Chapter 8: Shane VS Carter

Carter’s POV

“Nah dude, I don’t think he realizes how lucky he is,” Jake said to Cole. Jake and Cole are twins, also my best ‘guy’ friends. They’re both on the school’s soccer team, just like me. They are identical twins, so they both have bright blue eyes and dark chocolate brown hair. Jake’s the prankster and Cole’s the one with the brains.

“I don’t either. I mean, if he wanted to, he could already be dating her… and I know he wants to. He’s just too shy to admit how much he likes her. Admit it Carter, you want to rub your hands up and down her body, you want to squeeze her perfect little ass, and you want to makeout with her for hours and hours each day.” Cole teased. I rolled my eyes and slammed my gym locker shut. I sat down on the little ledge in front of the lockers and started to tie my sneakers.

“But, what if I don’t want to date her?” I mumbled. Truth is; I don’t want to date Kaelyn… I’d rather have something like a ‘friends with benefits’ thing with her.

“Oh yeah, remember he told us he just wanted to 'do her' occasionally, and not be in a committed relationship,” Jake laughed. Out of the corner of my eye, I swear that I saw Shane look up at me and then look away.

“Shut up.” I slapped the back of Jake’s head. He kept laughing to himself while he tied his shoes.

“Trust me, I know- from experience- that being friends with benefits can’t end well. Remember that girl Amy? We used to hook up all the time, but we were just ‘friends’. We just needed something- and someone- to pass time with. After she said that she can’t ‘do this’ anymore, she completely stopped talking to me… I don’t even think she’s looked at me since.” Cole said.

“Yeah, but Kaelyn’s different than that Amy girl. Kaelyn won’t even know what’s going on if we hooked up. Dude, she’s so clueless. She doesn’t know how many boys want to fuck her, she doesn’t realize how much I want to, she doesn’t realize that for the past two months all I’ve been doing is dropping hints that I want to kiss her and hold her and do everything with her, but I don’t want to be in a committed relationship with her. She’s just so hot, I mean, six years of playing volleyball sure have made her sexy.” I admitted. I kind of felt bad about not wanting to be in an actual relationship with her but, I don’t think I’m ready for a committed relationship anyways. I would probably screw it up anyways, so what’s the point? Kaelyn’s been my best friend for a very, very, extremely long time and I think we should step it up a bit. And who knows, maybe it could help her get over Ryder. I know she still thinks about him constantly and she just needs somewhat of a stress-reliever, and I’m here for her.

“Can’t wait to see how this works out for you, Carter.” Jake said. I rolled my eyes. It won’t work out, that’s why I haven’t said anything. But, I can dream right? Out of the corner of my eye I saw Shane walking towards the three of us. What does he want? Shane stopped walking towards us when he was directly in front of me. Not even five inches away.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Shane said through gritted teeth. His fists were clenched and his veins were popping out of his neck. “Answer me!” He shoved me back against the lockers, causing my head to slam against them.

“N-Nothing,” I stuttered. I was scared of Shane… Who in this school isn’t?

Shane’s POV

“Why the fuck would you say something like that about her? I thought you were her friend. You’re a fucking dickhead, did you know that? Anyone would be lucky to have her. To be in a nice, perfect, damn committed relationship with her. She’s not a fucking prize. Every damn boy in this school seems to think that. I thought that since you were her friend, you would be different, but I guess not.” I said. My blood seemed to be boiling and my face was inches away from Carter’s. “God, you are so pathetic,” I punched him in the gut. “You only want to toy with her. Do you honestly think that she’s too stupid to realize that you don’t actually want to love her? You just want a stress-relieving toy, don’t you?” By now, almost all of the boys in the locker room had created a circle around Carter and I.

“Oh, does big tough bad-boy Shane have a wittle crush?” Carter said in a baby voice. I punched him square in the jaw, just to get that stupid smirk off of his face.

“You know what, I’m just wasting my time.” I punched him three more times in the gut, and twice more in the face; once on the right cheek, once on the left. I released his shirt from my hands and I walked out of the locker room, soon I was outside, in the school parking lot. I unlocked my car and quickly locked it once I sat down. My heart was racing and my anger levels were off the charts right now.

I can’t believe that her best guy friend would say something like that. He’s just like all those other guys who want to ‘get in her pants’ then ditch her. Sure, I’ve done that with plenty of girls, but they knew what they were getting into. I don’t think that Kaelyn would know what she’s getting into. She can be taken advantage of really easily. It’s not like I would do that, but I know quite a few guys that would. I’m almost one-hundred percent sure that if Carter started to take advantage of her, she wouldn’t know what’s going on, but that doesn’t make her clueless. The minute Carter touched her ‘in that way’ would set an alarm or in her head and she would be thinking, ‘What the hell?’ and she would tell Carter to stop. I know she would.

I thought about what Carter said ‘Oh, does big tough bad-boy Shane have a wittle crush?’, I probably just gave away my secret to another person… no scratch that. Everyone who was in the boy’s locker room would’ve heard what I said about anyone being lucky to be in a committed relationship with her… crap. Now my biggest secret has been revealed again, and not to the right person.

I started up my car, then revving up the engine slightly. I needed to go for a drive to get my mind off of things. Who needs school anyways? There’s only one period left, not including the half-way through gym period. I turned up the music, blasting it through my speakers. I drove to the only place where I knew that I could be alone.

Once I got to my destination, I parked my car on the side of the road and started to walk through the woods. I was going to go to the pond my father used to take me to when I was around seven. We used to go fishing there, have picnics and everything seemed perfect back then. But now, I don’t even know the whereabouts of my father. I don’t honestly care where he is, because he put my mother through so much pain and suffering… that if I could just have one chance to beat the daylights out of him, I would.

My shoes made an odd crunching sound in the dried out, auburn leaves and I walked through the tree-covered forest. When I reached the pond I sat down on my favourite rock and just admired how the light hit the water at such an angle, it was beautiful. I finally started to calm down and my stress seemed to wash away.

***

I must’ve fallen asleep while I was at the pond, because when I woke up it was pitch black outside. My eyelids were heavy and as I walked back to my car, I was dragging one foot in front of the other. I probably looked like the first zombie to appear during an apocalypse. I pulled out my phone and opened the flashlight app, just in case. I didn’t want to trip over some stupid log outside in the middle of the night. It took me an extra few minutes to find my black car. But, once I did find it, I unlocked it and got behind the wheel. I really hope that I wasn’t too tired to drive. When I put my phone back in my pocket, I looked at the time; 11:00pm. Why am I so tired? I usually fall asleep around three in the morning. That’s just weird.

After a fifteen minute drive, I arrived home safely. No car crashes caused by drowsiness, no random deer that stupidly run out in front of someone’s car. I don’t even understand why they do that. Do they have a death wish or something? They must have one because; why else would you run out in front of a moving vehicle?

Alright Shane, that’s enough. You must be really tired because now you’re starting to word-vomit in your mind, just like Kaelyn.

Kaelyn, Kaelyn, Kaelyn. Thoughts of her swirled my mind. She was the only thing that occupied it until I fell asleep in my bed. But, who knows, I could’ve had a dream about her too.