Wide eyes gawked and followed the sight of the couple walking down the hall. Jaws dropped at the sight of their hands intertwined together, the girl leaning against his side. None of them noticed the lack of confidence in the girl’s step or the deadness in her eyes.
“Bye, babe.”
Glancing up at Logan, Michelle forced a fake smile to her face as she pulled away from him. “Bye,” she bidded weakly.
He stole a kiss from her lips, adding another reason for everyone to gawk, before he turned around and walked away.
“Okay. I know I said that I don’t like you with Mickey, but you’re back with Logan?”
Ignoring Tyler, she opened the locker and took her sweet time to exchange books from her backpack and locker. The only time she gave a mere glance to her friend was when she was turning around to head towards her first period.
“Oh! Now you’re ignoring me?” Tyler questioned with a bitter mocking tone, following her.
“Just stop,” Michelle hissed, quickening her step. “I can’t– I won’t talk about this right now.” She rounded the corner and practically ran to her science class, knowing that none of her friends were in class with her. She sighed in relief once she entered the class and sat down at her desk, closing her eyes.
Little did people notice the faint black and blue color below her chin.
*
“Pass me the cigarette,” Mickey demanded, greedily snatching the cigarette from Isaac’s fingers. He inhaled the toxic fumes then released them into the air.
It had been a long time since Mickey had a smoke and that long time was killing him. He knew better than to smoke around Michelle, so he didn’t. He never realized, though, that they’d be hanging out with each other as much as they did.
“Yo, Mickey!”
Gritting his teeth, those amber orbs reopened. Whenever he had a cigarette in his hand, he wanted to peace and serenity around him, not a jackass that once attempted to rape his girl. “What, Joshua?” Mickey hissed, eyes narrowing at his former friend.
The boy stopped a few feet away with his hands in the air. “‘ey, ‘ey! I’m not here for any trouble, Varsity!” Joshua proclaimed. “I just want to apologize for your loss.”
Half of his anger and annoyance shifted into confusion. “What are you talking about? What loss?” Mickey asked curiously, lifting the cigarette to his lips.
“The one girl you actually wasted time for is now gone.”
The anger returned full blast and he sneered, “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You haven’t heard?” Joshua asked, amusement twinkling in his eyes. “Yeah, well, practically everyone saw your girl being very cozy with O’Connors. She even gave him a kiss to the lips.” He tapped his lips to make a point.
Mickey scoffed, “As if that actually happened.”
“Ah, I’m not surprised you don’t believe me.” Joshua scratched the bottom of his neck. “Well, when you see it with your own eyes, don’t say I didn’t tell you about it earlier.” With that, he turned around and walked away, an annoying grin planted on his lips.
“Is he talking about Michelle?” Isaac asked from beside Mickey as they watched Joshua’s retreat.
“Who else would he’ve been talkin’ about?” Henry retorted in a snap.
Mickey released a large puff of smoke in the air, not paying attention to his two friends bickering with each other from either side of him. Joshua’s words echoed in his head: The one girl you actually wasted time for is now gone.
His thoughts went back to over a few months ago, in September, when he was suddenly called out of the classroom. It was supposedly the “principal” calling for him, but when he stepped out, he knew that it was utter bullshit when he saw Logan O’Connors standing there with his best friend, Joey DeRuals.
“What do you want, O’Connors?” Mickey asked, arching an eyebrow and leaning against the wall nonchalantly.
“What do you think you’re doing with Michelle?” Logan asked as he folded his arms over his chest.
A smirk appeared on his lips. “I think I’m dating her, pretty boy.”
“No, really?” mocked Joey, snorting.
“Yes, really.”
“You and I both know you don’t have a pretty reputation,” Logan interjected, giving Mickey a cold, hard glare. “You’re tainting with Michelle and her inno–”
Anger flared within Mickey. Who does Logan think he is complaining about Michelle’s innocence being tainted? Her innocence was the reason Logan dumped Michelle in the first place! “Why do you care? That was why you broke up with her, dumb ass.” His anger may have seemed it subsided when he smirked amusedly, but anger still burned in his eyes. “Let me guess. You want her back now, because she’s with me and one hell of a sexy woman now?”
