After The War

Changes

I was nervous. Today was the day I was going to ask. Today was the day that I would ask Kalista Taylor to go out with me. I've wanted to do it all those times we were training in her backyard. Running laps around her pool, doing countless push-ups and just as many sit-ups. Preparing our body's for the strenuous tasks of fighting. Pull-ups, curls, weights, everything we could think of to help build muscles. And everyday, we would leave or go to bed with aching muscles. The original plan for after school today, was to join Kissa and Lexie at their class after the bell rang. We would then walk to my house, which became our unofficial research center.
Because of my relationships with the librarians, getting the correct books on mixed martial arts, karate, ti-quan-do was easy. Not to mention some helpful books on diets that we would need. But after some pestering on my part, I convinced Kissa that we all deserved a brake. That wasn't an easy conversation either.
"Kissa. Hey kissa!" I nearly shout, trying to get her attention as we walk to second period. The last couple weeks I had taken to holding her books in the halls. This didn't go unnoticed by Lexie.
"What Matt? What is it you could possibly want?" Kissa asks as I drag her out of her thoughts. I sometimes wonder what she could be thinking about.
"I was thinking-" I start before I'm interrupted
"Oh that's never good. Careful everyone, Matt here is thinking!" Kissa shouts down the hall, causing everyone to then turn and stare, I look down, suddenly feeling no urge to speak, it sucks being an introvert.
"Come on kissa, that wasn't nice. You know that he hates being the center of attention. I honestly don't understand why you do that." Lexie says, without looking up from her book. the title being "A Brief History of the Factions". Suddenly I'm shouldered into the lockers by Cody. The kid that had punched me in the face.
"Yeah Kissa. Wouldn't want Matthew here to choke would we?" Cody taunts. I ball my fists, ready to throw a punch and put him in his place. But before I can do anything, Kissa is standing between us.
"Leave him alone Cody." Kissa says in an almost bored tone.
"Oh. Look here boys!" Cody shouts, again, drawing everybody's attention to me. "Matt here needs his friend to fight his fights for him. What's the matter Chand. To much of a wimp to fight-" Cody yells in pain as my fist connects with his nose. Everybody shouts as I draw my fist back and punch him in the gut. Cody falls to the ground with a groan. All the breath knocked out of him.
I lean down and grab the front of his shirt, but before I can do anything, I'm grabbed by 2 pairs of hands and dragged off him. At first I don't see who. Everything is lost to a red haze, my eyes only on Cody as he groans and whimpers on the ground. Good. I think, let him whimper, I hope I broke his nose. But then I look to see his saviors. Both kissa and Lexie are looking at me. Kissa just surprised, Lexie is a little afraid. All it took was to see their faces for me to calm down. I look down at my hands. They're red with Cody's blood. "Now who needs other people's protection huh?" I say before walking off.
I exit the building as quickly as I can, before the images and the thoughts begin in my head. Images that just happened. Me launching at Cody. My fist connecting first with his face, then with his gut. I shake my head. These are not the things that I want to see. Especially when I'm seeing them from Kissa's point of view. Hearing Kissa's thoughts when she saw me. I continue to watch as surprise, anger, and a little fear run through her body. "This isn't the boy I know. This isn't Matthew." Is all that runs through her head before she and Lexie grab me. She watches me walk off. That's when the images stop. I continue walking. Trying to forget how easy it was to beat him. How much I enjoyed beating him.
"Matt! Hey! Wait up!" Kissa shouts. I turn around to see her running to catch up. I slow to a small walk and wait for her to catch up. "You wanted to ask me something?" Kissa ask's.
"I was thinking we could take a break tomorrow. Let our muscles get at least a days rest. It wouldn't do any good to just keep tearing them." I mumble. To my surprise, Kissa agrees.
I walk to her house, yes. I slept at home by myself. I walk to her house, getting ready to ask out my best friend. By the time I get to her front door, I've run the scenario in my head a dozen times. And each aspect was as bad as the last. I knock on her door. And she walks out.
Today she is wearing a green dress. A very pretty dress. And part of me wonders why she was dressed up. And not in her usual black jeans and skull t-shirt get up. She even put on make-up! It's a miracle! "Wow" was all I was able to get out before she socked me in the arm. A little to hard to be just playful.
"What Chand. Never seen a girl in a dress before?" She asks as we begin to walk.
"I have. But I never thought I would see you in a dress. It looks really good on you." I say with a shrug, trying not to blush.
"Thanks. I guess." Kissa says, a little confused as to my behavior. "Yeah. After you left, Cody asked if I wanted to go get dinner with him. I td him I couldn't. So he suggested lunch today. And I thought, what the hell, right? And it just seems stupid to change in the middle of the day. So I decided to wear this god forsaken clothing for the day." Kissa continues to ramble, and all I do is pretend to listen. She goes on and on, until we get to Lexie's house. And when Lexie asks, she goes through it all again. Myself only pretending to listen. I don't even notice when we get to school.
The next thing I know, is that I'm at my locker. I open it and pull out my English books. Along with the standard English format book we all have, our assigned reading for the next week or so, is To Kill a Mockingbird. A book that I had already read 3 times. So while the teacher drones in and on about symbolism, I think about what is going to happen. Before I know it, the class bell rings. Everyone looks up in surprise. Even the teacher stops mid-sentence, looking at the clock confused.
"Well, I guess that's all we have time for today class." She says. We all pack up and I leave for math. Not bothering to wait for Lexie. I am the first in class, and sit as far away from the door as possible.
When class begins, I look at the clock, stare at the clock and try to make time go slow. As far as I'm aware, nothing happens.
"Mr. Chand. Please tell me how you would solve for X in this problem." The teacher says, breaking my concentration. I look up.
"The equation reads 5X+15=Y. To solve for X the first thing you would have to do is subtract 15. So the new equation would read 5X=Y-15. Divide by 5 to get X by itself. X=Y-3." I say without looking up. The teacher nods in approval. And the day continues as normal. Until lunch. Once lunch arrives, all hell breaks loose. And we are put to the test.