Liar's Desire ✔️

24| A Confession

Carlos's POV

"Did you want to bully me?" I asked Tristan. Me and him were sitting in an empty classroom at my school and I knew that they wouldn't kick him out because all the teachers that were still at school were in the academic wing. 

"Sorta," he said, "I guess it was amusing." 

"You're lying," I said, "Tiffany said something to you, didn't she?" 

"I thought you were trying to buy your way in," he said, "I guess I thought you deserved it." 

"And you made the decision on your own?" I asked. 

"No, everything was Tiffany's idea," he began, "I just followed and thought it was right, even though it clearly wasn't." 

Tristans eyes kept closing and I knew something was off, "Are you tired? We could go home now if you want." 

"No," he responded, "I'll be fine." 

Even while saying that he was fine, his eyes were drifting away from me and I just knew that something was terribly off. 

"I'm sorry," he said, "I know I've said it before but I really am sorry for everything." 

I gave him a gentle smile and turned my head to look out the window. The snow looked so pretty sitting on the tree branches, almost like a cold fluffy blanket. 

"The regret," I began, "Does it bother you a lot?" 

"What's your definition of 'a lot'?" he asked. 

"You know," I said, "Every day." 

"Every day?" he restated, "Yeah, I think about it every day." 

"So it bothers you?" I asked, "You don't look too well." 

"It bothers me a lot," he said. Tristan was just staring at his feet and had only made eye contact with me three times the whole time we were talking to each other. 

"The time I helped you clean the glass off of the floor," I began, "Does that have to do with anything?"

"What do you mean by 'anything'?" he asked. 

"Everything!" I exclaimed, "I'm worried about you!" 

"The mirror," he began, "It's none of your damn business." 

"Why'd I find you jumping out of your window?" I asked. 

"I ran away but I'm back now so it doesn't matter," he responded, "Why were you there anyways?"

"You can't ask me questions when you didn't answer mine!" I exclaimed. 

"What do you want me to say!?" he exclaimed, "There was glass on the floor and the mirror was shattered, isn't it obvious that I punched it!?"

"But why?" I asked, "I don't get it!" 

"I did something horrible to you!" he exclaimed, "I hate myself for that!" 

Our eyes met and tears streamed down his face. He wiped his tears with his sleeve but he just kept crying. I hugged him, "I worry about you, Tristan." 

He hugged me back and we stayed like that for a few seconds. He let go and I said, "Lets go home, it's getting late." 

When he didn't respond I let go, "Tristan?" 

His eyes were closed and I put two fingers on his neck. His breathing was fine but he wasn't responding to any of my words. 

"Tristan?" I said, "Wake up, this isn't funny." 

He still wasn't responding. I couldn't let anyone know that I had brought a student from another school into my school. If the school found out, I risked expulsion. 

I pinched him, shook him, and pulled on his hair. After about an hour, he finally woke up. 

"Carlos?" he yawned, "I'm so lightheaded." 

"When was the last time you ate?" I asked, "You look thinner." 

"It's just exercise," he laughed. I didn't believe him, he looked too depressed to do anything but sleep. 

"How are your grades?" I asked, "We're locked in here so might as well talk to each other." 

"Locked in here?" he exclaimed, "How?" 

"The front door is locked and no one is in here," I responded, "It's midnight and you fainted a couple of hours ago." 

I took some bread out of my backpack and gave him a piece. Tristan just stared at it. 

"Bread is for eating," I said, "You chew on it and swallow the pieces that you chewed." 

"I know that dumbo!" he exclaimed. 

"Then prove it to me, eat it," I said. The only way I was going to get him to eat was by making him feel dumb, and he hated feeling stupid. 

"I'm not hungry," he said, "I'll eat it later." 

"Are you stupid? It's twelve o'clock at night. Just eat the bread," I said. 

He took a bite of the bread and it was obvious that he didn't want to eat it. 

"It's homemade bread Tristan," I said, "Though it's not as good as the Gimbap your mom made when I came over to your place." 

"Oh yeah," he said, "What were you even doing there?" 

I laughed, "I just wanted to apologize for scaring you in the corridor." 

"You don't have to apologize for anything," he said, "I'm the one who's sorry." 

I stopped counting the amount of times Tristan had said the word 'sorry.' I was really worried about Tristan and I hated seeing him like that.