War of the Sexes

Chapter 3

"Whatever. Is it on the counter?" Asked the brown-haired boy.

"Yeah"

"Alright I'm out. And I'm not going to keep watching your girl forever." He said 'girl' like it was a dirty word. I bit my lip, feeling ashamed without knowing why "You better find a way to balance this because if you get caught, I'm not defending you"

"Dude I know." The black-haired boy sighed "Just give me two weeks. I'll figure something out by then. I just need some time"

"Whatever man"

I heard footsteps head up the stairs. I internally groaned, wishing for this all to be over. I'd rather have the black-haired boy with me verses the other one. He was much nicer. I didn't understand what I had done to piss them off, but whatever it was, I was honestly sorry for it. I just wanted to go home.

"Hold on a second" I heard a voice say. A few seconds later, a candle was set by my feet. I looked up, surprise clearly displayed on my face.

The black-haired boy was crouched next to me, holding out a plate. I didn't look down to see what was on it, just moved my hand to accept it. My eyes were wide with shock, his boring into mine. I quickly looked away and down at the food, the smell hitting my noise.

My stomach growled loudly, telling me to just eat it. A peanut-butter and jelly sandwich, some chips, and a bottle of some type of soda were set on the plate. I reached out without hesitation and bit into the sandwich.

The boy watched silently as I ate all of my food. I was so happy to finally have something to eat after going so long without anything. I ate everything in a rush, slowing down only at the end. Once I bit into my last chip did I realize how foolish I was.

What if I didn't get food for another day or two or three? Why hadn't I saved any of the food?

Or worse.... What if it had been poisoned?

I could only hope that the poison wouldn't hurt any more than my ankle had. If I was lucky, it would knock me out before I actually felt any pain.

I set my plate down carefully "Thank you"

"How's you ankle?" He asked, ignoring my words.

I shrugged "It still hurts. Did you wrap it up in ice?"

He nodded, not saying anything after that.

"Thank you" I whispered quietly, unsure if he heard or not. The boy picked up my plate, standing up. I watched him as he left the room, shutting a door loudly behind him.

With a sigh, I wondered what I would do.

A few minutes later, the boy returned. I noticed he had something in his hands, but in the dim light, I couldn't see what.

He walked over to me, stopping at my outstretched leg.

"I'm going to replace the ice" He said softly, holding up a bag of ice. I nodded, moving my other leg out of the way. The boy slowly unwrapped the towel, ice spilling everywhere once it was off. He was careful not to touch my skin has he moved the ice away. I noticed how a puddle of water was forming around my ankle from the melted ice. The boy rung out the towel, lots of water being added to the puddle.

He then opened the bag of ice and proceeded to dump the ice on my bruised ankle, trying to prevent me from seeing it.

But I did. I gasped in shock at how bad it was. A bump at least four inches big had formed. The purple-black color stretched out to most of my foot, making it look like it was decaying almost. It was absolutely disgusting.

"Oh my gosh" I whispered, without thinking.

The boy looked up at me, nodding "I know. It's pretty bad"

"I didn't realize it was this awful"

He nodded, again stopping the conversation. The boy careful finished covering my ankle with the ice and wrapped the towel around it once more. My foot was stuck in the ring of water. I didn't want to move it now, for fear of the pain that was bound to come.

The boy stayed where he was, once he had finished, legs crossed. He looked at me, really studying me.

"Who sent you here?" He asked.

"I told you" I said, quickly getting frustrated once more "I don't know what you're talking about. No one sent me here. I don't even want to be here"

He nodded, obviously not believing me.

It was silent. Neither of us said anything.

Until..

"Can I ask you something?" I dared.

He looked up, his eyes already giving me my answer

"What's your name?" I whispered, already finding my questions foolish and stupid.

"Clayton" he answered.

I nodded, finally able to give one of them a name other than their hair color.