Bruises (BWWM)

18

18

Ben

I thought my heart was about to explode from the joy it had been infatuated with. Who would have known that three words whispered everywhere around school could make me so happy? Granted I was curious about the reason surrounding the whole thing, but right now, all I wanted to do was to happily hop from class to class like a madman and sing songs from cliche Disney movies at the top of my lungs.

They broke up.

Finally, something worth throwing a party for.

Surprisingly, Alex seemed to share the same opinion. Had I not heard the news from a squealing Amber, I wouldn't have noticed he'd just been through a break-up. Black hair perfectly styled upwards, smile constantly plastered onto his face and smug expression never leaving him, he seemed to cope with the whole thing pretty well.

It was for the best, he kept repeating to everyone who pressed him for details and also subtly alluding to the fact that he was the one that ended it. Yeah right. Who in their right mind would break up with the person they've been pinning for years after one single month?

Because of the fantastic news, I couldn't even focus in class, much to the disappointment of Mrs Stone, the uptight English teacher and Mr Hemmings, whom I had always found too sarcastic and pretentious to teach science to seventeen year olds. I couldn't help but feel relieved and dreamy all day. I still had to concentrate; finals were coming up real soon.

After those two periods, the bell rang and I could almost feel myself floating towards the cafeteria. I walked up to the line and Faye swiflty met up with me, sliding her blue tray next to mine. She glanced up at me with her icy stare as she murmured my way :

"Happy, uh? Guess your little stunt with Amber worked out pretty nicely."

I raised a suspicious eyebrow her direction as the lunch lady handed me a plate of dry spaghetti and bitter salad.

"I don't know about that, you know I'm starting to think that their split would've occured even without that extra push," I slid my tray away from Faye and she grabbed her food before promptly following me to pay.

"And why would you think that?" she inquired as we walked towards an empty table and sat down in front of one another.

"Who looks this great after a break-up? Your brother seems pretty unphased, don't you think? And Tamra, well, she skipped this morning's classes and according to Amber, she hasn't replied to any of her text messages. It's kinda weird that half of their relationship is okay and the other one is at home probably bawling their eyes out."

Faye conceded to that fact and picked on her pasta with her fork.

"So what are you saying?"

I gulped down my saliva with difficulty; I didn't think she'd appreciate what I was about to say, but I had to make sure.

"Do you think your brother might've sometimes lashed out at Tamra? Like... hurt her?"

Her dark brows automatically furrowed in anger as she clutched her tray of food with her two hands. Her mouth dropped open, but she quickly closed it back, still trying to find her words.

"Who the hell do you think you are? My brother is a good guy, he'd never lay a hand on her. Never. I didn't particularly wanted for the two of them be together, but when I saw how much Alex cared about her, even I couldn't come in between that. You thinking that he could possibly hurt someone he's loved for so long absolutely sickens me!"

She knocked my plate off from the table, sending it flying onto the ground, the content of my meal spreading across the floor of the cafeteria. Great, five bucks down the drain. She then grabbed her tray and walked away from the table, disappearing inside the swarm of giddy students filling the room.