For What It's Worth

Chapter 4

I slammed my locker door shut, sighing out of exhaustion. My eyes were still droopy from staying up late last night, yet I have to endure the feeling of wanting to fully close them since I have Math class to go to.

"Alex!" A voice boomed from across the hall. Immediately, I saw Milo making his way through the crowd of other students.

"Good morning," I said whilst plastering a forced smile on my face. "You ready for class?"

He clutched his hand on the left strap of his backpack, while he brushed his hair to the back with his other hand.
He gave out a loud and heavy sigh and shifted his gaze away from me.

"Something wrong?" I asked him the moment I sensed that he appeared so gloomy this early in the morning..

Before he could even say something, some random girl crept up beside him. He noticed me staring in confusion, and when he glanced to his side, his face met up with the girl's hand as she slapped him so vigorously on the cheek.

The slap was so hard, it left a reddish mark on his cheek. All I could do was have my jaw dropped in bewilderment and shock.

I wanted to kung fu kick the girl who slapped Milo out of the blue.

How dare she slap Milo?!

I can't even stand seeing Milo get hurt emotionally, what more when I see him actually get hurt physically?

"What was that for?" He hissed. He glanced at me puzzlingly and the only respond I could give him was a shrug.

The girl's eyebrows arched some more as she got seemingly got angrier with Milo's confusion.

"That's for hurting Sophie you jerk!" She blurted, catching the attention of the others who were just minding their own business.

"Excuse me what?" I butted in with a grimace of rage. I glimpsed at Milo when I heard him sigh and grunt. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight, shaking his head as if telling me to step back.

The girl laughed sarcastically, but then frowned again. "This asshole broke up with Sophie. You know where she is now, you dipshit?"

Milo couldn't speak. He couldn't even dare shot her a glance. The crowd got larger by the second-- some even stopping in their tracks just to witness more of whatever drama this was.

Without Milo saying anything, the girl answered her own question anyways.
My eyes circled wide in shock at what she said.

"She's in the hospital, you jerk! She tried to end her life because of what you did!"

I gasped silently, throwing a stunned glance at Milo who was shuddering behind me. His shaking hand that was clutched over mine loosened.

Then it hit me. Now I understood why he looked so gloomy seconds ago. It was because of this.

I also understood why what happened, happened. If I remembered correctly from my last conversation with Milo about her, he was going to break up with her.

So, he probably really did it and she couldn't handle it well.

But to end her life?

If you personally ask me, I think it's kind of a little bit too dramatic.

When the girl realized that Milo had no intentions to retort back, she snickered in disgust. She said more curses at him before finally turning her back to leave right when the school bell had rang.

"Alright!" I shouted, clapping my hands to everyone who was still pinning their eyes on Milo. I didn't like the way most of them was looking at him. Some gave him judgemental looks, some looks of distaste.

"Drama's over. Nothing to see here. Go away!" I said, shooing everyone around until Milo and I were left alone.

Milo still couldn't look at me. He was either ashamed, embarrassed, or guilty... or probably all three of them.

I placed my hand on top of his shoulder and flashed him a soft smile when he finally glanced at me. To my surprise, he immediately engulfed me in between his arms. I wrapped my arms around his waist tightly, allowing him to weep on my shoulders.

"W-we... have to get to class, Milo," I told him after a minute. He broke free and nodded, wiping away his small tears.

"Right. Let's go," he said, exhaling deeply then cleared his throat.

It pained me to see him in that state. I wasn't even sure exactly if he really was at fault for what happened. Even if he didn't say it directly, I know he never assumed that would happen.

Sophie was just obsessed with him.

It wasn't his fault that he realized that so early and chose to get away from whatever future shenanigans she was going to put him into.

Luckily, Milo and I have the same Math class. This was a good thing because I can keep an eye on him. I can also distract him from minding the stabbing gazes a lot of people was throwing towards him.

It annoyed me. They had no idea what happened. Just because they heard one side of the story, they neglect the other side. They think Milo's the bad guy, where in fact he didn't even do anything but break up with someone.

He didn't even cheat or anything. He simply just broke up with someone because she was being more than just a pain in the ass.

Unfortunately, we had to part ways after Math class since he had History and I had to go to the Chem lab for my next class.

He appeared fine. He insisted that he was fine and that he was used to it, and that I shouldn't worry about him.

"Just because I cried on your shoulder earlier, doesn't mean I'm a wuss. Besides, I have my teammates to back me up. Dylan's going to be there. You worry too much."

Those were his exact words.

Even if he does so well in hiding it, I could tell that what he heard Sophie did got to him. I don't blame him though. Knowing that someone tried to end their life because of you is too much of a burden for your conscience.

I'm just glad she didn't die.

He would certainly be devastated if that happened and he would also blame himself nonstop for it.

"I heard what happened," Ken spoke softly next to me. We were in the same Chem class, and we were Chem partners too. That's basically how we met and became close.

I looked at him in confusion. My mind was too preoccupied with both listening to the teacher's discussion and Milo.

"Everyone's talking about it," he plainly said. "Biggest drama of the day, they said."

I sighed silently, pulling my front hair back in frustration, then bit my lower lip.

"It's not even his fault," I muttered. "She was possessive and obsessed," I whispered in anger.

Ken shrugged. "I guess there are just those types of people who can't handle a little break-up."

I couldn't agree more.

"Yeah. Exactly! Some people just love to make everything a big deal," I shook my head in disapproval.

"Care to share something to the rest of the class Miss Jonas?" Our Chem teacher suddenly said, causing everyone else to shift their gazes at me.

"I... uhh..." I stammered, feeling a little bit embarrassed.

"Yeah. I thought so. Apparently, gossiping is more important than paying attention to my class. So how about we make it more interesting? Surprise pop quiz for everyone! Close your books and get a piece of paper," the teacher said calmly then erased everything he wrote on the white board.

The whole class was erupted with disapproving sighs and growls.

"Nice going, Alex!" I heard someone huffed with annoyance.

Ken involuntarily giggled, then quickly apologized when I shot him an irate glance.

Yeah. Way to go Alex.