Chapter 47

My night with Sydney had been mind-blowing. It had also been funny, awkward, confusing, and a whole host of other adjectives, but they all came together into something I’d never forget. We’d fumbled a lot, but in the end, we both just wanted to make the other happy. I think maybe that was why we were both so happy when I finally left, it wasn’t just that the physical act had been enjoyable, which it had been, but one thing was for sure, our relationship had gotten a lot closer. I didn’t actually leave the next morning like Sydney suggested, however. Even though I was technically an adult, Mrs. Phillips still worried about me and I had school the next day, but it was pretty late when I got home. After, we couldn’t keep our hands off each other, until I finally had to get in my car to drive away.

Kat was already in bed when I got home, but I think Mrs. Phillips might have realized something was different as I quickly snuck up to my room. I don’t know why I was embarrassed, since she was neither my parent nor my guardian, but I felt weird about her knowing.

My relationship with Sydney had definitely moved to another level, though. Just seeing her face as I walked up the steps to school to find her waiting for me, put a smile on my face. Sure, it was about the physical stuff, and it would be a lie to say I hadn’t thought about that part of it a lot since the previous night, but it was more. I felt my heart skip a little bit when I saw her, my stomach knotting up. The smile on her face told me she felt the same way.

“Hey,” I said, as she put her arms around my waist and tip-toed up to give me a quick peck, which was about as far as either of us was comfortable going, PDA-wise.

“Hey, yourself,” she said.

“How are you?” I asked.

We’d talked a lot afterward, before I left, but this was all new to me, so I was a little uneasy about how things went, the next day.

“I’m great. I’ve missed you,” she said.

“It hasn’t even been twelve hours since you saw me,” I said, laughing.

“I know. An eternity.”

“Goof,” I said, swiping at her nose.

“You like it,” she said, taking my hand as we walked into the school.

“Yeah, I do.”

Of course, it couldn’t all be hearts and rainbows. At conditioning class, David found me before I got into the weight room.

“Hey, just a heads up, Harry’s been making some noise. He’s telling people they’re going to jump you soon.”

“Jesus, can’t he just get a fucking hobby.”

“I don’t know. I thought he’d cooled down after that thing with y’all in the hallway, until just before we went on break. Everyone was talking about how you got the principal to back down and bring the newspaper guys back, and I guess he didn’t like you being the center of attention, because from what I hear, he’s been bitching about you non-stop ever since. You’ve been busy with your music thing, so I don’t think you noticed, but he’s been talking.”

“Well, he’s welcome to try,” I said, trying to walk around him.

David grabbed my arm and stopped me, “Charlie, man, you need to stop and think. Your whole ‘make the bullies back down’ thing is great and all, but they aren’t here right now. It’s just you and me, and you have to use your head. You told me you thought he was one of the people that jumped you last year, during the playoffs, right? Do you know how lucky you were they didn’t break your hand? You’re just about to become some big, famous musician, you can’t just charge forward like you’ve got nothing to lose, because you do.”

David and I normally only talked during practice or conditioning, and I hadn’t realized he’d been paying that much attention. He was a good guy and I did consider us friends, or at least friendly. I was usually too focused on my own stuff and honestly didn’t think about him much when we weren’t actively hanging out, so I was surprised he’d noticed both how my music career was going, remembered what I’d said about the attack last year, and was watching out for me. Honestly, it kind of pointed out how I’d been a little bit of a shitty friend this year, since I honestly knew very little about what was going on in his life.

“That’s a good point.”

“I know you’ve got a lot going on, but you’ve got to think things through more. You can’t just try and muscle your way through this stuff. Yeah, Harry is a coward and will never take you head-on, but you’ve also clowned him in front of his friends. For guys like him, who peak in high school, all they have is their reps. You have to know he has to find some way to get some face back, and he can only beat up so many freshmen. He needs to knock you down. Also, as much as you think he is, Harry isn’t a complete idiot. It’s not a secret that the admin here hates you and you’ve had trouble with the cops. Everyone saw how much trouble Aaron put you through last year with that restraining order thing. Harry might not have that kind of pull, but he’s smart enough to know if he can make a situation look right, he can get people to believe you’re the problem. And Packer’s just waiting for an excuse to expel you.”

Once again, someone was telling me I needed to stop rushing into situations and think them through.

“You’re right. I’ll try to be careful. Thanks for having my back.”

“Sure. Let’s go lift.”

I spent the rest of the day looking over my shoulder before I realized that wasn’t going to work any more than just pretending that Harry couldn’t do anything to hurt me would. Spending all of my time scared of my shadow would be a win for Harry just as much as him hurting me would.

By the end of the school day, I finally gave it up and decided I’d just be careful about where I was alone. Harry wasn’t going to jump me in school where there were witnesses, and he’d already had a lot of chances to get to me in the parking lot and hadn’t. I’d have to pay more attention going to my car, but maybe he’d learned some kind of lesson when that didn’t work for Aaron.

What I’d have to do is avoid situations like the time they got to me when I was walking by myself from the ball field in the dark. As long as I kept someone with me, I should be okay in those situations though. I just needed to be smart about it.

As I headed towards band practice, I knew what I really wanted to do was see Sydney again. I knew her parents would be home today and there was no way we’d be able to arrange a repeat of the night before, but I still wanted to see her. Even just thinking about her face made me smile, although that would be a problem at practice. I’d been distracted in a lot of my classes thinking about her, and band practice was probably going to go about the same way.

Or at least I thought it was until I saw a car I didn’t recognize out front. It was a rental, which was unusual in Wellsville, since it would have had to have been rented in Asheville and driven here. The answer came pretty quickly as Warren walked out of the garage as I made my way up the driveway, casting one last look at the rental over my shoulder.

“Hey, Charlie,” he said, meeting me and shaking my hand.