Aedan's Story - 17. Chapter 17: Spring Out Of Middle School

March 19 2018 Avalon, Connecticut

It was the first day back from Spring Break, and my first day in the Spring sports season. I would have begun earlier in March with ultimate frisbee if it wasn't for basketball playoffs.

"There you are Aedan," Jake said as I stepped onto the field. I was dressed in a couple hoodies, leggings, and sweatpants, as it was still quite chilly outside. The heavy snow the previous week had melted off, leaving the grassy field shared between the high school and middle school damp and frosty.

"Hey, Jake," I said, pulling up my hood over my dark hair to stay warm. We had done warm up stretches inside and did some jogging to warm up before tossing frisbees and practicing plays for upcoming games in a couple weeks.

Our school only had one team for ultimate frisbee, as there weren't enough people to have separate boy and girl teams or different teams for grade levels. Just one team of eleven (which is I guess a bit of an increase from last spring's seven players), made up of eight boys and three girls. Including Katie and Nina. Just my fucking luck...

"You can go toss a frisbee with the girls," Jake suggested. I groaned and walked over there. Jake and I were the only 8th grade boys on the team and Katie and Nina were the only other 8th graders. Most everyone else was in 7th grade. 5th and 6th graders couldn't play sports at school. Not sure why that is. It was a problem back in Tennessee too.

"Hey, girls," I walked up to them.

"Hey, Aedan..." Katie scowled. Damn she can hold a grudge.

"I don' like the sound of that..." I muttered before she shoved me and tripped me so that I fell into frosty muddy grass. "Ow... What the fuck was that for?" I sat up as Kelly, the 7th grade girl, gasped at my use of a swear word.

"Now, we're even," Katie said, helping me up.

"You wanna get even with me too?" I offered Nina.

"Nah, I'm all good," the hispanic teen girl shrugged. "As much as it would amuse me to shove you into the mud... it would be painful for me."

"Why?"

"It's that time of the month, you idiot!" She reached up and bonked me on the head with a plastic yellow disk.

"Oh...?" I shrugged. Then realization hit me. "Oh...! EWW! Gross!" The girls all laughed at me.

Jake came over. "Is there a problem?"

"Yeah, Aedan here is being immature and STUPID..." Nina complained.

"Aedan, drop and give me twenty," Jake ordered. My jaw dropped. "No horsing around during practice."

"Um, bro, you ain't the coach."

"I'm the team captain," he poked me in the chest. "So, you follow my command."

"Is twenty push ups too much for you?" Nina asked, trying not to laugh.

"No.. But..."

"Do it... we don't have all day, Jackson!" Jake impatiently tapped his foot.

I sat down in my math class after turning in my homework on the teacher's desk. I sat down and folded my arms on my desk and rested my head.

"Tired?" Ian asked, sitting in his seat next to me. Ian was on the baseball team for the spring season and had also come from first period practice like I had.

"Not really..." I huffed. "I just hate the ultimate frisbee team this year..." Ian tilted his head to the side. "The team captain hates my ass and so do the girls... stupid co-ed team..." I frustratedly shoved my hair out of my face.

"Uh, isn't the team captain Jake... he's, like, your best friend...?" Ian asked.

"Not anymore. We, like, had a fight over the break, but that goes back to February too. And he's still mad at me. I offered to talk about it, since we literally live together, but he's just being a jerk!"

"You and Jake will make up," Ian said. "You two are like brothers."

April 2 2018

I closed the door to my locker and was about to walk to ELA class, when I overheard some voices several lockers to my right. "What a spoiled little faggot... Your punk friend lives with you in your big fancy ass mansion. And you play with frisbees every day," a burly looking football player was harassing Jake at his locker! Yeah, Jake's been a jerk to me for the last few weeks, but I ain't just gonna let him get bullied.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" I walked up.

The football player laughed. "You two think you scare me? I could snap your arms off."

"Just stop..." Jake said. I shoved the bully into the wall of lockers before he kicked me in the chest, knocking me back. "Aedan!" Jake shouted.

"STOP HARASSING JAKE!" I growled. "He clearly has way more morals than your sorry ass could ever live up to!" He swung a punch at me, but I nimbly dodged, and he tumbled to the floor from his own force.

"Enough fighting..." a teacher stepped in. "You three, come to the principal's office."

"Awww..." came a moan from the crowd that had gathered to watch the fight.

