Definitely Not Average - Chapter 18

This chapter is dedicated to Yazzy, Laura-Beth, Phoebe, Ciriat, and Samantha Brooke, because I love them. =)
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The shouting came just as the bell rang to signal that all pupils were free to leave school; it was the end of the day.

Everybody rushed out of class, eager to get out of school boundaries, and it was then that I, and probably everybody else, heard the crying, the hysterics, the shouting.

‘No! Why? Why are you doing this?’ A desperate voice said, breathing loud and ragged. I knew that voice, I recognized it. I turned the corner to get to my locker, and sure enough, there was Rachael, her cheeks tear-streaked with black, which I guessed was her mascara running. She was clutching at T.J’s shirt, her expression pleading.

‘I can’t do this any more,’ T.J was saying. ‘I don’t like you.’

A crowd was beginning to form around them, some people laughing, some people looking shocked, and some wearing pitiful expression, as if thinking ‘Oh, poor girl,’ and others were just eating it all up, glad the Queen Bitch was getting what she deserved – in front of the whole student body.

‘But why?’ Rachael was crying, looking especially like a hooker that day in a white, see-through skirt, and an orange summer top, that was very low cut, so low cut that I, and no doubt other people could, almost see her nipple. Not a very pleasing sight. ‘What did I do?’

T.J looked exasperated, not looking in the least bothered by his audience, in fact, I think he was enjoying it. ‘I told you - I just can’t be with you anymore.’

Rachael suddenly gasped, and T.J rolled his eyes, obviously not favouring her predilection to dramatics. Then he spotted me standing beyond the crowd, the only person that hadn’t gathered around the fighting couple, and he smiled at me and raised an eyebrow, as if to say "Hey, no one said this breaking up thing was easy." ‘There’s another girl, isn’t there?’ Rachael gasped, her eyes wide and horrified. ‘There is!’ she had followed T.J’s gaze to me, and she let out an angry, shrill shriek. ‘It’s her!’ she screamed, looking more hysterical by the minute. ‘I knew it! You’ve dumped me for that…that…THAT CREATURE!’

Several heads turned my way, and people broke out in hushed whispers, and I just had to laugh. T.J looked surprised at my obviously unexpected reaction. Rachael looked like a rhinoceros just about to strike; I swear I could actually see smoke coming out of her nostrils.

‘What have you done to my boyfriend?’ She screeched, and, to my immense amusement and slight mortification, she came clip-clopping over to me, looking wild, not even seeming to notice the many people taking out their phone and snap-shotting her frazzled state. T.J followed behind her, shaking his head, and he mouthed to me from behind her, ‘Sorry about this,’ I just grinned at him to let him know that it was Okay. ‘You’ve turned my boyfriend against me!’ she screamed, her high-pitched voice toned up many octaves by the loudness of her voice.

Rachael’s friends, well, T.J’s friends, actually, were standing about two metres away from the three of us, looking horror-struck at Rachael’s messy state, no doubt about to exclude her from their clique for getting dumped by the most popular guy in school. Marc was with them, and he was looking at me, and he pointed to Rachael, then wound his finger near his head in that motion telling me he thought that she was crazy. I could only agree.

‘You’re dumping ME for HER?’ Rachael demanded in her shrill voice, staring wildly up at T.J, who looked wary.

‘No, Rachael,’ he said patiently, as if speaking to someone of young age. ‘I am not dumping you for Grace. Grace is only my friend - that’s it. I’m dumping you because I don’t think it’s working out.’

I thought he was being very nice to her, considering the way she was screaming bloody murder at him.

And then, to T.J’s horror, she started bawling. ‘Please,’ she wailed. ‘Please don’t do this! I love you!’

It was a pretty sad sight to see her standing there with her eyes squeezed shut and tears leaking out from between her eyelids, while T.J just stood there in front of her, looking appalled. ‘You don’t love me,’ he said gently. ‘You think you do, but you don’t. And I’m sure there’s a guy out there waiting for you, who’d be perfect for you-’

‘No!’ she sobbed. ‘You’re the only one for me!’ Her acting was so good that I could almost fool myself into thinking that she actually meant everything she said, but I knew that it was just to get sympathy votes from people, to get them to feel sorry for her and turn against T.J - which is what I’m sure she wanted, since he was subjecting her to this humiliation.

