Chapter 27: 15|Hating me isn't hard after all-1

Turns out, hating me wasn't hard after all. When Felix and I had an eye contact this morning, I swear on my life, I saw him give me a minuscule nod of acknowledgement but by the time I saw him again during lunch, something happened. He glared at me. And it wasn't a playful one. Even Rose saw it and asked me "What crawled up his butt and died?" I merely managed to shrug in response. Alex for some reason, was a little cut off from me and I have no idea what happened. I spent whole day with Neal as Liam couldn't look me in eyes after yesterday. I am at fault. It was my duty to make sure that he falls asleep but I went into slumber first and he couldn't. When he did find some rest, whatever was haunting him, fell on him like ice cold water. I woke up at 3:15 AM when I heard a muffled scream beside me. I craned myself on elbows, confused out of my mind but then I saw him and everything cleared like a misted mirror after hand prints. He was sweating profusely while whimpering as if he was in immense pain. His face was contorted in agony as he clutched bed sheets in despair. I saw tears run down his face and I cross my heart, I almost cried seeing him like that. It was heart-breaking. I shook him awake and he almost slapped me away. But when he saw it was me, he jumped back from my touch as if I burned him. In a few second, I witnessed the most painful transition of my life. His eyes turned from frightened to cold and completely blank. He used his calmest tone and told me to get out. His calm voice broke me more than the crack in his voice while screaming for help. I didn't give up. I wouldn't, I promised. Despite his protests and venomous threats, I hugged him tightly. I didn't even move when he tried to pry me away. He gave up after some time and cried himself to sleep in my arms. I stayed whole night, caressing his hair and involuntarily crying for him. He woke me up in the morning and hurried away to bathroom, leaving me all shattered. His eyes were blood red and I could clearly see the shame swirling in them. He had nothing to be ashamed of. He increased his respect in my eyes. I wanted to tell him the same but he didn't give me the chance. He skipped both math and Journalism. Finally, I decided to give him some space and talk to him at home. So basically, I spent the day catching up with Neal. I admit, he distracted me from all the frustration and man was he a good distraction? I realised something today. I can absolutely rely on Neal for everything- support, distraction, care, everything. He was the only one amidst all the 'Alpha Males' present in my life who came with the minimum amount of drama on his tag. All he had to do was throw a cheesy nerdy pick up line at me and I would turn into puddle of goo. I was as close as hair width to exploding by the time I made it to practise. "Everything okay, captain?" I craned my neck and saw Caleb leaning against his locker with a concerned expression. "Yeah." He studied me for a second and the nodded as he walked away. My eyes fell on Felix who was standing across me and shooting daggers. My anger blew as I marched to him and slammed my fist on Jack's locker. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" "What's wrong with me?! I must be asking you that! You blew everything up for me!" he yelled. I gave him an incredulous look. "What did I do? I never told-" "My dad came across the video of you oh-so gracefully punching me! I didn't even know about it and whatever chances I had with-" He pursed his lips and shut up abruptly, leaving me baffled. "Stay out of my way, Parker." He growled and stomped out as I glared in thin air. I was suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling of crying it all out and I did the sanest thing, I could think of. I asked Coach Andrew for an out from practise. One look at my face and he let me go. I went home and treated myself with a hot shower, comfy PJs and Cookie dough ice cream. My phone screeched and I felt like throwing it away because of constant texts from Alex, but thank god I saw the caller first. Aiden. It was a Facetime request. I accepted it in a second, needing some comfort. "Hey." "Hey, squi-" he stopped when he eyed the ice cream in my hand. "What's wrong?" Asher must have heard the word wrong as he scrambled and pushed Aiden's face away to see me. I chuckled at that. "Who are we supposed to kill? Name it Astrid-bear and their dead body will be under your feet in an hour." I couldn't help but laugh and give him a huge grin for that. "Kill yourselves then." He looked confused. "Care to elaborate?" Aiden asked, baffled. "I miss both of my idiots!" I fell on my bed against my back and dangled my phone in air to chat properly as they chuckled and their side of visual vibrated because of their laughter. I smiled seeing them smile and laugh because of me. They are my home. Who needs a soul mate when you've your first love in your brothers and dad? "Remember the time when I used to call you both Aiden-man and Asher-clown?" Aiden chuckled at the memory of my 8 year old self looking at him like he was god himself when he caught me from falling off a tree and broke his own arm in the process. While Asher glared when my nickname as it reminded him of the time when he coloured his front teeth- black, using a marker, all because I felt horrible without my recently fallen one. Yup. They love me that much. Time drifted and we kept laughing and reliving our beautiful childhood. I almost wished to go back and free myself from people and their complexity but then I realised that no matter how much I grew up, I am still the same 8 year old when it comes to my brothers, who are more than willing to risk everything in their possession to keep me at peace. ~~~~ "Psst, are you free today?" I whispered to Rose as Mr Smith kept on drawling about amoebas. "If you're asking me out, then I am sorry to disappoint you but I am most definitely into boys." I rolled my eyes. "More like into my brother." She glared at me but I didn't miss the faint blush dusted across her cheeks that made me smirk. "Why? Anything I should know about?" I gave her a sheepish smile and scratched my ear. "I kind of need your help. I don't know a thing about shopping and I need to buy dresses and all the jazz that goes with them. I have to go to a business dinner tomorrow, with dad." She nodded in understanding and grinned at me. "Sure. I would love to help. Pick you up at 5?"