After ending things on a weird note with Li — who suddenly had things to do in his room, I finally went up to mine. I fell asleep easily, morning was about to come after a few hours anyway.
The rest of the week was in one word boring.
My classes were flowing smoothly. By the last hours before the weekend, I knew everyone at school just as good as they knew me, or almost as good as they did. There were no football matches other than the one we already had for now, and during PE, it just became normal that our class seemed to have an audience. Thankfully, my classmates seemed to enjoy the attention, the only one who was under the threat of constant nearing suffocation was me.
Elizabeth King returned to being a fugitive.
Every morning, her Ram went back to dominating the rest of the show in the parking lot, while the girl's conduct was closer to a fairy than a human being.
It did not matter how hard I tried; I was never able to locate her.
The cafeteria talks were centered around the upcoming high school football national championship, it was an honor awarded to the best high school football teams in the United States of America. According to the boys, with me on the team, the sky was the limit, so why not dream this big?
I was mostly refraining from commenting on the subject and when they pressed for a reaction, I just gave a nod or two, I was going to give my team my best out there, championship or not. It did not matter to me. I couldn't tell them what I thought because I knew they would never understand me.
They were normal and I was a freak.
Being the sudden favorite student of almost every teacher I had, I was sent on administrative missions to the teachers' room or the principal's office way too often. At first, my heart would make a run for it whenever I thought I was about to see her for sure, but after a few times, it no longer gave that reaction.
She was never there.
For all I knew, she went to another high school and was visiting her mother here this once. I never asked again about her.
Li and I spent our first weekend cleaning the house and doing homework, Olivia and Sophie came by Saturday and Sunday, they helped around the house and wouldn't hear about our objections for causing them the extra load to carry when they already had their own house to take care of. They also stocked the fridge with food that they had labeled as 'leftovers'. It was very evident that it was baked in their house and brought to ours while completely fresh.
As far as Li and I were concerned, the girls were angels in disguise.
Liam was thinking about getting us a truck. We both hated driving anything with more than two wheels on it, but maybe it did come in handy one of those days if we ever had an emergency.
Nah, I quickly dismissed the thought.
He could try to open the subject as much as he wanted, I wasn't going to volunteer to drive it if he ever did get one eventually.
The snow was not going anywhere until around mid-April, so I was not about to monitor the weather and take notice of it in this city. It was just everyday life here.
Students were all smiles for me during the bus ride on Monday. I called them by their names, they were ecstatic, it was very easy to make people happy, they just needed the least amount of care. At least that was my own experience during school life.
English was more fun today, we were reading The Great Gatsby, and it was one of the rare stories I was able to relate to. I saw his tragedy differently, it wasn't t the way he died that got to me, it was the way he lived. Gatsby appeared to have achieved the American dream on the outside, but that did not guarantee his happiness. He lied about his fortune, he lied about his love, and he lied about so many things that he was no longer able to distinguish between the lie and the reality.
He was a lot like me.
Life in Anchorage was not bad at all, I was a bit surprised how fast it felt like home. I felt bad for everyone in my old life. The girlfriend I ended things with so abruptly, and the many many friends I left behind. Their faces were almost blurry, a month ago we were all together — was that the depth of my relationships with others?
***
On our way out of class, there was a strange air in the atmosphere, students were whispering to each other, the phones that were usually kept a low profile in the school were right there in their hands, and they were texting and getting texted excitedly. I could hear some of them shouting.
Something was up somewhere, and by the buzz of it, it wasn't any good.
"Heck no!" Elijah said. "It's happening!" Before I got to ask him what was happening, I looked at the big gathering right outside the building, in the middle of the parking lot, inside the circle of students who stood poking each other and frantically using their cell phones to probably bring in more audience, three guys who looked ready to pounce on someone any minute stood glaring at one bigger guy in front of them. I recognized him immediately.
He was the friend or the want-to-be boyfriend, the one that nodded at me after the friendly match the other day. His too light colored eyes — so blue they were almost white— were ice-cold and fixed on the middle guy who was the tallest among the three across from him, his arms were folded against his chest again, maybe it was his to-go-to posture, he stood like a statue, his expression not giving anything away.
I needed to get to him.
My feet took me there, trying to pass the gathered students without shoving them was not easy, Elijah's hand tried to grab me by the elbow, but I shook him off, I had to go there. If this had anything to do with the girl that was missing in action, then it had something to do with me.
It was very unfortunate that Liam Johnson decided to stand in my way at that exact second, we were not close enough for him to do that, especially not after he just saw me shaking his brother's hand off. There was something in his eyes that didn't belong there, I tried to show him that he needed to give way before I took it to the physical level, he was on my list after all, so if I pushed him, I will hurt him.
