Chapter 39: The Ride Home

Lex's POV.

I walked out of the director's office feeling so much pain in my head. For me it was a terrible day; I had to walk very slowly.

I was walking in the direction of our classroom when I ran into Nick in the hallway.

"Where are you coming from?" He asked as he rushed over to my side, and staring at his face, I knew I couldn't tell him what happened.

Nick was going to be very disappointed, especially because he tried to stop me in the first place and I refused to listen to him.

"I just need to get my stuff and go home. I'm already so tired of being in this environment." I said to him.

Walking through our classroom door, the air felt too dry, and my body became so hot. I supported myself holding onto the wall as I walked right in and sat on the couch with my head bowed to my thigh, trying to clear my mind.

It had been such a rough day, from thinking I could apologise to Landon to beating him up in a clinic; it was just too fast.

I struggled to open my eyes as I searched for my bag, which was lying just beside me. As I grabbed it and stood up to walk out of the classroom, I heard a voice, and I thought it was in my head.

"For real, Lex, you really did that to him?"

Nick sounded very offended, and I knew he had every right to be angry because this wasn't supposed to happen; I wasn't supposed to be punching Landon so much that he sustained all those injuries from me.

I looked up at him; every will to defend myself suddenly disappeared as I looked up at him, staring at him so blankly with the guilt hitting deep.

"Is that what you're going to do, Lex? You're just going to stand here and not say anything about what you just did to London? What is this fight all about because I am kind of lost here. Look at what you did to his face; I can't even believe we were ever friends!"

He was yelling at this point, and the headache kept pounding in my head as I staggered backwards and sat back on the couch arm.

"Nick, I understand that you're offended right now, but it's not exactly what you think, all right? I didn't just go at him and punch him in his face like that; I didn't do that."

I said, finally finding my voice, but Nick was not taking it as he walked fully into the classroom, approaching Mr this time while I stared at him in silence.

"So tell me, Lex, what exactly did Landon do to deserve that kind of brutal treatment? He is our friend – at least he used to be for a long time – and all of this because of some girl? You think you can throw all these years away as if they were nothing?"

I could hear the anger in his voice, I could see the anger in his face, and I couldn't maintain my gaze on him for long because I felt so guilty that I just wanted to leave.

"Maybe you should go to Landon and ask the same question of him; he would explain better why he made me do that. You think I like that we are fighting? I mean, I came to school this morning hoping to apologise to him, but when I did, he decided to discard my apology and take everything out on me as if I had intentionally pissed him off yesterday. I don't know if he has his reasons for doing this, but he was the one that pushed me to do that to him, and it was never my intention to begin with. I wanted peace. I apologised to him, something I'll never do for anyone else!" I was also yelling at this point, but it was not out of anger anymore; it was out of the many emotions that were fighting within me and wanting to express my own side of the story.

"You think this is justifiable, Lex? No matter what Landon did to you, you don't get to beat him up like that. You need to go see his face if you've not seen what you did to him."

He yelled back at me, but I convinced myself that he didn't mean that; he was just angry because how could he discard everything I had just said and tell me that it was not justifiable?

"You know what? You, Landon, Lisa and even the annoying director – all of you can go ahead and do whatever it is you want. I don't care anymore; I'm going home."

I tightened my grip on my bag as I walked past him, nudging his shoulder with mine.

I walked into the hallway, and by the time I got outside the building, I saw her walking towards the gate.

"She must really be happy seeing all of this happen to me," I thought within myself as my driver drove right in front of me, but I stood there staring at her until she got into a cab.

My ride home was a long one. I made my driver take several stops by a cafeteria where I had lunch and then a bar.

I wanted to clear my head, but drinking wasn't doing the trick for me; it was making me think even deeper, which was the direct opposite of what I wanted.

After a few hours, I called my driver, and we were driving home again.

"Your school director emailed me and told me everything that you did today. I'm not here to ask you anything; I just want you to tell me you'll fix it." My father's voice roared as I walked right in, and it felt almost like a script because that's how I expected he'd yell, and the words were 'nice choices'.

"And what if I say I can't?" I asked.