Daffodils

Chapter 11

I decided to walk towards Kim's house. I had my school bag and a bag which contains my uniform. I didn't want to use my dad's car. It was a cold night and I wanted to enjoy the cold breeze. I wore my black leather jacket, Kim's favourite, to avoid catching cold.

I reached to Kim's house. I saw his room's light was still lighten that means he was still awake. I reached near the door and bring my hand to the door bell. But I stopped myself, I didn't know what stopped me to press the bell. I was just a door away to meet him, to hug him, to cuddle him the whole night. But I didn't know what was happening. I wanted to meet him, but also, I didn't want to meet him at the same time. It was confusing. I stepped back. I took a glimpse at his window. I wanted to be there in his room. But something stopped me.

I was frustrated for thinking like this. The place where I find comfort once, is now became a place where I have to think twice before going. Kim's arms were used to be my home once but now I'm unsure about going to him. I didn't know why all that happened to me.

I started walking towards the lake. The sound of running water and the reflection of moon gives immense pleasure and calmness inside me. Whenever I needed to think something serious, whether I went to Kim or to the lake.

I sat on the rocks near the lake. Under the moonlight, water looks like pearl. And as expected, the reflection of beautiful round moon on the water looked really soothing. The sound of pearly running water provided the peace I urged for.

Suddenly my thoughts moved from Kim to Lisa. I didn't know what happened and what stopped me from going to Kim. And the strangest thing amongst all was...why did I think about Lisa. I was obviously disturbed due to the whole situation of Lisa, but thinking about her while I was going to Kim was still disturbing. I was conflicting with myself in my mind. And at one point, I started thinking about Lisa as a person and not about her problems. I started thinking about how much she loved to play with pets, how she reacts around elders, how much she adores the nature and all that. Thought of Kim was totally removed from my mind.

Lisa became my friend through Kim. But the bonding we shared was better than Kim and Lisa's bonding. Lisa and Kim always bickered around and for anything serious, they both relied on me. Lisa was really quiet when you meet her for the first time. But when you got to know her, she's the biggest trouble maker you'll ever know.

The sky started getting brighter. I was so immersed in the thoughts that I couldn't even notice the time. It was 5 in the morning and I realised that I didn't take sleep the whole night. I got up, picked my bag and stuffs and started walking towards school. School was approx 40 minutes away from that place but I need to find a place to change into my uniform, first.

I went to the public washrooms. I changed my dress and dumped the extra bag in near by dustbin as the bag was already torn.

It was a nice morning but the morning wasn't nice for me. As soon as I reached the school gates, I saw Lisa was hugging a boy. And I knew who it was. Lisa was close with me and Kim only.

"Umm, hey." I stared them. Lisa startled and stepped back from Kim.

"Hey, buddy. Where were you? I texted you for an hour straight last night." Kim said.

"Nothing. Actually-" I side eyed Lisa. "I was tired so I slept early than usual, yesterday."

"Let's go to the class, Kim." I grabbed Kim's hand and literally dragged him towards class. He was whining but he thought that all I do was just troubling him. We left Lisa behind and I didn't give a second glance to her. I don't know why I felt like that. But seeing her happy, with someone else, hurted me.

The moment we reached the class door, we bumped into our teacher. Kim was behind me, so practically I bumped onto him. He started scolding us and Kim was just giggling. I gazed at him.

After we saved ourselves from the tiger's claw, by apologizing, we settled on to our seats. Within five minutes, Lisa entered the class. And that tiger caught his another prey.

He scolded Lisa for being late. But not as much as he scolded us. And the reason was obvious, she got late sometimes and we got on time sometimes. She took her seat and the teacher started teaching. She took glances at me every now and then. It seems like she wanted to say something. But I didn't want to listen her. And I don't even know why.

I rested my head on table to ignore both Kim and Lisa. I was thinking about everything. I was jealous that Kim hugged Lisa. Or maybe, I was jealous that Lisa was in Kim's embrace. I didn't know.

The bell rang. It was our lab class. Kim woke me up and we both got up from our seats. As we both left class, Kim remembered that he had to pick his notes from Jack. He went to Jack's class and asked me that he'll meet me at the lab. So I started moving towards lab.

"Rick." I heard someone calling me from behind. I turned around and saw Lisa running towards me. I didn't wait for her and continued walking to the lab.

"Rick, please." She grabbed my arm and turned me towards her. Luckily, the corridor was empty. Nobody saw me ignoring her.

"What, Lisa? We are getting late. Let me go to the class."

"Since when do you care about your class, Rick?" She quipped and rolled her eyes on me.

"Since today." I snapped and started walking.

"Rick, stop it." She almost yelled at me. "Why are you behaving weirdly? You didn't even greet me this morning. You just ignored me and dragged Kim with you."

"What are you trying to say, Lisa?" I looked away from her.

"You know what I'm trying to say. Why are you ignoring me all of a sudden? You were okay, yesterday. You even consoled me. Why are you ignoring me now?"

"Lisa, look. I don't know what you are saying and-"

"Out of all the people, you know me better. And now you are saying that you can't understand what I'm saying even though I'm speaking straightforward. Don't play dumb, please." She chuckled sarcastically.

"What do you want to hear? Huh? Say." She flinched when I started shouting. I grabbed her arms tightly and pinned her against the wall. "What do you want to hear, Lisa? That I got jealous while seeing you and Kim hugging? Or the fact that I couldn't stopped thinking about you since the day I saw you in the park, crying your eyes out and running away from us. Lisa, I don't know what's happening with me. I don't know what's going on." She tried releasing herself from my grip but I didn't know what had happened to me.

"Rick." She shouted and pushed me away. "What the fuck you are up to? What are you even saying? You are jealous because I hugged Kim. Are you insane? I understand that he's your boyfriend but Rick, he's my friend too. You don't have to get jealous because he hugged his another friend. Atleast trust your boyfriend, Rick. And you are getting jealous because your boyfriend hugged a girl." She chuckled and wiped her tears. "You know what, now I'm thinking that opening up in front you about my problems, was the biggest mistake I've ever made, Rick." She said in a low voice. She ran away from me.

"No. N-no, Lisa. I didn't mean that. L-lisa." I get back into reality and realised what I've done. She ran away from me. I was just standing there and yelling her name. I couldn't move. Something was stopping me. But I didn't know what. She wasn't at fault. She didn't do anything then why did I shout at her. I didn't know anything.