Idiot

Chapter 4

(Kylie's P.O.V.)

  I walked through the school doors, absolutely humiliated by the game the night before. We won, but Evan had really embarrassed me.
  People looked at me with different looks; pitiful, envious, amused, even pained. I hated it. This isn't how the day after a good game was supposed to be.
  I saw Evan at his locker and felt my face redden with anger. I stomped up to him and he turned around.
  "Hello, Beauti--"
  *Smack!*
  "I hate you, Evan!" I yelled.
  "Ow!" he complained, holding his cheek from where I hit him.
  "Why are you trying to ruin my life?!" I shouted.
  "What, me loving you is the same as me ruining your life?" he asked.
  "YES!" I shouted, and he flinched, looking hurt.
  "Why can't you just get this through your thick skull? I DON'T love you! I don't even LIKE you! You drive me straight up the wall! You do nothing but annoy me constantly!! I hate you, I'm never going to be your girlfriend, because you're an idiot! So just GET OVER IT already! I'm not that great, I'm not that pretty, there are dozens of other girls in this school that would be freaking ecstatic if you wanted to date them, why don't you go stalk one of them, and leave me alone?!"
  "Because I don't love them!" he said.
  I bit my lip, my face getting red again, then I punched him in the nose. A sharp pain shot up my wrist, but I was too angry to think anything of it. He shouted and fell down, holding his face.
  "You still love me now?!" I screamed.
  "Yes!" he shouted. Blood was seeping through his fingers. "I'm pissed, but I'm still in love with you, and nothing you ever say or do will make me feel differently! But--"
  "What's going on here?!" Principal Greene shouted. I finally took a second to look around. A huge crowd had drawn, people looked shocked, some people were even crying.
  "You two--in my office, NOW!" Greene screamed.

~~~

  "What the hell were you thinking?!" my dad, Peter Hartman, shouted at me.
  "Dad, I--"
  "No! I don't want any excuses! I want to know what happened and why!" he yelled.
  "She didn't do anything, sir," Evan suddenly said. My head snapped over to him.
  I had broken his nose. Two, already darkening black eyes were forming and the tissues he stuck up his nostrils to stop the bleeding were soaked red. One of the lenses popped out of his glasses when they hit the ground.
  I had broken my hand punching him. It was red and slightly swollen and I couldn't move it, but I didn't say anything because I didn't want to seem like some sort of weak little victim.
  With everything I had just said and done to him, he was lying completely, for me?
  "Evan, I have fourteen witnesses telling me she punched you in the nose," he said. "One of them was Mister Greene."
  "They're lying," he said.
  "No, they're not, Dad. I hit him--"
  "But I provoked her. I was really asking for it--"
  "Not true, I lost my temper. He shouldn't be here," I said.
  "Why are you trying to help me? You hate me, remember?" Evan asked, turning to face me.
  "Why are you trying to help me? I just broke your nose!" I said.
  "I broke your hand," he said.
  "You don't know my hand is broken," I said.
  "Look at it!" he said.
  "Kylie, do we need to get you to a doctor?" Dad asked.
  "You didn't seem to care about my well being thirty seconds ago!" I shouted, got up and walked out into the hall, slamming the door behind me. I walked down the hall, tears starting to blur my vision.
  Finally, I leaned back against the lockers, slid down to the floor and cried. I rarely cried anywhere besides my room, so I felt odd.
  "Kylie," I heard Evan say in a soft tone.
  "Go away, Evan," I mumbled.
  He didn't go away. He walked over, sat down next to me, and carefully pulled me into him. I was too exhausted and sad to protest, so I just cried into his shoulder.
  "Hey, it's okay," he comforted me.
  "No, it's not!" I said. "I broke your nose, and screamed sat you in front of the entire school, but you're still nice to me!"
  "Would you rather I bully you or something?"
  "I'd rather you didn't care about me," I said and sniffled.
  "I'm sorry, but I can't do that," he said.
  "Why not?" I asked. "I'm not even that pretty."
  "I've never really paid attention to your looks," he said, "I think there's a difference between 'looks' and 'appearance'. Your appearance is confident, smart, proud, kind of intimidating. I can see it in your eyes, you are always trying to be the best you can be at anything. And your hair falls around your face and practically cones it, and it sends your smile out like a voice through a megaphone. And even though you're small and petite, you hold yourself up high and you're strong. You're clever, and you care about people, even the ones you hate, even though you'll never admit it. I know, because you hate me, yet you didn't rat me out when you found out I'd get sent away. You always try to help people, and from the moment I saw you, I've known that I was going to spend the rest of my life trying to become yours and only yours. And even if I die trying, I'm going to make you realize that I really do love you."
  I stared up at him with wet, wide eyes. He studied my face.
  "But, now that you've mentioned it, I have noticed your looks too, and I've just decided you're the most beautiful girl I will ever know," he added, looking around my face.
  I gulped. The idea if kissing him popped into my mind, and I quickly squashed it like a bug. He's still an idiot.
  But he is charming.
  "Evan..." I started, then lost my train of thought.
  "I know, you don't love me, and you're pretty convinced that I don't love you, but I'm not giving up. However, you've made it pretty clear today that you don't want me bothering you with my affections, so I'm willing to move into the friend zone for a while if that's okay with you," he said.
  "What?" I asked.
  "I'm asking you to be my friend," he said. "Just a friend, for now at least."
  I thought about it. He was still an idiot, but maybe if we were friends he'd sort of pull himself together. But I've always been against changing people. If he wanted to learn how to act mature at least in public, I want him to do it on his own, not just because I said so. But, he is really sweet. Just sorta dumb. And I've always liked having friends. And maybe, if we're friends, we could influence each other, possibly in good ways. But also in bad. But I knew I was better than to turn into an idiot too.
  "Okay," I said.
  He blinked.
  "I'm sorry, what?" he asked.
  "I am willing to become friends with you," I said. "On three conditions."
  "Yes," he said, wide eyed and shocked looking.
  "You haven't even heard them yet," I told him.

  "You can tell me if you want but the answer is still yes," he said and I smiled.
  "Okay, one: no getting me into trouble for something you did."
  He nodded quickly.
  "Two, I'm not going to lie for you. If you do something stupid, and you get caught, you're on your own."
  He nodded again.
  "Three, no more asking me out every day."
  "Can I still tell you I love you?" he asked.
  "But I already know," I said.
  "I just love saying it," he said smiling at me.
  I huffed.
  "Okay, fine. But don't expect me to say anything back," I said pointing in his face.
  He grinned and nodded.
  "Oh, and this isn't a condition, but if you ruin another one of my games, I'll rip off your arms and use them to slap you."

  His eyes widened and he almost laughed and nodded. I smiled.
  "Okay, cool. This might not be so bad," I said.
  "Now--as a friend--will you allow me to escort you to the emergency room?" he asked. I furrowed my brow in puzzlement.
  "Your hand?" he asked.
  "Oh, yeah!" I said. "I almost forgot. It must not be that bad."

  "It should still be attended to," he said, helping me stand up.
  "Okay, sure," I said. "But this isn't a date," I joked with a smile.
  "Sweet hea--I mean, Kylie, when I take you on our first date, it's going to be much more romantic than a smelly old hospital," Evan told me as he threw his arm around my shoulders and started walking.