The Love Story That Never Was

Chapter 11 - You must do what you have to do.

September 14th.

More than a week has passed. Kara was avoiding Marcus. That wasn’t just a theory. She really was avoiding Marcus. She wasn’t talking to him since that incident and she didn’t want to talk about it either.

But more than a week has passed and I am still bothered. I’ve been tossing and turning on my bed for more than a week. Why am I so bothered?

I won’t admit that I am jealous.

Or am I?

No. I’m just bothered that Marcus acted like a jerk. I know he’s better than that.

I have to talk to him.

When lunch break came, I went to the faculty room to look for Marcus. Lucky for me, he was there.

“Dude, ‘sup?”

“Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure, I’ll just have a rerun of my program then we’re good to go.”

I waited for him outside. He followed me after a few minutes.

“Yo, Dude. What’s up?”

“I was just wondering, what’s up with you and Kara?”

He sneered. “Me and Kara? Nothing.”

“Then why did you kiss her last week? That was so uncalled for.”

“Oh, that. That meant nothing. I just wanted to kiss her.”

“Why? Do you like her?”

 “No. I just wanted to kiss her. I thought it was funny to kiss and annoy her. Nothing personal.”

That was where he crossed the line. I walked in front of him, faced him then threw a punch.

“What the hell, Dude?!”

Marcus also threw a punch at me which I avoided. I punched him again. He fell to the ground.

“Nothing personal.”

I was about to leave him when he shouted. I forgot that we were at school, not to mention in front of the faculty room.

“What was this for? Do you actually like her?”

I turned. “She’s actually my friend, asshole. Never mess with my friends.”

“I am your BEST FRIEND!”

“Act like a jerk and this won’t be the last time that I’ll be throwing punches at you.”

Marcus stood up and looked behind me. I looked behind, too. Kara was there, her hand covering her mouth. Honestly, I didn’t care. Why? Sir Joshua was right behind her. I did a face palm. Sir Joshua looked around then approached us.

“Come with me.”

We silently followed Sir Joshua as he entered the faculty room. When we reached his cubicle, he told us to wait for him.

“Look, man. I’m sorry. Seriously, do you like Kara?”

I thought about it for a minute or so. The punches I threw were just impulses. It wasn’t my brain who told me to do so. It was some part of my chest that felt a pang of pain.

I looked at Marcus who was waiting for an answer.

“I like her as a friend. Nothing else. I’m sorry for punching you. It’s just… that girl didn’t deserve that. Just that.”

Marcus looked around and I absentmindedly looked too. Kara was in the room too.

What is she doing here?

I mouthed the words “what are you doing here”. She answered but I didn’t get what she said. So I did something with my face that meant I didn’t understand. She smiled and gave up then looked at Marcus. I saw shock in her face. I looked at Marcus and saw that his lower lip was bleeding.

Did I do that?

Kara got a tissue from her bag and went to Marcus.

“Are you okay? What happened to you?”

“Why are you here?” Marcus was taking the tissue from Kara. Kara was insisting on wiping his face. It was pretty annoying to watch.

“Let him do it if he wants to.” I can’t help but butt in. Kara looked at me then back to Marcus. It was just like the first day that I saw her. She didn’t pay attention to me.

“Why is it even bleeding? What happened?”

“Enzo punched me. Twice.”

“It was supposed to be just once but you tried to punch me too. Do you want to know why?” I directed the question towards Kara. She looked at me then she looked like she realized what happened.

“Here’s the tissue. I have to go now.” She went out of the cubicle but I didn’t hear the door open. She must be in another teacher’s cubicle. Sir Joshua came in a few minutes after.

“Marcus, Enzo, that was quite a sight there. What happened?”

 “That was my fault, Sir. Sorry.” I explained.

“Don’t you know, had the deans see you there, you’d be suspended for who knows how long.”

Sir Joshua was in deep thought. Marcus and I were looking at each other. I saw how much he bled and frankly, I was satisfied. He did deserve that for being a douche bag.

“I have an offer for you,” Sir Joshua finally said, “I will not tell anyone about this but you will join the Athletes.” Now that’s an offer I can’t refuse.

“It’s a deal, Sir. Thanks!”

With that settled, he let us go.