Mikael

The noise around the classroom made it harder to focus on the words on the board. I was writing as fast as I could, while glancing at my wristwatch. We had a few minutes before school would be over and I needed to talk to Sumon. I saw her writing out of the corner of my eye and exhaled in relief. She had been avoiding me all day and I needed to make things right.

“Heyy.” Bridgette, one of my classmates, took advantage of the empty seat beside me. “Are you busy after school?” She added.

“Not really. Why?” It was a bit strange to see her be so straightforward with me. She was usually shy when it came to talking to me, which was even stranger because she was free with everybody. 

“I was hoping you could give me some pointers for our algebra assignment. I have almost no idea how to do it. Please?” She did that face that most girls thought were our weakness, but it didn’t work. I said yes anyway.

“Sure. Just for a little bit though, I have practice.”

“Thank you, Mikael.” She scrambled over to the group of girls that were ogling us during the entire conversation and they started smiling so hard, I knew it hurt. 

I think the bell saw my mental eye roll because it started clanging almost immediately to put me out of my misery. I needed air and time to find the right words to say to her. I closed my copybook and placed it in my bag as the classroom emptied out. Sumon was still sitting down and writing, so I knew she was stalling and waiting for me to leave. Two can play this game.

“Hey dude, can I talk to you?” Victor, one of my teammates, called from the door. “I’ll make it quick.”

I left my bag in my seat and went over to him. “Sure, what’s up?”

“The vice principal said that you’re the only person who can sign for the practice uniforms, and they’re also not ready for us. By Monday, maybe.”

“Okay. I’ll go there and see what to do.”

“Awesome. By the way, I now have a court big enough for practice in my yard so whenever you get tired of us disturbing your place, let me know.”

I laughed along with him. “I think I’ll take you up on that soon. Please let the guys know we’re practicing. You know they’re selectively forgetful. I’ll post it in the group chat to help you along.”

“Okay.” He adjusted his bag and walked off just as Sumon was nearing the door. I blocked her way and she looked up at me with a brow raised.

“What?”

“You’re seriously mad at me for helping you,” I said, leaning against the door post and stared at her, taking everything in. Her hair was in twists and she held it at the back of her head in a bun. Her uniform shirt was as clean as it was when she entered the fence that morning. Her face was bare, not even the occasional chapstick had touched her lips. Yet, she still managed to look so good.

“I’m late for practice.” She tried to move past me, but I grabbed her arm as gently as I could. She was making it very hard to talk to her. “You’re touching me.”

“I know.”

“Stop touching me.” Her eyes found mine and she wasn’t smiling. I sighed and relented, letting her leave of the class. As much as I loved watching her walk away, I preferred her talking to me.

“Why do you hate me?” I called out and she stopped walking then she turned around and walked up to me.

“Easy. I don’t like your face.”

I smiled at that. “But I like yours.”

“It’s obvious. You never stop staring at it,” she said and crossed her arms.

I broke the eye contact thing we had going, a little nervous. So she did notice. My shoes suddenly seemed like they needed my attention and I placed my hands in my pockets. Then it occurred to me that I wanted to talk to her about something. 

“Does it taste bitter?” I looked back at her, cocking my head to the side a little. She still owed me a thank you and it felt like a good time to give her a hard time about it. 

“What?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” 

“Thank you,” she said in a low voice and closed her eyes. It probably burned her soul to say those two words and I struggled not to laugh.

“What was that?” I leaned closer to hear her better. I couldn’t help it; it was almost fun to watch. 

“Thank you, O perfect person. We appreciate the practice time,” she gave me a smile and spun on her heels. 

“You’re welcome!” she didn’t turn around or answer me and I chuckled and watched her turn the corner. It didn’t take long and I saw Bridgette sauntering towards me. He face was serious until her eyes landed on me, then the brightest smile she could muster came on.

“Heyy.”

“Hey. I have about thirty minutes so let’s make this as quick as possible.” I walked into the classroom and she followed. We set up two chairs and sat down. I watched her rummage around in her bag for the assignment, my attention far away from her. They went right down those stairs with Sumon.

“Okay, here it is.”

“Okay. Come closer so you can show me where the problem is. And bring out a copybook.”

She leaned closer while I pored over the paper in my hand, looking for the best way to explain the topic. “Linear equations are very easy once you pay attention and know what you’re doing. It’s all about the variable. Once its inserted into the space that contains the x, then you begin multiplication. Let’s look at this example.”

I turned to look at her and my lips brushed against hers. She was too close. Before I could think of something to say, she closed the little distance between our mouths and kissed me. Kissing her back was automatic, I didn’t think about it. Her lips were soft and plump, and they tasted like apples. I should have stopped her but the nerve signals that were supposed to communicate with my brain stopped in the few seconds it took for her to pull away.

“Uh…Bridgette—”

“REALLY? You’re in here kissing him? B, are you serious??” Terrence bellowed from the door. His fists were clenched and he looked ready to murder. I had no idea how long he had been standing there but apparently he saw enough. The both of us shot up from the chairs and she turned to him.