"Nathan Bosch... I expected better from you," the principal said, looking at the football player. "Aedan Jackson, it's a pleasure to see you again." I blushed and looked down at my jeans. "And Jacob Grant, I never expected to see you in here."

"Jake did nothing wrong!" I blurted out.

"Quiet!" The principal paused. "Nathan, you first." I rolled my eyes.

"I was just minding my own business when this hillbilly freak started attacking me!"

"Oh please," Jake scoffed. "You were totally harassing me."

"Yah," I muttered. "Nathan was calling my friend some very impolite slurs."

"Mister Jackson, considering your very impolite record at this school, I would watch your tongue."

"Sir, Aedan was just defending me," Jake said. "I'm serious. He can get a little overheated and irrational and..."

"Dude! Seriously?!" I widened my eyes.

"What I mean is that Nathan wouldn't leave me alone. Aedan came in and... took care of things."

"Is this true, Mr. Bosch?" The principal asked. Nathan nodded silently. "Nathan, you get a detention since this is your first violation. Mister Jackson, I warned you, in September..."

"SIr, please, it's been six months!" I pleaded. "I wasn't going to let that jerk harass my friend."

"Your actions defending your friend are noble, but we have a no tolerance rule for fighting. I have no choice but to send you to reform school." I sighed.

"That's so unfair!" Jake cried.

"What a baby..." Nathan scoffed.

"Mister Bosch... to class..." the principal scolded. "Back to class for you as well Mister Grant." He took a few steps. "Mister Jackson. You'll be heading to reform school for the rest of the day. The bus will take you there shortly."

"If he has to go, I want to go too!" Jake said.

"Mister Grant... Go... now..." Jake left the room. "Aedan Jackson... I can't believe you. I thought you changed. But at the end of the day, you're just another delinquent."

"I will never apologize for defending my friend, you loser!"

"That's enough out of you!"

April 6 2018

I was laying on my bed playing Super Mario Odyssey on the handheld Nintendo Switch after a long week at stupid reform school. I didn't stay there. I lived here at the house, but I went to the reform school in Norwich instead of my normal middle school in Avalon. They released me today on good behavior. I was the only student there this week to not pick a fight or sass a teacher. I did get shoved into a locker though. But I wasn't punished for that because I wasn't the aggressor.

My hoodie's sleeves were rolled up because it was warm in my room. But, I had to be careful to roll them back down when with other people to hide the cuts on my right wrist. It had become a way to have some kind of control over myself after losing my best friend and getting sent to a shitty reform school and not being understood by anyone around me.

As I was playing through a tricky level in the game I heard a knock. "Come in..." I drawled as I pulled my sleeves up to cover my cut wrists.

Jake stepped into the room. "Oh, you have the switch..." Jake muttered.

"You can have it when I'm done," I sighed.

"Take your time," Jake blinked. He paused and looked around the messy room. Him and I really haven't hung out on friendly terms since February. "Hey, um, Aedan. I've really missed you on the team. And you're like, one of our best players. Will you be back at school soon?"

"Uh, yeah, I'll be back Monday," I murmured. "I don't know if I'll be back on the team."

"WHAT WHY?" Jake asked.

"I dunno. You kinda act like a jerk when in team captain mode, dude," I drawled as I brushed my long hair out of my face. I hadn't gotten a haircut in a couple months. Jake gave me a puzzled look.

"I know I haven't been the best friend I should have been the past few weeks. I kinda... well..." a blush crept over Jake's cheeks. "I maybe got a bit jealous. Of you. And... h-how you've dated more girls than me. And the flirting and stuff. And your height and muscles. And then there's me. A dork who's barely started puberty and is a mess around girls."

"You got a crush on me or somethin'?" I chuckled.

"NO!" Jake shook his head and waved his arms. "I'm not gay, dude!" Jake sat on the bed. "But, I really screwed up."

"I did too," I put down the handheld console. "I was being reckless and immature... and cheaty, like my dad was" I hugged Jake. During the hug, my sleeve rolled up a bit, enough to expose my cut. Shit...

"Aedan... what is that...?"

"Uh just a couple cuts. The bunnies have sharp claws..." I lied. And, yes, the Grants keep pet bunnies in the backyard during the warmer months. They're very cute and playful. They don't have claws though!

"Dude there's a razor on your nightstand!" Jake gasped. He hugged onto me tightly, and I felt his tears on my neck. "Never do that again okay... Don't hurt yourself. It's scary. And I care too much about you. Promise me you won't..." Jake pleaded. I nodded silently.

