Wednesday
"I hate you Thomas Parker."
He stared at me in absolute shock as if I did not seriously day those last five words. So, I repeated myself. "I said that I hate you Thomas Parker. I hate you so much that words cannot describe."
He stared back at me, speechless. Thomas took a step towards me, leaving a mere inch between us. I inhaled a deep breath of peppermint and he bent down so that he could whisper in my ear. After mustering up some courage, he mumbled, "And I love you too."
Not thinking he was being serious, I laughed and stepped back. "Don't say that unless you mean it."
I walked past him once the bell rang. He didn't not stop me or say anything. He just let me go. Being curious, I looked behind me to see what he was doing. The bell rang so he should have been going to class, but he was not. Mason was standing in the exact same place as he was before and he was looking at me. When our eyes meet, he glanced down and walked in the opposite direction of me.
Maybe I was focusing solely on something else when I should have divided my attention to something much more. And, when I would, it would be too late.
---
I opened my locker and exchanged my math textbook for my history textbook. Just as I was about to shut the door, Jake appeared next to me. I looked up to him, his light green eyes meeting mine.
"So, I heard you hate Thomas," Jake said, running his fingers through his dark, almost black, hair.
"Yeah," I mumbled and turn to leave.
Jake grabbed my wrist to stop me and said, "Wait. Why the hell are you mad at him?"
I wiggled my wrist out of his grip and mockingly asked, "Wait. Why the hell do you care?"
"Because he's my friend."
"And, did you hear what he said about me?"
Jake shook his head. "What the fuck are you talking about, Belles?"
I laughed. "I know what he said about me. He called me 'pathetic slut who won't get off of him'."
Jake face palmed and said, "He wasn't fucking talking about you. He said that he wishes that were you like Megan except for the pathetic slut part. He wants you to -Never mind. He just wasn't talking about like that."
"Well, what would you do if someone called you a pathetic slut?" I asked.
Jake chuckled. "I don't have that problem, Belles."
The bell rang and Jake leaned down closer to me and whispered, "You should talk to him."
Before I can argue or say some snarky remark, he was already walking away.
---
When I walked into the gym for P.E. class, I saw Thomas standing with his friends not talking. He was looking at his phone while they all laughed at something. I decided this is the right time to talk to him. So, I told Molly that I would be back and headed towards him and his friends. Isaac, the senior who was captain for dodgeball, was also in Mason's circle of friends.
"Thomas?" I piped.
"What?" He snapped, not bothering to look up from his phone.
"Can we um talk?"
He looked up and met my eyes for a second. Then, he looked back his phone. "I don't think there is anything to talk about."
"Look, I am sorry for what I said. I thought you were talking about me."
He continued tapping away on his phone, not caring to pay attention to me. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
"When-"
Mr. Grier cut me off and said, "We are going to be playing ping pong. So, get into teams of two."
"You're my partner," He stated, still not looking away from his phone.
That's a good sign that he's not mad at me, right? But, why should I care either way? It'll be better if he was mad at me so I wouldn't be with him all of the time. He doesn't like me and I don't like him and that's the way it should be and always has been.
Being irritated at him, I furrowed my eyebrows and said, "Who said I wanted to be your partner?"
"I did," He said with a blank expression. Stupid him, being all cool all of the time.
"What are you playing that you won't even look at me?" I asked, peering at his screen.
He moved it higher in the air so I cannot see. "So, what were you saying before?"
"Tell me what you're playing," I said, crossing my arms.
He showed me the screen and it was black.
"You're such a liar. Your screen is locked," I said.
"Yeah, that's what I was playing," he answered.
"So, a blank screen is better than me?" I frowned.
He chuckled. "Continue apologizing."
I rolled my eyes. Okay, I don't really want him to be mad at me now that I think about it. Thomas is actually pretty scary. "When you called Megan a pathetic slut, I thought you were talking about me."
"What don't you fucking understand?" He asked, taking a step closer to me. I took a step back.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He took a step towards me as I took another step backwards.
He continued, "Are you that oblivious?" Again, he took a step forward and I took one back until my back pressed against the wall.
"About what?"
He leaned down so his head was closer to mine. Thomas sighed and looked away from me. "About Jake's fancy with Megan. He was talking about how they hooked up and how it was great and I said how she tried to do that with me how she's a slut. And, what you heard was when I was just saying how she's slutty and you're not and that I wished you would be nicer to me than Megan because she's just so annoying."
