Author's note: The following chapter is in Aiden's POV. The important events of the whole story is written in his POV. This could be a little disoriented if you are reading just this chapter for judging purposes but I'm sure you'll find Aiden's character sketch, his intentions and the flow of the story crystal clear.
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AUTOPILOT MODE
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It was the last week of school. That favored Margo, in a way. She had to deal with only one week of gossip around. When summer took over, the less I saw her. I heard from Irsia that Margo had shut out everybody and had gone incommunicado. I saw her once in a while leaving Irsia's home. As the CONMISDUM had gone out of control, her mom won't let her out. I couldn't blame this new mystery disease for I couldn't see her. It was the reason why I came to Ostonn Newvale. My gratitude toward the CONtagious MISsing DELirium was huge. It brought her to me.
When I saw her at Irsia's birthday party, I almost went into autopilot to give her a hug. She had renewed her spark. She had made stars out of Zinc Sulfide paper and stuck it on the wall. Glad to know Mrs. Lin had her attention. If only I found chemistry as interesting as Margo or if only she was a subject in my academics. When Irsia got back from the dinner with her parents, Elec turned off the lights and Margo snuggled next to me against the wall in a hurry. I was certain I felt Elec's stare, even in the dark. As soon as we scared Irsia with a surprise hoot, Edric whispered, "do you know you change into a puppy when Fawn is near you? Pathetic, Wilder. She doesn't even have a slim inkling of the effect she has on you." I couldn't deny that.
Margo had crafted something called marbled ring dish in Irsia's favorite colour. I had no idea what its purpose was. Elec had brought her some necklace. Oh! It was a jewelry storing thing. Girls are all about colors and co-ordination. I had to ask my mother what to buy for Irsia. I used the opportunity to call Margo. The only thing that registered in my mind was her silvery voice and jade green. Why did girls have to get foreign when it came to stuff like this. Again, I had no idea what it meant. I had to ask my mom again what jade green meant. It was all outlandish to me. I brought a yellow grafted cactus. I knew I couldn't go wrong with a cute potted plant. Irsia loved it. Edric tossed at Irsia a green purse. So that was jade green?
"Thanks, Ed," Irsia squealed.
When school started, the Damon drama started. Everyone loved her dog. I even swam with him once or twice. Her dog, Damon had gone missing. She seemed to be very invested in it, it bothered me. Her dog was a big element of her world. Pains me to say this, but her dog was the bigger element. I decided to stick flyers to all the lamp posts about her missing dog, with her number and Elec's. Again, she went into a stupor and I carried her to the car. As much as I loved carrying her, I wished she was a little aware of it and she had to stop dropping unconscious with her adamant habit of skipping meals. Only after I helped her bury Damon in her backyard I came by the knowledge about the calls she had been getting from Kyle's friends. He had made enough of her life a mess. It had to stop. I was waiting for the right moment to make him bleed.
When she was back in her balance and element, I had Elec breathing down my neck. To her, I was just another boy crushing on Margo. In a way, I liked Elec being around Margo all the time. Her surly attitude scared the other guys away from Margo. Elec wanted to run her car over Kyle and that made her my best friend. She could hate me all she wanted to, but I was still grateful.
I just told the girls about what Verena said and about her secret identity. What I did not know when I told Irsia about Verena's secret was how she'd react. She had always been cool about everything. She always was the nicest one, but I didn't know that keeping secrets would turn her into a ball of rage. And Electra used this opportunity to kindle the fire. She used the Aiden-has-a-crush-on-Verena card. That was the card she used to keep my real intentions off the radar of Margo and it was getting really old and ugly. How could she even think that I would put Margo in danger? Just when I stormed outside, Fiona called. I had completely forgotten that she invited me for Kyle's party.
"Hey, Aiden, aren't you coming?"
"I'll be there in ten." I had to vent out this rage and Fiona had me invited to the right place. I had been waiting for this chance of rage dispatch and the dispatch would only be made at Kyle's face.
As soon as I stepped out of my car, I found Fiona. She had been waiting for me at the driveway. Could girls not take a hint? God! She was drunk and she annoyed me to the point that I shut my car's door a little louder than necessary. I walked in with a very drunk Fiona wearing just heels, tugging at my elbow and it only made me more nettlesome that I had to finish what I came for real soon.
"Fiona, sit," I felt like I just commanded a dog, but I was the one who barked.
I made her sit on the couch next to her friend Monica and I didn't know who the other girl was. I skimmed through the crowd and chaos to spot Mason or Kyle or any other people who would fit in the nomenclature of asshole, but instead I spotted Miles. He acknowledged me with a jerk of his head. He was brooding over Elec. He was drunk as well, but not as stoned as just heels on the couch. I leaned back to see if she had passed the stage of stupor and had landed in a coma, but no... she winked. I had to count my blessings that she didn't walk up to me.
"Where's Kyle?"
"He just went upstairs."
"Thanks, Miles."
"Where are you going?" Fiona asked as I was about to climb the stairs, crossing the couch.
"To dispatch something that would need stitches." I winked, she winked back. Oh! No. I hopped hastily upstairs to put some distance between Fiona and I.
