Affliction

Chapter Three

The next few days passed without them bothering Eliza, nor did she say anything to them. Kris didn't try to make an attempt at a decent conversation with her, fearing Jessica would interrupt or give him some sort of dreadful threat. However, Kris began bringing lunch from his own home instead of buying food from the cafeteria or going to some fancy restaurant. He missed out on lunch and dinner dates, and Jessica, Chen and Tao began noticing his strange behavior, becoming more and more irritated every time, but managing to shake off the negative feeling away every once in a while.

"Oh my God, you guys!" Audrey hollered, running into the cafeteria with a newspaper she had obviously borrowed from the school's library.

"What, what?" Chen replied, looking up.

"I think I've figured out why Kris has been acting all strange and poor lately," she smirked as she handed it to Jessica.

Tao and Chen leaned over to read what was printed in bold on the front page. 

"We are so over," Jessica said to herself as she folded it, seeing him approaching them.

"Where's your lunch today? Too poor to afford making your own now?" Chen laughed.

"W-What do you mean...?" he asked, looking at them wide-eyed.

"This," Jessica said as she threw the paper at him. "We're done."

He unfolded it and went through the article, never blinking once. He could feel his heart sink as he looked up at them, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

"Go sit where poor people do," Tao ordered.

"So you guys were never my friends," he crossed his arms, getting up. "I should've known to never trust you. What about you, Jessica? I didn't expect you to be like this."

"I'm sorry, but you're really not my type," was her pathetic excuse.

"Excuse me? You could've told me that when I was-" but he was interrupted by Audrey as she snapped, "Don't talk to us."

Jessica clenched her jaw as she went silent, avoiding looking into his eyes. Cursing under his breath was all he could do as he stomped off out into the hallway, trying to hold in his anger. The cafeteria went silent as they turned to look at him, including Eliza. That is, when one of the boys from the book club got up and ran after him. 

"Oh look, he's made a new friend," Jessica smirked. Catching the sight of Eliza, Tao said, "I think bullying her will be much easier now."

"I agree," replied Chen, but then noticed the entire room staring at them. "What?" he glared, and everyone quickly resumed what they were doing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kris! A-Are you okay?" the boy asked, panting as he caught up to him.

Kris didn't turn to look at him, "Does it look like I'm okay? I'm...I'm a mess," he sneered as he slammed his fist into the wall, causing his friend to jump.

"I'm sorry about-" but stopped as he heard the faint sound of footsteps, turning to see Eliza pacing rather hesitantly towards them. She had to admit she was terrified of Kris, but with someone around, he couldn't do anything to her...she hoped.

"Oh..I-I'll see you around," he said quickly, shooting her a small smile and walking away.

Wringing her fingers nervously, Eliza kept at a distance. Silence filled the air for a few seconds as Kris finally spoke, his back towards her, "What do you want?"

"I..wanted to make sure you were alright," she replied unthinkingly.

"I'm fine," he scoffed. "You mind your own business, got it?"

"But...fine," she breathed out, considering not to reply with anything stupid as she turned around to walk away hopelessly.

"Thanks for your concern though," he mumbled as he walked to his next class, pushing his hands inside his pockets.

Eliza stopped in her tracks, "I'm not sure whether he meant that sarcastically or earnestly," she thought. "I need to know what happened back there and why he is acting this way. Maybe I could go to that boy he was talking to earlier..wait no, what am I saying? Just mind your own business." she commanded herself. 

Taking out his textbook from his black messenger bag, he shook his head, disappointed with himself for telling her off. "I deserve this," he said aloud to himself as he ran his finger across the edges of the book, waiting for the bell which signalled that lunch time is over to go off.