Part of the ending scenes from Some Kind of Wonderful (one of my inspirations) is attached ⬆️

Song of the chapter - Policy of Truth by Depeche Mode

"Your bitch just burned you, brah."

Fucking Pete. Always has to dig in, every fucking chance he gets. Amber hadn't even walked away thirty seconds ago and he was already rubbing it in. I couldn't effing figure out what his problem with me had been lately. But I could tell things were about to blow up.

I said nothing, just sat back down at the table, using everything I had within me to appear unaffected by her tirade. He was right, though. She had burned me, in front of everyone. I should be pissed at her, I should be calling her every name in the book for destroying my rep that way.

It just wasn't in me anymore. The energy it took to be an asshole was more than I had to give. I was just so tired of it all.

"You gonna do anything about that?" Pete continued.

"Like what, you ass? What the fuck do you want me to do about that?" I actually used air quotes on that last part.

"Oh, I don't know...pull one of your classic 'who gives a fuck about that slut?' Or even better, the 'I was about done with that bitch anyway' is always a winner." Pete seemed to be asking for me to beat the shit out of him right there in the quad.

I was about ready to when Jeff interjected.

"Pete, leave him alone." Jeff put his hand on Pete's chest, physically pressing him into his seat.

"You mean like he left Hannah 'alone' at the Lot?" Pete smirked.

Shit! I hadn't talked to Jeff about that, not knowing what he already knew. One look at his reaction told me he had no idea Hannah had taken me to her house. His eyes widened and he looked back over to me.

"You what?"

I just looked at him, not knowing exactly what to say. But of course Pete jumped right on that little bomb and let it explode.

"He hit on her, even as drunk as he was, right when you left with Becca. She grabbed his keys and they jumped in his car and left." Pete confessed for me.

"She texted that she left with some of the girls!"
Jeff shouted, obviously unhappy hearing that she had lied to him. "Where the fuck did you two go?" He directed his anger right at me.

So much for having him play middle man.
He had jumped right over the fence to Pete's side.

"Um...she took me to her house." I replied quietly. This was not going well. "I spent the night there."

Part of me added that last line because I was tired of the lies. But the fucked up part of me knew how it sounded, and I wanted everyone to think that more had gone on between Hannah and I. It would definitely repair some of the damage to my rep that Amber had just caused.

"You WHAT?!? That's my cousin, you fuck! Not one of your brainless bimbos!" Jeff stood up and glared down at me.

Well, if the rest of the school had been uninterested before, their full attention was now on our little show. I had a quick decision to make, and Hannah's words came rushing back to me.

"What kind of guy are you?"

I wanted to be the kind of guy that deserved Amber. The kind of guy she wanted to have with her. But it was too late for that. Did I want to say fuck it all and just continue the way I had, pretending I was in control?

Or did I want to cut the crap, stop trying so hard to be the golden boy that got whatever he wanted? Did I want to be the unaffected shit that I played my entire life? Had it really been worth everything I gave up to be the one the others looked up to?

"You're right," I said, looking up at
Jeff, "She's not a bimbo. And nothing happened. Hannah was just looking out for me, which is more than I can say for any of you."

My decision had been made. It was time to man up and stop pretending.

Jeff just looked at me, a confused expression on his face. Tell me about it, I was almost as confused as he was.

"What do you mean, man? I've always had your back." He sounded offended.

"Kind of." But shit's been going down in my life lately and I've got no one. Amber was as close as it got, and I fucked that up. "You guys just let me get so fucked up...then you left me to deal with it."

I ran my hand through my hair, taking a deep breath and then releasing it. "But I don't have anyone to blame really, other than myself. Just...forget I said anything."

"Forget? How the hell are we supposed to forget that you put it all back on us? You're the ass hole here, remember? You're the one that blew it with Amber," Pete said through clenched teeth.

"The fuck, man? What is it with you lately? You have been a pain in my ass this entire year!"

We both stood up, two predators ready to attack. If it hadn't been for the table between us, I was pretty sure we'd be beating the hell out of each other at that point.

"I'm just sick of your bullshit, that's all. I figured it was time someone called you on it." He narrowed his gaze at me, challenging me to react.

Fuck him.

I took two steps to the side, around the table. Pete did the same. In a split second, it was on. Neither one of us had waited for the other to take the first swing. My fist connected with his jaw at the same time as his pushed into my stomach.

My elbow came up and hit his nose, causing Pete to stumble back. Catching his balance on the edge of the table, Pete came back at me, this time kicking me in the chest.

