We're Okay

Strangely, Weirdly, Oddly, Abnormally Absurd

   This is concerning. This is mildly terrifying. I've never been so confused in my life.

The last time Ira left me alone for this long, he had a nasty case of the flu. He's not sick today. He hadn't been sick for the last four days. You see why I'm skeptical about my supposed good luck here.

After Millie had visited me and we talked things out, my spirits were lifted and I wanted to keep them there. I had felt so determined to be happy through the pain Ira caused me at school. Jordan might have influenced that as well. He had asked me to stay strong, and I'd just recently started acting on that request.

What shocked me was how easy it was to maintain my good mood. It had never been this easy. I'd only noticed how simple it was after I spotted Ira in art class. He typically sits to my left to haunt me like the demon he is.

He didn't haunt me this time. Or the last time. Or the time before that.

Lately, I've been so worried about him that I almost wanted to waltz up and ask him, "Hey, why aren't you throwing insults at me in the hallway?" Only a fool would actually do that. I was no fool.

After I realized he was actually avoiding me, I started watching him. It sounds creepy, but his total lack of rudeness was creepier. I was ninety-five percent sure he was going to sneak attack me or something.

He was only in two of my classes. First, gym. I started glancing at him whenever I could. Without acting perverted, obviously. I'm not a fan of the bully-turned-hot-love-interest thing, and even less a fan of people assuming so. It's almost as weird as this situation.

Our flag football unit had ended in gym class and we had moved on to dodgeball. Yes, dodgeball. He hadn't thrown a single ball at me in the past half-week! It was dodgeball! That's what you're supposed to do! He wouldn't seize the glorious opportunity to nail me in the face with a ball.

Or so I thought. A ball nailed me in the face, not that I should have been surprised about it.

"There it is," I thought to myself. "He's finally decided to go back to being classic Ira."

I was disappointed but not surprised until I looked at the direction the ball had come from. I was confused again.

Michael the Mullet and Kevin the Man-Bun were cackling like old crones. They nudged Ira and Jeremy. Jeremy glanced at me where I was rubbing a red spot on my cheek and cackled with them. Ira peeked at me, and quickly averted his eyes. He wasn't laughing.

Why wasn't he laughing?

•••

Although Ira was clearly avoiding me, that didn't stop me from going out of my way to make sure he wasn't planning something. I was watching my back, still wary of him jumping out to catch me off guard. Who knew what he was up to?

While I was busy fearing for my well being and coming up with ridiculous theories on what happened to Ira, I was sneak attacked.

   Nothing surprises me anymore.

In my own concentration, Ira and the Hairs had cornered me right before my history class.

I should have known. He was just waiting for an opportunity to take me down with his trusty pals.

Jeremy spoke first. "We just keep bumping into one another, don't we, Lin?"

I kept quiet, seething and wondering how I could be so stupid to think for a second he had left me alone.

"Not a talker, eh?" mocked Kevin.

I glared at them each individually. I even counted out the seconds staring at them so they got equal amounts of rage.