Compositions of Us

11 · The Bus Route Disclosure

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11 · The Bus Route Disclosure

Even as the fourth week of February flew by, the puzzle behind Joshua would never fail to cross my mind. There were times where I actually anticipated for the truth to be unveiled, but that was like waiting for a stubborn turtle to peek out of its shell. The discovery from the previous weekend seemed like it never happened.  

Joshua Anderson mastered shutting out the people around him. 

To be frank, it drove me nuts. 

"Olivia? Did you hear what I said?" Mikaela popped my bubble of thoughts.

Snapping out of it, I forgot that I was in the middle of a conversation. Mikaela and I decided to meet up briefly after school since we had to stay for our own reasons. The stress of my film photography assignment was on my back, and I had to use the photo lab to print photos while Mikaela had cheer prep for her upcoming competition.

"What was that again?"

"My nails! Two of them chipped during practice yesterday."

A little relieved that I didn't miss a big point, I offered, "Don't worry. I can come with you to the salon tomorrow if you want."

Laughter escaped from Mikaela as she revealed, "You really weren't paying attention after all. I was asking you about Mr. Ortega's homework assignment, but I figured you were daydreaming about Joshua."

"Daydreaming?" My jaw dropped in bewilderment. "I wasn't daydreaming about him!"

Not buying my rebuttal, Mikaela nodded slyly. "Right. What has Joshua done to make my dear friend worry about him so much?"

As much as it would make sense to just tell Mikaela why, I couldn't because Joshua and I made an agreement. The fact that I witnessed him get hurt by a random group of three was what worried me. Since Joshua told me not to talk about it, I was starting to forget about that particular day. The moment Joshua reacted oddly to Mikaela's "punch" last Saturday, it caused those memories to resurface somehow. 

All in all, I just hoped that I was only overanalyzing the entire situation.

I shook my head. "Nothing. Let's drop the topic. What was that about Mr. Ortega's homework?"

Mikaela indicated through a faint smile, "I'll text you later instead. I better get going to practice."

"Wait, Mikaela. I need to ask you something."

She nodded, keeping a careful gaze at me. "Okay, shoot."

Growing a little hesitant, I eventually revealed, "I've been noticing this since last week, but you and Trevor haven't been acting like, well, your usual selves. Did something happen?"

The once carefree expression on my best friend's face transitioned stiffly. Seeing this caused my fists to clench. Trevor better not had done something to Mikaela. If he did, he was going to regret it. I could promise him that. Glancing away momentarily, Mikaela resettled her blue-green eyes on me and cleared her throat. 

"I haven't been very honest lately, but it's only because I've been so confused. I don't know what to do with Trevor," she sighed sadly, "Valentine's Day was great and all until Trevor wanted to… you know."

When Mikaela hesitated, I questioned, "Make love?" 

For the lack of the obvious word.

Her eyes shifted right then left to examine if anyone was within our perimeter. Luckily, it was just us and another group of students who were too far away. Mikaela twisted several strands of her strawberry blonde hair and nodded her head.