Chapter 26
Matthews Dunlop.
There the bastard was.
"Hey!" I yelled, storming over to KJ at one corner of the room, standing alone and sipping a cup of beer. He was oblivious to my call because of the loud music pulsating around the whole building.
With every step I took, I got even more infuriated. Who did KJ think he was, coming to my school as a bloody neophyte, thinking he can invade everyone's territory, and most importantly treating Elena like shit.
I know Elena deserved what she got because she ignored all my warnings and chose to believe a stranger over her own best friend. She chose to believe I was capable of doing something to hurt her, but she was still what she was, my best friend. And no matter what happened, I would always be ready to look out for her and take her side on things. For goodness sake, I love that girl. So much, so damn much. Sitting by and watching her go through all these alone was killing me. Eating me up from the inside out. I couldn't stand it, not even for a second.
KJ was still oblivious to my presence by the time I got to him, which gave me a higher advantage.
"Hey, asshole!" I got to him, finally. Gripping him by his right shoulder and spinning him around, I clenched my right hand into a fist and landed a punch straight to his cheek.
The moment my fist connected with his cheek, KJ went toppling backward, a stunned look on his face as his drink fell out of his hand and splattered onto the floor.
Feeling unsatisfied with the punch, I balled my hand once again and sent another punch, this time to his jaw, just as he was straightening up. The punch pushed him back into the wall behind him.
"That's what you get for treating Elena like shit. I mean, who the heck do you think you are, coming into our school and acting like a complete fucking asshole!" I spat, breathing hard after I finished.
"You touch me one more fucking time," KJ breathed, holding a hand to his jaw. "You just touch me one more time."
"I did warn you, didn't I? I told you to stay away from Elena, so whatever you get now is entirely your fault, because you're a colossal asshole. A huge disgrace to both your country and the States. Hell, I never even thought people like you still existed, the dumbest kind of breed.",
Suddenly, KJ straightened up, squaring his shoulders as he did so. I noticed him clench his fist.
"That's enough," he said, clenched. "I don't give two shits if you're angry or not, but say one more disrespectful word toward me and—"
"And fucking what?" I raised my eyebrows, stepping up closer to him so we were barely inches apart.
"And what huh, KJ?" I hit his chest with my palms then, shoving him backward. "What the hell are you going to do?"
Suddenly, KJ charged toward me, his head down, coming at me like an oncoming bull, and because I had still been talking at the time, I unknowingly let down my guard, and then next thing I knew, we were pummeling into the stack of plastic tables and chairs behind me.
"I told you not to fucking touch me!" KJ roared, now on top of me. By the next second, I felt a sharp stinging blow land across my head, just above my right eye. Regardless of the blinding lights it sent in my vision, I did my best to block his incoming blows, having no time to recover from the previous one.
There were voices in the background now. People yelling, talking, and screaming, but none of them were coherent. All I had in my head at the moment was finding a way to get KJ off me. And I did.
Right at that moment, he made another blow, I grabbed his wrist, digging my fingernails into his skin and twisting his wrist as hard as I could.
It worked. KJ let out a yelp, his leg locked around my waist loosening up a bit. Taking that as my chance, I pushed him off me immediately, already shuffling to get to my feet—anything to get good balance before KJ came at me again.
He did just that. After he stood up off the floor, he charged at me. Reacting quickly to his attack, I stepped to the side and pushed him forward after he'd run past me.
Only after he had crashed into the plastic tables and chairs did the chant of "Fight! Fight!" come to me.
I was panting now, sweat dripping from my face onto my shirt and the floor, stray ones getting into my eyes occasionally.
KJ stood up from the floor almost immediately after he went down and spun around to face. His nose was flared, eyes bloodshot. In the middle of his forehead was a bulging vein.
"You're so dead," he growled.
"You first, motherfucker," I said, raising my hands in a defensive position and adjusting my feet to get a stronger grip.
He swung a blow at me then, and again like before I made to dodge, not knowing KJ had another plan in mind. The moment I swayed right, moving out of the way of the punch, a sharp pain exploded in my jaw. KJ had punched me with his other fist which I'd moved in the direction of.
The punch, with all its intensity and power, sent me toppling backward, a feeling of dizziness overcoming me briefly. I lost my balance and crashed to the floor, my hand on my stinging chick. A second later, I felt blood pool in my mouth. I spat it out immediately.
Extremely infuriated now, I stood up immediately, ignoring the pain and rushing for KJ, a mad look in my eyes. I pummeled into his chest, hitting him with the same move he'd done me earlier. He said backward, sending blows to my back all of which were ignorant. I continued to shove him backward until finally, I had just the right amount of momentum to lift him and slam him right onto the floor. And then I got on top of him and began sending punches to his face before I felt hands wrap around my arms and yank me backward.
"That's enough, you guys!" I heard someone yell.
Blinded by rage, I shouted at KJ who'd already stood up, "Everything that's coming your way from this moment onwards, you deserve it a hundred percent. A fucking hundred percent!"