“Terrence—”

“Leave. Keep quiet and go.” His voice was low and the anger in his eyes was enough to shut her up. But he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking straight at me. When she went past him, he stepped into the class and pointed a finger at me.

“This is what you’re doing? You know damn well I’m with her. And you do this? What the hell?”

“Why don’t you listen instead of jumping to conclusions? At least, let me explain what happened!”

He shook his head violently. “You mean I should listen to you spin a lie? I’m not stupid, Roberts. You were kissing her, what exactly do you want to explain?!”

“I’m not stupid either! Not stupid enough to be in a classroom kissing my friend’s girl! You should know that.” 

He glared at me and I didn’t back down. His chest heaved in uncontrolled rage and he could barely stand still. “So who’s to blame? You want to blame her for this? It takes two to kiss and you were definitely kissing her.”

“What’s going on?” Mr. Kamara—our Economics instructor— inquired from the door. I walked over to him when I saw that he had a stack of papers in his hand.

“Nothing.”

“Better be nothing. School just started, so if anybody gets suspended for fighting, I’m not giving make up. Share this with the classmates that you can find.” He pushed the papers into my hand and walked off.

I turned around at the same time that Terrence was walking out. He shoulder bumped me and stalked off, fuming. I just shook my head and grabbed my bag off the chair. I made a promise to myself to stay out of drama this year, but apparently I attracted it. This is what I get for trying to help out.

I followed him and took the stairs two at a time, almost bumping into Michael, another teammate that was going up.

“Hey, are we still practicing?”

“Yes. Please check outside of the fence for any classmate you see and give this to them. Economics assignment.” I handed a few to him.

“Okay.”

My walk in the hallway was filled with distorted thoughts, thoughts that came with a headache. It didn’t help that Terrence was standing in front of the gym with a bunch of other team members. I walked past them and felt his glare on the side of the face. He had a right to be mad, but that didn’t stop me from getting angry. My good deed was taken advantage of by a girl who I had no interest in. I tried to focus on handing out the assignments to some of the girls I met in the gym, but the voices outside were getting louder. 

The girls’ team was wrapping up what looked like a meeting and Sumon was in the middle of them. One of her friends tapped her on the shoulder, pointed to me and said something that I couldn’t hear. She just hissed her teeth and walked over to me.

“You just love being in my presence, don’t you?”

I ignored her jab and handed her one of the papers. She wore a sarcastic smile when she accepted it from my hand.

 “What am I supposed to write on this? My number? You could ask for it again yourself. Don’t worry, I don’t bite. I’m perfectly harmless.”

I shook his head and shook it impatiently in front of her. I wasn’t in the mood. “You’re not funny. That’s the economics assignment. He just handed them out.”

“And you thought to take one for me. Out of what, I wonder? Obligation?”

My hand dropped and I frowned at her. She needed to take a hint, and I was out of them to give. All I wanted to do was ball off the anger building on my chest. “Do you want it or not?”

She was about to answer when my teammates walked in, making a lot of noise. Terrence was in front of the group and he glared at me again before throwing the ball on to the court while over to the bleachers. Keith slapped me on the shoulder before going over to the bleachers to change.

“What happened?” Her voice brought my attention back to her. She took the paper out of my hands and I walked off, heading for the ball. Then I felt her grab my hand from behind.  

“Hey! What is your problem?”

“I’m not in the mood, Sumon.” I took her hand away and went to join them. I knew that I shouldn’t push her way like that but I really wasn’t in the mood. Anything could tick me off and I didn’t want that to happen. They were all around him, shock written on their faces. I caught the rest of his sentence when I got closer.

“…standing there lying to me like the idiot that he is. Y’all talk to y’all captain, he shouldn’t push me to do something stupid.”

“And what would that be?” All heads turned towards me and he walked closer. “Try something, I dare you.”

His fist connected with my face before I could blink and I ended up on the floor. Between the yells coming from the guys above me and the blood roaring in my ears as it rushed to my head, I couldn’t hear anything. Another hit on my cheek pushed me over the edge. I’m not sure how I ended up over him but I did, giving him a taste of his own medicine. After I got three in, I was pulled off of him.

“Stop. End this here before the both of you get suspended.” Keith pulled me to the side and I sat down on the bleachers, my face in my hands. The pain in my right eye increased as the seconds ticked by. Keith left my side and dismissed practice, telling everybody to go home. I caught a glimpse of Terrence’s face and almost felt pity. His nose was bloody and he was being held up by two of the guys from the team. They walked out of the gym, leaving me with Keith.

“If the principal gets a whiff of this, you know what he’ll do, right?” He was disappointed in me, but I didn’t care at the moment. I almost never let my anger get the best of me, but when someone feels like they can punch you in the face for the fun of it, they needed to be set straight.

“I’ll handle it,” I snapped at him and grabbed my bag before out of the gym. I needed alcohol in my system because calming down by natural means didn’t seem possible.