"I don't get it. Why did you leave?" Stephen asks for the umpteenth time as he follows me to our lockers which are close to each other.
His mind is full of questions regarding my sudden disappearance from the party.
I have tried to erase the party from my head but each time I attempt to do so, I feel the press of Carter's lips and it makes me feel greedy with need. Carter and I haven't spoken since then and we have tried our best to ignore each other. I believe ignorance has become the default status of our relationship.
"It was nothing. I was just feeling sick. I hate crowds."
Stephen stands behind me while I put my books in the locker and pick items for the next class to put in my bag.
"But still...are you okay now?"
I turn around to find him looking at me concernedly. His care for me makes me smile. I never had people other than Mom care for my well-being so much. I like to have Stephen around. He is a friendly presence.
"I'm fine, Steph-"
"Don't you get bored with him around all the time?" Carter's voice makes me stop and I find him leaning beside us against the lockers.
Stephen looks at him too but I find Carter's eyes on me.
"What are you doing here?" I ask in perplexity.
If I am not wrong, we were in our 'avoid each other' phase.
Carter looks from me to Stephen and his lips curve into a smirk. "What are you? Moth to her flame?"
"Excuse me?" Stephen says, sounding offended.
He takes a step toward Carter but the action makes me realize that I am sandwiched between the two guys. I see students looking at us and they pretend to be busy when I spot them. My cheeks heat up in embarrassment as I take a step forward to get out from between the boys but Carter takes a step closer at the same time and blocks my path. He and Stephen are throwing daggers at each other. They are both of almost the same height but Carter is an inch taller.
"Guys, stop," I say, rolling my eyes as I put my hands on both of their arms.
They don't even look at me.
"Stop bothering her, okay? I don't think she wants you running behind her like a lost puppy all the time," Carter chides, jabbing a finger at Stephen's chest.
"You're the one who should stop bothering her. I'm pretty sure she was running away from you yesterday," Stephen retorts, his hand reaching to Carter's collar.
Carter looks at Stephen's fingers grabbing his shirt and shoves it off.
"Fuck off! She wasn't running from me."
I am the topic of this conversation and yet none of them dare to look at me as they argue over who I was running from and who I hate.
Speak of toxic masculinity
"Hey guys, please stop it and please move," I interrupt, holding Carter's arm as I try to push him away. "Steph, c'mon..."
Carter looks at my hand on his arm and then at me. I let go instantly and look at Stephen instead. Facing Carter reminds me of our kiss which I am not able to get over. The problem doesn't solve itself since his lips always look kissable.
"So you're on a nickname basis now?" Carter asks, his voice seething with anger.
Unlike Carter, Stephen doesn't even budge from his place and his eyes stay rooted on Carter. I spot a muscle in his jaw tick as he takes another step toward Carter until they are only an inch away from each other. Unfortunately, I am still stuck in between but the tension in the air has risen and my heart thumps loudly when what I have been fearing actually happens.
"Leave her alone. Girls like Amaya want nothing from boys like you," Stephen says and Carter loses it.
His fist connects with the side of Stephen's face and Stephen stumbles back a few steps with the sudden attack. I gasp but before I can stop Carter, Stephen drops his bag on the floor and throws himself at him.
Carter's bag drops to the floor too and shouts fill the corridor as students around us shout seeing Carter and Stephen rolling on the floor while throwing hard hits at each other.
"Carter stop it!" I yell when I find Carter pinning Stephen to the ground and violently hitting him on his face.
Stephen misses a few but one hits him right on the nose, making me scream at the pain it must have caused. Things take a turn quickly when Stephen manages to catch Carter off-guard and he is thrown face-first on the floor. Stephen twists Carter's arm but Carter is stronger and kicks Stephen on the shin, making him gasp and fall back on the floor.
"Carter! Carter! Yes, Carter! Go!"
Girls and boys cheer around us and I stare at them in shock when they start clicking pictures with their phones. Fuck! I hate school.
"Stop them, please!"
"She's mine!" I hear Carter mutter under his breath while he hits Stephen's head on the floor.
