Broken Promises

Chapter Three

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't speak. I couldn't think straight.

It is most certainly unexpected that...

"J -- Julia?"

There she was, bent over my sketchpad, and my pencil skiddered over to me -- a result of her having kicked it away from her path. I picked it up, in all its dirtied and muddied form, and looked again.

Still there.

Julia Crewe was still there.

We were -- at that moment -- breathing in the same air, just a few feet from each other, without others surrounding us.

Surreal, it sure was.

I didn't know why.

"You know me?"

"W -- why yes," I stammered. Of COURSE I knew her. She was in fact the most beautiful girl in our biology class -- no, the whole school, even. She elicits second looks and subtle glances from many -- and by many you include me.

What she was doing in here with me or what she wanted with my sketch, I don't know. All I know is that I said something along the lines of, She's never talking to me. Never. But what the hell is she doing here?

"Well, stupid question I asked. We are classmates, Peter. Maybe you really know me because... You know. Biology."

"Gaaaaah uhmmmm... You know me?"

"W-- why yes." She imitated me, and by that, she laughed. I felt embarrassment of some sort. "Like I said, Biology"

She knew me. Julia Crewe knew me. The Julia Crewe knew me. For a minute there I was happy, not caring if ever she really knew me as a classmate OR an outcast. I stepped forward and mustered a shy smile.

"Oh aren't you a cutie. And an artist too. You can really draw, I could see. You should sketch me sometime."

Maybe I should. And maybe it would be the most splendid of everything I ever created.

But that shot past my mind as I thought, I'm a cutie.

To take such as an insult or compliment?

I was so tongue-tied by her that I didnt know I had to actually speak, to actually reply. I croaked. "Oh -- okay."

"A shy type too -- but listen. Time to get back to class."

"Oh. Yeah." I wanted to stay longer and just admire the beauty that is Julia Crewe, but I actually had a next class to attend to, and if I stay I would probably just stammer in front of her and seem like a loser I really am. I trotted away, wanting so much to fleet away from the awkwardness, and before I knew it I was outside the forest and crossing the soccer field, hoping she would follow, that she really will.

She didn't. I entered biology class, the next subject of the day. I waited for her.

She didn't come.

I waited.

But really... She didn't.

Was she attacked by a snake or boar?

Did anyone catch her?

Could have been a -- goddamn, no -- school authority?

Would it have been my fault if so?

And, the question that begs to be answered:

What the hell was she doing in there anyway?

------

The whole biology class passed, and yet she never really did come. And I was sure as hell worried. If anything happened to her -- anything -- within the vicinity of the woods, I am to blame. I left her there -- all because of fear that I may screw up, as I always do.

So after my last class -- one that I was itching to leave, patience wearing thin by each passing minute -- I immediately left for the woods, wishing deep within that no one is in the soccer field to spot me whisking off to unforbidden territory, which was unlikely since dismissal just begun and many would commit to their after-school activities or by the very least, hang out, but I had to take my chances or dream up of some plan to get away. But seriously, I didn't know what to do. The fact that guys may egg me on the way was also hindrance. And I didn't know what to do, seeing the soccer field from a distance, swarmed with students... Until I saw...

Her, with boys.

Suddenly, some weight has been lifted off my chest, and before I knew it, relief coursed through each vein in me. She was alive. She was okay! She was safe, and worry I had to no more, no longer. I never felt so relieved in my whole life.

I wanted to near her, to ask her where she has been, to know how she is, but how? I was intimidated by those dudes. They seemed like the types to pick a fight with me. I was not in the mood...

She waved at me as they spoke with her.

I stepped forward. I didn't mean to interrupt whatever was going on, but hell, I just did. I ought to mind my manners next time. "Hi. Where have you been?"

"Miss me?"

"Hey, it's shrimp! Twig! Wimp!" A guy snapped.

"Loser! Let's show them a lesson not to mess with us!"

"Yeah. You dunno who you're messing with!"

They were about to swing a punch. I recoiled, and was ready to beg for forgiveness when...

"Guys!"

She seized one away. "Guys! I motioned for him, remember? You guys are suuuuuch douches! Who do you think you guys are?"

She put a hand on my shoulder, and it took all of me just so I would not combust in happiness and bliss. "He's my friend, okay? So **** off. Leave."

"H -- hey,  Juls, we were just --"

"Leave."

Leave they did. I watched as they blended in with the masses of students making their way home, and she swept off dust from my shirt. "Leave them be. Don't worry. You got my back, okay?"

With that, she left. And I swear, I never felt happier, ever.