Project: LOVE [Chapter 12.1 - Revised & Edited]

“What do you think you’re doing, Chris?”

Paul arrived and shoved his brother back to his group of friends, scowling in the process. With him was Miguel, who took on a protective stance in front of Kasey and me. I was surprised to see that we had back up.

“Well, what do you think he was doing?” Kasey hissed. “Wasn’t it obvious?”

Easy there, tiger. No need to pounce on anyone.

“Are you okay, Lara?” Miguel asked with a bit of anger in his voice, keeping his eyes focused on the group of freshmen.

“I’m fine,” I nodded, then grew wide-eyed when I remembered about Dan. I pulled away from Kasey and scrambled my way to him, hoping that he was alright. When I sat down by his side, he turned his head to me, and the first thing I noticed was the blood that came from a cut on his lower lip. I wiped away the excess that slid down his face with my thumb.

…this is my fault.

“Guys, Dan’s –“

“I should ask you the same question, Paul. What do you think you’re doing here? Were you hoping to have fun by watching him bully Dan?” Kasey roared, glaring at Chris as if she was about to get violent herself. Thankfully, Miguel came around and held her back before she could take a step forward. “Let go of me!”

“Hey, cool down, Kasey,” Miguel said, trying to calm her as he pulled her closer to him when she struggled to break free. There was an anger to her that I’ve never seen before – something that seemed to have been hidden since long ago. She never really was one to get this agitated, at least for as long as I’ve known her. Kasey always acted as a pacifist, not a brawler. Could she actually get this angry from one incident?

As much as I was curious about this side of her, I knew this wasn’t the time to settle scores. There was something more important to do at the moment.

“Guys!”

Everyone turned to me. Kasey stopped, appearing to have snapped back to her senses. When she showed signs of settling down, Miguel let her off.

“This is no time for hissy fits. One of us is already injured and we –,” I bit my lip. Is it really “we”? “I don’t want to add anymore to that. We can all settle this later. For now, we have to bring Dan to the infirmary.”

“I’m fine. No infirmaries, please,” he said, using his arms to pull himself up. I pushed him gently from behind to help. “I only need to clean my face and drink water.”

“Fine? You’re obviously not,” I frowned, brushing away the blades of grass that stuck to his back. “Your wound and bruises must sting.”

“It does hurt but I still rather not go there,” he smiled, about to touch the cut on his lip until I slapped his hand away. He was surprised but proceeded to look at me in the eyes. “Trust me. I’ll be alright, Lara.”

I shook my head. Trust is the last thing I give away, kiddo.

“No, I want to make sure myself that you’ll be okay,” I stood up and offered him my hand. He grabbed on to it, so I pulled him up. “Please?”

I can’t leave you here and let you treat yourself. It’s my fault you’ve gotten hurt the second time.

Just then, I felt a pebble hit my leg. When I checked to see who threw or kicked it, Chris screamed at us, much to the shock of many.

Were they just standing there this whole time?

“Get a room,” he started, then kicked another rock at my direction. He missed by a few inches. “Lara, you’re not cool!”

I snickered. Who even said I was in the first place?

“You punk –” Kasey was about to say more until I stopped her, raising a palm at her direction as I smirked at Chris.

“You’re right, I’m not cool,” I waggled my eyebrows once. “I’m an ordinary student just like everyone else. I’m no one interesting – probably not someone you would give a second thought about. And you know what? I’m fine with that, because I’m not trying to grab anyone’s attention, nor am I trying to get a certain image stuck to people’s heads. I’m not insecure with who I am, no matter who others see me as, unlike some.”

That’s kind of a lie, but hey – if it works, then it works, right?

Pfft. Three points for quoting Kasey.

“Are you saying I’m fake?” he snarled, about to come at me again until Paul forcefully pushed him back like before.

“Hey, you said that, not me. Don’t put words in my mouth. I said it in general, didn’t I?” I grinned, then glanced at everyone before turning back to the freshman ringleader. “Careful, Chris. You don’t want to give the wrong impression now, do you?”

Chris didn’t say anything more. He was too red in the face to even mutter; Paul had to pull him up to get him back on his feet. Soon after, they excused themselves and went away.

Well, that settles that. Now to resolve something else.

“Sorry, that took a while. Ready to head off?” I turned back to Dan and reached for his wrist but he stepped back, making me unable to grasp it. Kasey and Miguel, on the other hand, came forward with Miguel sifting through something that looked familiar. After closer inspection, I realized it was Dan’s sketchpad.

He sighed. “Lara, I appreciate your concern but I don’t want to bother you and your friends any more than I already have.”

I was about to rebut him but then I felt a hand on my shoulder. When I turned around, Kasey gave me a look before shaking her head. I sighed then. I knew what her actions meant, and that was to stop.

