The Boy Who Fell (COMPLETE)

The Aftermath

I know, I know. I acted like an ass. I should've chased her, apologized and set things right. Maybe we could've kept our friendship. Maybe I could have even owned up to my feelings, eventually. It would've saved me a whole lot of time regretting things.

But I was an idiot. I let her go. I chose to look cool infront of guys who didn't give a damn what I thought, over the girl I've been friends with for years. In one stupid moment, I turned from a girl's defender to her tormentor. 

We spent the next two years indifferent to each other. She started hanging out with her drama club friends. I spent all my time playing ball with the football club. The school paper, the only club we joined together, we both abandoned. 

We never fought. We just drifted apart, until the day came when we were strangers who'd wouldn't even nod at each other in the school corridors. 

The sad part was that I wasn't really indifferent. I stole glances when nobody was looking. I listened for news about how she was doing. Sometimes, I rode my bike in a circuitous route around our neighborhood, just so I could pass their house and maybe catch a peek of her passing by the windows. 

I had fallen that low. 

Despite all my pathetic ways, I still thought I was good when it comes to hiding what I felt. Turns out I was just kidding myself and everyone was reading me like an open book with spoilers all highlighted.

It was during the Luna East School Fair when it all happened. I was eating a chocolate cupcake from one of the music clubs when the rest of the football club descended on me. "Nothing will happen if you just stare, Hidalgo." Luke de Vera, one of our strikers, said. He followed my line of sight.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I snapped, angrier at being caught than at his presumptive comment.

"Sam Coronel, that's who I'm talking about," he smirked. Samantha was sitting in the Drama Club booth, reading a book. The Drama Club's freaking Kissing Booth. Who the hell put her there? So far, she had just been handling the money while another club member did the kissing, but who knows what will happen when they switched shifts? 

"Kissing booth, right? How many guys has she kissed already?" Luke wondered. "It's almost noon, and the booth has been open since---"

"None," I interrupted. "She's just the cashier. Trisha Aragon's the one doing the kissing." 

"So you have been watching!" Luke chortled. 

"What's it to you?" Luke's a friend, but right then, I wanted to kick his face in.

"Just checking on you, man." He gestured towards Samantha. "I mean, I always thought you liked her. You're always looking at her, you know? But if she's nothing to you, hey, I wouldn't mind asking her out. She's cute. Plus, we got along well when I helped out during their production of West Side Story last year." Luke fished a five hundred-peso bill from his wallet. "It's a hundred for a kiss right? So five hundred will get me---"

I was on him in a flash, pushing him against the wall. That caught the rest of the team's attention, but before they could pull me off him, Luke was already grinning. "So she's not nothing to you, is she? What are you so afraid of, bro? Five hundred bucks says she'll say yes if you ask her out."

"It's not that simple," I concede, letting him go. "Sam and I… we have history," I admitted. "And I've been an ass in the past. It's not something I'll bounce back from."

"Just try, bro." Luke said, straightening his rumpled collar.

"Yeah," another one of our teammates chimed in. "She'll be nuts to turn you down. No girl will turn down an invite from a Luna East Wolf."

"I'm just on the reserve, you know," I reminded them.

"You're still one of us," Luke proudly said. 

"Yeah, go Wolves!" One of the juniors cheered. Another started pumping fists on my shoulders, like he was priming a boxer for a match. And another handed me a breath mint. 

"Now go get the girl."