by Segunda L.
I guess I’ll be sharing these lunchboxes with TJ and the gang.
Just when I was about to go inside, I saw TJ’s back and he was talking animatedly. He was blocking my view so I couldn’t really see the person he was talking to. I crept behind his back to catch him by surprise while in the middle of conversation. I couldn’t really explain what happened next. Or much more what happened to me.
There on the hallway, I saw fa—Samara, showering TJ with her to die for smiles. The smiles that just the other night I wished were for me. I felt wronged by the way she was giving it so casually to TJ. My vision was focused on them like the way you see in movies were the camera zooms in a particular scene.
Samara was wearing another one of her over-sized shirts, clutching her bag and looking more confident and comfortable than I had ever seen her before. The only sign that told me she was a bit nervous was the constant shifting of her weight from one leg to the other.
“Uh huh, like you could have said no to me that time Sammy.” I heard TJ telling Samara in a teasing tone.
Sammy? Were they this close?
“I would have said no to you Timothy John if only you didn’t look so helpless. And you know I’m a sucker for doing charity to the unfortunates.” She stuck her tongue out.
“Aaaaaw Sammy. I know you’re just too shy to admit that you can’t say no to my charms”. TJ said with an overconfident look on his face and wiggled his brows for effects.
Samara poked TJ on the ribs until both of them were laughing. They were like this for a moment and I must have imagined it but I was getting this feeling like I was invading their privacy and I was watching one of their most intimate moments. Samara was all smiles now and so was TJ.
Inside me was a feeling so foreign but so familiar at the same time. My chest felt like it was being squeezed and the beast in me wanted to drag Samara to the corridor and make her give me one of those smiles even if I had to force her to do it. I could understand that she never smiled like that to me but to TJ?
What was so different between the two of us? We were of the same feathers!
I just stood there, unmoving, and debating whether I should give in to the wild animal that was howling inside me and waiting to be released. Chill, Jared. Chill. I kept repeating these words in my head like a mantra. Slowly my head was beginning to clear but the tightness of my chest was still there. Was I jealous? No. It was ego. Samara just had to hit that touchy side of men. My ego was hurt and it was wailing like an injured animal.
What does TJ have that I don’t anyway?
~*~*~
Now was not really the good time to do as I planned. If I approached fatty today, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to control the beast in me. After seeing the whole scene with TJ and Samara, I went inside the dining hall before they have the chance of catching me looking at them.
“Where you been?” Frank, a tall black guy looked up when I came up to our table.
“Nowhere important.” I answered after doing our handshake routine. I took my usual seat with the rest of the popular kids. Most of them were already halfway through their food while I was just about to start mine.
Taking out the two lunchboxes in my bag, I set it in front of me and was about to share it with everyone.
“Smells good, man.” The voice was too familiar, I didn’t have to look back to know who it was.
I grunted in response.
TJ took his usual seat which was on the other side of the table. Lennon was not on our table which was getting often these days, he sat with Patricia’s groups. I was sure if it wasn’t for me, he would have invited Tricia back to our table.
“Wow, two lunchbox? I forgot how good Kiana’s cooking tastes like. ” TJ took out his spoon and was about to scoop a large chunk of the lunchbox I prepared (okay, it wasn’t really me who prepared it but still, you get the drift) for Samara.
Don’t get me wrong, I see TJ as a close friend but right now, I don’t feel like sharing anything with him.
I snatched my lunch box away from his grasp just on time before his spoon reached it. I held it close to me in a possessive hug. Not this time, dude.
TJ was still holding his spoon. “The hell? He exclaimed, giving me a “what the fuck look”.
I stuffed myself with spoonfuls of my lunch before talking. Between mouthfuls, I said, “Am hang-i.”
“What?” TJ asked, his brows meeting.
I swallowed. “I said I’m hungry. No sharing.”
“You greedy bastard. Come on, just a little. You can’t eat all of that!”
“Yes, I can. Watch me.”