I supposed that Kyle would be behind the only door closed upstairs and I opened it, sparing the decency to knock. He was making out with someone who was not Sophie. I wasn't surprised.
Not a decent move, but I caught him off guard storming into the room with his extra-curricular activity who wasn't Sofie Garcia. While he propped himself off the girl, I was already on the side of the bed where he was and dragged him down the bed and my long-repressed anger made the move. It wasn't very hard. It wasn't a fair fight. He was drunk. Made it easy for me. I wanted him to get up and try to defend himself. I mostly wanted to watch him fail doing that. I'd enjoy watching him fail, inevitably, even after defending his pathetic ass and fall collapsing.
I got off him. "Get up." When he staggered to get up, it only made me more enraged.
"Who is she?" I asked and found that the girl had already fled the room. "New toy has fled, Kyle." Toy? Seriously? I asked myself. The discrepancy between this long-repressed anger-driven me, and the usual me was venomous.
His wavering had gotten better. "Get out," he growled.
And there were onlookers for the scuffle outside the room. Better yet.
"Not a very honorable thing to do, Kyle, but you really need stitches as an accessory for your slimeball attitude. It's not something I'd do normally, but you went out of your way and made sure Margo has several bad days in a row."
"Are you talking about the phone stalking?" A caustic smile filled his face. "I did ask some of my friends to entertain her." He was a little less inebriated now. The aftermath effect of pouncing on him. Oh! I was thrilled to see what I could do to him next, especially to that biting, handsome smile that he had after valorously admitting that he organized the phone stalking. Wrong move.
I grabbed his shirt to incite him and he threw a punch on my right cheek. That was the what I needed. Another reason to rejoicingly bash him up. Before he could place another of his fist to my face, I had an advantage of being sober and being far and beyond venomously enraged and I channeled it all into swinging my tight and tensed fist into his cheek bone. He again made it insipid by staggering back and reeling.
"Come on, Kyle, I've got time. I could do it all night. The only thing I'm in a hurry is to ice my knuckles. My face would recover soon." I touched my right cheek bone to feel that the skin was slightly burning. "Take your own time to procure your balance." My corrupt laughter was unintentional. "Or you could give up and go spend the night devising another cheap hoydenish plan."
When he leaped over, my one year of taekwondo that I took before moving to Ostonn Newvale took over and I landed him down with a smooth roundhouse kick. He toppled over and landed ungracious with a really funny thud. The cheer of the sloshed onlookers was the last thing I needed to motivate me. "Wrong move, Kyle." I had time to wait for him to sober up, but my temper had been spent. "Rotten move to taunt Margo. If I were you, I'd stop right now." I hunched down to belt another fist into his jaw.
Rusty blood that seeped from the corner of his mouth said he was in pain but wouldn't feel it until the next morning. I was already nauseated by all his staggering and teetering. He was on level with the floor. "If it were Edric, he would have driven you to a hospital. Not me, Kyle. And Kyle, you could go ahead and call the principal, let the school know what I did, I wouldn't care. I'll track down the others who staged it with you and make them testify. I'll make sure to drag you down with me. You will never have a fling at stepping into college, but I still could." I didn't know if he would need stitches, but I didn't want to debase myself standing there in the same room as him. I left the room with one last propel of a scuff on his knees.
When I got downstairs, Fiona was hazily splayed across the couch. Just heels had taken off the heels. I saw Sofie rushing past me to go upstairs to see the aftermath of the scuffle.
"Sofie," I called out and she turned her very distressed face to me. Her reaction swiftly changed from distress to anger seeing me. "How did you stoop from someone like Edric to whatever he is?" Her baffled silence only proved that my last-minute conjecture was true. I was shocked, just as Sofie was. So Edric did have a fling with Sofie. He was first-name basis with her. She scurried up the stairs, having no idea he was with another girl before.
"Did I miss something?" Fiona tugged my carpal bones.
"Why are your heels off?" I sat down to catch my breath before I could drive.
"You like it?" She stooped down lower than necessary to buckle up the heels. Screw catching breath, I needed to leave. "Could you drop me home?" She clutched my wrist as I got up.
"Ask Monica," I took off. She shot behind, taking hold of my hand again. "Fiona, you are wasted."
"Exactly, I can't drive home and I can't call a cab. What if the driver takes advantage of me?"
"And you are willing to get in a car with me? You should know, I've been really impulsive lately. I could crash into a tree or drive off a bridge..."
"I'm beyond willing for your impulsiveness." She leaned in, as if to tell a secret. Her slurring had gone from bad to worst. When I realized she tried to kiss, I held her shoulder and put some distance between us.
"Fiona, I like someone else." I had to keep my grip tight because she could dart toward me.
"Margo?"
"I'd rather not say. Not when you are wasted. Go home with Monica." I said, seeing Monica in the vicinity of earshot. "Monica..."
"My boyfriend is picking me up," Having her phone pressed to her ear, she strolled out and got in a car, which I assumed was her boyfriend's.
"Don't you have any other friends?"
Fiona wagged her head and I hauled her into my car. "Do not throw up." I commanded. She gave a really sloppy salute and she gave me the advantage of being quiet all the way to her home.
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