CHAPTER TWELVE

XAVIER

I make my way to my room and fall on the bed. Dad can call the school and explain why I'm not there today. I wake up a little after noon, still in pain but better than I was this morning. The first thing I do is check my phone and I see that I have I missed calls from Camden, Derrick, Eric and my mom. Shit, I forgot to call mom in the morning.

I return her call first.

"Hey sweetie, I've been trying to reach you."

"Hey mum." I say.

"Listen, I don't have time to talk right now but I'll be in town next week, let's catch up." She says and ends the call.

This is why I don't take her calls. They're always things she could have said on text or an email. I'm willing to bet 10 grand that she will find a reason why next week won't work. She always calls to promise to see and never does.

I call the kitchen and request lunch to be sent up. I usually go down to get my food myself but I don't have the strength for it.

After lunch, I do some school work then start to play video games. I don't want to think about Rain. I don't want this morning with my dad to taint the memory.

The next day at school, I park in my usual spot and ignore the worried looks my friends give me and their questions. I didn't call any of them back yesterday and I didn't reply their texts.

"Xavier, we are talking to you!" Camden says, getting angry.

I turn and glare at them. "You talked to my dad?"

Understanding dawns on Camden. One rule I have with them is that they should never talk to my dad about me. When he started talking to my teachers, I knew it was only a matter of time before he moved on to my friends and yesterday, all of them broke that rule.

"Dude, he was worried about you, we all were." Derrick says.

"You should have never talked to him. That's all I've ever fucking asked."

"Then maybe you should have told us where you were if you didn't want us talking to your father." Camden says.

I shake my head at them and walk away. Turning the corner, I stop in my tracks at the sight of Rain leaning on new guy’s car while he tucks her hair behind her ears.

He's fucking touching her hair, I'm going to kill him. Rain sees me and pushes new guy off her, good. At least she knows who she belongs to. I pause at that thought. Rain doesn't belong to me. She's just a girl I was previously a little bit obsessed with but now I've had her, things are going to go on as usual. I turn and take another route to my locker. This isn't like me, I shouldn't give a damn who Rain hooks up with.

Practice gives me a chance to let my demons out. I tackle Camden to the ground for the third time this practice. He has finally had enough and turns us so he's on top of me. He throws a punch that lands and I punch his ribs.

"Both of you, stop it this minute," coach says as he pulls us apart.

"The both of you, to my office. Right now!"

We mumble then start going to his office. The second we get to the office, Camden has me pinned to the wall, on choke hold.

"What the fuck is wrong with you Xavier?" He asks.

"Take your hands off me bro. Don’t mess with me Camden, I will hurt you."

I'm a lot stronger than Camden and he knows it. He releases me and takes a seat.

"I'm sorry I spoke to your dad but I swear I didn't tell him anything. He came to the house, I couldn't exactly lie and say that you were sleeping and I couldn't wake you up."

He went to their houses? The man is crazier than I thought. So they didn't really betray me.

"I know things aren't good with your dad and I relate to that so I would never do anything that would get you in trouble with him."

I sigh and sit next to him. "It's cool. I got angrier than I should have. My bad."

"It's cool, I needed the release too."

I want to ask him what is wrong but then he'll want to ask me and that's not happening.

"So we're cool again?" He asks.

"We're cool."

"Great, there's a party at Gio's tonight, are you coming?"

"No, but if my dad shows up again, tell him I left with some girl from the party you didn't recognize."

"You're not going to tell me where you're going to?"

"No, I'm not."

I can't deal with the anger I feel towards my father, but I can do something about the anger I feel towards Rain. I finally accept that once will not be enough for me, she's too under my skin. I thought about her nonstop for two years, why did I think once will be enough?

"Go away, Xavier." Rain says from inside the house.

"We need to talk."

"Last night was a onetime thing, we both agreed."

"I want to revisit the terms of our agreement."

"I'm not interested, it wasn't that good."

Liar. "Say swear."

She doesn't say it. The silence lasts for 10 seconds before she opens the door. The first thing I do is kiss her.

"I missed your lips." I say to her.

She rolls her eyes. "I want you, Rain."

"Why? Do you suddenly have feelings for me?"

I shake my head. "This has nothing to do with feelings, it's purely physical."

"Then it's easier to end."

"That's the thing, I can't fucking stop Rain. I deny myself a lot of things but I just can't seem to do that with you."

Being this vulnerable with her sucks for me. I feel so raw and open. She looks deep into my eyes and sighs.

"I might a sucker for pain because I'm actually considering it."

I smile victoriously. "Good. One important thing though, I don't share. This thing with new guy has to stop."

"His name is Greg and he's my friend and not your business."

The dumb girl, that boy wants to be more than her friend. I'll prove it to her, and then I'll make her stay away from him.