My Goth Cowboy

Chapter Eight

(Johnny's Pov)

Rain and I walked back to the front of the house where everyone was talking. I bit my lip as Andy turned to us with a confused look on his face. "I'll be back." I said to Rain and he nodded. I walked up to Andy and he crossed his arms.

"Explain to me why you're hanging out with him." He said pointing to Rain. I sighed and bit my lip.

"Look, Rain used to be my best friend and I screwed up. I ignored him and said some hurtful things I didn't mean. I want to try and be his friend again." I said.

"What about me?" Andy said.

"We all can be friends! I don't want to loose either of you." I said. Andy thought about it and sighed.

"But we're both football players and he's... well he's a goth cowboy!" Andy said and I laughed a little.

"A goth cowboy?" I chuckled.

"Shut up... fine, I'll be friends with him." Andy said. I smiled and pulled Andy over to Rain.

"Hey." Andy said. Rain smiled at him and said

"Hey, you're Andy, right?" Rain said. Andy smiled at him and nodded. "It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you." Andy said. I smiled and Rain looked out into the field.

"So do all these horses have names?" Andy asked.

"Of course! They're apart of out family." Rain said.

"Do you have any other animals?" Andy asked.

"I have a fish tank and some barn cats." Andy nodded and we awkwardly stood there until Rain sighed. "So like... how bad was it?" Rain asked.

"How bad was what?" I asked.

"Ying Yang's injury..." He said. He looked so broken when he said that. He must really care about them. Who am I kidding? I know he loves them!

"He was bleeding pretty badly." Just as I said that David pulled up in his truck. He looked over at us and smiled a little.

"Hey, dad." Rain said.

"Hey, Rain. Ying Yang is staying at the hospital." David said.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked.

"He broke his leg and has some internal bleeding. They're going to keep him for a while because he has to go through surgery." David said. Rain bit his lip and nodded.

"Is he going to be alright?" Rain asked.

"I hope so..." David said. Rain sighed again and Joe came out of the house with Gabe and an ice pack on her hand.

"Hey, Joe." Rain said. Joe smiled at him. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah, thanks." Joe said. Rain nodded and sighed.

"Are you okay?" Andy asked, looking at her hand. Joe seemed a little shocked that Andy talked to her, let alone it being nice.

"Um yeah, thanks." She said and looked down at her feet. She wasn't always like this, she came into the school with her head held high the first day. But because I'm an asshole and Cherry's a b***h we bullied her. We basically broke her down in this shy, sad, reserved girl. She used to sit up front and answer every question. Now she sits in the back with her head down. Now that I think about what I did to her, I just want to punch myself in the face. I just want her to go back to being the confident girl she was. Well if I'm making up with everyone I hurt over the years I guess she's next.

"Hey, Joe?" I said.

"What?" She whispered.

"Can I talk to you?" She looked at Rain and he gave her a reassuring smile. She nodded and followed me behind the house so we could have some privacy. She held her arm and looked at the ground as I stood in front of her. I ran a hand through my hair and sighed.

"Look, I just wanted to say I'm sorry." She looked up at me in shock and confusion.

"What?" She whispered.

"I'm sorry for hurting you, for just being an asshole." I said.

"I-I don't know what to say." She said.

"I know you don't have to forgive me, and believe me I wouldn't if I were you. I mean look at what I did to you, you're so... so shy and sad now." I said. She gave me a sad smile and said

"It's sweet of you to apologize but, you're not the reason I'm sad all the time." I looked at her confused.

"What? But I bullied you..." I said.

"You may be apart of the reason but I can't blame you for it all. The reason I'm sad and more reserved is just because I don't like to get close to people." She said.

"Why?"

"I was really close to my dad when I was in 9th grade. Then in 10th, after you started bullying me, he died of cancer." She said and I saw tears in her eyes. I reached out to hug her and she flinched.

"I just want to hug you." I said. She nodded and I hugged her. She felt tense but just as I was about to pull back she broke down crying.

"I just don't know why." She said.

"Shhhh, why what?"

"Why this all happened to me, why the only friend I had died. What did I do to deserve this?" She cried.

"Joe, look at me." I said. She pulled away and looked at the ground. I put my finger on her chin and tilted her head up. "I said look at me." She sniffled and nodded. "You didn't deserve any of what happened to you. You're such a sweet girl who just went through some stuff. I don't know why I did what I did but I can't change the past. All you gotta do is hope for the future to be better, and I swear you can punch me if it isn't. And by the looks of it, you punch pretty hard." I said. She smiled at that and laughed a little.

"Thank you, Johnny. You have no idea how much that means to me." She said. I smiled and shrugged.

"It's no big deal, you okay to go back?"

"Yeah," She said and wiped her eyes. "It's fine." Her eyes were still kind of red but we walked over to Rain anyway.

"Hey, were you crying?" Rain asked Joe. Joe smiled and shrugged.

"Yeah, I tell you about it later." She said. Rain nodded and smiled. His phone went off and he picked it up.

"Hey, Max." He said and walked over to the gate. For some reason I felt weird when ever Rain laughed. Wait... am I jealous? I can't be jealous! I'm straight! There's nothing to be jealous of... Maybe I'm jealous because they have a better relationship then Rain and I now. I sighed and Andy looked at me.

"You okay, bro?"

"Fine, I'm going to take a walk. I'll see you later." He nodded and I started walking down the road. I can't be jealous, I just can't!