May 4 2018

I brushed my hair out of my face as I stepped onto the grassy field. It was a perfect warm spring day for an ultimate frisbee game. It was like 74 degrees and zero clouds in the sky. I had my team shirt on, which was like a navy blue soccer jersey, and I had on a pair of grey Nike Elite shorts. For games, we could wear whatever we wanted as long as we had our team shirt on. Our game today was against the Milldale Leopards and it was a home game. I was being called in to play after Chase Maddox, the seventh grader boy, twisted his ankle. It wasn't sprained or broken, but he was ordered to stay out of the game. I got quite a few interceptions, being pretty freakin' tall for a middle school boy. The wind made throwing the disk at a target a little tricky, but I got used to the wind, and was able to throw and catch well, even scoring a few points upon catching the frisbee in the end zone. Our team won the match and afterwards I was showering in the locker room. This school thankfully had curtains in the shower stalls unlike at my old school. And that's all I'll say about that.

I quickly got dressed in a pink tank top and some athletic shorts to hide myself after my shower.

Afterwards, Jake and I went out for smoothies and River tagged along too. "River why'd you have to come?"

"Cuz I wanna hang out with y'all..." River's voice cracked a little.

"Dude, it's fine," Jake smiled to River. My little brother was in an Abercrombie t-shirt and some knee length basketball shorts.

"Bro, you're so lame!" I scoffed when River started doing his math homework. "It's the dang weekend!"

"Shut up, Aedan," River pouted.

"Aedan, go flirt with those girls over there," Jake suggested, holding back a chuckle. "I wanna see the master at work."

"The 'master' who ha'n't had a girlfriend in three months..." River scoffed, not taking his eyes off his homework.

"Stay focused on that, nerd," I rolled my eyes. Our order number was called, and I went up to grab the smoothies, passing by a table of cute girls on my way back. I felt a little excitement between my legs upon looking at their developed chests. Maybe I could flirt with them. I set down the 3 drinks on our table and then went back over. "Um, hey girls," I blushed a little. These girls were closer to Violet in age, and in high school. "Y'all wanna see the gun show?" I flexed my arms for them.

"Aww... what a little dork..." they laughed. I blushed in embarrassment. "You could probably get a girl your own age, though." One of the girls said.

"Oh, thanks," I laughed a little.

"You're in ninth grade, right?"

"Naw, I'm still in eighth..." I sheepishly rubbed my arm across my chest.

"Wow... you look older than you are. I'll see you next fall when you're in high school, I guess."

"What's your name?" I asked her. The other girls gave their friend a weird look, as she was actually flirting with a middle school boy. "I'm Aedan by the way."

"Kelly," she said. "I like your accent." I looked over at Jake, whose jaw dropped. Kelly and her friends stood up to leave. She lightly kissed my cheek. She was roughly my height despite being older by two years. Her other friends were a little shorter even. I stood there, blushing as I watched them leave, laughing a little bit.

"Dude..." Jake stood up and rushed over. "That was epic!" He was wearing a Star Wars t-shirt that said 'May the Fourth be with you' and a pair of jeans.

"Um, bro," I swooped my bangs from my face. "I won't like, ever see those girls again." I sat down and began to drink my smoothie.

June 8, 2018

I stepped out with all my classmates onto the football field for our graduation from Avalon Middle School. I had on a navy blue graduation robe on over a short sleeve grey polo shirt, my red converse, and jeans, along with a navy blue graduation cap with a silver-colored tassel. Jake was giving a speech, as he was the valedictorian. I was far from that position, beng 74th in a graduating class of 108 kids. Yeah, I know, I'm not the best student. Sports and art come easily to me, but not math, science, or ELA, the subjects that actually matter in school.

Jake's speech was cool, but my sore teeth were bothering me from my ortho appointment yesterday when they adjusted my braces. When Jake finished his speech, all the graduated students walked the 400 feet over to the high school building. I had been in there before, but the building would be my school for the next four years until I graduate from high school in 2022.

"We made it, Aedan," Jake fist bumped me.

"Yup. Thank gawd middle school's over!" I cheered.

"If you think middle school's bad... just wait until we're in high school," a goth androgynous teen next to me spoke up. "It's gonna get WAY worse..."

"Wait... wut...?" my stomach dropped.