The Black Crow

6

The Black Crow
...
6

The next day, Tuesday. The second day of school was the same as yesterday. Our classroom stills function like nothing happened at all. I glanced at the empty chair beside me. I felt a sudden creep in my spines.

Not long enough before the first period for the TTH (Tuesday-Thursday sched.) started. A guy with messy blond hair with a spoiled brat happy looking face emerged. He's good looking. He directly sat at the empty chair beside me. I looked at him. I furrowed my brows. I don't care about the chair before but right now, I felt like I'm possessive of it. Like its mine, funny to think though that Martin was mine.

"Hey! I'm Matt!" He excitedly introduced and raised his hand for a high-five.

I glared at him and positioned myself in the chair. I ignored him and looked down on my open book. He shrugged he's shoulders and sat on the chair.

I saw the average looking girl arrived and saw Matt but gave no reaction at all. Right after she arrive the bell rang and the TLE teacher entered, then the class goes on. After the TLE another teacher went on then on till 12 o'clock stroked. Lunch time! Everyone's favorite subject.

I went to my usual place again, like always. But that "always" was not today. Matt sat at the empty chair where the girl sat yesterday. I should have asked that girls' name.

He looked at me and grinned like we've know for a long time. He even talked to me. I just replied with nods and shakes.

"Hey dude, are you....mute?" He hesitated at the last word.

"He's not mute Matt." Another shadow appeared beside the table. It's the average looking girl. She took a chair from the other table and sat on it and shoved herself under the table. She put her arms above the table and looked at me. I mean scanned me.

"What?" I asked her. It's more like a sneer.

"Dude man! You can speak!" Matt laughed in amusement.

"I'm not mute; I just don't waste time talking..." I looked at the girl. "I'm sorry about yesterday."

She let out a huge sighed as though she has been holding her breath since she sat in. "I thought you're never going to say that, you should feel bad." She said and started working on her tray. "And I'm sorry if I blamed you."

"It's okay and I like Martin too, he's kind and playful...I mean as a friend." I confessed. "I'm Mi---"

"I know who you are." She interrupted.

"You are? Your name?" I asked, controlling not to sound desperate.

"If you liked Martin then you should have shown him that..." She said instead of anwering my question. She paused like she's catching her breath. She sounded like she's going to cry. "You should have...told him...you love him, even as a friend..." There, she cried.

I'm startled I don't know what to do.

"Fuck man! You made a girl cry." Matt continued on his food like it's my fault that she cried and it's my business to calm her down. I don't know if it's my fault though.

I moved my chair closer to her. I don't know what to do. I swallowed and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry..." All I could say. She raised her head and gazed at me. Lazily. I'm surprised she's not angry. I thought she would be devastated.

"Ah! Why am I crying?" She said as she wiped her tears. "It's no one's fault, It's not yours, it's his fate...I just wanted to know if you feel bad about it. Martin really liked you. I became his friend last year, I found him crying and he just confessed to me everything like we knew each other for a long time. He talked about you....he bragged about how cute you are, how smart you are..." She coughed. "I'm Jasmin by the way." She gazed down. "And I hated you but he told me not to hate you." She added.

I bit my lower lip. "Uhm, Jasmin? thanks and sorry about that..." I felt good that Martin didn't hate me. I don't know how I can sleep tonight if Jasmin told me that Martin hated me and was so angry with me. "You should hate me, you should be..." I said and paused. "And....I ain't cute..."

"Yes, you are..." She said.

"No I'm not." I don't like being called cute. I prefer words like ' cool' or 'handsome'. Cute isn't so manly.

"You are..." She insisted. She gazed at my eyes.

"Really, I'm not..."

"Cut it out guys! I'm here okay! You're so close to each other."

I abruptly jumped back and moved my chair back to my original place. She did the same.

Matt let out a conniving laugh. "You two even have both the same reaction, like you're caught doing something...inappropriate--"

"Matt!" She grunted and glared at him.

Jasmin, nice name. Sounds like a flower. I thought.

Matt chuckled then looked at me. He winked.

I looked away. He stood up. "Bye guys, I gotta give you some privacy." He said in a low tone before running away. I blushed.

"He's a kid. Sorry about that." Jasmin apologized. "He's my cousin, he's from another section, section Ruby but he got transferred with us since you know.... I hope you get along with him..." I nodded. After that we didn't talk again until the lunch time ended then back to the classroom until the day end.