Forget Me

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Korn and Mew bumped into each other at school more than once. Neither of them could avoid the other without making an extraordinary effort. So it seemed like things were normal even though that was as far from their reality as it could get.

Their friends didn't even know the extent of their problem beyond Korn's explanation. They were often dragged along without their consent much to their shared chagrin. But telling their friends they had broken up was equal to admit they had been dating in the first place. It didn't matter that it was a badly kept secret. It only mattered that they had never confirmed it and it would be senseless to do so now that it didn't exist anymore.

They ran into each other in the library more than any other place in the entire school. In an attempt to avoid the table they had chosen for themselves, they inadvertently found themselves gravitating to others like it. It felt like the entire library was difficult territory. Neither of them wanted to give it up—the comfort of the familiar making it easier to deal with all the uncertainty—but neither of them wanted to fight for it.

Mew had tried to start up a few innocuous conversations about studying or school work but Korn had been uncharacteristically reticent. There was an embargo on every topic and eventually, the only thing between them was a pregnant silence. Full of all the things neither of them could bring themselves to say.

It was hardest when they found themselves walking home at the same time. What were they supposed to do? Stop walking? Turn around and go back the way they had come? Or walk a few paces apart?

They never figured it out. They just endured it. Walking side by side without talking; without acknowledging each other. Letting the distance between them grow wider and wider.

~

Korn struggled to understand what was going on. What had really happened? Why had it come to such an abrupt end? Why wasn't there anything he could do about it?

If Mew had loved him as he claimed then they would have been able to find a way. If Mew didn't love him, then it seemed strange that he would have put in all the effort he had to make things work between them at the beginning. The only thing that made any sense was that he had been in love with Korn but he had fallen out of love. Perhaps it was because Peck was the better choice (but was he really?) or because Korn had done something to push him away. Whatever it was, it had sealed their fate and it didn't look like there was a way to go back.

A different theory started to form when Game came to class one morning and sat next to Korn without waiting for an invitation. He signalled for Nat and Chimmon and they huddled around him. Game was enjoying the attention a little too much and it showed when he grinned widely and started with, "My dear subjects..."

He ducked just in time to avoid the three slaps aimed at his head and laughed fiendishly at them, "No hitting. Not when I have some juicy titbits for you."

"If you aren't giving us the answers to the national exams I suggest you get on with it so I can get back to my studies."

Game pouted uncharacteristically but got over it in a few seconds when he signalled for them to come closer, "Remember the guys who were caught with the school equipment?"

That finally got Korn's attention and he sat forward to listen, "Yeah..."

"Turns out they are members of some nasty gang which wanted them dead. So they rolled over on their boss."

"Does that stuff happen anywhere but in the movies?" Chimmon asked.

"I guess so. Think about it...if the guy trying to kill you is in jail then you can go about your life."