What would his dad say if he didn’t stand up for himself? That stupid nothing of a girl had challenged him. And now he had no choice but to follow through with everything, to prove that he wasn’t lame or wrong. Well, he wasn’t in fifth grade anymore and it wasn’t up to Mrs. Someone who’s actually read the story.” And everyone laughed again. “Let’s let someone else have a turn, Wesley. But he had known the right answer! So he raised his hand to answer the next question and Mrs. Clark, his fifth grade teacher, had called on him and he’d misunderstood the question and given a ridiculous answer and everyone in class had laughed hysterically. Still, even with this small victory, Wesley felt unsettled, like when Mrs. Good, Wesley thought, just keep your big, know-it-all mouth shut. That’s not just my opinion either.”īen was silent, his head down, his eyes on the ground in front of him. “The world would be a better place if you weren’t around at all. He was just so ignorant of social media popularity, too lame to amass his own following.īen didn’t look hurt enough, in fact he didn’t look hurt at all, so Wesley jabbed the knife in again, giving it a good twist this time. You don’t have anything! Nobody cares about what you do or who you are.” He knew people might be able to hear him shouting, but he didn’t care. “They don’t matter to you ’cause YOU don’t matter. Wesley couldn’t contain his anger any longer. Those videos, your YouTube, they don’t matter!” It was supposed to be a chill nature video and they just attacked me.” I looked it up and got good stuff for them. He was now breathing heavily, his chest pumping through his jacket. The image of Ben smiling and laughing with Drew made the blood in Wesley’s cheeks flood out to his hairline. “Now everyone’s laughing at me, like I made up some kind of story, like I did something wrong.” Big brothers should look out for little ones, not laugh at them, Wesley thought.

Why should I go to another gym when we’ve got one at home?” “We work out in the gym all the time, Wes. “And why did you have to invite Drew to the gym? Why don’t you guys go somewhere else for once? If you weren’t around, Drew wouldn’t have been able to make that video.” “Who does she think she is? Now she’s trying to tell me what to do?” And that stupid girl saw me….” Wesley could feel his throat constrict, his words struggling to squeeze out. Now that old bag got to stick her big, ugly nose into everything.

But I’m not some dumbass running around doing everything you say. I was gonna put the rifle back before you opened your big fat mouth. “This is all your fault, Ben,” he started. He waited until Drew became a tiny figure in the distance before he let out his frustration.

There were times when Wesley hated the world.

Fool's Bluff by Lee Gregg