September 18, 2018

I don't really know who could have taken my earbuds, but looking for them was better than going to school. I followed the map my app gave me. It seemed they weren't that far from where I was. Take a right turn by the stop sign, then a left at the park. The park... I haven't been to that park in a very long time. Not only was it the only place that divided the rich kids with the middle class, but it was the place where my parents and I would hang out every Sunday. I looked at the app again, my earbuds were in the park. I didn't want to go in there. Who knows what type of memories will come out of me? What things will trigger me to remember what I want to forget? I stood at the entrance of the park, with my phone showing me I was only five minutes away from my earbuds. It will only be for a few minutes. I thought, trying to persuade myself to go in. So with all the strength I could build up in myself, I stepped into the park.

I tried not to look up from my phone, afraid that anything from this park would force me to recall something about my parents. It's not that I don't want to remember them, but everything about them is a reminder of what I said to them before they died. 

I was very close to the location now, so I started to speed walk to get out of here as soon as possible. When the app said I was right by it, I forced myself to look up. When I did, I bumped into someone, who was also on their phone, I noticed earbuds on them. I didn't pay attention to who it was, only to the earbuds.

"Those are mine!" I pointed. They took them off.

"What?" They said, I could hear music coming from the earbuds even though I was a few feet apart from them.

"Those are mine." I said again more aggravated. I looked at the person and noticed they were a girl with black hair with a blue streak of blue. That's when I remembered she was from my school, Haylen. She was a part of the rich kid neighborhood, but for some weird reason she begged her parents to take her to the public school instead of the private Harold High that most of the rich kids go to.

"No, these are mine. Why would I have yours?" She said confused, but I could hear the nervousness in her voice. Everyone in our school knew I had a temper, she must be worried that I might burst at her. I showed her my phone. The app showed I was right by my earbuds.

"Why else would my app lead me to you?" I snapped although I didn't notice that I did because I could only think about wanting to leave the park and now this girl is holding me up just because she won't let me take what's mine. I could fight her. No. No! Don't think like that.

"Look, these are mine. I can prove it too!" She showed me the buds, they both had a black circle design by the tips. Mine didn't have that. "See? I would never steal from you!"

Man... I looked at the app again. Was there a mistake?

"Ah..." I disappointedly said out loud, "I'm sor-" I looked behind her to see another kid I knew, Hugo. I pushed Haylen to the side. She looked upset that I did that, but didn't say anything. I stared at Hugo. When he noticed me, he smiled and waved something to the sky, my earbuds. Then he started to walk up to me.

"Hey M!" He said smoothly, "Look what I found." I just stared, trying to process why he would have them because he didn't even go to my school. He was the only other rich kid besides Haylen I knew and the only reason I knew him was because we played in this park all the time as kids. I noticed Haylen didn't move. It seemed she was not going to walk away. Maybe she's making sure I don't punch him? I don't know. She watched us curiously, but crossed her arms at me. Or maybe she just wants to know what's going on? Why is she looking at me like that?

"Why do you have those?" I asked Hugo.

"Well~" He started with his high pitched drastic tone. "To make a long story short, you left your bag open when you fought yesterday." He smirked at me and his dusty brown hair fell over his right eye.

Man does every kid know about the fight? Or is he stalking me?

"So of course I would fend those weirdos off." He continued, "I even chased them and found these, your earbuds, in their possession." He gently grabbed my hand and gave my earbuds to me.

"Cut the crap." I said bluntly, making Haylen flinch, "My bag was on my back when I was fighting. No way 'someone' took them without me knowing. Tell me the truth."

He sighed drastically, even rolling his eyes, "Fine, I lost mine. Needed new ones, but my dad would freak out if he knew I lost mine."

"So you took mine?" I crossed my hands, "You know I could knock you out cold right now."

"Yeah." He shrugged. Then his brown eyes lit up and he smiled at me, "I would love that~"

"You're sick." I said before leaving them both.

"Hey!" Hugo yelled, "Don't you want to know how I got them?!"

"Yeah, but I know you're gonna lie again." I mumbled as I heard him running after me. I turned around and he stopped right in front of me, "Leave me alone unless you're gonna tell me the truth. I don't have time for your stories."