“Hey, chill for a minute, Lara,” she began softly. “If Dan says it’s okay, then you probably shouldn’t worry about it that much anymore. He’s old enough to know his body.”

I wanted to say I was aware of that, but no words came out of my mouth. Even when I struggled to think of excuses to justify my actions, nothing would pop out, because really, only one reason nagged at the back of my mind: I didn’t want anyone hurt because of me – be it emotionally or physically.

I’ve done enough of that already.

“Uhm, well… actually, I guess I’m fine about getting nursed, Lara,” Dan scratched his head, gazing away from Kasey and me. My mouth opened slightly. What made him change his mind all of a sudden?

“The reason I don’t want to go to the infirmary is so that I could get you out of trouble. I know that if I go there, the nurse won’t stop asking until she knows of what happened. If I told her about it, then it’ll be brought to the administration’s attention.”

I stared at him for a while, then realized what he meant.

“I bet you get it now: your name might pop up somewhere in the investigation and you might get a written notice of misconduct due to how you’ve treated me before all this,” he smiled, checking my expression. “But if you’re that worried that I’ll be fine, I’m willing to lie now, so please don’t look conflicted anymore.”

So my emotions were written all over my face. Way to go, Lara.

“No, don’t. It’s okay, don’t lie for me,” I replied, forcing a grin. “I’m sorry, I was overreacting. Kasey’s right, you know what’s best for you.”

A silence pervaded all of us until Kasey cut in. “Neither of you want to do the third option?”

Third option?

She winked at me when I looked at her, and almost instantly afterwards, I laughed when I came to understand what it was.

“What third option?” Dan asked, still confused about the whole idea.

“I think I can help you guys fix your little situation,” Kasey leaned on Miguel as her eyes scanned the same thing his was. Both of them then appeared to be surprised.

“I should start calling you the problem solver, Kase. You always have a solution in mind when something’s up,” I chuckled, feeling the weight on my chest slowly disappear. When she didn’t respond, I coughed, hoping to get back her attention. “Well, let’s hear it.”

“Huh? Oh right,” she said, gazing back at us, yet still somewhat distracted. “Since Lara’s determined to see you get treated, then why not? We don’t need an infirmary to fix you up. All we’d need is a place to stay and medicine; luckily for both of you, I’ve got somewhere in mind. The chorale booked one of the larger rooms on a higher floor at the S.S.E. for the week, so their club room is pretty much abandoned. I have a friend who’s part of the organization. Her class should have ended earlier, so I’ll try to contact her and see if we can stay there.”

I grinned when she turned away to make the call. No wonder she was part of the marketing team. Kasey knew a lot of people.

“Well, that’s one issue down, but we still don’t have the things to use. Do you guys think I can get them from the clinic?”

“Ah, no. Don’t worry, I have that one covered,” Miguel responded, handing the sketchpad to Kasey. “I’ll get them over at the athletics department. My former P.E. coach would probably allow me to borrow one. Text me where the room is and I’ll meet you there.”

“Hey, hold on,” I reached for the back of his collar before he managed to jog away. “I’ll get it. You need to return to class. Don’t think I don’t know that you sneaked off somehow.”

Instead of following what I said though, Miguel snickered in reply. He turned around and ruffled my hair.

“No, you’re staying with Kasey and Dan, Lara. I’ll get it. Don’t worry about me. It’s only one absence.”

I swatted his hand away, pouting. “One or not, you’re going to miss lessons.”

“Well, it’s too late now anyway. I’ve been gone from class for how long? I doubt the professor is going to be happy when I come back,” he chuckled. “If you feel bad about it, then tutor me so I can catch up easily.”

When I frowned, he waggled his eyebrows then pointed to my lips. “Someone’s going to smile in three, two –“

“Tease,” I grinned, despite being somehow annoyed by his trick. “Whatever. Fine, go get it.”

“You didn’t even let me reach one,” he laughed. “I’m glad it worked.”

“Miguel, are you going to tease me endlessly or are you getting that medical kit before I do?”

“At it, captain,” he laughed, jogging off. When he was a distance away, I shook my head and sighed.

I can’t believe he was able to use that on me; more so, that it worked. Am I that gullible?

“Got it! She’s in the room, chief. Just her. She says we can stay there, but I’ll have to explain to her what happened, since you know…” Kasey said cautiously, tucking her phone away into her pocket. “Would you guys mind?”

“I don’t,” I shook my head then glanced at Dan. He shook his too.

“Great. Now come on, troop!”

********

“That’s a pretty brave thing you girls did. A little impulsive, but still brave.”