Logan didn’t even bother arguing, knowing that it was true. So, instead, he responded, “She doesn’t even like you. She’s with you to get back with me– and I can’t help, but to comply with my Michy.”
“And what makes you think I’ll let her go so easily to you?”
“Like I said, she doesn’t even like you,” he repeated, frowning. “And I know you’ve liked her for years now.”
A kick to the gut… A kick to the gut was what those words were to Mickey.
Logan continued, “And I, along with you, don’t want to see Michy upset. She’s delicate. And I’m ready to take her back… Act like an asshole to her. Make her dump your sorry ass!”
Mickey’s eyes grew wide at his words. “Wait, why? Why would I do that to her?”
“Show her the real Mickey,” he sneered, jabbing Mickey’s chest with his finger. “We all know that this sweet act you’re putting on isn’t the real you. Show Michelle the real side that you know she will end up hating. She wants me, Varsity! Not you!”
Bullshit, Mickey thought to himself, but he wasn’t planning on telling Logan that what he said was false. With a grit of his teeth and the knowledge that what he was saying was true, Mickey agreed, already hating himself.
Lifting the cigarette to his lips, Mickey took in the air. The worst part of the situations involving Logan was the day before Mickey and Michelle “got back together”. His eyes flickered to either side of him, realizing that everyone had already gone to first period.
He just shook his head and continued smoking. He needed some peace and quiet for his aching head.
With his hands in his pockets, Mickey forced himself down the empty hallway. That morning he overslept, because the night before he couldn’t stop dreaming about that night he dragged Michelle to that club and treated her so… so terribly.
He shook his head at himself and yawned. Whatever. She “dumped” him, meaning that they won’t be ever hanging out again. He screwed up with his jackass behavior– and that was because of stupid O’Connors.
“Mickey!”
Pausing in step, Mickey turned around. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of Logan walking over to him with Joshua, Mickey’s ex-friend. “What?” he asked, folding his arms over his chest.
“Well, I was thinking and planning,” Logan began, “on how to get Michelle back.”
He resisted the urge to punch the idiot in the face. Logan didn’t try anything to win Michelle back in the past four weeks? “And?”
“Though this is not necessary, I want your boys make a ruckus with the school’s dance committee.”
“Sure,” Mickey replied, wanting to get away from the two people he despised most in the world.
“And secondly, I need you to keep an eye out for our plan that shall take place tomorrow,” Logan continued with a smirk.
“Look. I don’t know who you think I am doing all these stupid ass favors for you,” Mickey growled, glaring at Michelle’s ex. “I’m Mickey Varsity! I don’t favors for people; people does favors for me!”
Joshua finally spoke up, smirking, “Chill down, Vars. It’s nothing too extreme for a rich boy like you to handle.”
“You wanna start a fight?” he growled, taking a step forward, shoving his ex-friend back. He was quickly held back by O’Connors. “I’ll kick your prissy ass!”
“Anyways,” Logan hissed, pushing Mickey back. He shot him a cold glare. “Our plan is that Joshua will try getting it on with Michelle, but knowing Michelle, she would refuse. So, I will step in and be her knight-in-shining-armor.”
Mickey snorted at the idea. No knights ever had to stage their heroy. “You both are idiots. This is gonna be like attempted rape.”
“But rape won’t happen,” Joshua quipped.
“And I’ll save her before anything could really happen,” Logan added, frowning. “Your part is just to be a lookout and make sure no one will intervene with the plan. Understood?”
“And what will I receive from this?”
“Whatever you want.”
Dropping and stomping on the cigarette, Mickey stared out into the distance. From that deal, he said that he would pick after the plan had played out. And when he discovered that Logan and Joshua had a secret part to the plan of allowing Joshua to do anything to Michelle, Mickey was able to beat both Logan and Joshua up. He grinned, remembering how they weren’t in school for over a week.
But it never eased the guilt of actually letting the plan happen.
And now, Mickey is hearing from Joshua that Logan and Michelle are now together. He snorted. As if– they were hanging out all yesterday without a hint of breakup between the two, especially since they just started dating.
He shook his head. Joshua was just talking out of his ass. Nothing to surely worry about. But, at the same time, something didn’t sit well in his stomach.
