by Rua Hasan
“Just place my things here and you can get going. I’ll see you later,” she told Dan who stayed unresponsive. He then groaned to himself as he cursed under his breath and walked away. The sight looked amusing and I could imagine the steam coming out of his ears.
“What the hell was that about?” Jasmine asked. Sydney did not answer and kept the smirk on the face.
“Yea, can you please explain what just happened?” Matt said.
“Well, my friends, what you just saw was Dan losing a bet to me,” she said as she patted herself on the back.
“A bet?” I asked.
Sydney nodded her head.
“Apparently, Dan thought since he was better than me in soccer. Well, I proved him wrong.”
“Oh my god! He challenged you in soccer?” Eva shrieked catching all of our attention.
“Yup,” Sydney answered.
“What’s wrong if he did?” Tyler spoke for the first time.
“In case you don’t know, my sister right here is a champion when it comes to soccer,” Eva replied.
“So, you’re making him do all your work?” I asked Sydney.
“Yup.”
“Cool,” Matt said.
Everyone continued stuffing their faces in food when Sydney spoke again, changing the subject.
“So girls! Are you ready for this afternoon?”
“Huh?” I asked.
“Oh yea, right! I totally forgot!” Jasmine muttered.
“Yea, today’s Friday.” Eva pointed out.
“What?” I asked dumbfounded.
“You know we agreed to go shopping.” Sydney reminded me.
“Oh yea! girls’ night,” I said as I quoted it with my fingers. “How could I forget?”
“Wait, so I can’t join you?” Troy asked Jasmine as he pouted. She pinched his cheek playfully and gave him a peck on the lips.
“Sorry babe. Not today.”
“Where will you be hanging out?” Tyler butted in like usual.
“Well we were thinking of—” Eva replied.
“That’s none of your business,” I said.
“I thought we’ve gone past that by now!” Tyler whined making me shake my head.
“Only when Matt decides to run with me,” I said making Matt chuckle. He then reached out to Tyler and gave him a sympathetic look as he patted his shoulder.
“It’s okay man, there are other fishes in the sea,” he said, making me grab a fry from Sydney’s tray and throwing it at his face.
“No, really! Why can’t we tag along? It’s a Friday which means the mall will be packed with horny teenagers!” Troy pointed out as he slammed his hand on the table.
“Babe, I think you’re exaggerating. We just want to have some fun alone.”
“I agree with Troy,” Tyler said. I whipped my head and looked up at him.
“So what if the mall is packed? It doesn’t really matter. It’s not like a group of boys will come and pick us up from our feet.” I pointed out. All the girls nodded.
“Yea well, Gem. In case you don’t remember, I recall someone throwing you over their shoulders yesterday, isn’t that right?” Tyler pointed out as he narrowed his eyes.
“That was different.”
“Sure it was,” Matt said sarcastically.
“Hey whose side are you on?” Sydney asked as she threw another fry to his face.
“I’m obviously on their side!” Matt said as he pointed to Troy and Tyler.
“I don’t even know what’s the point in this! Why are we discussing this anyways?” I asked as I threw my hands up in the air.
“Because I want to tag along!” Matt whined.
“Oh, shut up you big baby! We’ll go with you guys in another time,” Eva said.
“Come on babe! Can’t we tag along just for a while and then we leave?” Troy begged as he kissed Jasmine’s cheek.
“That’s not working with me mister,” Jasmine said.
“Why are you guys so persistent?” I asked.
“Because we want to make sure you guys will be okay,” Tyler answered.
I rolled my eyes.
“You guys are acting like we are going into battle.” I huffed.
“We are only shopping! I thought guys hated to tag along?” Jasmine pointed out.
“Yea we do but—” Matt said.
“Listen how about we go shopping and then meet you guys in the food court? Is that fine with you guys?” Sydney said.
Everyone was silent for a while.
“If it gets them to shut up, then I’m in,” I said.
“Fine by me,” Troy said.
Tyler nodded.