Returning my attention back to my food, I made a big show of eating the paella just to tick him off. I knew I was being a jerk to my friend but I couldn’t help it. He looked like he was about to drool.
He finally gave up and said, “I hope you choke to death right now.” He ate his food in silence while I made exaggerated moans of pleasure with my food.
As much as I wanted to skip the subject, I couldn’t help but be curious with TJ and fatty’s relationship especially now that Samara was looking at our table, at TJ actually. Her face was similar to TJ’s drooling face earlier, but this time, TJ was the food.
“Don’t look back. A fat girl is checking you out.” I warned as I dug another big chunk out of my lunchbox.
TJ stopped eating and glanced back. To my surprise, he waved at fatty’s direction and fatty waved back though rather unsurely.
“You and fatty over there are close?” I pretended to chew my food and seem uninterested.
“Oh. Just a childhood friend. We’re neighbours.” TJ didn’t bother explaining more than that.
Childhood friends?
I only met TJ in high school, and it was easy to know that we were kindred spirits so we clicked right away. TJ’s life before that, I knew nothing about. Dad’s comment about TJ being a good kid before I met him struck my head. TJ usually went along with my bullshits but he never once came up with his own. I couldn’t really call him my side kick, sometimes, I sensed that he was just tolerating me. If there was anyone in this school who could go against me, it would be TJ but we were always on the same page, our thinking was so much alike. Our looks on the other hand were complete opposites, I had brown hair and blue eyes while he had black hair and his eyes were a shade of black. Over all, I gave off this boy-next-door appearance and TJ was the enigmatic, dangerous type. That was how we looked like at least if we didn’t talk, once we started talking you can be sure we were from the same team.
“Yum.” TJ licked his hands like how a cat does after eating its meal
I focused my attention back on my lunch. My eyes widened when I saw both lunch boxes were empty. Not a single crumb was left.
“Ate it all when you were daydreaming a few seconds ago.” He made circular movement on his stomach to emphasize his point.
Lunch time really was a big battle field. “You lunch thief.”
“Your fault for spacing out.” TJ was grinning like a Cheshire cat. That smug look on his face which I recognized to be really familiar was really irritating right now. With too much force than I intended, I landed a punch on his shoulder.
“Aw! What was that for?” TJ winced and rubbed his shoulder as first aid.
“For stealing my food.” I answered, although I was pretty sure the punch was more than that. It carried my hidden frustration for earlier.
Chapter Seven
Jared
It was a Friday and I was in a very bad mood.
I could blame it on Kiana who didn’t mention beforehand that she was going to be using the car this morning. Or the stupid taxi driver that almost got me killed for texting while driving. Or my first period teacher who gave me a detention slip for being late. But ultimately I knew the real reason for my bad mood was my lack of sleep. And the reason for my lack of sleep was because I kept tossing in bed last night, recalling Samara and TJ’s conversation yesterday.
So she and TJ had a history, huh? Okay. Cool
. Out of sheer annoyance, I dropped my pen on my arm chair. It made a thump sound loud enough for my seatmates to turn my way.
Classes dragged on as usual. I had two more subjects for the rest of the afternoon. Trigonometry and History. Subjects I wasn’t particularly interested in but had to pass in order to graduate. No Bio class for the day, Ms. Santos was on a seminar or something so I hadn’t seen fatty for the whole day, it was the fifth day and still no progress. My “Operation Share my Lunch with Fatty” was postponed for today. And honestly, I didn’t really feel like doing it again. For four days, I had been chasing, yes I finally admitted that I was chasing her, but I had an ulterior motive in mind for chasing her so that didn’t really count as the usual definition of “chasing after a girl”. By afternoon, I was already in the locker room, changing into my gym clothes. I thought I heard footsteps inside but when I checked, there was no one around yet.
