I Love A Girl Named Tree

Chapter Three

         The open field buzzed with activity that day. A campus fair had sprung up, with booths and university clubs dotting the grounds. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, except for Adam, who dashed frantically through the bustling crowds, colliding carelessly with anyone in his path.

"Come here, you asshole!" Axel's angry shout rang out nearby. He and his football buddies were in hot pursuit, hungry for revenge. People scrambled to clear a path for the charging athletes - no one wanted to get in the way of four football players on a mission.

"Never in a million years, bird brain!" Adam retorted boldly, dodging past a cart of popcorn, sending kernels flying like confetti. Onlookers tried to steer clear of the chaos, doing their best to avoid the commotion.

That girl shouldn't have come to my hiding place, Adam thought to himself as he continued running. He believed their wild night together, after sharing a glass of whiskey at a party, had been enough. Or was it just one glass? Or maybe two? Or more? He couldn't recall. All he remembered was waking up naked the next day with the girl clinging to him as she slept.

Earlier that day, during his psychology class, Adam had taken a smoking break at his usual hideout. No one was supposed to know its location. So, he was taken aback when he spotted the girl, clad in her cheerleading uniform, standing before him with a giddy smile. His sacred solitude had been violated.

"What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here," he told her.

"I came to see you. Don't you want to relive what we did last Friday night?" she giggled, rushing over to him and kissing him fervently. Her intensity was overwhelming, and Adam found himself trapped in her embrace, trying in vain to pull away from her like a leech.

As the girl attempted to escalate things, they heard footsteps drawing closer. Shortly after, a man's voice echoed nearby. "Kim, I know you're in here!" Axel called out. "If I catch you with another guy, we'll have a serious conversation."

Upon hearing the voice, Adam's eyes widened, and he scrambled for an escape plan. But Kim's hold on him was like iron chains. When he finally broke free, Axel caught sight of them, his eyes blazing with fury. Adrenaline surged through Adam as he shoved Kim aside, causing her to shriek in shock. Axel lunged forward, grabbing Kim and delivering a hard slap to her cheek.

"I told you we'd talk!" Axel shouted at Kim, who was now in tears from the pain.

"Hey, that's enough!" Adam interjected. Axel turned his hate-filled gaze towards him, prompting Adam to take a step back, then another, and another, until he bolted from his hiding spot, seeking refuge from Axel's wrath. Across the hall, a more menacing scene unfolded as Axel's teammates lay in wait.

Axel advanced towards him slowly, his demeanor signaling that he was not to be trifled with. "What did you say, Adam?" he whispered through gritted teeth.

Adam remained calm. He had faced darker situations than this. This was just a jock struggling to maintain his GPA for an athletic scholarship. Heck, Adam had even noticed during their English class that Axel couldn't even spell 'engineer' correctly. "Who in college spells E-N-G-E-E-N-I-R? This is horrendous!" their professor had exclaimed. While Axel sulked in his chair, Adam stifled his laughter from the back of the room.

Adam had never imagined he would make it to college, let alone excel. His father had always belittled him, insisting he was as dumb as his mother. He could still recall the stench of booze on his father's breath as he berated Adam over his childhood drawings. Ironically, Adam now found solace in that same scent.

In Adam's mind, his priorities were simple: booze, smokes, women - that was his mantra since high school. He could do without the latter two, but he'd rather marry a bottle of beer than deal with the complications of relationships.