Blue Flower

Chapter 5

-Chester-

“Oh my god, what happened?” Naomi asked when she saw my beaten up image. When I took off my shirt last night, I got bruises that almost made an archipelago all over my body. My lower lip was tinted red, and I had two bruises on each cheek. It was hard for me to drive from home to school. I was barely able to walk, but I was glad that I made it to my classroom.

The guy I saved yesterday remained in my mind the whole night. I was like a jerk, worrying about him though we were just strangers. I was thinking about him like he was really my concern. And then I forgot to ask for his name. That was one big mistake.

“Hey Chester, do I have to take you to the emergency room?” Naomi snapped. I blinked myself back to reality, eradicating the images of that guy and yesterday’s incident.

“N-No, I’m fine.” I lied. My body yelled pain, and nothing but pain.

“Do you consider yourself fine at that appearance? Look at you. I could’ve that you just jumped off of a skyscraper.” she exaggerated. I bowed my head down.

I dragged the chair at my back and faced her with a serious expression.

“Well, this was what happened yesterday. When you went home with your friends, I toured around the school. I hummed all to myself, just like the usual, and saw a guy beaten up by three senior guys. I ran to save him, and ended up in this look. We both escaped the trouble, and I took him home. Satisfied?” I narrated.

“Did you ask for his name?” she asked again.

“No, I forgot.” I answered, shaking my head.

“Damn, you’re too weak.”

I kicked her leg.

“How can you even say that? Won’t you just sympathize with me?” I said.

She smiled cleverly.

“I don’t know if you’re worthy of my sympathy.”

I kicked her leg again. She groaned in pain that it seemed like a scream to me.

“Shut up.” I gritted my teeth.

She did the same to me. I almost uttered a curse out of pain, and she laughed at me like there was no tomorrow.

Lunchtime broke in. Naomi and I sat on our usual seat, the table that was located near the window. I was staring outside while slowly running my hand on my pack of small pack of fresh milk. My mind drifted somewhere, to the guy that I saved just yesterday. I wondered if he got a goodnight sleep, or was able to recover emotionally from the incident. He wasn’t my concern, but I couldn’t stop myself from worrying about him.

I was happy that Naomi cut my thoughts by sitting in front of me. She was fully loaded with a pack of fresh milk, an apple and two cheeseburgers. What a monstrous appetite. It was greater than what I could take in.

“Are you going on a trip somewhere? You seem so hungry.” I said, and started sipping on my milk slowly.

“I didn’t eat breakfast today.” she answered and bit a large portion of the burger, which shocked me and caused my eyes to pop open. I almost spit my milk out.

I laughed at her while she stared at me in indifference.

“What?”

“You look so rude.” I smiled.

She continued eating. I just watched her and couldn’t help but laugh. She was eating the burger in large bits, like she’d never eaten that food before. It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen of her.

“Can I have this one?” a guy’s voice said.

I looked up, and couldn’t say anything. He was the guy I saved from that trouble. Just like me, he also had bruises on his cheeks, and a beaten body. He stole the burger from the eating Naomi. She immediately spanked his hand.

“Hands off! I didn’t eat anything since last night.” she said, while chewing a bite of her burger in her mouth.

“Again? Are you trying to kill yourself?” he said.

“Ha-ha.” Naomi replied a lifeless and fake laugh.

I just watched them and smiled to myself, thinking how lucky Naomi was for having a friend that was just like me.

I was browsing on my phone when I heard a question that put me into shock.

“Hey, why do you have bruises on your cheeks?”

I looked up again. Naomi was inspecting the guy.

“I got beaten up.” he said.

“Just like my best friend?” Naomi pointed a finger to me.

The guy turned to me.

“Hi!” he greeted, paired with a smile and a wave of his hand.

I gave a slight smile while Naomi stared at us in confusion.

“You guys know each other?” she asked.

“Yeah. He saved me yesterday. I never encountered people like him. Full of guts.” he said.

Naomi laid her eyes on me.

“Are you sure you really saved him? You look like you beat my cousin up.”

This guy was her cousin. I thought they were just friends. Oh well…

“Yeah. I tried my best. I don’t even know him, but he has to be saved.”

“Oh sorry. By the way, Chester, this is my cousin Andrew. And Andrew, my best friend, Chester.” she formally introduced.

Andrew offered his hand.

“It’s really nice to finally know you better. I’m sorry if I acted so dumb yesterday. I just don’t know what to do.”

I accepted his hand and considered him as forgiven, though his dumbness didn’t make me angry.

“It’s alright. You don’t have to apologize. Treat it as nothing.”

We both pulled away.

“Anyway, thanks.”

I smiled and continued browsing on my phone.

“I really have to go. I need to see if Reese is available today. Excuse me.”

I just nodded. Naomi held him back.

“Are you going on a date?” Naomi asked.

“Secret.” Andrew said and walked away.

“Bye Chester!” he yelled as he sped to the door.

I waved my hand and watched him go as my sign of goodbye.

“Who’s Reese?” I asked afterwards.

“His girlfriend.”

“Really?”

As I browsed deeper on my phone, Andrew’s image lingered in my mind. I felt a strong connection with him. So odd. So very weird.