I plopped down on the bench next to Dan. We arrived at the S.S.E a few minutes ago and were inside the chorale room. With us was Lily, Kasey’s friend. She was told of the incident that had happened earlier.

“We’re the queens of brashness, Lily,” Kasey laughed, pushing aside some things on the waist high storage cabinet so she could sit. “At least it worked out in the end.”

“I wouldn’t be able to do that even if I wanted to. I’d be too scared of getting hit.”

When she realized what she said, Lily covered her mouth. “I’m sorry. No puns intended.”

“No offense taken,” Dan smiled.

Leaning back on the table, I jumped into the conversation. “Kase, I’m curious. Do you really have that many videos you said you had? Also, I wasn’t expecting you to step in like that. At all.”

“I’m tougher than I look,” she shrugged. “And no, I only had the video I played. I was hoping they’d fall for the bluff and leave – unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Thankfully, Miguel arrived. He picked up his phone the first time I called. Oliver, on the other hand, probably wasn’t paying attention to his.”

No wonder he suddenly appeared earlier.

Once all the introductions and explanations were through, we began to relax, telling each other stories when Miguel burst through the door, panting. “Sorry I took longer than expected. Coach had to search for a kit with all the things restocked, since a lot of them had empty bottles inside. I got ice from the cafeteria too.”

“Glad to see you again. How was the exercise session?” I greeted him, putting on a mischievous smile, hoping to get back at him for earlier; however, he just laughed and handed me all the items. I stared at him for a while but gave up when I realized he won’t react in any other way than he already had.

Aw, come on. Unfair! You could at least pretend.

I rolled my eyes, shrugged, and then returned to Dan’s side. “Okay, first, wash that lip with water and soap. Remember not to scrub it.”

“The nearest bathroom here is the one at the end of the hall near the water fountain,” Lily said. “Do you want me to come with you?”

Dan nodded and they made their way out of the door. Soon, their footsteps faded away.

“Hey, Lara. What would you think if someone was secretly paying a lot of attention to you?”

I looked at Kasey, who in turn watched me as I placed ice cubes into the pack.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Like, what if someone has been secretly observing you? Say, a person has been noticing even small things about you without your knowledge.”

Well, isn’t this a pretty random question?

“What? Do you have a stalker or something?” I joked, sitting down once again on the bench, preparing the medicine for when Dan gets back. “But that depends. If I don’t know the person, then that’s really creepy. If I do, then I guess I’ll feel somewhat flattered? I mean, it would be pretty unsettling, but the idea that someone pays that much attention to me would make me feel special in a way.”

Once I had answered, Kasey became quiet. She and Miguel then shared looks but before I could ask them about it, the duo came back.

“It hurt when I washed it,” Dan complained, sitting beside me again. I handed him the filled ice pack.

“Press it against your bruises. I’m going to put antiseptic cream on your lip,” I instructed, twisting off the cap of a tube. He took the pack and held it against his cheek, his gaze following the movement of my fingertips.

“This is going to sting, but put up with it, okay? Luckily, I don’t think you require stitches, although, you’re going to have to keep it clean.”

When I began to apply a small amount of medicine on his wound, Dan winced. I squinted my eyes and took an ice cube from the plastic bag and gave it to him.

“I’m sorry, I can’t blow on it. You’ll have to use that later.”

Should I give him pain killers? But it’s just a lip wound. Would painkillers even be necessary?

“Lara,” Dan broke my train of thought as I continued dabbing the medicine. “Are you okay?”

“What makes you think that I’m not?”

“It’s just that you seem to have something on your mind that’s bothering you,” he smiled. “You’re acting a little different. I noticed that ever since you came to my side earlier.”

“What’re you talking about? If it’s because I’m being nice to you, then it’s simply because you helped me out back there. Don’t overthink it. You’re dreaming if you think I’ll be this pleasant to you on a daily basis.”

“Lara, cut him some slack. I think he proved that he can defend himself already. We both saw it with our own eyes,” Kasey protested. “I think it’s safe to say that you can drop the act. He was willing to lie for you too.”

Do you really have to reveal that now, Kase?

When I ignored her, Kasey pouted and turned to Dan. “Don’t listen to her. She’s just pretending to be mean. If Lara would be honest, she’d confess that she’s only worried about you.”

You’re not going to let this slip, are you?

“She may look like an ice queen, but the truth is, Lara’s a softie inside,” she continued. “When you get to know her long enough, you’ll see what I mean.”

“Willing to bet on that?” I sighed, wishing she wasn’t that worked up. Why was she trying to clear my name to him?

Dan broke the tension that was forming inside the room. To my surprise, he grinned at Kasey and nodded. “It’s okay, I knew that.”

I blinked. You knew what now?