Problem Children

Chapter Twenty

Angus had gone to bed with a tornado in his brain and an earthquake in his heart. He never did get an answer the other night, as Malcolm couldn't seem to give him one. He was only two years older...what did he know about love that Angus couldn't understand himself? When Malcolm failed to respond, a light knock on the door sounded instead. Their noisy discussion had woken their mother, who was not expecting to see her son in the condition he was in. After bursting into the bathroom pulling Angus in for a hug, a rough scolding at the both of them for getting home so late, and giving all her attention to the wound on Angus' face, the boys were sent to bed under a two week grounding. Besides the trouble they got into, Angus needed a good long rest from school, and was allowed the day off on Monday. Malcolm tried to protest for him under a false reason of a history test, but Angus' kick to the shin shut him up real quick. During a late night questioning, Malcolm would yet again remain silent.

The cold wind blew through his window and he begrudgingly left his bed to close it. His neck had been pressed by a warm washcloth and gauze while his eye had been treated with a liquid medicine. It stung, but not at all worse than the cards Johnny dealt him. Sleep wouldn't come to him, even if he was allowed any. His mind traveled down the block to the bedroom where his high school sweetheart slept away her worries. His jacket draped over her now lay on his floor, her mother thinking so poorly of them now believing them to be 'not so bad'...his heart stolen and locked deep in the clutched palms of the girl he kissed that night, the girl he carried home that night, the girl he fell in love with that night.

Angus rolled over in his bed toward the wall. What did Malcolm know? Couldn't he see a crush wasn't the word to describe what he felt? It wasn't the same temporary euphoric feeling that incited him to climb out her bedroom window. That was long gone, and he hoped it never came back.

How could he admit to her, without ruining their friendship, how he felt? Most likely she didn't reciprocate and then he'd be left with that to dwell on. Or what if somehow, in the deep, dark mechanisms of his brother's mind, he was right?

Was love questioned? Was it an instinct and you simply knew if it were real, or could you doubt yourself? Maybe during their dance as they waltzed alone Angus had been caught up in the heat of the moment and kissed her by accident. Yet, he felt something different long before the dance. He just never realized.

A warm, yellow glow bounced off Angus' window. His room went from black to deep blue and he sat up in bed with no signs of sleep written on his face. His head felt better but the bruise was still a gnarly purple. His neck was still sore. And his heart was still dizzy with confusion. Maybe taking a few days off was a good idea. He needed rest for his health; not to mention some time away to think. If he really was in love, he'd know it in a few days. If it was a crush, it'd disappear with a couple days without his friend. A concussion didn't brighten up his day but it gave him an excuse to distance himself. A good while without Susan might liven him up as well. If Johnny saw the two together, he'd be dead in a locker.

Maybe then he wouldn't have to think about love.

The weekend passed and Monday found Hannah sitting all alone in her art class. Teachers had been notified that Angus wasn't going to show up due to an 'unfortunate accident'. The words made Hannah's blood boil, and her drawing was darkened a bit too well from her grip on her pencil.

Along with anger, she was in a hole. A hole dug by her best friend himself and then left there to rot. Everything he said to her that night was formed by a shaken up brain and wasn't sincere. But what about before the fight? He didn't put his lips on hers to kiss away a wound. Platonic kisses generally aren't on the mouth to begin with. Angus said he had never kissed anyone either after her denial, perhaps he just wanted to get it over with and brag about its occurrence.