Secret Love Song

The One Where They Fight

I was waiting in the cafeteria line with Celeste and her friends. They were doing their routine gossip and I was staring at the floor playing a song in my head. I zoned back and tried to understand their conversation.
"I know! And what about the new girl? She seems really weird," this one girl's comment caught my attention, and I could feel my jaw tense in upcoming anger.
"Yess! She's reading all the time," my cousin said.
"What's so weird about reading?" I asked her confused. They spoke shit of people they didn't know a thing about. All the time. And I was getting sick of it.
"What?" she shrunk her face in misunderstanding, "what are you talking about?" every other girl laid back quietly, scared.
"What are you talking about?" I stood up straight.
"Oh, come on. You're seriously telling me you don't think she's weird?" she smirked. I wanted to kill her. "I don't think she's spoken a word since Monday," like, actually kill her.
Seriously? Your issue with someone comes from their books and their lack of interest in talking to a bunch of assholes? That is how you know someone's head is empty...
"Well, considering the people she'd be talking to, I'm glad she didn't," I snapped.
"Woah! Chill," she rolled her eyes at me. She wasn't even taking me seriously. I was about to break her nose, and she was smiling. "Since when do you care anyway? Are you like friends or something?"

I just knew right there and then that she was going to bring this up forever. I could seriously picture her wicked smile in a family dinner after she asked me how Valen was doing.
"She lives next door," I mumbled quietly and looked away, wishing the conversation was over. I wasn't about to lie to her, because she'll notice, but God do I wish she remained ignorant to that fact for the rest of our lives.
"Damn. And you just telling me this now?" every other girl followed her lead and cheered. They were like muppets. It was disgusting.
"Well, I knew you'd be like this," which is exactly true. That wicked smile I told you about, it's shining in her miffing face at the moment.
"You bet."

I rolled my eyes and zoned out. I grabbed my tray and sat on the closest table. Valentina was still in the line. She was wearing her hair tied back for the first time since we met. It looked really good.
Augusto and his friends came in. He pushed her out of the way, hurting her arm. She stood quietly, staring at the floor and rubbing her arm. I went her way and asked her if she was okay.
"Yeah. Don't worry about it, I'll be fine,"
"Yeah, well. My cousin's a dick."
He walked by us and I called out to him.
"Yeah?" he answered, uninterested and annoyed, with both his brows cocked.
"Can you please apologize? You hurt her arm."
He smirked, "you want me to apologize?"
"Yeah," I smiled, sarcastically.
"Not gonna happen, Nacha. She should have stayed out of the way."
And now I was pissed.
I leaned in closer to him, threatening. "I told you to apologize. So you fucking apologize!"
"I don't think that's gonna happen, tho'. I'm not in the mood for it you know, cous? This food's reaally good, I just wanna go to my table, and eat it," his gestures mocked me, "now, if you don't mind..." he began walking away, but I grabbed him by the shirt. He sighed, "you can be really annoying sometimes."
I pulled his arm in, and used the impulse to grab his shirt's neckline. Then, I pined him against the wall. His eyes were empty, bored.
"Give me one good fucking reason not to break your nose right now," I threatened. Rage was flowing through every single inch of my body.
"Why do you care so much? What is she? Your fucking girlfriend?"

With that I had it. I started punching him, and he punched me back, and it was all kind of a big blur of punches coming and going till they broke us apart.