Choice

Part One: Liam

"A loss can kill one's mortal soul. The thought of the dreaded beast can send one into a frenzy that can only be cured with the prayerful return of the lost loved one."
I finished the final paragraph while on the long bumpy bus ride to school. If only my parents could take me, that's the least they could do for me at this point. Kids screaming, and overhearing TMI conversations is by far the last thing I need right now. Thank god this is my last year of this hell hole. And the last time I'll ever set foot in this town ever again. We had one final stop before I got to school. I've been riding this bus since middle school, and it's always been the same route, but this is a stop we've never been to. So, I put my book down to see who the new student was. He looked my age, a bit taller than me. He had brown eyes and hair, he looked like a jock. I'm not sure why, but I couldn't help but just look at him. He looked at me, and winked, which suddenly made my stomach turn. He sat down the seat in front of me. I tried looking out the window, or maybe even pull out another book to read, but my eyes were glued to the back of his head. Of course, I had to look away because people noticed I was staring at him. After all, this is 1996, this isn't entirely "normal."  The bus pulled up to the high school and me and the boy got off.
I rushed to the nearest bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. "That was weird" I thought to myself. I've never been that caught off guard before. Before I could think more, this bell rang, and I ran to class.

After school, the thought of the boy had been cleared from my head after the last class of the day. What a nightmare he was. Being completely disrespectful, and just had to talk constantly. Honestly that boy can't keep his mouth shut for the life of him. I came home to my mother and father discussing my plans. They even completely ignored my older brothers when they tried talking to them. Honestly, what's the point of all of this? I mean, yeah, my family's legacy is on the line, but what is that other family gonna to to us? Why does this arranged marriage even have to happen? Now, I don't exactly care what happens to me at this point, so no I don't oppose it. But I think the logic that I have to marry  some girl because of a contract from the 1800's is bullshit. I mean, I've met her, and she's a really cool person, but I don't see why I have to marry her. And her family isn't gonna do anything if this doesn't happen, but no one believes me. Instead, every time I tell my parents this, I was either spanked with a belt or explained what happened to my great-grandma. To which, I don't react well to. Still too soon. But hey, the positives to this is I don't have to deal with any financial problems. Considering that my "fiancé's" family is rich, and they already have my house purchased and ready to be lived in for the rest of my days. All me and Kate have to do is get married, have a child, and then the contract is lifted. Simple as it can get.

The next day, I was in the class with the boy. I now know his name, Cole. Once again, he wouldn't shut up. What's even worse is that I sit right next to him, so I can't even concentrate on the teacher. I gave him a dirty look after the teacher basically told him to shut up for the third time. To which he flipped me off. Honestly how has he not received a detention yet? This continued FOR MONTHS. Every time he was in the same room as me, I wanted to bang my head against my desk. No one has ever made me this pissed off, and I am very slow to anger. I never hated him though. I mean, he pisses me off whenever I look at him, but I could never hate him. I don't hate anyone. If anything, I should give him good credit. After all, he finally made me feel something after being numb all of high school. On my birthday, he said something that made me so uncomfortable. He said "have a great day, birthday boy!" He even said that with a cheesy grin that made me wanna slap him. That was the first time he ever talked to me, and all I wanted to do was hide. The amount of anger I felt for him made me wanna switch out classes. Unfortunately, I couldn't, because this is one of the classes my parents forced me to do. So I'm left to deal with this dumbass. He'd continue to say dumb things to me, and I'd pretend to ignore everything he says. I don't wanna deal with anything this guy has to say or do to me. I'm never going to see him again, so there's no point. The thought of the arranged marriage actually excited me for once, all because of him. I guess I owe him a thank you?

The day before spring break came a lot slower than I expected. I've been in this class before, and usually the teacher gives us all a big project to work on that's due the day we get back. Usually, we all work by ourselves. But this year, she decided to pair us up. And take a guess on who's my partner. Cole. Once she said the name I wanted to run out of the class and into a speeding car. Out of the 31 over students I could've been paired with, she choose him. The teacher gave us the remainder of class to discuss what we were gonna to for the project, but me and Coke just sat there for 15 minutes in silence. I was more in disbelief than mad. Finally, one minute before the bell, Coke broke the silence. "Okay, what is your problem?" I was taken back a bit, but responded, "Pardon?" "I feel like you hate me. For the entire year, you've been giving me these dirty looks and I didn't even do anything to you. So why do you hate me?" Cole said, but he genuinely seemed hurt. "I don't hate you." Cole looked up, confusingly. "I'm sorry?" "I don't hate you. I don't appreciate you saying weird things to me, or being rude in class, but I never really hated you." I tried to sound nice, deep down, I didn't want to hurt him. He laughed nervously, "I'm sorry about that. I'm a very awkward person." Something about the way he said that made me look at him in awe. It was kinda adorable. "It's fine, I'm the same way." I said, to which I smiled at him for the first time. "Hey, you smiled!" He said with full excitement. I rolled my eyes, and we both left class at the bell.