The locker room was spacious, it can accommodate up to fifty people and it was exclusive for the basketball team of Everson High. I love my school but it sucked in all other sports, basketball was the only sport that actually brought home trophies. To say we were pampered was being modest. We were spoiled, and we took advantage of that. Lockers were lined up on the left side of the walls. There were two long benches in the middle of the room which could accommodate up to fifty people and a whiteboard was placed in front for game strategies. On the right side of the wall was a huge mirror. Different exercise equipments such as treadmill, rowing machines, and stationary bicycles were crammed on the right side of the wall.
I went to my designated locker, entered my combination and pulled my gym clothes out. As I stripped off my shirt, I thought about the whole ordeal that I was in. The whole thing was starting to get annoying, I found myself searching all the time for fatty in the hallways, dining hall and even classrooms and I had to beg Kiana to make two lunchboxes. What was worse was that I sometimes searched for her unconsciously. It was starting to become a habit, a bad habit in all sense.
My pants were already on the floor and I was already completely naked save for my black boxers. There was this big mirror in the locker room for vain guys like us. Giving the room a quick scan, I knew I was alone. When you’re standing in front of a huge mirror like this one, it was impossible not to play around for a bit.
I stared at my reflection. My abdomen was more ripped than before, and I grew two more inches. Just who is that handsome young man? I asked aloud to no one, did a couple of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pose, and then I imitated his popular line. Putting on my imaginary sunglasses, I quoted, “I’ll be back”. After Terminator, The King of Rock and Roll was next on my list. It was supposed to be a secret but Elvis Presley was actually my favorite singer. I pretended to have a guitar as I sang “Can’t Help Falling in love with you”.
I had the whole baritone thing going as I sang the first lines.
My voice was loud and clear as it echoed in the locker room.
I quit imitating Elvis and did my own style.
I was in the last line of the song now so I decided to give it a bang. With closed eyes, I turned around, still holding my imaginary guitar, and sang as heartfelt as I could.
“Aah!” Fatty and I screamed at the same time.
I stopped screaming as I realized what just happened. The moment I opened my eyes when I was having my mini concert, I saw Samara hiding in between the gap of two locker cabinets. Her head was actually the only thing I could see from her.
“What are you doing here?” I snapped and walked to her hiding spot.
She shut her mouth and looked at me, her gaze stopped on my crotch.
“Aaahhh!” She shrieked again.
‘Ssh. You’re going to blow my eardrums!” I moved closer to her and she stepped back.
“Don’t come any closer!” She warned, her eyes showing fear and courage at the same time.
What the hell?
“Put your clothes on! Stop corrupting my eyes with such obscenities!” She covered her eyes with her free hand.
Yep. Definitely a virgin. No surprise there. When TJ told me they were childhood friends, I remembered Carrie, who was my childhood friend but we hooked up more than once already. I couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe TJ and Samara had the same twisted relationship as us. This reaction of fatty just clarified whatever sick thoughts I had with their relationship.
I didn’t bother wearing my clothes. Let her feel uncomfortable for all I care. She just saw me goofing off earlier.
“What? You’re in the boy’s locker room. And besides you should be praising the heavens for getting a look at this body.” I smirked.
Good going Jared.
Arrogance was the best façade right now for hiding my embarrassment. The truth was I wanted to creep in a hole and just stay there until this memory fades from my brain. I definitely looked weird with my Arnold Schwarzenegger and Elvis Presley imitation earlier.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked again.
She wouldn’t talk or look at me. She was glued to her position and still covering her eyes with her free hand. When I reached her, I grabbed her hand and made her face me. She counter-attacked by shutting her eyelids and turning her neck sideways.
“Let go of me,” she said between clenched teeth, “or I’ll scream.” Her eyes were still shut while talking. It was really amazing how hard she tried to avert from my gaze.
The whole avoiding me thing was getting old. I ignored her threat. Still holding her hand, I said, “Are you stalking me? You know Samara, if you wanted to see me naked, you just had to ask. No need to result to voyeurism.”