It was a good thing he’s finally satisfied. Who knew what would have happened if he wasn’t? The ground would have opened up and swallowed everyone in this room until he’d get what he wanted.
I was taking a bite out of my pizza when Troy accidentally spilled his juice all over the table.
“Shit,” he said under his breath.
“Babe do you have a napkin?” he asked Jasmine as she moved all her things to the side.
“No, I don’t,” she said.
“It’s okay I got it,” I said as I reached for a napkin from my pocket and stretched my arm forward to wipe it.
As I wiped from my side, I swung my arm towards my right when Tyler’s arm bumped into mine. In another time this wouldn’t have been such a big deal and it really wasn’t. I was wearing the bracelet Tyler gave me knowing that if I didn’t, he would have threw me over his shoulders, and wouldn’t put me down until I had it on. I didn’t know how I could describe it in any other way but it had a couple of old fashion spikes on the edge. I guess it was magnetic or something because when it got near to my bracelet, it was as if it threw itself on me causing one of the spikes to jab my wrist.
I flinched a bit as I saw a little minor scratch pouring out blood. When I say minor, I actually meant it which was no big deal but Tyler thought different.
“Shit,” he said under his breath.
I grabbed another napkin and wiped the blood as Eva took the used napkin from me and cleaned the table.
“This is my fault. You need a band-aid,” Tyler said as he grabbed my wrist.
“No I don’t,” I said as I wiped the blood that was coming out of the little scratch again.
“What if it gets infected?” Tyler asked.
I shrugged. “It’s no big deal,” I said honestly as I tried to take my wrist away from his hold but he only shook his head and got up, pulling me with him.
Of course. This is the stubborn Tyler we’re talking about.
“Come on. We’ll see you guys later,” Tyler told the group and then picked my backpack from the ground. I was about to say something when he wrapped his fingers around mine, holding my hand and walked away from the table, dragging me with him. I opened my mouth but ended up closing it, not knowing what to say so I just turned around to look at our table but saw mostly everyone smirking at me. I lifted an eyebrow then turned around and looked at Tyler as he dragged me out of the cafeteria.
“Where are we going?” I asked for the second time today. I almost didn’t notice everyone’s eyes glued on Tyler and mine’s hands as if the school always looked for some attention to focus on. No one could mind their own business. They just had to know what’s going on in others’ lives and meddle which didn’t surprise me because it was something normal you’d find in every school.
“To the nurse’s office,” Tyler answered.
I couldn’t help but let a huff of frustration out.
“This really isn’t necessary. It’s just a little scratch.” I pointed out.
“Yea, one that I caused,” Tyler said.
“Why does it matter?” I asked making Tyler stop. I stopped along with him but not before bumping into his back. I then took a step backwards so that I could tilt my head upwards to look at him.
“Because I care,” he said seriously, looking down at me. I couldn’t help but blush at his words. I knew
Tyler wasn’t coldhearted and actually cared but I’d never thought he’d say it to my face.
“You care?” I asked.
“I do,” he said as he looked at me with sincerity in his eyes.
“Then why did you bully me for all those years?” I asked bringing the past up. This was probably the very first time I actually confronted him about it. I then noticed his eyes soften as a look of guilt took over his face.
“I don’t really know,” he whispered.
“I was a stubborn, spoiled brat who wanted your attention and found it the only way to get it,” he said as he ran his other hand which wasn’t holding mine through his hair.
“By pushing me to the ground and making fun of me?” I asked, lifting an eyebrow.
“I know it was a really low move but I couldn’t help myself. I don’t know what I was thinking at that time,” he said.
It looked like he was remembering the stuff he did to me. I almost missed the look of pain which flashed in his eyes. I shook my head, thinking that this wasn’t the right moment to have this conversation when everyone was looking and listening. We needed to talk about this alone, in private. It’s not like I wanted to remind him of the times he’d bully me and give him a guilt trip after. No, that was the last thing I wanted to do.