"I am already nice," I pouted.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night," he chuckled right next to my ear. I could smell the mint coming from his breath.
"I am. But, anyway you're a good friend, Thomas," I said and he slowly stood straighter.
Mr. Grier announced, "Okay. Enough chit chat. I see all of you have picked your partners. Come tell me who your partner is."
"Let's go, partner. But, either you're too fucking oblivious or you're leading me on. Which is it?"
"What do you mean. I am not leading you on anything, nor do I hate you. I said that you're a good friend. What's wrong with that? Do you want to be a bad friend?" I asked, walking beside him as we went to Mr. Grier.
We waited in line, towards the back. Mason mumbled, "You're a good friend too."
"Really?" I asked quietly.
"Really."
"Wow. I cannot believe Mason called me a good friend," I said with a smile which he didn't return sincerely. It looked fake.
He said and emphasized the friend part, "Anyway, friend, your other friend Emma is so hot. I can't believe I didn't fuck her yet."
"Her name is Emily," I replied, "and most girls don't like egotistical man whores so I'm not shocked she hasn't."
"Whatever, babe. You're just jealous, admit it."
"Not," I replied.
"Yes."
"You two are partners?" Mr. Grier said to us.
We nodded and grabbed ping pong paddles and a ball. "You're team 11 and are versing team 6 tomorrow which is Arthur and Martin."
We walked away and went to an empty ping pong table. Thomas laughed. "We have an easy win tomorrow. We are going against the biggest nerds in gym class."
"You're so mean," I said and served the ball to practice with him.
"It's not my fault everyone creates this mean guy image of me that I have to abide," he replied and hits the ping pong.
I swung and hit the ball back. "Maybe no one would think you're a mean guy if you actually weren't mean."
"Okay then what about the bad boy part?"
"Maybe if you didn't do illegal things or skip your classes or do whatever you do."
He shrugged. "It's thrilling but it's not who I am really. I'm just Thomas. Thomas Parker."
"What do you mean?"
"It's nothing, seriously. I just sometimes feel that I don't fit in with my friends," he replied and hit the ball.
"How don't you think that? You're like a legend compared to them with all the stuff you did and you do," I told.
He shook his head with a small smile. He mumbled, "Legends aren't always true."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"Just that I'm not everything that people think I am," he said and quickly changed the subject. "We've done all this hanging out lately and I don't know anything about you."
"Seriously? You always used to come over my house when we were little. Do you forget?" I asked with a chuckle.
"That was when we were younger. We've both changed," he replied with a smirk, "tell me something that no one else knows."
"And, how will I know you won't tell anyone?" I asked.
"I won't because in return I'll tell you something about me."
"Okay," I told and pondered. "Hmm."
He said with a grin, "I'm waiting."
"Got it," I exclaimed. "So I hide the Starbucks coffee in the back of one the cabinets so my brothers can't have any because if they did then there wouldn't be any left. That's why I always get my coffee last so they won't see."
He grinned. "Such a sneaky girl, aren't you?"
"No, off topics. It's your turn, mister."
He hit the ball to serve it and said with a smirk, "When I was little my mom was the only person to make my father a good person. She would make him take his medicine and she would make him always smile. So, when she died, he turned into this monster and stopped taking his medicine and he never smiled. Then, my father did all sorts of drugs and hit me, screamed all the time-"
"A real story," I interrupted, a smile dancing on his lips.
"You don't believe me?" He asked with the smile still present.
"How can I if you keep smiling?" I asked and hit the ball back. We were on a streak.
"Fine," he said, "I won't smile and I'll be miserable. But, I was only smiling because I was secretly undressing you in my mind."
"Thomas," I yelled, "Tell me something that's not a lie."
"Maybe it wasn-"
"I knew this wouldn't work and now you know where I hide the Starbucks coffee," I grumbled, slapping the ball with my paddle.
"Lighten up, HoneyBuns. I won't tell your dirty secret. Fine, if you must know. I always have to sleep with the window open."
"Why?"
"I never agreed to explaining why. Just telling a secret."
"You're so difficult. You came up with this idea."
He laughed and reserved the ball, his grey eyes never leaving mine. "Tell me something else."
"I still share a room with my brother, Anthony."
He grinned. "I didn't expect anything less. You two have always been almost inseparable."
"How-"
"My turn.