Chapter six

I immediately start calling Alex. I don’t know anyone that would text me saying sorry. The only person I can think of that owns the unknown number would be him. Alex marches down the stairs and looks at me with a horrified face. 

            “ What's wrong? Why did you scream for me? I thought you’d cut yourself or something don’t do that shit.” She is concerned.

             “I think he texted me. I don’t have any evidence, all I  have is the words I’m sorry. The only other friend I have is you. Obviously you have nothing to apologize for. So, it has to be him. I already have your number saved, but he changed his last school year and he hasn’t texted me or called me since, so I never got his new number.” 

“ I don’t have his number so I have no idea. Just text the number back saying what for. Maybe they’ll tell you who they are. Just ask. He must know that his friends have been bullying you, and that’s what he’s apologizing for.” She looks at me with a supportive face. “You can wait, just leave him on read for now. Maybe he will voluntarily tell you who he is.”

     I look at her concerned, but I know she’s right. I’ll just leave it be and wait for him to reply. There’s no reason to get myself worked up over someone who doesn’t even take up for me. He shouldn’t have let his friends' opinions dictate who he’s friends with. I’m tired of worrying about what his friends think of me. Maybe he’ll tell me who he is and if he doesn’t by tomorrow, I’ll text him.

I grab the pizza box and motion for Alex to follow me back upstairs. I just want to relax with my best friend. I'm just gonna wait for him to text again. If he wants to talk to me he can text me again. I love him, I really really love him, but he shouldn’t have treated me that way. I shouldn’t have to deal with his indecisiveness.

We finally get upstairs and lay on the bed, getting comfortable with the blankets over us. I open the pizza box to reveal a medium chicken Alfredo pizza, the best pizza ever, obviously. Alex unpauses the movie and we lay there watching the movie and eating our pizza. 

I hear a ding from inside my pocket, I turned on my ringer when I texted Venus. It’s a message from the unknown number. What is it now? Honestly, if he already had my number why is he just now texting me. He's such an asshole. 

’Connie it’s me. Please talk to me’ 

I show the phone to Alex and she says “hurry reply!”

‘ What's wrong with you?’ I reply frustrated.

‘I just want to talk. I’m angry at my teammates for treating you this way.’

‘ you should’ve known. There’s no way that you could have gone through the entirety of high school without knowing that all of your buddies were saying mean shit about me. I deserve an explanation.’ I look at Alex for approval before I press send. She nods her head in agreement. 

‘ What are they saying? Why didn’t you tell me? I’ve been here this whole time and you decided not to tell me?’ 

‘ I absolutely did not try to tell you. They’re all your best friends. Do you really think that I could just walk up to you surrounded by your friends, who bully me by the way, and tell you that they’re bullying me?’ I hit send.

I type another message before he’s able to reply. ‘ you had every chance to text me. I didn’t have your new number. You changed it six months ago and didn’t tell me, I had to hear it from someone else. If you thought something was wrong with me, why didn’t you fucking text me?’

‘I really didn’t know they were saying shit about you. I wish I had known. I dropped the team. I don’t care if I lost my scholarship. I would rather pay for college than be on a team who treats you that way. I went to the coach after you ran off. I quit. I don’t want to be friends with immature boys like that.’

I look at Alex perplexed. I don’t even know what to think. Did he seriously drop his entire ride to college, just because his friends were bullying me? I can’t believe he did something like that. It was so irrational. What was he thinking?

Oh Alex looks at me concerned. I don’t know if she is angry, or proud of him.

“That's quite the way to start making an effort. I guess he really didn’t know. Ask him why he threw away his future just because of that.”

‘Why would you do that to yourself?’ I send the message. 

‘Because you’re more important to me than free college. You’re the most important person to me.”

Excuse me what?