"Okay fine!" He sighed, "I wanted an excuse to talk to you." He looked away, "So I paid someone to take them from you."

"Are you kidding me?" I fumed, "So that last excuse was a lie too?! Give me one good reason not to slap you right now."

"Because I- '' He hesitated, "Okay, I deserve it. Go ahead." I raised my hand to slap him, but I felt something holding me back and in a matter of seconds I remembered something.

It was summer time in this park. The summer sun is shining on the playground around the entrance. Bugs buzzing with excitement as me and my friends played tag. I was playing my dress all sweaty when a boy came and shoved one of my friends. Telling her to get out of his way. I remembered getting really upset. How could he do that to her? I screamed and it was as if everything fell silent. I started to chase him yelling at him. My dad picked me up and took me to the bench he and Mom were sitting on. My mom grabbed my hands, her light eyes calming me down.

"Mneme, breathe. I need you to understand that's not okay."

"But, he pushed her!"

"I understand, but acting out of anger is not the way. Look." She pointed at some of the parents, "They think you're the one to blame."

"But why?"

"Because they only saw your outburst, not his behavior."

"But- But what do I do then?" My dad stepped in.

"You have to take a breath, think, then act." I looked up to both of them. They both warmly smiled at me, but then their faces got fuzzy. I got a flashback of that car and shook my head back into the present.

"You probably wanted that slap." I said lowering my hand, "And there's better ways to come and talk." He beamed when I said that. "But that doesn't mean I will listen." I added then began to walk away. He didn't proceed to follow me and I didn't know where Haylen went. Oh well, it doesn't matter.

Leaving the park made me feel hollow. I knew that park was going to trigger something. Not even Hugo can distract me from memories seeping to me. But why did it seem that he knew I was coming? Did he want me to come to the park? Why?

I got to school twenty minutes late. My first class, Mr. Hefter, my science teacher, didn't care about tardy slips so I just walked in. I sat in the very back as this was the only class that allowed me to. Every other teacher was wary of me. So it was the front of the class for me. Which I always thought was stupid because it's not like I would beat them up or anything. When I sat down I just looked at my lap, bored and tired. In a daze, I just sat waiting for the class to end, but the longer I waited the slower time seemed to be going. So I looked up at the clock to see that we were only fifteen minutes into class. I took a big sigh, another long day.

As the day dragged on each second seemed like an hour. Lunch was my only break from this slow day. I sat where I usually did under the tree, but today I could hear everybody whispering from the other side of the grass. I looked up to see Jack with a black eye. He glared at me, almost saying 'this is your fault.' Everybody was looking at him then at me, whispering like crazy. They must be guessing what could have happened to the top football player and the loner. I crossed my hands, let them have their rumors. Like I care! I didn't give Jack any of my pity and only turned my head which fumed him more. He stood up from this table and I taunted him to come at me. He walked up to me and everyone around us quieted down to see what would happen. The teachers even stopped what they were doing to make sure that nothing bad would occur. Once he walked up to me, I stared at him, not even moving, not even getting up. A moment of silence happened between us. We just both stared at each other. Does he know that if he hits me he will be the one at fault? Or is he just trying to show dominance?

"We look like idiots doing this." He whispered to me.

"I don't care." I said in a normal tone.

He rolled his eyes, backed away and the whispering began again, louder than before.

"What happened between them?" One said.

"Did they fight?" Another asked their friend.

"You didn't see the fight yesterday?!" Another chimed in.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. I got up, everybody stopped and stared at me.

"Don't stop on my account!" I yelled at them raising my hands.

After lunch, school was slow again. Hours ticked slowly until the final bell rang. Laughter and chatter was heard everywhere after school. People made plans on where to go now that school was over and others waited for the bus or for their parents to pick them up. I walked home in a heartbeat. Not wanting to be in that stuffy place any longer than I have to. I listened to music on the way home from school although I was kinda disgusted thinking that these earbuds might have Hugo's earwax. I'll clean them at home. I saw the stop sign that meant that I was close to home and a wave of tiredness hit me.