Good Boy by Megan Lowe
Chapter 17
Chloe is going on about something that I’m only half listening to, staring into space instead. All this stuff with Cav and James and that Max guy is doing my head in. I can’t make sense of any of it. The only thing I can make sense of is my feelings for James. I mean Cav. I mean… okay, maybe I can only make sense of part of it. But what I do know, is I like him. I want him. But he does not want me; at least, he doesn’t want me in public. Or private seeing as though he disconnected his phone number and deleted Poundr his account, but I know there’s something between us.
Someone hisses “fag” as he walks past. I spin around to face Cav.
“Oh,” I say, rolling my eyes.
“What are you looking at?” he asks.
I hold my hands up. “Nothing. I’m not looking at anything, there’s nothing to look at anyway.”
“Nothing?” He quirks an eyebrow.
“That’s right, nothing.”
He grabs me by the front of my shirt and hauls me to my feet.
“You being cute?”
“Why would I do that?”
He shoves me away. “You know what you’re doing.”
“For fuck’s sake!” I say, clenching my fists. “I’m not doing anything. I never do anything. I’m not in your way, in fact, I do my best to stay out of your way. Whatever problem you have with me is just that, your problem.”
“And now you’re being smart.”
I nod. “Yup, that’s right, I’m being smart. It’s all about me, none of this is about you.” I stare at the scar I know is on his hand.
Without warning he punches me. Hard. Blood drips out of my nose, and the coppery tang fills my mouth.
Everyone in the cafeteria has frozen, all eyes on us.
I laugh as I wipe the blood away. “Seriously?” I ask. Why is he doing this?
He rears back and kicks me in the stomach.
There are screams, and soft hands on me as Chloe rushes to help.
“Jesus, Connor,” Chloe says. “What is wrong with you?” she asks Cav.
“Come on, man,” Thomas says, grabbing Cav. “Let’s get out of here.” He turns to me. “Are you okay?”
I shrug, wiping at the blood coming out of my nose.
“I’ll handle this,” he tells me. “Why don’t you go get cleaned up, huh?”
“You need to do something about him,” I say. “You know I didn’t do anything, that I haven’t been doing anything.”
“You—” Cav lunges again, but Thomas holds him back. He drags Cav away, saying stuff I can’t hear.
“That was insane,” Chloe says.
I laugh. “Isn’t that Cav though? Isn’t that what you’ve been telling me all this time?”
“I have, but I’ve never seen him do anything like this, never seen him go after anyone like he’s going after you.”
“Guess I should count myself lucky then.”
She hauls me up and I try to ignore the amount of pain it takes to stand.
“Yeah? Feeling so lucky now?” She guides me into a bathroom.
“You know this is a girls’ bathroom,” I advise her as she sits me down in a waiting room thing they have in here.
“You’re practically a chick. Sit your ass down,” Chloe orders.
“Excuse me, I’ll have you know I’m a manly man, thank you very much.”
“Yeah, you’re sure showing everyone just how manly you are.”
“I could take him if I wanted,” I say as she cleans me up.
“Am I that bad?” I ask her. “I mean, am I doing anything wrong?”
She sighs and takes a seat next to me. “Besides your little girly crush?”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, besides that.”
“Well, that probably doesn’t help.”
I want so badly to tell her that he, as James, was more than receptive to my attention, but I can’t. I won’t. I won’t betray Cav and James’s trust like that. Even though my ribs are currently screaming at me. At least the blood has stopped running out of my nose.
“I just…. I didn’t want any of this. I never wanted to come to Chicago. I never wanted to come here. But now that I have to be here, I just wanted to do this year, finish high school, then get the fuck out of here. If I found a cute boy to flirt with, someone to spend some time with then that would be awesome. I know Cav isn’t g-gay.” I hope she doesn’t notice my stutter. “But I wasn’t hurting anyone with just looking at him, was I? I didn’t make any moves on him, I didn’t outwardly flirt with him. I just… looked.”
She runs her hand over my hair. “I know. And you didn’t do anything wrong, this is all Cav. For whatever reason he has something against you and I know it doesn’t make sense, but he’s decided there’s something about you he doesn’t like.”
I sigh. “This is so fucked up.”
She leans her head on my shoulder and I huff out a breath from the shift of weight. “Are you going to be okay?” she asks.
“Physically? I’ll heal. Emotionally? Who the fuck knows.”
“You know I’m here for you, right?”
I try and sling an arm around her to hug her. Eventually, with her help, I manage it. “Thank you.”
“So, still got that girly crush?”
My laugh turns into a groan. “I mean, what guy can resist someone who beats him up for no reason?”
“Exactly!” she says. “Remember that when those dreamy blue-gray eyes are peering straight into your soul—”
“I thought you were trying to help?” I ask. I know this should signal the end of my crush on Cav. Seriously, what relationship could come back from something like this? But the part of him that’s James, that listened to me, and seemed to care for me, he’s what’s also giving me hope.