o2. Over the Years

A Chapter by Kiyome;

When you leave for five years, there's no turning back to your old life.

I stare at the kid for a long time. He was about a foot and a half taller and more muscular but I recognize the look in those light green eyes I remember Matty always had.

His eyes went from a nasty look to a confused look. “Blaire,” he mouthed then turned back. I was speechless.

Suddenly, a girl who had spoken to him before said something in between giggles. I don’t know what she said but I know it was about me. Everyone else laughed and Matty soon joined in. I rolled my eyes and started walking to the front of the school again.

That couldn’t have been Matty. He was the nicest, sweetest little kid I have ever met. That jerk definitely wasn’t him.

When I entered the school, an energetic-looking girl came beside me. “That was awesome! No one ever stands up to him,” she yelled. She was short and skinny, her dirty blonde hair hung in a messy bun. She had glasses with dark brown frames. They suited her well. I gave her a shy smile.

“What’s your name?” she asked, “I’ve never seen you before."

“My name’s Blaire, but you can call me Bee. I’m new here. Well, actually I used to live here but I moved when I was twelve. I moved back though,” I told her and gave her another smile.

“That’s cool. My name’s Aubree. Are you a junior?”

“Yep. What about you?”

“I’m a junior too. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll have some classes with me,” she winked and lifted her head. A second later, she burst out into laughter. I joined in with her. “I can show you around,” she said.

“That would be great,” I answer with a smile. I’m lucky I met Aubree. She seemed like someone I could easily be friends with.

It got silent for a while so I decided to ask her about Matty.

“Hey, who was that guy who threw a football at me?” I asked.

“Oh, that was Matt Hale,” she answered with a look of disgust on her face. I gasped.

“You mean Matty? That guy was Matty Hale,” I scream. Aubree laughs hysterically. “What?” I ask her bewildered.

“It’s just that,” she paused and laughed, “no one ever calls him Matty,” she laughed again, “but yes, Matt Hale.” She finally stopped laughing and became serious. “I advise you to stay away from him, though,” she said.

“Why?” I asked. I was so shocked; I pondered over the thought that the guy that threw the football at me was Matty. Nope. Nothing.

She looked worried. It was as if she was hesitating to tell me. “He’s the school player; he’s probably slept with half the girls in this school. There’s a rumor going around that he got this freshman pregnant,” my eyes widened. She avoided my stare. “The other day he asked my friend out and tried to y’know… do her or something. It’s a good thing she said no because it turned out it was a bet to see if he could nail her,” she lifted her head and studied my expression.

How could Matty do that? He would never! At least the Matty I knew five years ago would never do that. Maybe someone took over his brain. Yeah. Maybe someone from Mars took his brain! And replaced it with someone else’s! It was then when I finally realized I spoke nonsense. Of course that’s Matty. No aliens, no spaceships, and most of all, no brain transplants.

“Hey are you okay?” Aubree looked furrowed her eyebrows. I blinked twice.

“Uh… yeah. Fine,” I answered. I didn’t bother telling her I used to be best friends with Matty. That the boy I knew was nothing like this jerk. But did I really expect him to be the sweet little boy I knew?

“You get used to it. Every day you hear another story about him cheating on his girlfriend or how he got drunk at some out of control party. Trust me, it’s not that surprising,” she said.

I give her a weak smile and start walking again.

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