Our Safeguard

Chapter 43

Chapter 43

~Nolan~

       I hated Valentine's Day. A lot. The holiday meant to spend time with your loved ones had just turned into a competition about who received the most amount of gifts from their significant other. At least, that was what it was like at school.

       Everywhere I went, there was someone being showered in gifts, only to show the gifts off to their friends. Or their frenemies. Or the person they hate. Either way, it was all, "Look what I just got! Can you believe how amazing my partner is? No one is as sweet and generous."

       I wanted to bang my head on any surface whenever I saw people being competitive. I was just glad the only self-proclaimed enemy I had was single so I didn't have to worry anyone rubbing their relationship in my face.

       Jerome was busy at school during lunch, so I couldn't hang out with him outside of the school. Orchid was spending time with Atticus, and Alan skipped school to hang out with Brandon, so it just left me.

       I didn't mind. I just ate lunch in bathroom stall to avoid all the couples showing off to one another. I could always go home for lunch but because I would have to walk there, I'd probably only have five minutes at my house before having to head back.

       And if I did go back, part of me would want to just stay there and not come back after lunch. My mental health was doing fine, so I didn't want to stay home. I didn't want to abuse my parents' mental health day policy.

       As I quietly ate lunch in the bathroom, I heard some people come in. They didn't enter any of the stalls. They just hung out by the sink, but it soon became clear that they were looking for some place to vape considering by the smell I got a whiff of soon.

       I ended up recognizing one of the people the moment he opened his mouth. "It just frustrates me, you know? How could he want to stay with someone who has a criminal record and has a school record?"

       "You have a school record, Joel," someone else said.

       Joel snorted. "Yeah, from vaping and shit like that. Nothing that actually harms anyone else. Jerome, on the other hand, got into fights, like, all the time."

       Once again, I wanted to bang my head against any surface. I just wanted to have a peaceful lunch. Now I had to listen to Joel trash Jerome because for some reason, he still didn't understand how much Jerome meant to me. 

       Part of me wanted to walk out of the stall to see Joel's reaction to the fact that I could hear him, but I also wanted to hear this play out. I lived for drama at times and this would give me something to gossip about to Jerome.

       I just hoped it wouldn't ruin Jerome's confidence to hear that Joel still liked me. No matter how many times I told Jerome I wouldn't fall in love with anyone else, he doubted it at times.

       Though I didn't blame him. Even I was constantly worried that Jerome would eventually fall out of love with me.

       "And I get that Jerome saved his life or whatever," Joel said. "But that's probably why Nolan's with him. He probably feels an obligation to date him. Like he owes him or whatever."

       Idiot. Stupid idiot. Even after Jerome saved my life, I didn't once think that I owed him. I know some people might feel that way, and I did get that. But I just never thought that way. 

       "He'll realize in sooner or later," Joel's friend said. "Soon enough, he'll just get bored of Jerome when he realizes he doesn't owe him anything."