Deadlock

XXI

We were at our little garden, or will be an abandoned garden rather, on a Monday afternoon. Jake went to my locker earlier  so he could talk to me and Nikki but she wasn’t out of her classes yet so it was only me and him. But instead of shouting at him in front of many people, which was what I wanted to do, I brought him to the place where we usually hang out or used to hang out. 

“Hey, are you okay?” He started to speak behind me.

I turned and I looked at him intently. When he was about to say more, I was urged to raise my hand and I slapped him across his face.

“What is wrong with you Emily?!” He shouted at me schocked spreading on his face.

“You double faced bastard! Don’t do false faces in front of me again!” I yelled at him.

“What’re you talking about?”

“I saw you with Rob Van Garrette and his other evil minions yesterday! And don’t you try to deny it!” I shouted at him as I held my tears. But after some seconds of silence, I wasn’t able to hold it any longer. There was a part of me that hoped he would really deny it because I didn’t want to lose a friend.

“Please listen to me first Em.” He pleaded.

“How long have you been friends with them?” I tried to ask without faltering.

“T-ten years.” He told me with a fixed expression. 

I didn’t want to hear more of what he had to say because it hurt me to know how he lied for all those three years that we had been together. I started to walk past him but he grabbed my arm. “Emily please”

“Let go of me!”

“Just…”

I took my hand from his grip and cursed him. “Don’t you ever come near us again. Don’t you ever talk to us again. I hate you Jake Martin and I hope you all burn down to hell with your evil friends!” I stormed out of the place crying. When I left the place I knew I also lost a friend.

 ♥♥♥

“Heeey, I told you we should come home together. Now we only have four more days to do that.” Nikki lectured.

“I told Jake to get lost and never come near us again.” I whimpered.

“He tried to talk to me too, but I ignored him.” She hugged me. “But I just can't find any reasons why he did it.”

“He’s an evil bastard just like Rob Van Garrette. He doesn’t have to have a reason to make fun of anyone he likes.” 

Nikki went out of my room because she wanted me to sleep so that I’d have enough time to rest. 

♥♥♥

Jake had been trying to reach us the following days. He kept on calling us, and when at school, he’d been trying to talk to us. But all we do was ignore him. We didn’t really like the idea of talking to him after he made a fool out of us for three years.

I was walking on the familiar hallway on a Tuesday afternoon. Nikki had already lectured me about spending more time together because I was going to be leaving the house in no less than four days. But it seemed like she really couldn’t get away with school stuffs so I had to wait for her to finish the meeting with the committee. I was looking around with the empty hallway. Then I saw the music room where the mighty jerk proposed to his girlfriend two months, nope I think it was more than two months ago. And it actually made me feel better. I never really thought that such a beautiful and, well she looked gentle enough for me, lady like his girlfriend would refuse him. And she got away with it easily, never even heard someone was bullying her.

I peered into the room. I was not really expecting to see anyone but there they were again. Rob Van Garrette and his girlfriend, whose name was Jane, were kissing. I looked away hurriedly. Argh these two, they should do better than leaving a door open. I decided to walk away but my feet didn’t seem to want to move. So I stayed there eavesdropping again. I was getting scared of the idea that this eavesdropping of mine might lead to a serious bad habit.

“Marry me.” Rob Van Garrette said in between his breath. He sure did enjoy himself.

“Rob…”

“Marry me now or we can never have another chance again.”

I didn’t imagine a Rob Van Garrette like this. I never thought he would love someone like this. He even asked her twice to marry him.

“Rob why are you doing this to me?” Jane asked warily.

“Do you love me?”

“Yes, I do love you.”

“Then marry me.”

“I-I’m sorry. But this is just too fast for us.”

“Then you don’t love me enough.”

I heard heavy footsteps toward the door. I quickly got back to my senses and realized that Rob Van Garrette would catch me again. But the footsteps stopped and so I had more time to move away without being caught. But I still heard Rob said, “Farewell Jane.”

Nikki went out of the room with her colleagues. It was like déjà vu for me. I grabbed her towards the elevator because I was nervous Rob Van Garrette would catch me. But he didn’t. I saw him head for the double doors just across where we were, probably straight to his ‘Suite.’

“Thanks for waiting for me.” Nikki said delightfully.

“No prob.” I told her as we went on.

I was thinking about what just happened a while ago. I should be extremely happy right now after another rejection of the mighty jerk. I should be celebrating. I should tell everybody how he was declined so he’d be really humiliated. That’d be really fun I thought. But seeing a different side of a beast like him was really… what word could be proper for it… ahm… weird. I didn’t know but it didn’t really cheer me up. But I was sure I didn’t have any sympathy for that bastard. I didn’t want to. It wouldn’t be right. Not after what he did to me, though it was already two months ago, I still couldn't forget it. I promised myself that I would never forgive him. I even thought of destroying him. Nope, I shouldn’t be feeling sympathetic for him. I should be happy he was rejected.

“Hey Nik, I’m guessing Jane was not in the meeting a while ago.” I told her in the car on our way home.

“How...”

“Yup, they were in there again.”

“Who?”

“Rob Van Garrette and Jane.”

“Jane Curtis?”

“Yup, he proposed to her again but she refused him.”

“Ahhhm, that’s a good news right?” She asked but she didn’t really seem happy or she was just not interested anymore. 

“Yeah, it’s a really really good news.” I told her faking the grin on my face. Being happy was the only thing I wanted to feel. In four days time, I wouldn't be with them anymore anyway so I just wanted things to be fine.