“A voyeur?” She repeated, this time facing me, her eyes were set on mine, those light shade of brown rings made me feel slightly queasy. Her gaze was intense, full of emotion I recognized as disgust as I looked straight back at her.
She let out a puff of breath and fumed, “It’s fine that your calling me a fat ass because that’s true, but now a voyeur? Okay, time for some wake up call. You’re really a dick Jared. You know what? Not everything revolves around you,” she lengthened the word around as she said it, “don’t go thinking I came here to watch you get naked, because one, I came here for TJ, I was going to leave something in his locker which is really none of your business. Two, I don’t actually like what I’m seeing right now.” She gave me a quick scan, I was still in my boxers. “I mean this is it? This is what the girls were fussing about? And three, You’re. Not. My. Type.”
Her chubby cheeks bounced up and down as she spoke. I resisted the urge to poke it.
Wait a minute, did she just call me a dick?
“Now, let go of me.” Her tone was patient but she couldn’t hide the irritation from her face. I let go of her hand, not because she asked me to but because I was sure now that she had her eyes focused on me. I crossed my arms to my chest.
“A dick? You sure know how to hurt a guy’s feelings Samara,” pointing at my chest as I said it.
Remember Jared, be nice.
“Oh shut up, don’t pretend like it’s the first time you heard it.” She rolled her eyes.
“I’ve been called a jerk lot of times but never a dick. That usually refers to my buddy down there. I have to say, you got some originality and I didn’t know your vocabulary included such a vulgar word Samara.” I let the word vulgar hang in the air. “I’m appalled.” I said a little too over dramatically as I faked an aghast expression.
To her credit, I was telling the truth. I didn’t expect Samara to have a sharp tongue. This seemed to fluster her a bit, her cheeks turned pink. Her blushing was probably from the mention of my “buddy”.
“W-w-well, you deserved it.” She stammered. Her eyes were on everywhere now but me. “And put some shirt on! What are you? An exhibitionist?”
“I bet you were eye fucking me earlier while you were in your hiding spot.” I grinned, there was no way she was not affected by my presence, I looked good in clothes but I was even better off naked.
; She made a gag sound and said, “Oh please, don’t flatter yourself. That was the worst Schwarzenegger pose I’ve ever seen. And don’t get me started with the singing.”
Holy shit. She saw the whole thing.
“Next time you do that, make sure no one sees you because I’m pretty sure that would be the end of your popularity. I was thinking of taking a video but it was too shameful to even share to people so I didn’t bother.”
Okay, forget being nice. Time to teach her a lesson.
She was sandwiched between two locker cabinets. I leaned closer, my naked chest just an inch away from hers. Instantly, her breathing seemed to have shortened. I towered over her. By the end of the day, I was determined to make her fall to her knees and let her eat all the words she said about me. As I cornered her, I couldn’t help but notice that she smelled good, it was a fruity scent, like melon. Melon happened to be my favorite fruit. I wanted more of her scent, it was strongest on her neck. I was a few inches taller than her, I just needed to bend my neck a bit and I easily had access to hers.
“W-w-what are you doing Jared?” She asked
By the sound of my name, I snapped back to reality. Momentarily, I got pulled into a haze of melon scented Samara.
Get a grip dude.
With my wits back on me, I whispered into her ear, “What does it look like I’m doing?” I wasn’t her type huh? Yeah right. She probably just said that to convince herself. If I show a little bit of interest in her, I was sure she’d be head over heels for me.
“Ah, you were just sniffing me earlier like a dog? Eew. I pity all those girls who think you’re perfect. Apparently, you’re into a lot of weird hobbies.” She remarked with the same disgusted look on her face that she had when talking to me.
That does it.
I slammed the locker with my right hand, it made a loud banging noise and she backed away a little to whatever space she had in her hiding spot. Her eyes showed that I frightened her a bit. That wasn’t my intention. I only wanted to wipe that look of disgust on her. I quickly thought of ways to ease the tension that was building up.