3 Simple Steps

FIVE: You Don't Know What Love Is, Either

I wiped my nose with the sleeve of my oversized sweater and headed outside. The cool air did good for my unstable state, and within minutes I was calm again. Perhaps no one had noticed that I had been crying. But the stares that I received as I stood by the school stairs told me otherwise. There was no sympathy in their eyes. Only disgust.

After a while of standing by myself, I spotted Genesus and Blonde Piranha snickering while pointing at me. Already, the plotting had begun.

"Why did you leave me like that, Sugar Cube?" Someone asked out of nowhere, sending me flying forward in panic. My heart raced like a runaway freight train, and I gasped for air.

"Cas! Don't sneak up on me like that!" I yelled at him, smacking him in the arm. He grinned down at me, and I remembered Genesus again. "Didn't I tell you to leave me alone? Your girlfriend is plotting against me as we speak," I said nervously, looking over my shoulder paranoid.

He chuckled and stood next to me. He started to say something, but I tuned him out as I watched the popular jocks play football. Their strong legs pumping through the grass field as they ran to catch the ball. Among them was Logan Aaron. The guy that every girl had been drooling over before Cas’ return. He caught me watching him, and his eyes rested on me for a while. By then his cheesy, to-die-for grin had turned into a scowl, and he jerked his head away.

"—and so I told her just like that, Sugar Cube,” Cas was saying when I finally tuned back in.

"My name is Alexis. Not Sugar Cube," I corrected.

Cas rolled his eyes and leaned against the railing of the stairs before continuing.

"As I was saying, Sugar Cube, I broke up with her. When I asked about you she told me…” he hesitated slightly before continuing, “things about you. It was so disrespectful that I dumped her right on the spot.”

I almost choked on my own saliva. Cas had broken up with Genesus. He truly had. Everyone was going to be talking about this. That news was going to be circulating the whole school by tomorrow morning. And I knew that thanks to Cas, Genesus was now going to go ahead and execute me. I had told her this would happen. And no doubt she thought this had been my idea.

"Cas! I...ugh! You've made this day worse!" I was about ready to cry again.

"What? Worse? I put her in her place,” Cas shot back, trying to grab my arm. I shrunk away from him, wiping my eyes furiously.

"You...p-put her in her place?" I stammered.

Cas nodded his head, his sandy-brown hair falling into his eyes. They glittered greenly in the sun.

"She looked like she wanted to cry. I did it in front of everyone. Told them she was mean and crazy. They believed me. Can you believe that? Because I sure as Hell can’t. I mean, it was crazy. Now her only friend is Stacey. The blonde girl that was with me on the bus, remember?”

I wanted to cry and give him a hug right there and then...but just because Blonde Piranha was her only friend now didn't mean she was going to stop tormenting me. On the contrary.

"Well, they believed you because you're popular," I mumbled at last.

Cas laughed softly and flicked my cheek playfully.

"Lighten up. It's not my fault. It's yours," He said.

He had a point there. I had made him to be popular. Then again, it's not like I had known that he was going to come alive. Sighing, I peeled myself away from the railing and walked towards the building. I was tired of looking at the jocks play football. It was the same thing: they all caught the ball and threw it around. Cas quickly pushed himself away from the railing too and jogged to catch up with me.

"Did I mention your hoodie is comfortable? And it smells like you," He muttered.

Then he proceeded to sniff the sweatshirt and smirk at me. I scoffed and shoved my frozen fingers into my pockets. Cas pulled on my hood and tugged me back to him. My feet fell back and I almost kissed the ground, but I quickly composed myself. I gave Cas a glare and smoothed my sweater back into place.

"Yeah. And you smell like a weirdo right now," I said stubbornly.

The Booktopian boy only laughed and slung his arm around my shoulders.

"I probably smell like your shampoo and conditioner. Green apples. Can't blame the ladies for wanting to sniff me in class."

I almost vomited. I didn't have to know that girls liked my shampoo. Just then, the bell rang and Cas perked his head up, hair flying in every which way.

"Well, guess I'll see you on the bus, Sugar Cube."

With that, he ran off to class, leaving me standing there feeling weird. He had just put his arm around my shoulders. No boy had ever done that before. Shaking my head, I decided I better make a run for it before Genesus realized I was alone.

***

I plopped my math book onto my desk and scribbled the homework into my comp book. The teacher, Mrs. Kleu, was very lazy and only gave out instruction packets and then had us do the homework written up on the board. This class got crazy pretty fast. People talked and threw notes at each other. It was the only class without Genesus, and I could breathe a sigh of relief. It was also my only class with Joel. Who just so happened to sit in front of me.

Currently, he had his head resting on his desk: his body seemed to droop like a flower with insufficient water. I was used to ignoring him for fear of Genesus, but she wasn't with him anymore, so I hesitated only a little bit before tapping on his shoulder. Yes, even after she had warned me not to interact with him using her death glare.

"Joel...are you um, okay?" I whispered to him.

Of course he isn't, I scolded myself, that was a stupid question to ask! Joel lifted his head up slowly and blinked his hazel eyes at me.

"Uh, Alexis. I—um, yeah. Thanks for asking," He replied slowly.

Shoving my math materials into my desk, I looked down and made invisible patterns on the wood of the table. I was trying to hide my crimson-red face.

"Well, I know you just went through a break-up so I was just...making sure."

Joel nodded and took a deep breath, turning his whole body towards me. Now my face really started to burn. Being around guys was not easy for me, and since I had a crush on Joel, it didn't help.

"You're the first person to ask me how I am after that. Thanks. Really. But why did she have to break up with me? I don't understand. Do you?"

I wanted a black hole to come and suck me up. Joel was talking to me. An actual conversation. Alarm bells went off in my head as my heart contracted painfully. But I really wasn’t in the mood to have our first conversation be about why she broke up with him, so I said: "No. You should know though, right?”

Joel looked taken aback by my reply. I usually never snapped at anyone.

"Well, you say that like it was my fault. Or maybe you did something that made her break up with me…and that's why you asked if I was okay.” His cheeks were aflame with color. Did he even know what he had just said? He had tried to blame me.

My pencil fell to the floor, and I recoiled from Joel. What the Hell? He really was upset, but then again, so was I, which is why my response wasn't a very good one.

"Well it's not my goddamn fault you were stupid, Joel! You should’ve known Genesus didn’t love you."

Joel snapped. His body went absolutely still.

“What would you know about love, anyways? You’re Alexis for fuck’s sake,” He said in a voice that cut like knives. I flinched. “You’re the girl that goes around with every guy. You don’t know what love is, either.”

He turned away from me, his back tense. My eyes stung. Throat tight. With a shaky sigh, I looked down at my homework blankly. Is that what people thought? That I was some school slut? Picking up my pencil from the floor, I started on my work, but I just wasn’t into it anymore.