He put both of his arms up, palms pushed to the outside.
"This has got nothing to do with us, Theo, let's just turn around and go." He talked slowly, and even though I knew he did not mean it, I found his attitude condescending.
"Step away Liam." I continued walking and left the choice up to him, if he refused to let me through, I was not going to feel sorry for whatever happened to him.
"Theodor…" I heard enough, I pushed him away without holding off on my strength and it was backed up with the agitation I harbored towards him, his twin brother got his back, trying to steady him, and they both ended up on the floor. I ignored the pang I felt when Elijah got hit as I made way through the circle and made a few steps towards the guy I wanted to stand next to.
"Hey, Theodor!" I heard shouting from behind me and then my body was alerted as I felt someone jumping on me.
What happened next was purely an instinctual reaction on my side.
I jerked my head back as hard as I could so that I hit whoever it was in the face or neck. Which I did. When I turned around to check the damage the fool that tried to attack me from behind suffered, it was none other than Liam on the floor, his hand was on his bleeding nose and I was surprised he was still conscious. I crouched beside him to check on his nose first and then give him a hand to get him back on his feet.
What happened after was something that changed my life forever.
While I was supporting Liam up with my shoulder, the three guys that were in the middle of another confrontation a moment ago ran like wild animals towards us, they looked as if they were about to kill the boy that leaned his weight on me — which made absolutely no sense! I got into a defensive position on my side. From there I prepared myself to lash out at the men running with a sidekick to keep them away from Liam.
The three running like wild boars suddenly got reduced into one when the guy that was firstly involved with them yanked two of them to the back, so I kicked the only guy that was about to attack Liam, he fell on the ground, and I decided to pin him when he looked as if he would still attack the boy next to me if I didn't. I Squeezed my bicep and forearm closed and pushed his head forwards with my other arm.
I was choking the life out of him.
Elijah was next to me in a second, he grabbed both his hands behind his back, and that was when I let the oxygen back into his throat.
"What is happening here!" The coach was pushing the students who were shouting and pressed together to make way and see what all the fuss was about. He scanned every face of the boys involved in the fight; his eyes panicked when he saw me.
"Turner are you okay!?" His attention should have been on the others.
"Liam is hurt, coach." Get a fact check.
"Alright, alright, clear the way immediately, I will count to ten and anyone who's still here will get detention in my office for the rest of the day!" I heard Mrs. White shouting from afar. When I stood to my feet and had a full view of my surroundings, I finally saw the girl that I had no idea how much I missed until I laid eyes on her, she was standing right next to her mother by the door to the building, her expression was just like this city's weather.
Cold.
'You decide to show your face now of all times?'
Her eyes snapped to where I was, she arched a perfect eyebrow the way she did the first time I saw her as if she had heard my sarcastic remark. Her mother demanded my attention as she walked until she was a couple of steps away from me.
"All of you, my office, now!"
That was the obvious next thing, but why did no one call for an ambulance?
"How's your nose man?" I asked Liam as I pulled him up to his feet in a low voice, he was being ignored by everyone else for some strange reason.
"Don't worry about it!" He tried to smile but winced, his hand automatically going to his nose, trying to protect it. It was probably broken.
"What were you thinking, jumping on me from behind my back?!" I was honestly interested in the level of his sanity at that very moment.
"Turner! Quiet! I want to hear it first before you do!" Mrs. White was at her limit, I brushed the back of my neck twice, embarrassed to get scolded at this age, but I had it coming. I focused on the limping Liam next to me, he was putting his weight on me, and I supported him as we both walked. in the back of my head, I wondered why he chose the guy who broke his nose over his brother to help him, but I was too guilty to complain. Even if it was his rookie mistake to attack me and expect to walk away unscratched.
As we were the slowest to move, the guy with the freakishly light-colored eyes went past us and went through the door, the girl who stood there did not spare him one glance, if I had to admit it, I was afraid it felt too good that she gave him no attention. I tried to look ahead as I was about to pass her, but she placed a hand over my bicep.
I flinched away from her touch almost letting the boy I was supporting with my other hand fall to the ground.
The skin her fingertips and palm touched felt burning and tingly, I frowned as I stopped to look at her, her hand froze midair, and the frown on her face reflected mine. She looked from the tips of her fingers up until she reached my eyes.
"You are okay." She stated. And since it wasn't a question. I decided I didn't need to answer her.
I was suddenly annoyed with the fact that she could appear and disappear whenever she felt like it.
It wasn't fair.