*
Mickey walked into the cafeteria, rapidly texting Ronnie with a large, colorful language.
“Hey, Mickey!” Tyler Malone called out, jogging towards him.
He stopped and lifted his head, raising an eyebrow at Michelle’s friend. “Uh, hi,” he greeted awkwardly as his phone vibrated in his hand.
“When did you and Michelle break up?” he asked curiously, crossing his arms over his chest. “Did you break up with her? Because if you did–” He raised a fist and advanced towards him, but someone help him back.
“Stop, Ty,” his twin, Trevor, hissed.
Tami stepped beside the boys. “So, wanna spill the details?”
“We didn’t break up,” Mickey stated, his eyebrows knitting together. A weird feeling came to his gut. “What are you talking about?”
“Bullshit,” Tyler growled, struggling under Trevor’s hold.
Tami crossed her arms over her chest and sent Mickey a deadpan look. “Are you telling us that Michelle is fooling around with Logan while still dating you?” she inquired, sarcasm dripping in her voice.
Mickey opened his mouth to respond, but an icy cold voice said from behind, “I’m not fooling around with Logan. We’re dating.”
Everyone faced the girl in question. She stood there expressionless, staring at the group, but not staring at them at the same time.
“Sorry, Mickey,” Michelle said, her voice lacking in emotion as well. Those blue eyes couldn’t meet his eyes. “I–”
“Hey, babe.” Arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her back into a chest as lips kissed her neck. Logan glanced up, amusement gleaming in his gray orbs. “And Mickey.”
Whispers… Whispers began spreading around the cafeteria as everyone watched the scene go down. Whispers about how Michelle was back with Logan. Whispers about how Mickey wasn’t aware of their breakup. Whispers about everything.
Mickey could’ve noticed the stiffness in Michelle’s body when Logan touched her or how emotionless she remained. The lack of response to his presence. Just how drain she was in general. But no, anger burst throughout him. “Can I talk to you in private, Michelle?” Mickey growled, adding emphasis to her name.
“No.”
His lips twitched into a snarl. “Too bad,” he responded, reaching out and grabbing her wrist. He yanked her away from Logan’s hold and led her out of the cafeteria, glad that she didn’t protest.
The moment they were in the hall, Michelle’s back was up against the wall with Mickey’s body pressed against hers. He pinned her arms over her head and that was when she showed some type of life by struggling against his hold and glaring at him, annoyance and anxiety slipping in her eyes.
“Let go of me, Mickey!”
“Tell me what’s going on and I will,” he sneered.
She just stayed quiet and struggled against his hold. She must’ve realized that all of that struggling was getting nowhere and so, she just heaved some air and collapsed against his chest. Michelle fisted the fabric of his shirt and squeezed her head against his chest. “I-I can’t,” she uttered, tears filling her eyes. “I-I can’t tell you. I can’t be with you. I can’t tell you.”
Mickey’s emotions were on a bipolar scale at that moment. Anger and sympathy kept trading places, leaving him unsure of whether to yell at Michelle or not; coo soothing words at her or not.
“I need you to stay away. I need you to act as if you and I never happened. I need you to just… go back being the bad boy of the town, fooling around with random girls and not having to bother with me,” Michelle choked, pulling away, staring at him with watery eyes. “You and I are nothing, Mickey. It was like that before and it’s like that now.” Despite the seriousness in her voice and face, they both understood that what she said were lies.
“Why?”
“Because–” She paused. Michelle surprised Mickey when she quoted his exact words, “Because curiosity... is something that will get you killed. Now, get off of me– you were my fake boyfriend. You don’t need to know anything about me.”
“But–”
“No butts!” Michelle cried in a screech. “Just go, please.”
She didn’t have to say that once more. Mickey pushed himself off of her, glaring. “You know, a modest girl would break up with her boyfriend, wait a couple days, then get back with her ex. But a manipulative whore cheats on her boyfriend, forcing him to find for himself that they’ve broken up.” With that, he turned around and stormed away, cursing under his breath.
He heard her drop to the ground. He heard her sobs.
But never once did Mickey look back… Though, something scratched at his brain about a faint, black and blue mark beneath Michelle’s chin.