They would call his mom. And that scared me. I knew theherthat started this brawl was me. His mother would be disappointed. I hated that when all was said and done, it was all because of me. He did what his mother hated most because of me.
And I was probably the most selfish person out there. Because now, the only thing I could think of was our friendship going to ruins. What if his mom told him to finally stay away from me?
“You shouldn’t have hit him,” I whispered. We were now at the infirmary. I was trying to clean the open cracks in his knuckles with a mentholated spirit.
“He shouldn’t have said what he said,” he mumbled, his fist clenching again, jaws hard as if reliving that moment.
“It doesn’t matter what he said–”
“–It matters,” he cut me off, yanking his hand from my hold and abruptly rising to his feet.
“Kenzo.” I rose after him.
“It shouldn’t have been him.” His eyes glazed over, voice cracking. “I thought he was better than the rest. I-” He raised his hand, diving it into his hair, clenching the strands. “I thought he really liked you. I thought he was better than those arseholes.”
“It’s okay.”
“But he was just like them, Beth.” His eyes grew teary, and the sight made me feel like shedding the tears I had been fighting too.
I didn’t want to know before, too scared to. But if it made Kenzo want to cry, then I needed to know. I needed a reason to hate Banks who made Kenzo cry.
What did Banks say about me?
“What did he say?” I asked, fiddling with the thread from the bandage in my hand.
“You don’t have to know,” he said quickly, way too sharply, like I uttered a forbidden word. “There’s no point.”
“It’s about me, Kenzo.” I almost snapped, and I could feel my eyes burning, tears threatening to spill. “I deserve to know what he said about me that is so unheard of.”
“It’s not necessarily about what he said.” He crossed the room to me. “It’s about who said it. That’s why I’m this upset.”
“You’re not a violent person, Kenzo,” I pointed out. “You barely even raise your voice. But you beat him, left him bloodied and bruised.”
“Please, don’t push it.” He shook his head, then proceeded to wrap his arms around my shoulders, pressing me against his chest. “Just forget about it.”
But I only wanted to know now more than anything. Whatever it was he said, shouldn’t be the worst thing anyone had ever said about me.
And later that day, as I occupied my usual position by the drum set in music class, waiting for the teacher to come in, whispers about the event found their way to me.
“Am I the only one that thought Kenzo was suddenly so hot beating up Banks like that?”A girl said, giggling. I didn’t look. I had worn my headphones, so in true sense, I wasn’t supposed to be able to hear a thing.
“Right?”Another joined in, her voice louder.“I mean, I knew he was good looking, but that bad boy vibe that came out of nowhere was such a shocking twist. How disappointing that he isn’t for the girls.”
“I heard it was because of…”The person’s voice reduced to a whisper.“Her, right?”
I played with the drumsticks, subsequently hitting the drum but not loud enough to make a sound. And I could see them gesturing at me.
“Yes.”
“Banks made a stupid comment about her to the other guys and Kenzo overhead.”
“But he was all over her.”Another added. “I thought he liked her.”
“So we thought.”
“Do you know what he said?”
“According to what I heard, I don’t think what he said was out of spite or maliciousness, just immaturity of boys. They tend to spew nonsense when they want to belong so badly.”Then the person laughed playfully.