Stephen catches hold of Carter's hands and shoves him off only to land on top of him. He hits Carter's chest with his elbow, pressing hard. Carter opens his mouth as the air is knocked out of him but he recovers quickly and throws another punch at Stephen.
"BREAK OFF RIGHT NOW OR ELSE YOU'LL SEE THE DEVIL IN ME!" The loud voice booms through the whole floor making everyone stop, including Stephen and Carter.
I look at the crowd around us which has stopped cheering and is quickly putting their phones back in.
The crowd parts to reveal Coach Jackson. Wearing a white T-shirt and black trousers, he stands with his hands on his hips. He is the Head Coach of the Basketball team in his late thirties who is as tall as 6'4 with a muscular figure and sharp brown eyes which are currently looking furiously at Stephen and Carter who are looking at him with their lips parted and their hands around each other's collars.
Coach storms toward them and tears them off each other only to hold them by their collars to make them stand straight. The boys are a mess. Carter has a black eye which does not go well with the already bad injury on his cheek. Stephen, on the other hand, has bruised cheeks and a bleeding nose. Their heads look like a bird's nest. making some students snicker.
"Now, listen you two," Coach says, spatting the words in the air as he looks from Carter to Stephen and then back. "You'll come with me to the nurse's room first and then we will go and have a word with Principal Khan. Am I clear?"
Both the boys nod at the same time. Coach lets them go and they walk toward me with their disheveled appearances as they pick up their bags from the floor. Stephen mouths an 'I'm sorry' to me as Coach pulls him back but all Carter gives me is a lingering gaze before coach pulls him off too and they disappear around the corridor.
The students scatter back to what they were doing while I stand there, taken aback by the turn of events.
***
"Does it hurt?"
Stephen looks at me like I have asked the most obvious question on earth as we sit together in the canteen. I found him waiting for me after English class which I spent worrying about Carter and taking no note of what Mrs. Johnson was teaching.
"Bloody hell yes," he says and then smiles at me. "I'm sorry. I didn't expect to lash out like that. I was trying to be your hero."
"My hero?" I ask, staggered by the confession.
Stephen's bruised cheeks have a noticeable blush as he nods his head. His cheeks shine with the ointment the nurse gave him along with a painkiller. His nose isn't bleeding anymore but there is a cut at the tip.
"You shouldn't have done that," I say.
Even though I am sitting here with Stephen, my mind is with Carter as I wait for school to get over soon so that I can go home and talk to him. Imagining home nowadays automatically takes me to Carter's house.
"He did take the blame for starting the fight. I don't know why," Stephen informs, breaking my attention and making me look at him.
"He did that?"
Stephen nods and it makes me fear for Carter more because it means he will be punished.
"Look, Amaya...I don't know what connection you have with him but you know that you can tell me if you're in trouble, right?"
Stephen's hand lands on top of mine on the table as he squeezes with the lightest pressure.
I am awestruck by him. He seems too perfect to be real sometimes and I don't know what to make of him.
"Thank you, Steph...That's very kind of you."
Just then, something happens.
It starts with the beep of phones for some and for others, it starts by looking at me from their phones. I find pairs and pairs of eyes on me which make me look around in confusion. Stephen's phone beeps too and he reaches into the pocket of his jeans to pull it out, I watch him as he flicks it open and within the next few seconds, the color drains from his face.
"What the fuck!" he curses and that's when my phone beeps too.
I pull it out with shivering hands and swipe the screen to unlock whatever it is. There is a message from an unknown number and I press the notification with a shaky thumb. My forehead starts to sweat with nervousness by the time it opens and an image loads on the screen. I gasp, the phone almost slipping from my hand.
It is a collage with a picture of me and Carter kissing at the party yesterday on one side. Our bodies are pressed together, arms around each other, with our mouths connected in more than just a kiss. On the other side, there is a picture of Stephen and me dancing the same way, minus the kiss. Above it, on a white background, the words written in black make my heart sink.
'AMAYA SOMMERS: Has the good girl gone bad?'