°°°°
I braked my car a short distance before getting to my house. My leg was still on the brake, I adjusted the rearview mirror so I could look at my face properly in the mirror.
"Shit," I muttered, seeing the area around my right eye had turned purple. Still looking at it in the mirror, I ran two fingers over the mark.
After the fight, I had done my best to get myself properly cleaned up in one of the bathrooms I came across in the building. I had washed my mouth thoroughly off all the blood, cleaning the tiny cut on my lip. After drying my face with my shirt, I inspected my face in the mirror, my tongue raking the area in my mouth where I had been cut. It no longer produced blood and if not for the telltale red bruise around my eye, no one could guess I'd been in a fight.
But now the bruise was purple and because of that, I'd be going home to a barrage of questions from both mom and dad, most especially dad. He hated me fighting. Always admonished it and banned it for me right from the time I was little. And I hated it too, but I was so fed up with Kj's bullshit I couldn't contain myself any longer. Dad had to understand that after I explained to him from the start all that'd happened.
Sighing, I let go of the rearview, got my leg off the brakes and rolled forward toward my house. I parked at the corner, like always did then right after my night bath, I'd bring the car into the garage.
Getting out of the car, I slammed the shut, traces of anger still in my system, and locked up. I slipped the key into my pocket and turned to go when the sight before me stopped me abruptly in my tracks.
There on the steps of my front porch, sitting down with her face in her hands was Elena. At the sight of her, my heart skipped a beat.
"Elena," I said, whispered rather.
At the sound of my voice, she raised her head from her hands. Her eyes were red. Red and puffy, and like them, her nose was too. Tears were going down her face.
I was done. I was done acting like I was so strong when I wasn't. I wasn't strong nor hardhearted. I missed Elena so damn much and seeing her this way, defeated, used, crying, was my undoing. I wasn't able to go on acting like I didn't care. If I didn't then I wouldn't have this bruise around my eye right now.
"Matt, I'm sorry," she said, her eyes filling up with tears once more. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. I told you off when you tried to warn me. I'm sorry for being so stupid when the signs were so obvious, just right there for me to see. I'm sorry—"
"Hey, hey, hey," I cut in with a low, soothing tone, crossing over to her quickly and sitting down beside her on the steps. I put an arm around her shoulders. "It's okay, Elena. You made a mistake, it's fine. I understand. Everyone makes mistakes once in a while."
"No!" She shook her head, tears rolling down her face. "No, mine is different. Mine isn't a mistake, I brought it upon myself, intentionally, Matt. Matt, you tried to warn me, severally and I couldn't see . . . God, I was just so stupid. How could I be so much of a fool?"
She pulled at the front locks of her hair, her palms rubbing her eyes back and forth, a habit I was familiar with. One that came out whenever she was crying and upset as well.
"How could I be so much of a fool? What got into me?" She stopped pulling at her hair and looked at me. "What got into me, Matt. I had never been this way. What came over me?"
"I don't know, Elena, that's why every opportunity I got I tried to warn you because boys will always be boys, I know it. I'm one, so I could see right through Kj's facade," I said.
She looked away then. "I'm sorry," she murmured, sniffing. "I'm sorry, Matt. I should've never lashed out at you. I let my emotions cloud my sense of judgment and reasoning and I'm sorry. It's fine if you're not ready yet to forgive. I promise, it's fine, I just need you to know I regret every single thing I did, right from the moment I spoke to KJ and to the time I said those hurtful things to you."
My heart broke. I needed her to know, understand, that I'd already forgiven her, longer than she even knew. I needed her to understand that I could never hate someone I had felt this deep for. I wanted her to know my secret. The reason for always trying to dissuade him from talking with KJ, the reason for the relapse I had after she yelled at me, and why I tried to fill that hood up with Clara.
"Elena," I murmured, holding her face up by her jaw. Her teary eyes locked with mine. "You are my friend. I've known you practically all my life. And all the time we spent together grew on me. You changed my life, Elena. You always made sure there was a smile on my face, and always looked out for me. I need you to understand that I can never stay mad at you let alone hate you."
"I like you, Elena," My words began to become shakier as my heartbeat got faster. This was the turning point. "I've always liked you, since junior year, I just never knew how to tell you. Always thought it'd somehow kill our friendship, and this, this which we have right here now, our friendship, is one of the most important things in my life. I was afraid to lose that, afraid to wake up one day and realize I'd never be able to talk with you again the way we used to because I made things awkward with my feelings. So I kept it a secret but the truth is Elena, I like you. I like you a whole lot and I wouldn't know what to do in a world without you."
A minute passed after I finished all I had to say and all Elena did was stare at me. Starting to feel that my fears were going to be actualized now, I let go of her chin and dropped my hand, looking away from her
"I'm sorry I said all that," I began when all of a sudden, I felt her hand on my cheek and the next thing I knew, our lips had met in a soft mesh, our breathing mingling into one.
Elena was kissing me. My best friend was kissing me, and all I could do was stare lightheaded, out of shock.
What in the world did Elena just do?
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro