had happened to tell me. She told me that Katie had asked where I was but everyone had advised her to give me some time to cool off. I thanked her even though I didn’t need time to cool off. I just really didn’t want to face Katie now. I looked at Brittney who was spread over my bed, reading a gossip magazine. I chewed on the end of my pen and sighed, bored of doing my homework already even though I had only just started. Brittney looked up when I sighed again and smiled.

“Want to know something?” Brittney asked.
“Sure,” I said, happy to have a distraction.
“Aidan is moving to an apartment across the road from the dorms. Isn’t that exciting? I’ll get to see him nearly every day. I can’t wait,” she grinned.
“When is this going to happen?”
“A couple of weeks,” she said. “He has to finalize the papers and his parents are paying for it.”
“Awesome,” I smiled, happy that she was happy.

She had looked really sad today, coming down from the excitement of seeing Aidan at the party. She had been approached by the dance teacher to help her with some of the dance routines and Brittney had happily taken on the extra work. I was worried that she might overexert herself but it had been my idea for her to join another activity. I just had to trust that Brittney knew her limits.

“Katie’s tryouts are tomorrow,” Brittney said.
“Do you want her on the squad?” I asked, unsure.
“Of course, it would be so great to have a friend on the squad. She can enjoy something that I enjoy. It seems like sharing something I love.”
“I’m glad you are looking forward to it,” I said.
“Hey, Katie isn’t all that bad.”
“I know, I know,” I grinned.

Brittney smiled at me before turning back to her magazine. I watched as she flipped through some pages and smiling to herself. I turned back to my homework, still chewing on my pen. I knew that I would have to forgive Katie one day but today was not that day, or tomorrow. I didn’t even know what it was about it that made me so angry. I knew that people did stupid things when they were drinking and doing drugs. I just wished that Katie would understand that I was trying to look out for her, not control her or act out of jealousy. I sighed again. Maybe Katie and I just weren’t meant to be friends after all.