I can't Hurt You - Marcus Lopez Arguello

27

We'd been fucking around with all the weapons in the confiscation room for an hour or two now. Each of us found plenty of things to entertain ourselves. I was going through all the knives that I could find, some dating back to the 1920's. Chico and Marcus were jousting with old padded vests, helmets, and equipment they'd found. Viktor seemed to be going through a bunch of video games and films that'd been left in here, some of them still usable. Jaden and Petra were looking through old candy and extra things they used for class, like punching dummies. Lastly, Saya. She was still looking for her katana, but we expected that.

Since I found my mom's old knife I decided to tuck it into my other boot. I had the right to keep this as far as I was concerned. Then I noticed Saya looking through all the old swords and knives with worry written all over her face. I walked up to her, wanting to make sure she was okay.

"Hey. You okay?" I asked.

"It's not here." Saya replied with anxiety lacing her voice.

"Your katana?" I asked.

"Mhm." She mumbled in response.

"Well, where else could it be?" I asked.

"Maybe Lin has it." She suggested

"Then you have nothing to worry about. It's in good hands." I comforted as I placed my hand on her back.

I wasn't really used to comforting people. I hadn't gotten much sympathy in what felt like forever, so I'd forgotten what it felt like. The foster parents that took me in after my family died were abusive. I came to King's after, but it still definitely wasn't a place where people would comfort you if you felt like shit. Lin was my father figure but his way of showing love was tough love, none of that soft shit. The other Rats had a shit childhood, so they had no idea how to be sympathetic.

"You don't get it. My sword is my honor, Em." Saya said as she turned to me.

"And you'll get it back. I'll help you if I need to. Promise." I comforted.

Suddenly we heard a loud clatter from the other side of the room. Saya and I both turned our heads to see Marcus and Chico finish a round of jousting. Marcus had clearly won, leaving Chico without a helmet, so he looked pretty proud while Chico was fuming.

"You're waking the wolf, Arguello." Chico threatened.

"Ooh." Marcus teased.

"I'm gonna jack you up." Chico said before hitting Marcus again.

Saya and I both chuckled before turning to each other again.

"Dumb bitches." I muttered with a smile.

"Seriously, what do you see in him?" Saya said with a smile as well.

"What are you talking about?" I acted clueless.

"Oh please, everyone can tell that you two have the biggest crush on each other." She pointed out.

"Chico? That's disgusting." I played dumb once again.

"Shut up." She laughed while lightly shoving my shoulder.

I laughed along with her.

"No, but seriously. What is it about him?" She asked becoming more serious.

I looked from Saya to Marcus, admiring him.

"I don't know. I've always had friends here at King's, but he never felt like a friend. He felt more important, he still does. I mean, at first it's pretty easy to hate him, I admit. He's cocky, stupid, impulsive. But once you get to know him you kinda just fall in love. You fall in love with the way he laughs, his corny jokes, his stupid smile. It's not like I meant to, it just happened, but I can't say I'm mad that it did." I said all while looking at Marcus.

I continued to admire him for a couple seconds before I noticed Saya staying quiet. I looked back at her just to see her with a huge smile on her face.

"What?" I asked.

"You just admitted that you fell in love with him." She said with that smile still plastered on her face.

Wait, I did? Holy shit, I did. Fuck! I'm in love? This is what being in love feels like? No no no, that's bullshit I just said that in the heat of the moment. I'm not in love. He's my best friend.

"No I didn't." I lied.

"Yeah you did. The way you look at him gives it away, too." She said.

"No it doesn't. I look at him like I look at all my best friends." I lied horribly again.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." She said, holding her arms up in defense.

I know sure as shit she didn't buy my lie.

"But just so you know, I'd definitely want someone to look at me the way you look at him." She said again, whispering the last part.

I looked down as I blushed. Holy shit, did I just blush? What the fuck, ew!

"Do you think he loves me?" I asked out of nowhere, looking up at her again.

She looked at me with a soft smile.

"I think it's obvious he does. He'd be crazy not to." She assured me.

I smiled to myself again. Shit, I fell for my best friend.

Almost on cue, he came up to us. He looked all cocky, probably from fighting Chico.

"Hey, guys." He said, swinging his arm over me.

"What?" Saya asked rudely, assuming he wanted something.

She clearly didn't like him much.

"What are you two taking about?" He asked.

"Nothing. Why would we be taking about anything?" I blurted out.

Saya looked at me with a smile as Marcus looked at me confused.

"Well, I saw you talking." Marcus said, still confused.

"Yeah, right, um, we were talking about Saya's katana. Right Saya?" I lied, using my eyes to beg her to go along with it.

"Yeah, we were." She went along with my story.

"Well, it doesn't seem like you two are having much fun." He said.

"If I lose my katana, my life is over." Saya said, going back to her emotionless facade.

"What do you think's gonna happen? Lin's pawning it? It'll turn up." Marcus teased.

"That's what I said." I agreed.

"How do you know?" Saya interrogated.

"Things always work out." Marcus said, trying to be positive.

"Vietnam, cancer kids, Sonny and Cher, and weren't you homeless?" Saya asked rudely.

"Yeah, it's just something my dad used to say. It's not 100%, I guess. It's probably closer to ten." He said, the confidence in his voice dying down.

I looked at Saya, giving her the 'give him a break' look. She rolled her eyes and walked off, not wanting to give Marcus another snarky comment.

As soon as she walked off, she grabbed a knife and aimed it at what looked like a balloon. It was close to Chico's head, but she threw it anyway, missing Chico by an inch. He flinched as the balloon-like thing hissed with air leaving it. Then he frustratedly walked off, leaving me to let out a chuckle.

Marcus and I walked back up to Saya.

"Misery loves company. But the second, lesser-known part is: Company doesn't much care for misery." He stated.

Saya looked at him with a cold glare. That's when I spotted it. I walked out off, slightly shoving Marcus's arm off me. There it was, the only thing that could possibly cheer up Saya right now. A motorcycle. I sat on it, having a bit of practice on it before. Saya then looked at me.

"It's a little smaller than yours, but this is guaranteed to cheer you up." I said as I revved the handles a bit.

She let out a little smile, trying to hold it in but failing.

Detention wasn't so bad.