The Original Bad Boy

18| Friends Forever

The original bad boy . . . can't save everybody."

18| Friends Forever

That fine Halloween night (yes, the same one Arsen lost his memory of me), Arsen ditched me in the middle of the night.

He just left me stranded.

It was as if he had never seen me before. Whether he was acting or not, I couldn't tell. Consequently, I had to hitch a ride in a cab.

Usually, when someone stops being friends with someone, both parties still have a vague idea of where each other lives.

In my case, I couldn't even guess the street--wait, I couldn't even guess the general area Arsen and his uncle live in. Therefore, checking up on the "amnesic" arse was a hopeless case.

Talk about the turn of events.

What if a ghost got into him? It was Halloween, after all.

I'm just being paranoid.

Maybe Arsen wanted to erase me out of his life.

Once again.

Now, two days later, I still have no idea if Arsen's okay or not.

I show up for school on Monday, searching around for the ruthless rebels, which is a short-lived task. My eyes land on a familiar person who's back on his feet! Students eye him as if they hadn't seen someone return after a battle before.

It's okay, guys, my best friend just happened to break his leg for his lady love.

"Ben!" Words can't express my excitement.

I tackle him into a long bear hug until he protests. "Ow! You stepped on my foot!"

"Sorry." I step back immediately.

"Apology not accepted," he says, but I know he's playing. As I open my mouth to retort, his eyebrows furrow. "What happened to your elbows?" I glance at the bandages I had wrapped around the aforementioned body part. The bike accident caused a few scratches on my elbows and knees. Nothing fatal, though.

"Klutz Syndrome kicked in," I joke. "I fell down on the sidewalk. Did you know that concrete causes a lot more damage than given credit to?" Like eradication of Arsen's memory.

"Everything causes damage," he says and scoffs. From the pitiful glance he gives to his leg, I'm sure he's recalling his own accident. "At least, you're not hurt too badly," he remarks.

"True true." I nod. "How's your leg?"

"All good except for one sore spot." He informs. Before I can say anything, Isa and Danie approach us. Neither one of them bother exchanging a glance with me. All I want to do is walk away. For Ben's sake, I don't. He isn't aware of anything.

"Benny! You're back!" Isa says excitedly. Like me, she tackles him in a hug and moves when he starts complaining. Ben's eyes move from her to his crush aka Danie.

"Hey," Danie says quietly.

He nods in acknowledgement.

Since the girls and I are not on a talking basis, an awkward silence looms over our heads. Ben seems to notice the problem and looks confused. Not wanting a fight so early in the morning, I excuse myself. This continues all day long. Me trying to disappear whenever Ben forces us all to be together. Unluckily, I can't escape from lunch. Sensing everyone's discomfort, Ben finally mentions the issue at hand.

"Are you all PMSing together or something?" He asks jokingly.

"No!" Danie, Isa, and I say simultaneously.