If We Were Heroes | ONC2022

chapter ten

chapter ten: I miss out on drinking coffee

*tw: mentions of de@th

The walk home from school wasn't the best, but I figured if Miles could do it, so could I.

Except it was raining. Of course it would be raining on my first day. And of course it would be typical of me not to bring an umbrella, or any form of shelter.

Sighing, I shielded my eyes the best I could as the skies immediately faded to a dull gray, the water seeping through my clothes. I could emphasise with cats hating water. At this moment, I think I hated water too.

A car zoomed by, drenching my already wet self even more. Surely, I thought, there must be a limit to how wet you could actually get, though it seemed I hadn't reached it yet.

All my brand new schoolbooks would have to be dried, the ink probably smudging everywhere. And although the teacher claimed they didn't judge, I could swear they marked people with unkept textbooks lower than the neat ones.

Finally, I reached the house, clambering in as quickly as I possibly could, leaving wet puddles everywhere. I'd clean them up later, if they didn't dry out.

Dry clothes were important, but a warm drink sounded better. I couldn't be bothered to change.

I slunked into the kitchen, desperate for a good cup of coffee after my long day. Anticipation of the warmth almost immediately feel better.

Except someone else was in the dining room.

And that person

Was

Ethan.

/

I blinked in surprise. 'Oh, hi Ethan.'

I'd gotten better at keeping my tone even over the years, making it impossible for anyone to deduce anything, but this time, it wavered.

Ethan smiled, a perfect, white teeth, jock smile, annoying every little fibre in me. Just. Stop. Smiling.

'Oliver,' he said. 'I drove past but I don't think you saw me.'

So he was the jerk who drenched me. Thanks a lot Ethan.

'No, I don't think so,' I answered.

His gaze flicked to mine, holding it for a few seconds before settling on something else. He was probably wondering why I was so wet. If he asked, I would tell him.

'I, uh, I saw you at school. I would've talked to you, if I wasn't so busy.'

'It's fine,' I said, even though I knew he would never have talked to me. I would never be more important than his social status.

Miles walked in, seemingly dry, giving me a hard look as he poured himself my coffee.

'Your hair's dripping,' he noted.

I tugged at a loose lock. 'I know.'

'Why is it dripping?' he asked.

'I don't know, maybe because I walked home in the rain?'

'Oh.' He sounded as disinterested as ever.

'I could've given you a lift,' Ethan said.

You could've given me a lift anyway. You literally drove past me.

'Nah, it's fine,' I replied.

Miles sauntered out, taking the coffee I had made with him. I shot a glance at Ethan, who was now staring at my hair like it was going to fall off any minute.

'It's wet, I know,' I stated.

Ethan blushed. 'No, no, it's not that. It, uh, it looks good. Longer, I mean.'

I gave him a look. 'Okay.'

'I can't talk to you at school,' Ethan admitted. 'Unless you joined the football team or something. Everyone would think it was weird, and..'

He looked down at his feet.

'No, no, it's fine. Really.'

'You sure?' he asked.

No, but you think way too much.

'Yeah. I've got Mia, anyway.'

He cocked his head, like a curious puppy. 'Yeah, I saw you with her today. Is she okay?'

'Yeah, she's good.' I wasn't about to tell him off Mia's great hatred for him. He probably already knew. He should know anyway. You don't bully someone without knowing about it.

'Anyway,' he said. 'I've got to go now. Tutoring.' He pulled a face, looking back at me one last time before exiting the house and driving off. I could've sworn he sounded embarrassed.

'Well that was fun,' Miles stated, sipping my coffee.

'Yeah.'

'Your coffee's gross by the way,' he said, tipping into the sink.

'I could've drunk that!' I exclaimed, Miles taking off before I could grab him.

Ethan's car hadn't even made a mark on the driveway. And I didn't even get a picture for Sebastian.

/

'He didn't say anything else?' Mia asked, cornering me at lunch.

I shook my head. 'Nope.'

Mia sighed. 'I'm sorry I snapped at you yesterday. It's just that—'

'You don't need to tell me if you don't want to.'

'I do,' Mia insisted. 'You deserve to know.'

I gestured for her to go on.

'My grandfather died last year. Cancer. I didn't tell anyone about it, but somehow Ethan must've found out about it. When I got paired with Allison, you know, the ginger one, for a project, she just started being really shitty to me for literally no reason, telling me I didn't deserve to be here. She told me my grandfather should've died before he even made it to the US. Then we wouldn't have taken American's jobs.'

'That's awful,' I said. I bit back the urge to say she should've told somebody. That would only be hypocritical.

Mia took a deep breath. 'It's just that I was never really close to my grandfather, but it still really stung, you know? Like I know he worked really hard to get us here from Korea. He didn't deserve to be bad mouthed by anybody.'

'That sucks,' I said.

'I know. And the worst part was that he told everybody about it, and got me kicked out of the school play somehow. If I wanted people to know, I would've told them. And I was perfectly capable of performing.'

I gestured for her to continue. Sometimes people just needed to talk.

'And,' she added. 'Sometimes I feel like I could've prevented his death somehow. But I didn't, and he died.'

'I know it's not the same,' I blurted. 'But my father felt the same way about my uncle, his brother. And people just expected him to save him, but he didn't. Sometimes, I think it's just Fate.'

I conveniently left out the part about the curse, trying not to look at Ethan, who was sitting two tables away. He would never say anything like what he said to Mia about me, would he?

'The thing is,' I said, thinking it was about time for a slight subject change, 'was that Ethan seemed normal when he came over to mine yesterday.'

Mia humphed. 'He probably hopes you'll get popular.'

I frowned. 'Well that's just stupid.'

'Not so,' Mia answered, nudging me. 'I've heard people whisper about you.'

I pulled a face, and she laughed.

'The party's still on Saturday, right?' she asked.

I gave her a grin, even though I didn't feel it. 'Definitely.'

date: 12th April
word count: 1146
total words: 12, 539