Living High School to the Fullest (Completed)

Chapter 27: After The Game

Chapter 27

Brian wasn’t at his car. Come to think of it, it wasn’t that much of a surprise. The game just ended a few minutes ago and of course he would be waiting for us back at the football field like we had arranged it before.

With a groan, I sank to the ground right next to his driver’s door. Hugging my knees and burying my head into my arms, trying to block out the world around me, I replayed the last few minutes in my head.

Kissing Nick went pretty much as planned. But why had Will to show up? Will. That’s not even his real name. Why would someone lie about his name? And why did he have to kiss me? I don’t think I would wanna a kiss a guy who left me locked out in a cold, dark backyard. Oh, and ever heard anything about small talk, you-who-shall-be-named-Will? Even worse: why, oh why did I have to kiss him back like that? I mean, kiss-kiss him? I hate public displays of affection! Hate, hate, hate! Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. And it hardly doesn’t get any more public than that. Maybe a live broadcast on national television, but that’s basically it.

I sighed. Nothing I could do about that anymore. The damage was already done.

Finally: Josh. What was he thinking? Why would he pull something like that? Okay, I get it: he’s a guy. Still. Why would he suddenly want to kiss me? I mean, we did become sorts of friends lately. But only those kinds of friends who play an odd round of paper ball now and then and joke around quite a bit.

Realization dawned upon me.

I was such an idiot! He had been joking! Josh had only tried to tease me a little. Oh no. And what had I done? I’d turned all violent on him. And then I left him behind without even checking if he was alright. I must have hurt him a lot, judging from his pained expression. He certainly didn’t deserve that. Why had I jumped on his foot? What if I had broken it? And ruined his chances for a college scholarship for good? His whole future, in ashes.. um… broken bones, just because of one rushed misjudgment on my part.

I never get violent. Never. It’s not my nature. So why did I with Josh?

Granted, I do slap Aaron and Brian quite often. But only girly slaps. It’s not like I actually hurt them. And maybe I even slap Emma and Dinah a little. Again: girly slaps. And they do it, too. No harm done. Mixed with a playful punch now and then, maybe. You can hardly call that violent, right? And Brad only complains about me hurting him because he’s my little brother and that’s what they are supposed to do. I don’t ever really hurt him. Except that one time when I accidentally hit him with a mini golf club and he had to get stitches. Hey, it was his fault! Standing right behind me; it was an accident waiting to happen. Still.

The only time I guess you could say I was a tiny bit on the violent side was this one time at a party last year when this drunk, obnoxious guy pinched my butt and I punched him in his stomach in return. A natural reflex. He totally had it coming. Although my knuckles hurt for two days afterwards, it had been worth it.

But I never really get violent. I couldn’t believe that I hurt Josh of all people! The guy who opened a window and shooed a bee away instead of killing it with his biology book, even though Trisha was having a mental breakdown and yelling at him to get rid of it as fast as possible. And screechy Trisha is not very pleasant to listen to; it takes some serious composure and will-power to ignore her.

I felt somebody’s hand on my arm. “Hey.”

I looked up to see Brian squatted down in front of me. Even in the half dark, I could make out his luminous eyes beneath his dark lashes, studying me.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said and stood up. I nodded and Brian stretched out his hand to pull me up. Then he unlocked his car.

“Where are the others?” I asked him after having realized that he was alone. “And is Josh okay? I didn’t break his foot, did I?”

“No, I don’t think so. He was walking around,” Brian replied. “As for the others: They are trying to explain everything right now.”

“Maybe I should get back. I need to apologize and –“

“No,” my friend said in a stern voice and put both his hands on my shoulders. “You can always apologize later. It’s best if you stay away from the little scene back there. Trust me.”

“Okay,” I agreed, defeated. It’s not like I actually wanted to go right back there. I climbed into the car, buckled up and barely paid attention to what was going on around me. Or where Brian was taking me to. Brian simply left me alone, driving calmly and saying nothing. I was very grateful for that. Emma and Dinah would be peppering me with questions right now and it’s not like I had all the answers to them. Or any idea why I reacted the way I did.

Why hadn’t I demanded an explanation from him-who-shall-be-named-Will? Why had I inflicted bodily harm on Josh? Why had I run away like a chicken with its head cut off? Why had I to act like such an idiotic head idiot of Idiot City? And why couldn’t I come up with something better than idiotic head idiot of Idiot City?

I was such an idiot. I was so idiotic; I didn’t even deserve the title head idiot. That would be giving me too much credit.

I had to apologize to Nick and Josh. Maybe I should buy them a box of chocolate each. Nick must like chocolate, right? I mean, who wouldn’t. Josh likes it for sure. He’s always sharing his KitKat with Emma and me.

Oh god. And I attacked this KitKat-sharing, bee-rescuing guy! That’s like beating up Santa Claus – you just don’t attack someone who’s nice to everyone and shares his candy! Not that Josh resembled Santa Claus in any way look-wise. Well, maybe if he weighed a hundred pounds more, had white hair and a beard. And was wearing the red costume, of course. Hm, I wonder what it would sound like if Josh says ‘Ho, ho, ho’.

Uh! Focus, Sarah! Back to the real problem back at the football field. Remember? Nick. Josh. Will.

Yeah. Will. What was up with him? And how come –