me and you

Chapter 18

I didn't get to talk to Tzuyu the next day though. Or the next day. Or the day after that. It was then that I decided she was avoiding me. In the month and a half that I had known Tzuyu, she'd never left me alone for more than a few hours. She was constantly sending texts or calling me at random moments when we weren't together. For her to have gone silent and not go anywhere near me for three days was unusual.

Thursday, a week after Tzuyu's abrupt departure from my life, I plopped down at my lunch table with a groan quickly followed by a scowl. Tzuyu hadn't talked to me in a week. A week! I didn't understand why she was avoiding me. I wasn't mad at hed for anything and I didn't think she was mad at me. What would she have to be mad at me for? I didn't even do anything! Well, I had kissed her back...but if she hadn't kissed me in the first place, I wouldn't have had a reason to kiss her back. Another groan escaped me. She was so complicated.

I plugged in my earbuds and turned on my music, quickly changing the song when Precious Love came on. I wasn't in the mood to hear something depressing. Satisfied with what was playing, I closed my eyes and put my head down on the table. I hated sitting alone. I hadn't sat alone once since I'd started going to JYP, but since Tzuyu was avoiding me, she wasn't sitting with me. Instead she was sitting with Mark and her friends—something I found quite ironic considering Tzuyu didn't like Mark or the majority of her friends.

A light tap on my shoulder made me sit up. I gave a minuscule smile to the redhead in front of me. "Hey Mark."

He frowned. "Hey, are you okay? You've been moping around the last few days. Something wrong?"

I sighed. "Your cousin's avoiding me. She hasn't talked to me in a week."

Mark raised an eyebrow. "You want me to talk to her? Maybe I could knock some sense into her."

"No thanks," I said, putting my head back down. "You can leave now," I told him, not bothering to sit up. "I'm sure you don't want to talk to a pathetic, lonely girl when you could be talking to your friends."

"If I didn't want to talk to you, I wouldn't have come over here," he replied. "And besides, aren't we friends?"

I sat up again and looked at him, a single eyebrow raised. "Considering we've talked a grand total of maybe five times, I would say we're acquaintances at best."

He grinned. "Well, then we'll have to fix that, won't we?"

Mark sat with me at lunch again on Friday, completely ignoring the looks of confusion from our classmates who were higher up on the social totem pole than I was, also known as his fellow athletes and the cheerleaders. On Saturday afternoon, he found me at the park, joining me in my tree. He did the same on Sunday. And when he sat with me at lunch again that week, I realized that it was becoming a regular thing for him to spend time with me. I was fine with that though. Mark's company kept me from thinking about Tzuyu too much. Not that I had forgotten about my best friend, I just stopped wishing she would hurry up and talk to me again so much.

The last week of the semester, I spent every spare moment I had studying for finals and working on homework. I studied while walking to classes, somehow managing not to get knocked to the ground once. I studied on my way to and from school while enjoying the warmth of my uncle's car, as he had started driving me because of the lower temperatures. And I had a few all-nighters, getting through the next day with a large cup of delicious caffeinated coffee.

Yet somehow, throughout all of my studious behavior, I still managed to talk to Mark every day. Each day at lunch, he would make me put away my textbooks and talk to him. I was finding that, contrary to what Tzuyu had told me, Mark was actually a nice guy. He wasn't rude, obnoxious, or cruel. He listened attentively like a good friend should, and smiled and laughed at my rants on things that annoyed me, often agreeing with me. Of course we had our disagreements, debating things like which condiment was the best—he was convinced that ketchup was the best, while I knew that ranch was definitely better—or sex before marriage—the way he saw it, sex happens, while I was more than against it, believing that people should save themselves for the person they planned to spend the rest of their life with.

I admit that in the couple weeks that I had spent with him, I had grown fond of Mark. He was fun, entertaining, and easy to talk to. At the end of the week, when finals were done and the last bell had rung, I was a little upset that I probably wouldn't see him over the break. I planned on spending my break in my room, curled up in my bed with a good book and music in my ears. He was probably going away somewhere for his vacation, as most of JYP students were.

I stood inside the building, looking through the front door in search of my uncle's car. He was late, and I wasn't going to wait outside in the cold. As I stood there, I felt a tap on my left shoulder and looked in the direction of it. I smiled when I realized it was Mark who had tapped me. "Hey Mark," I greeted. "What're you still doing here?"

He shrugged. "I was waiting for my mom. I was supposed to drive her home because her piece of shit car broke down again, but she's just going to call my dad when she's done with whatever it is she's doing. What about you? Why're you still here?"

I shrugged. "My uncle's late. He's supposed to come pick me up, but I guess he forgot." Just then, my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket, holding up a finger to Mark, the universal sign for give me a second. Upon seeing that it was Uncle Kai calling, I quickly answered the phone. "Hey, Kai where are you?"

"Hey kiddo, I'm sorry but I can't come get you. I'm in the next city over stuck in traffic," he explained. "Do you have anyone else that could give you a ride? Dahyun maybe?"

I sighed. "She's staying at a friend's tonight. She went there right after school."

"Then how about Tzuyu?" he suggested.

Another sigh escaped me. "Yeah, okay. I'll ask her." If She answers her phone.

"I'm really sorry, Sana." Uncle Kai apologized.

I shrugged, ignoring the fact that he couldn't see me. "It's cool."

He sighed. "You sure?"

"Yeah. I gotta go. Love you. Bye." I disconnected the call and sighed as I dialed Tzuyu's number. I held the phone to my ear, listening to the ringtone while waiting for the inevitable. Just as I predicted, she didn't answer. I sighed and slipped my phone back into my pocket. "Great. Looks like I'm walking."

Mark frowned. "Your uncle can't come get you?"

I shook my head. "Nope. He's stuck in traffic in the next city over."

"I could drive you," he offered. "I've got a perfectly good car, and I'd rather you not walk home in this weather. It's literally freezing outside."

Gnawing my lip, I asked. "Are you sure? You don't have to. I can—"

"Shut up, Sana." he interrupted, pulling his car keys from his pocket. "I'm driving you home and that's final. Now you're going to wait here while I go get the car." Not allowing me to get another word in, he slipped out the building and headed to the student parking lot

"Thanks for this Mark," I said as I unbuckled my seatbelt.

The redhead smiled at me. "No problem. Anything to keep the pretty girl from freezing to death."

I arched an eyebrow. "You got that from Jackson, didn't you? Calling me 'the pretty girl'?"

He shrugged, his grin still present. "Maybe. Little man's right though, you are pretty."

I rolled my eyes. "First Tzuyu, then Jackson, and now you. Am I really just that pretty?"

"Yes," he assured me. "And speaking of Tzuyu, has she talked to you yet?"

I shook my head. "No, She hasn't. I don't know why she's avoiding me. I wish she would just talk to me."

Mark frowned. "You should go see her. She's been pretty miserable. It's been what, three weeks since you guys spoke?"

I nodded. "Yeah, three. And I'm gonna go over there tomorrow. I promised Jackson a few weeks ago that I would play with him after the semester was over."

He nodded. "Good. Play with Jackson and talk to Tzuyu, those are your plans for tomorrow. Understand?"

I saluted him. "Sir, yes sir!" I said, trying not to laugh at my silliness.

He chuckled. "Good. Now get out of my car, soldier."

I opened the door, sticking my tongue out at him as I climbed out. "Thanks again, Mark."

Smiling, he replied, "Like I said before, anything to keep the pretty girl from freezing to death."