Rejected Protector

THE INCIDENT-2

I thought he would get over it in time. That I would let him calm down and then we would talk it over, but when I tried to talk to him a couple of weeks after “the incident,” that didn’t go so well. I saw Trevor leaving the training ground alone and tried to approach him to work things out. Our conversation went a little like this.

“Hi Trev, you have a second,” I asked, walking up to him.

He cringed and looked at me clearly, getting angry for some unknown reason.

“First, my name is Trevor. You don’t have permission to call me Trev.”

To say that the venom in his voice shocked me was an understatement.

“Wow,” I exclaimed.

“Second,” he continued, “I made it clear that I had nothing else to say to you. We are no longer friends. You stay out of my way and I will stay out of yours, ok?”

“But Trevor, we have been friends for over 16 years, why won’t you talk to me. Can’t we work this out and remain friends. I’m going to be your third in command. We will need to work together.”

“Look Seleste, you should have talked to me before you decided to fight me like a girl and make me look weak in front of all the warriors. Did you get a good laugh at me with them?” Trevor yelled in my face.

He really needed to take it down a notch.

“I never tried to make you look bad. What do you mean I fought you like a girl? Um, Trevor, I am a girl. So, I’m a little confused. I thought it was a good fight. If you had waited, I could have told you the areas you need to work on to do better the next time. I mean, that’s what I usually do with the other warriors. You have a couple of tells when you get ready to throw a punch that could make a difference in a fight.”

I started trying to explain the things I noticed, but I could tell that Trevor was getting madder. I honestly don’t know what I did wrong this time, but Trevor had smoke coming out of his ears. He was so mad. A vein was popping out on his forehead. Everything in me wanted to touch him right now. For some reason, it feels like our touching would calm him down, but there is no way I would get that close to him right now.

“Seleste, are you hearing yourself right now? You want to tell me, the future alpha, what I need to do to improve? Well, listen and listen well, I will only say this once. I don’t care what you do with other warriors. I am NOT THEM! I will be your alpha and you will respect me. I can’t believe you think you have the right to correct me! Like I said earlier, stay away from me and I will stay away from you. As for you being the future Gamma, we can work together without having to interact personally. You just do your job!” Trevor yelled and walked off in a huff.

I just stood there with my mouth hanging open. How could such an innocent conversation turn into something like that? I don’t know what to say to him. It seems like he is determined to be mad at me no matter what, so I will honor his request and stay away from him as much as possible.

I told my mom and the girls about the conversation I had with Trevor. They were just as confused as I was. Everyone agreed that I should stay away from him and just give him space. No one thought he would stay mad this long. This was not like him. I had never known Trevor to be so unreasonable. None of our friends can believe he is acting like this. He has always been one to put the pack first. That’s how we were all raised. The pack is more important than the individual. Collectively, we are stronger. What Trevor is doing is dividing the pack. It’s almost like he wants our friends to choose between him and me, but I refuse to put them in that position. I let them know I understand they will do things with Trevor, and I will stay away so that they can have a good time without the tension between the two of us messing up the fun. I respect his desire to not be around me. Honestly, with his attitude, I don’t want to be around him anymore, either.

Over time, I got used to not having him around and after a year, I barely missed his presence in my life. It’s sad that one event that was not that serious could ruin a 16-year friendship.