Oreo Ice Cream

Chapter 5| Broken Pencil Lead

Before you start: The dialogues (in present tense) italicized are the ones said by Flora to herself. Also, on reading the comments, I realized the need to write Tristan's POV. And so, I've included one in this chapter and might add the same in the upcoming few chapters also. But I warn you that you may find one or two informal words while reading Tristan's POV. Enjoy!

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He looked at me once. I was startled by that look—dark as a turbulent storm, yet calm like the storm has just gone away.

A few teachers and students helped Eric stand up. His hairs were messy, his face swollen, and his lips were bleeding.

"Ouch!" Eric closed his eyes in pain as he stood up.

"Boys, take him to the medical room, quick!" one of the teachers said as she side-glanced at Tris.

Eric looked at me and then Tris before going to the medical room. The teacher came near us. She was probably coming to ask Tris something. But seeing his unusually dark blue orbs, she paused and turned to me, "So you're-"

"Flora, Flora Ellwood." I tried to be as polite as I could. My heart raced faster than before. I could sense Tris's constant gaze at me, which was becoming more uncomfortable to bear. I knew he had a lot to say, and so had I.

"Yea," the teacher said, tucking her bleached hair lock behind her ear. Her red lipstick looked more disturbing when she rubbed her lips against each other. "So you read in the same class he does, don't you?"

"I do, but I'm in a different section."

"Who's his class teacher?" her tone changed as I suspected a more severe consequence.

Tris, why are you still standing? Spit out the truth, stupid!

"Mrs. Whiteley, our Geography teacher."

Hearing me, the new teacher went away, nodding. I expected to find Mr. Stewart around, but he was nowhere.

Teachers came towards Tristan. My throat was getting dried.

"What exactly had happened?" Mr. Jones snapped, looking at me.

"Something awful." Tris's voice was terribly calm.

"How awful that you have to beat Eric, huh?" he shouted out the last few words.

"He was misbehaving." Tris rubbed his bruised knuckles as he gulped something down his throat. Maybe the lump of nervousness and rage.

"Oh, I see." Mr. Jones mocked, "You could've complained to us, you could've warned him, you could've done so many things rather than beating him, Asher. There were many other ways-"

"I did. Eric didn't listen." Tris's eyes fell on mine, "He continued misbehaving with-" he paused for a second before he said, "Flora."

Mr. Jones looked surprised after hearing him. He looked at me. He walked towards me, "What did he say?"

"Unpleasant things, I mean inappropriate words."

His curiosity didn't seem to quench. "And what exactly did he say t-" he looked at me when I interrupted.

"Eric misbehaved with me, even uttered inappropriate things which he wasn't meant to say."

"I do understand" Mr. Jones raised his eyebrows, "But, I just wanna know what kind of misbehavior he did, I mean, um, you know-"

I became annoyed by this time. 

Jesus! This man! Why so many questions? I'd seriously go insane now.

Inhaling the lemon-smelling air, I continued, "He was saying that he wanted to enjoy the kind of freaking romance of us, standing in the corridor. On asking him to stop talking rubbish, he continued his filthy jokes. When we were about to leave, he shouted aloud I would make out with Tristan anytime." Jones curved his eyebrows in thought. I wanted to say about Eric referring to Tris as "Josie's crush," but my heart ached on that weird thought.

The bell rang as everyone hurried. "Um, Asher," Jones's tone was soft, "Can you meet me after school? In the staffroom?"

"Sure," Tristan replied before walking to me.

"Be careful the next time, Asher. Girlfriends mean risks." a stout boy with dimple cheeks muttered to Tristan while he was coming to me.

Jesus! If I could only make this stupid lad understand the fact, damn!

"Tristan," I said as I grabbed Tris's arms.

"The break's o'er." His voice was calm. He wasn't actually looking at me, was he? His eyes were on the floor.

"Let it," I was more worried about him than the damn break, "Are you okay? Look, your knuckle's bruised, and your fingers are bleeding a bit."

"That's okay. I will wash my hands in running water."

"Tris, your knuckles are bruised!" I almost shrieked at him, "At least get a band-aid from the medical room." I instantly regretted my words. I shouldn't have said these. Tris looked at me. His cold blue orbs would probably pierce my eyeballs in no time.

"Um, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said these. I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I'll get you one."

"No," he said sternly, "You know that's not safe for you now, don't you?" He said as we walked back to class.

"Wash them. We'll meet after school." I said before going inside my class.

~*~

Tristan's POV

My knuckles were aching. Flora was right. I should have probably gotten one band-aid from the medical room. No! I would not! Never! Once I'd get another view of that bloody shit, I knew I'd again indulge myself in a fight with him, which might end him dead.

As I entered the classroom, I couldn't just focus on anything. My hands were paining a lot. Cole and a few others were gossiping and sometimes laughing weirdly. Sometime later, his eyes landed on mine.

"Tristan!" Cole, and others behind him, came running to me, "You, you okay? I heard you got into some fighting stuff with Eric?"

"Is that true, Tristan?" someone among them asked.

"I'm okay, and it's none of your business. Let me have some water, may I?" I replied rudely before moving past them.

The teacher came after a few minutes and started the class. We took out our notebooks as she asked us to draw tables to write 'differences'. My pencil couldn't focus on anything as I doodled alphabets on the margin of my notebook. I couldn't draw properly yet tried. My fingers, my heart, everything was aching.

My mind was preoccupied with some bizarre thoughts. It was not about meeting Mr. Jones after school, but about the freaking fight I had. I still couldn't believe I did all of these for Flora. For my best friend. Or would I say, my dearest friend? I didn't know if she still considered me her...best friend. Whatever it was, I knew I did nothing wrong. I was pretty sure we still cared for each other, and we always would. As my pencil lead broke, I realized I couldn't stop smiling.

What do you think is wrong with Tris?! Something up?