The Other Girl (#Wattys2016)

Chapter Sixteen

JULIUS’S POV

I don’t know what happened. One moment, Hartel and I are being all brothers; laughing with each other, fooling around and patting each other’s shoulders to show affection and then I saw him on top of Saab and suddenly hell break loose! I don’t even know why I reacted like that, looking at him with venom in my eyes. I just know that something ticked in me when I saw them in that position and it made me go mad.

 I’m just as confused as Saab and Hartel. I’m just as clueless as the two of them. But I think the reason behind why I acted like that is I’m protective of Saab. I mean, she and I grew close to each other since the last month of summer and from then on, I thought of her as my best friend. And best friends protect each other. Although why should I protect him from a good man like Hartel, I don’t know. I just don’t know. I’m confused and I can’t think straight! And I don’t even know why this is happening.

But you know what’s worse than that? It’s when I met Hartel’s eyes when he got off of Saab, and I saw a mixture of emotions in them; passion, admiration… lust. It’s what made my blood boil, making me snap at him like that. Why though? I have no idea.

Since gym, I was just dazed. My mind can’t think straight and my brain’s wandering around, not paying the slightest attention to anything around me. And I think Hartel’s feeling the same, as he’s also looking confused when I saw him at our French class.

Thankfully, the dismissal bell rang and I took off immediately, heading to Saab’s locker. I need to go home really early today, and I have to tell her that if she feels like coming home, then she can go with me. But she wants to stay, then she’ll have to find herself a ride. I know that I should be doing this to Shannon, but I already texted her earlier to tell her this, and she just told me that she’ll be able to go home without me. She needs to stay here at school for she has a few things to do.

So when I reached Saab’s locker, I didn’t find her anywhere. And so I waited. I was looking distant, playing with hands and humming a tone I heard Saab sang once. And then I heard someone clearing their throat and met Saab’s misty looking grey eyes boring into mine when I look up.

“Saab, hey…” I greeted, smiling at her.

She smiled back, looking adorably cute. “Hey, Juls. What are you doing here?” She asked me, walking a bit closer. I straighten up, and looked at her, then behind her, then back at her again. I guess I’m acting like I’m nervous, which I am, but I don’t really know why. I have no idea why I’m acting like this. Seriously.

“Uhhh…” I trailed off.

She raised her eyebrow, looking at me expectantly. “Yes?”

“I was just wandering if you uhh…”

“JULIUS!” A loud screechy voice cut me off, making me jerk my head towards where it was coming from. Saab did the same. A petite redheaded girl—Julia Dickens, a senior and happens to be in my history class—is running towards us, a notebook in her hand and she looks real tired. When she reached us, she leaned against the locker, panting hard.

“I uhh… I wanna… wanna say something,” she tried saying between her pants.

I chuckled. “Hey there, Julia. Why don’t you try catching your breath first before saying whatever you wanna say, eh?” I suggested, and she smiled gratefully at me, nodding her head in agreement.

Saab searched for something in her bag, and then she retrieved a bottle of water from it and handed it to Julia. “Drink, it’ll help,” she told her.

Julius drank everything in just a few gulps. She stopped to breath for a few more seconds and then finally, she began to speak. “Oh thank god, I thought I won’t able to catch you. And look,” she exclaimed, pointing at Saab. “Saab’s even here, makes my job so much easier!”