‘I’m not going to stand here and argue with you all day,’ and, for the first time, I could detect a note of anger in his voice. ‘I’m going home.’ Then he turned to me and said, not looking the least bit bothered by the eagerly watching audience, ‘Grace, you coming?’

Rachael look like a balloon about to pop, so I hurriedly said ‘yes,’ and hurried off after him, ignoring the protesting shrieks of Rachael as we walked out of the gates.

The first few minutes of the walk home to T.J’s house was silent, but my thoughts were getting too much to hold into my head, and I blurted out, ‘Don’t you care about how school’s going to be for you tomorrow?’

T.J raised an eyebrow, and we turned into an Alley that lead to Glynn Way. ‘And how exactly is school going to be for me tomorrow?’

I boggled. ‘Are you mentally insane? You just dumped the most POPULAR girl in school, and you don’t think you’ll be getting any funny stares from people.

He rolled his eyes. ‘Grace, I already get looks from people, you think it makes any difference if the looks they give me are ‘funny’?’

I frowned. Odd, but T.J sounded…bitter. I had never really considered the idea that T.J might not like being popular. But he did ask out the now popular girl in school, didn’t he? He must have known.

‘Don’t you…don’t you mind that people stare at you all the time? Or do you like it?’ I teased, hoping to lighten the tense atmosphere.

A reluctant smile pulled up at the edges of his lips. ‘I totally enjoy all the attention,’ he said sarcastically.

I laughed. ‘Good - ‘cause tomorrow, you’re gonna get lots of attention,’

His smile faltered, and we turned into his street. ‘I know, but it doesn’t really-’

He was interrupted by the shrill ringing of his phone, and Juno Joo started playing, one of my favorite songs by them, called ‘Time,’

We’re breaking down the boundaries,
And cleaning up our act,
The clock is gaining on us,
We dread it,
But it’s a fact,
We’d spin in circles all day long,
And withhold our conscious mind,
But quick we have to hurry,
Run,
It’s that monster we call time

T.J hurriedly took out his phone from his pocket and pressed the green button. ‘Hello?’

I didn’t know who it was, but my unasked question was soon answered when T.J bit out, ‘Rachael - I told you. It’s over. That’s the end of it…What? - No - no! It has nothing to do with your body…no…no…Rachael, you are not fat!...Yes, Rachael,’ he sounded tired. ‘Your boobs are big enough,’ I blushed when I heard that. ‘I told you - I just don’t like you in that way anymore!’ I could see that T.J was building up a lot steam, and the free hands that wasn’t holding his latest, up-to-date phone clenched tightly into a fist. He finally bit out, in an extremely infuriated tone, ‘Rachael, just leave. Me. Alone! I don’t love you, I never did, I don’t like you. You’re boring, you’re superficial, you’re a two-faced bitch, and I hate you!’ And with that, he slammed the phone down.

He was breathing hard, and I waited a few minutes for him to calm down before asking, ‘Is everything alright?’

He nodded grimly. ‘It is now.’

‘T.J?’ I said quietly.

‘Yeah?’

I hesitated before asking, ‘If…if you felt all that…all that stuff about Rachael from the start….then why didn’t you just dump her at the start.

He took so long to answer me that I thought he was ignoring me. But then he said, ‘Because, back then, I didn’t have a good enough reason to.’

I would have pondered on what that had meant, but we had reached his house

~*~
‘You wanna muffin?’ T.J asked me as we both sat ta the breakfast table in his big, modern kitchen.

‘Yes, please,’

He took out two blueberry muffins from the pantry and handed me one, then sat down next to me.

‘You know, it’s weird,’ I said thoughtfully, nibbling on the edge of my muffin.

‘What is?’

