Flowers and Pop Rocks

30

p o p p y

I'd always thought highly of Blake.

I don't know why, maybe it was the fact that everyone at school liked him so much or because we had pretty good drunken conversations at parties or maybe because he helped me out a few months ago.

That's why it was so hard for me to accept that he punched Caleb like that. And not only that. I heard that it was because of me?

I just couldn't stand the thought that I made him do such a thing. That if it weren't for me, the two of them wouldn't be in trouble in the first place.

So I decided it would be best to distance myself from him.

I knew it was selfish of me to do that. After all, I did it to make myself feel better. The less I saw him and the less I heard his voice, the less guilt I felt too.

It's just that I put him on such a high pedestal that seeing him that way just tore me up.

Over the weekend and the first two days of the week, I'd received a total of twenty three calls from Blake, all of which had gone straight to voicemail. Not to mention over like fifty texts.

As much as I didn't want to talk to him because it made me feel guilty, I also wanted him to understand that he was at fault too. I mean, he did hit my friend, and he knew how much I valued all my friends.

"What if you just block the number, Pop?" Angel suggested, staring at my phone as it lit up once again. It was the third time within the hour.

I just wanted to eat my lunch in peace.

"You really think I should?" I was hesitant still. Even after what happened, I still wasn't completely sure that was the right move.

"If you're not going to give him the chance to talk to you, then yeah, I guess so," she nodded.

"I'll think about it," I assured her.

"Okay, if you say so," she put her hands up in defeat.

Angel was actually the reason I knew the backstory of what happened. She was there when Blake confronted Caleb, I was just there to return Caleb's ring when I happened to see Blake's fist come in contact with Caleb's gut.

The look in his eyes scared me. It's like it wasn't Blake. The blue in his eyes looked cold like his father's, and I knew he wasn't going to like hearing that.

Honestly, I was grateful that he got suspended. I was scared to see him again because there was a chance his eyes would look like that again.

His eyes were my favorite, but not like that.

And aside from that, when I found out that Caleb did nothing to fight back, my respect for him only grew more.

I walked to Chemistry, fully hoping the staring would stop. Before, it used to be because Blake was walking alongside me, and they were staring at him, but now, it was because of what happened last Friday.

They still were whispering to their friends about me, even if they'd all had plenty of time the past two days to get over it.

All I was thankful for was that it was Wednesday, and that meant that tomorrow would be Thanksgiving. And that meant I didn't have to go to school and be wary of anyone's judging gaze.

"Please forgive him for what he did."

The voice startled me, making me turn to my left. "What?"

"He didn't mean for it to escalate. His emotions got the best of him. I should've stopped him anyway," Grant took responsibility. "If there's someone you should be mad at, it's me, not Nixon."