But I really wanted some answers to where this was going. It’s really starting to confuse me. Like what are we? We act like friends but want to rip each other’s throats out from time to time.
Okay well maybe that’s just me . . .
“It’s okay. We’ll talk about this in another time,” I said, as I tugged his arm and led him to the nurse’s office to get the band-aid we came here for.
It took a while for Tyler to come back to earth because it looked like he was spacing out, thinking about what I just said but as soon as we reached the door to the nurse’s office, he looked like he remembered why we were here in the first place because his eyes flickered to my wrist.
“Shit, that’s right,” he said under his breath as he opened the door and walked in with me next to him.
The place was empty so he just walked over to a couple of drawers and started looking through them while I looked in some cabinets.
“Found them,” I said.
I took the box out and opened it, feeling Tyler’s presence behind me as the warmth of his chest hit my back.
Which was very comfortable by the wa―NOT THE POINT!
I shook the thoughts out of my head as I saw Tyler’s arm reach over for one band-aid, still standing behind me as he opened it. He rested his chin on my shoulder as he took a hold of my wrist gently and put it over the scratch.
“There we go,” he muttered to himself.
“Are you happy? Now you won’t have to be afraid of me dying,” I said.
He let out a chuckle.
“Yes. Wouldn’t want me to carry the burden now, would we?” he said against my ear, his breath hitting my skin, causing the hair on my neck to move upwards. I didn’t know why but I was disappointed when he pulled away. I had to keep a straight face because the frown on my lips was threatening to come out. I shook my head and called myself crazy, not knowing why my body warmed up to him as if he was a soft blanket wrapping me in its own warmth.
“Thanks,” I blurted out as I turned around to look at him.
“For what? The band-aid? It’s nothing,” he said.
“No I don’t mean that,” I said as I played with the good luck bracelet on my wrist nervously.
“You know for what happened yesterday. I mean for caring,” I said, looking down for a bit but couldn’t help myself as I flicker my eyes upwards to face him.
“I can’t stop, even if I tried,” Tyler grinned at me.
“But you almost made me crap my pants though,” he chuckled. I couldn’t help but giggle.
“That’s a sight I’d want to see,” I muttered to myself.
“What?” he asked.
“Uh nothing, let’s go back before the bell rings,” I said and as if on cue, the bell rang officially ending lunch time. Tyler rolled his eyes but the smirk on his face didn’t go away as he grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the nurse’s office.
***
“LET ME AT HER!” Sydney yelled.
“I SWEAR I HAD MY HANDS ON THE DRESS FIRST!” She shrieked at the scared lady standing in front of us who looked like she was going to pee her pants at any minute. I was starting to pity her but I didn’t have time to comfort her because me and along with Jasmine and Eva were too busy holding Sydney back and calming, well trying to calm her down. I literally have no idea what’s going on. It just happened so fast but I’ll tell you one thing.
Never mess with Sydney!
All that poor little lady did was grab that white dress Sydney laid eyes on first and all hell broke loose. It’s as if it was love in first sight but Sydney’s soul mate was snatched from her arms and into another. Yes it was this big! I would have been embarrassed because of the commotion she was making, acting like a child but I didn’t have time to think about it because I was trying to prevent her from scratching the stranger’s face off or else this shop will become a murder scene!
“Idiot, snap out of it!” Eva yelled as she smacked her purse against her head.
“But I want that dress!” she cried.
“Will you stop before you get us kicked out of here and never to return!” Jasmine hissed as she grabbed her ear, pulling her away from the woman who was standing there all pale, as if she was a deer in a lion’s den.
“But that dre—”
“You’ll find a much prettier one stupid! Now let’s get out of here before you get us kicked into jail!” Eva said as she helped Jasmine drag Sydney to the door of the shop. I couldn’t help but chuckle. I then turned around and looked at the lady who had the dress in her hands.
“Sorry about that!” I yelled.
“She’s just PMS-ing.”