‘I never thought I’d be doing this with you. You know – this,’ I gestured around the kitchen. Actually, if it had been a month ago and someone told me that you and e would be actual friends then I would have thought that they had a severe mental disorder,’

T.J grinned. ‘Yeah - but I’m glad you’re my friend now,’ He looked so serious that I blushed.

‘Well, it’s all thanks to Mr. Banner,’ I said.

‘Yeah, if it hadn’t been for that English teacher then we wouldn’t be here together.’

I felt bright inside at his use of the word ‘together’, making us seem an entity. I told myself to stop being stupid, and said, ‘Yeah, but don’t forget, if we didn’t do that ‘mind project’, then you wouldn’t be able to go to Prom,’

He nodded, and then he stilled for a moment, and blinked, ‘What do you mean that I wouldn’t get to go to Prom? You wouldn’t be able to go either,’

‘Oh, I’m not going to prom,’ I told him.

He froze. ‘What?’ He spluttered. ‘But - but you have to go!’

I raised an eyebrow at his confusing demeanor, ‘Oh really? And why is that?’

‘You just - you just do. Prom is the whole reason people even try hard in Year Eleven.’

I mock-scowled at him and poked him in the shoulder, ‘I’ll have you know that I try hard this year so I’m able to make something of myself,’

He rolled his eyes and mockingly bowed to me. ‘Oh, yes. All hail Grace, the mighty tryer.’

I smacked him on the shoulder and stuck my tongue out, then instantly put it back in when I saw his gaze linger on my mouth for just a little too long. A blush crept into my cheeks, and I moved my head to the side so that my hair formed a sort of curtain around my face, preventing him from seeing my crimson cheeks.

‘But seriously,’ he said after a awhile, and I was forced to look at him. ‘Why aren’t you going to Prom?’

I shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I just…it’s just not my thing. And anyway, I probably won’t even get asked by anybody.’

He had a weird look on his face, as if he was slightly uncomfortable, and he kept opening his mouth and closing it, as if he wanted to say something to me but just…couldn’t.

I decided to spare him, and I asked him ‘So what about Rachael now? I mean, are you going to take back your words when you asked her to Prom, or-‘

‘I never asked Rachael to Prom, Grace,’ T.J cut in.

I blinked. ‘You…you didn’t?’

He smirked. ‘You look surprised,’

‘Well, of course I am! She is - was - your girlfriend!’

T.J shrugged. ‘I never really wanted to go with her to Prom. I mean, sure, she’s been hinting really badly lately, but I just…’ he shrugged again. ‘I don’t really fancy spending the most important event of year eleven with someone I hate.’

It was unnerving to hear him state something like that with such bluntness. ‘So you never loved her?’ I asked.

He shook his head. ‘No,’ he bit into his muffin and chewed thoughtfully. ‘I don’ think I ever could like someone like her.’

We sat in silence for a moment, then, to my horror, a song started playing on the radio, and T.J glanced at me sharply. The song was written by my father, and his band, Under The Ocean, to my mother after he left her, though I only figured that song out afterwards. It was called ‘Hey Julia,’ and I closed my eyes and tried not to cry at the words I knew so well washed over me.

Hey Julia,
I think it’s time for you to go now,
The tears you shed,
On our bed,
Have dried,
So Julia,
I think it’s time for you to go now.

What once was whole is now broken,
And all those words that were spoken -
Between us, now have no meaning,
And right now I think I’m waiting,
Not for you to stay,
So right now I have to say,
Hey Julia, I think it’s time for you to go now.

Hey Julia,
I think it’s time for you to go now,
I thought I saw you on the street,
I held out my hand,
Waiting for us to meet –
Again,
But I pulled back,
And walked on,
Julia,
I think it’s time for you to go now.

What once was whole is now broken,
And all those words that were spoken -
Between us, now have no meaning,
And right now I think I’m waiting,
Not for you to stay,
So right now I have to say,
Hey Julia, I think it’s time for you to go now.

Hey Julia,
I think it’s time for you to go now,
I saw you in the sky,
And you just passed my by,
Without a word,
Without a thought,
You just sailed as I swam,
I now know who I am,
So Julia
I think it’s time for you to go now.