Secrets Of Spring | Shigatsu Wa Kimi No Uso ;; Watari Ryota |

Chapter Fifteen

Maika

Due to my disease, I've been excused from physical education permanently for the rest of the school year. My P.E. ban will probably carry over into high school if I become worse from what the doctors say. It doesn't phase me that much though, I like having a little bit of time to myself. While my classmates run on the track, I spend my "free period" in the library catching up on my studies.

"Hey, Maika! Why aren't you in gym?" I hear a female voice ask as I sit in the library. I turn towards the window and see a group of girls surrounding it.

"I have to be excused from gym class because of personal reasons," I explain.

"Well we hope you get better!" The same girl exclaims and runs off before the teacher doesn't see them slacking off.

After school, I head home with Watari since soccer season is over for him. Earlier, he texted me that he's waiting at the front gate and I hurry to change my shoes. On the other side of the lockers, I hear the same girls I was talking to earlier.

"Man, my legs are so sore from the two mile run coach made us do in gym today, I wish I was Maika and could skip," One of the girls comment.

"Are you stupid? She's obviously lying so she can get out of the exams for gym. She's so lazy!" The rest of them laugh and exit the school.

I clench onto the handle to my shoe locker. "I could run ten miles before they finish two miles..."

I leave the school and find Watari leaning up against the gate. "Hey, you ready?" He asks.

"Yeah," I respond hesitantly.

"What's wrong?"

"Huh? Nothing's wrong, why do you ask?"

"You're a horrible liar, you know that?" You say that but you never guessed what secret I've been keeping my whole life.

"It was just something these girls said. It wasn't mean or anything, it's just the things they said are lingering in my mind, but nothing severe."

He frowns but I insist that everything's fine, so we start walking home and talk on the way. "I'm kinda hungry, you wanna grab something to eat?" I suggest.

"Sure, I'm getting hungry too," Watari replies. We start to head towards a nearby cafe that's close to our houses and head inside. We order a tray of pastries and sit down to feast.

The door opens and from my preferable vision, I see who walks in. The boy that hit on me from the other school waltzes through the door. I freeze and attempt to hide my face with my hair.

"Um, Maika? What're you doing?" Watari asks.

"Don't say my name..." I say, but the boy heard Watari and comes over to the table.

"Hey look, it's the girl from Sumiya. Akiyama, right?" The boy says.

I stop hiding my face and breathe in while turning towards them. "You got the wrong girl,"

"No, I think I'm right, you're the girl from regionals, the one that wasn't much of a talker,"

"So you know that but still talk to me, seems kind of weird, don't you think? I already told you, I'm not interested,"

"That's a shame, I just wanted to talk, get to know each other,"

"My answer is no," I state firmly and then add on without thinking, "I have a boyfriend too so you should get going," I lie. Why would I say that?!

"Is that so? What's his name?" He pesters me with questions.

"Why does it matter to you?"

"You're stalling so I'm assuming you're lying to me,"

"It's me." Watari announces. He gets up and puts his hand on my shoulder. "I'm her boyfriend." My eyes widen and I can feel my face begin to burn up.

"This loser? We easily beat you a couple days ago at soccer regionals. You should be with someone better than this guy, for example me." He boasts about himself.

"Watari's better than you. I'd rather be with him than someone who thinks their better than everyone else but in reality they're just some lowlife." I say.

He frowns and rolls his eyes. "Tch, whatever. I'm done with you, why'd I ever waste my breath on an ugly bitch like you," He says and walks away. Once he leaves, I let out a deep sigh.

"Sorry for making you lie--" I start to apologize and look up where he was before, but to my surprise, he's vanished. "Where'd he go?!" I look around the cafe but then spot Watari outside, trailing the guy that was hitting on me. "Shoot!" I grab my belongings and run out behind him.

Before I can reach Watari, he grabs the guy's shoulder and turns him around to face him. "What did you call Maika?"

The boy from the other school scoffs after looking Watari up and down. "I called Akiyama an ugly bitch, what're you, stupid? From the looks of it, her type in guys doesn't stray too far from how she looks herself,"

Suddenly, Watari's fist smashes into that jerk's face and he falls to the ground. "Don't you ever talk about Maika, you don't deserve to even speak her name, you asshole!" I run to Watari's side to try and calm him down but there's a firey rage in his eyes, I can't get through to him at all.

"Someone mad that I called him ugly like his girlfriend? I'm not wrong, you know, you're pathetic but you think that you're all that when you really aren't," He fires back.

"I don't give a shit about what you say to me, but insult her and I'll make you wish you never spoke," Watari threatens and I grab his arm.

"Watari, come on, it's okay," I say gently to calm him down but alas, he ignores me.

"Big talk from a little guy that lost regionals. Well, if you're so confident, let's see you try," The guy stands and clenches his fist. Watari does the same and I panic.

"What should I do? We're in this mess because of me!"

"Babe!! Did you get the drinks yet?" A female voice calls out. All of us look around till we see a black haired girl with pigtails and another school uniform jogs up to us. "What's taking you so long? Who are these people?" She asks oblivious to the situation.

My eyes widen and my jaw drops at the girl's arrival. "Babe? You're his girlfriend?" I ask.

"Uh yeah, of course I am, why?"

I laugh and then exhale deeply a sigh of relief. "Well, your boyfriend is a two-timing snake, he's been hitting on me since his soccer regionals. Have fun with him!" I inform her.

"Why you--!" He almost charges at me but his girlfriend steps in front of him.

"What?! You were trying to cheat on me? What the hell is wrong with you, I give you another chance after you cheated on me last time and this is what you do?!" The girl exclaims.

He stumbles over his words trying to explain himself while Watari and I walk away and back into the cafe.

"Well, that was quite a turn of events," I comment.

"It was way more entertaining than I thought it would be," Watari adds.

"By the way, I'm sorry for making you lie, it was the only thing I could think of at the moment to get him off of my case," I apologize.

"It's fine, that asshole needed to be taught a lesson anyways. And besides, anything for a friend."

Friend.

It's strange how much taking the first three letters off of the word boyfriend makes for me. I shouldn't be surprised though, he's always seen me as a friend, nothing will change that. I shouldn't have let my imagination tamper with reality.