“NO IM NOT!” Sydney yelled back.
Jasmine covered her stupid mouth with her hand, glaring at her as a bunch of boys walked by. They gave us looks and I ran a hand over my face in embarrassment. Remind me never―and I say never go shopping with Sydney ever again! Eva then pushed her out of the little shop and smacked her on the back of her neck.
“Great! Thanks to you and your stupidity, I would never go into that shop ever again or else I’d have to face that cashier’s wrath!” Eva said as she pointed to the glass windows where we saw the angry cashier glaring at us for making such a big commotion.
“But I wanted that dress!” she whined.
“Mention that dress one more time and I’ll smack you so hard in the face, you won’t even remember your own name!” Jasmine hissed while Sydney rolled her eyes.
“Fine, fine, but if I ever cross paths with that woman, just know that if you can’t find me then I’ll be in jail,” Sydney said as she cracked her knuckles while I looked at the time on my phone. We’ve been here for about two hours and the boys must be waiting for us in the food court. We did the usual. Shop, dress, put the clothes back and take a couple of selfies. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t tired.
“Come on guys, I’m hungry,” I said just as my stomach grumbled.
“Same, I’m in the mood for some frozen yogurt!” Jasmine said as she licked her lips.
“Okay I can definitely agree with you on that,” Sydney said as she rubbed her hands together. We gathered all our shopping bags and headed toward the food court which was pretty crowded. I looked over the booths and smiled to myself in delight when my eyes landed on Pink Berry. The girls and I walked over to it as Jasmine’s phone rang.
I waited in line for my turn and Jasmine held her phone to her ear.
“Yea babe?”
Jasmine continued to listen to whatever Troy was saying when I told the lady behind the counter what flavor I wanted―strawberry. By the time it was Jasmine’s turn to order, she was done talking with Troy. As she got a hold of her cup and paid, she turned to look at us.
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“The boys still aren’t here because of traffic which means we get a little bit more time to ourselves,” she said. We all nodded and sat on an empty table, enjoying the taste of our delicious frozen yogurt.
“Man if you were a man I’d totally bang you right now!” Sydney said as she took another bite. I crunched my nose upwards just of the thought.
“Ew, that’s gross,” Jasmine said.
“What? Banging? But don’t you and Troy do it all the t—”
“I meant banging something you eat!” Jasmine interrupted her as her cheeks went slightly pink. I smiled as Sydney rolled her eyes.
“Well then let me rephrase that then,” she said as she straightened her posture and held the cup to her face.
“If you were a man, I’d definitely marry you. Better?” she asked Jasmine.
“Yea but then you’d just become a widow because he’d be gone with the first bite.” I pointed out.
“True, true,” Eva muttered.
“Then what else am I supposed to do with a delicious frozen yogurt man?” Sydney asked.
Eva was about to say something when Jasmine spoke first.
“Wait why are we having this conversation?” she asked.
We all shrugged.
“Because we’re weird,” Sydney answered.
“I’ll agree to that,” I said as I took another bite.
I then turned my head to my right when I saw a chair being placed next to me. I looked up to see Matt sitting down as he gave me a smile.
“Sup girls!” he said as he took my spoon and took a bite, making me gasp as I sent him a cold glare.
“Hey! That’s mine!” I hit him on the shoulder before taking my spoon back but crunched my nose in disgust and threw it away into the trash can beside me. I then grabbed the extra spoon Eva brought with her and opened it.
“Ew, strawberry,” he said to himself.
“Where’s Troy and Tyler?” Jasmine asked.
“Looking for some empty chairs. Let me tell you, this place is damn crowded so I doubt they’ll find some. I mean I was lucky to get a hold on this,” Matt said as he pointed to the chair he was sitting on.
“I can see that,” I muttered to myself.
Just when those words left my mouth, I saw Troy and Tyler walking toward us empty-handed looking all defeated and I wanted to laugh. It was their fault for wanting to tag along in the first place. Looks like they’ll just have to stand up.