That fucking hurt! I was on my ass but pushed back up immediately. A step forward had my fist back in his face and then my arm around his neck, dragging him down. He and I were pretty evenly matched, both in fighting skill and size, but I managed to get the upper hand as soon as I got him on the ground.

Before I did any real damage, however, Jeff pulled me off of Pete. I was still in a rage, and so was he, so while Jeff held me back, another guy from the team, Sean, held Pete.

"That's enough!" Jeff yelled in my ear. I looked back at him, still breathing hard, and noticed the crowd that had gathered to watch our crew self destruct.

I looked back at Pete and noticed his bloody nose and the bruise breaking out on his chin. I'm sure I looked about the same. The aches were already setting in from his beating.

Shit. What the hell had we just done?

"We've been best friends since forever, man. What the hell is going on?" I managed to ask.

Pete just looked at me for a minute, as if he was still ready to pounce. Then all the fire went out of his eyes. He seemed to slump a little too, just shaking his head. Pete reached around Sean's grip and grabbed his bag. Then he turned and walked away, not saying another word.

"What the hell?" I whispered, mostly to myself.

"Give him some time, he'll come around," Jeff said, patting my shoulder.

Sure. I knew he meant well, but Jeff really didn't see what had been going on these past five months. No one did.

I had a feeling I would have to deal with more bullshit from Pete before things got back to normal, whatever that was. Trying to recover from the brawl, I sat back down at the table, no longer interested in my food. Jeff sat opposite me, as he had been.

"So, nothing happened with Hannah?" he asked, obviously worried I had taken advantage of her. My reputation was really shitty, apparently.

"Nah. She did bust my balls, but that's about it."

Jeff laughed, "Yeah, she's pretty tough. I should have known she was safe with you even though..." he didn't finish his sentence, looking worried at how I would react to what he was trying to say.

"I got it." He thought I was as big a douche as Amber did. "I was really drunk. I don't even remember much. I guess she washed my puke covered clothes and made sure I didn't drive drunk." I really should have thanked her for that.

"She's a really good person, you know," Jeff stated. He had a strange look on his face.

"What?" I asked, now concerned by his change in expression.

"She did ask about you, now that I think about it." He shook his head, "I blew it off as typical Matt obsession, but maybe.."

"Stop speaking in riddles, dude. Just tell me." I insisted.

"Okay. Look, this weekend was a family thing. I mean, our families are already pretty close so I do spend a ton of time with her." Jeff looked nervous for some reason.

"Dude..." I gave him the get-it-the-fuck-out look.

"Right. So I was hanging out with her yesterday and now that I think about it, she asked a bunch of questions about you." He stopped speaking. But I needed more information.

"Such as?"

"Well, she asked how big of an asshole you really were," Jeff stated. No punches were being pulled now.

"Okay. Anything else?" My patience was gone at that point.

"Um...she wanted to know what kind of reputation you had, with, um, girls." He turned red telling me that one.

"What the fuck did you tell her?" Jeff needed to stop playing with me.

"Brah, she's my cousin. I told her the truth. I wasn't trying to get you hooked up, and I couldn't figure out why she would even want to know."

Yeah. No one wanted me with someone they cared about. I was too fucking toxic. I started getting my things to leave.

"Hey, are you okay? I didn't realize how much all of this was getting to you..." Jeff actually sounded concerned. Just like Hannah had.

"No. I'm not okay. My life is shit." I finally admitted out loud. That made is so damn real.

Jeff just looked at me, not knowing how to respond. He shook his head, then surprised me with one other piece of Hannah news.

"She asked for your number," he said quietly.

My eyes shot back to him. Why the hell would she want my number? All she did was tell me what a fuck up I was.

"Okay. And..."

"I didn't give it to her. I thought she was crazy. But, now...if you want I can tell her," Jeff said, almost as a question.

"Honestly, man, she's alright. But I don't think I am. I think I should stay away from her." I'd just bring her down with me. No one needed to self destruct the way I had.

"Yeah, okay." Jeff waved me off, but he seemed like his mind was already somewhere else. I proceeded to get up and make my way to my car. I figured the rest of the school could keep dramatizing the lunch events. I just wanted out. It was time to get away from all of this bullshit and figure some things out on my own.

^^^^^

Okay, so hang on to some of the bread crumbs I left in this chapter...they will show up soon.

And this is officially where Matt's story breaks off on his own. Well, for the most part. *insert evil laugh here* Garrett is up next, are you just dying to read it?!?!

Policy of Truth is Matt's dilemma. Does he confess everything, or keep putting on the mask?

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]