𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳 - 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵

06

"Hi." Sam says with a little wave.

"Hi yourself." I say with a fluent move to take off my headphones.

"What's that..thing called? That plays music?" Sam asks, pointing at it.

"It's a Walkman. You wanna try it?" I ask with a slight laugh.

"Sure." Sam answers with a happy nod.

I step closer to her, almost so our shoulders are touching. I gently push her hair behind her ears and reach my arms up, extending them. I place the headphones over her ears and press play. Linger by The Cranberries floods through the mixtape as Sam starts walking forward.

Us technically being connected with the Walkman in my hand and headphones over her ears, we walk shoulder to shoulder.

Deena's pretty crappy day did a complete turn around just by watching Sam. She wondered how such a perfect girl like herself would want to hangout with Deena. How Sam, with her perfect hair and sparkling eyes, would ever even glance at Deena, nonetheless want to have a conversation with her.

Sam pauses, and takes the headphones off, handing them back to me.

"Bad song?" I ask with a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.

"Great song, actually." She replies, avoiding my eye contact.

"Oh. Why'd you give it back to me then?" I ask, my eyes filled with worry.

"I wanna talk." Sam says a little too quickly.

I shift as her gaze focuses on me again.

"'Bout what?" I ask, dropping my hand to my side.

"Nothing specific. I just like talking to you." Sam says with a nervous breath.

My heart flutters at the sound of Sam saying that.

"Really?" I ask, running a hand through my hair and dropping it by my side.

We walk so our hands are brushing together. I smile at the touch, wanting to grab her hand but resisting the urge.

"What are you doing with her?" The words coming out harshly, like the figure was annoyed at just watching us.

Sam jumps away from me at the voice and turns around.

"Kennedy? I thought- I thought you left!" Sam says, her hands shaking.

"I was about to. What are you doing with that faggot?" She asks, words like daggers.

My breath comes to a stop, getting caught in my throat. The sentence hit me like a fist to the gut and I can't breathe. I panic, hoping Sam will say something to defend me. She instead says: "I don't know. We're just partners for history." She gives me a weak glance, her eyes filled with guilt.

I don't look back at her but instead run. I keep running with no intention of turning back. It begins to pour, the rain crashing on to me repeatedly. I keep running. I run to get Sam off her mind, the hope I had that she would defend me. But she didn't.

I look at Deena, her face frozen with shock. She doesn't look back. In an instant she was out the door, but it was like I was bolted to the ground. I wanted to run after her, wanted to apologize. But I couldn't, not with Kennedy here. And so I let her go, hearing her sobs and stomps before she completely disappears into the rain.