He kissed me. Then he punched me. Oh, and then blamed me for making the first move.
He. As in another guy. Cole had stolen my first kiss from me, which was definitely not how I expected it to happen.
I had always assumed that my first kiss would be with a nice, pretty girl. Preferably someone I had a crush on and not someone random. I never really thought about the possibility that it could turn out different. It wasn't just different, it was completely unexpected too.
Maybe it's silly to believe that my first kiss was going to be something magical. I suppose I had television and novels to blame for that.
Leaning over my bathroom sink, I inspected the bruise on the left side of my jaw. At the moment, it didn't stand out too much but I knew it was going to darken in color over time.
If my parents saw the bruise, they'd undoubtedly worry. They had always called me the more sensitive child. If Mycah saw it, he'd find the person who did it and beat them up. That person happened to be one of his best friends. The last thing I wanted, was to cause drama.
Well, if I wasn't avoiding Cole before, I definitely was now. It's not like I wanted to avoid him. I wanted to get along with all my brother's friends. So far, they all seemed like decent guys. I thought Cole was decent too, but now I don't know what to make of him.
On the basin, sat my mother's foundation, which I had stolen from her bathroom before heading into my own. Our skin was a similar complexion so I hoped that it would do a satisfactory job covering up the bruise. The idea of putting on makeup made me shudder, it wasn't appealing whatsoever.
I had also grabbed some sort of makeup brush to use to apply the foundation. As to whether the brush was the right one, I wouldn't have a clue. Brushing the makeup over the bruise cause me to wince, the skin tender.
To my own eye, it appeared that the makeup had successfully covered the bruise. The small particles of the powder were only visible when up close. My only problem now, was making sure no one would notice I was wearing makeup on the side of my jaw.
Luckily today was Friday. I had today to get through, before I would be home and be able to lock myself away in my room for the weekend. That was pretty normal behavior for my antisocial self. I prayed by next Friday, the bruise would be gone.
The kiss, the punch- it was all I could think about. Cole was all I could think about. No matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn't come up with any fathomable reason for why Cole did what he did. I was appreciative that he decided to wake me up after the detention finished. Falling asleep like that was embarrassing. I was also pleased that I got to apologize for running away after he helped me get away from Roman. Although, it seemed he was never really bothered by that anyway.
Cole and I have hardly had a proper conversation. We hardly knew each other, and if it wasn't for him being friends with my brother, he would just be a stranger I go to school with. He couldn't possibly think I was anything appealing physically and he doesn't know me enough to think I'm appealing in a personality type of way. So why did he kiss me? Was he just messing around with me- a prank even?
-
"Oh my gosh! Myles, what happened to your face?" Jemma shouted, after greeting me by my locker.
Fantastic. It was the first thing anyone said to me since I had arrived. Guess I really hadn't done a good job.
"Is that a bruise and are you wearing makeup to cover it?" She bombarded me with questions.
I brushed her off. "I'm all good, it's fine."
"Lies. It's far from fine. Who did this? Are you being bullied? You can tell me."
Clearly, she was concerned. I found it flattering that I had already made a friend that cared so much. But I wasn't ready to tell anyone just yet.
"Please, can you drop it? I don't want to talk about it." I told her.
"Okay, I just really want to help."
What was I supposed to tell her? A senior boy kissed me, then punched me. Would she believe me? If she did would she be disgusted? Am I disgusted? Questioning myself is all I have done in the last twenty-four hours.
"Thank you, I appreciate it Jemma. I'll tell you about it when I'm ready, okay?" I told her and she nodded in response.
"Oh, actually, there is one thing you could help me out with. If you want?" An idea had just come to me.
"Yeah! What?" She grinned.
"You could tell straight away I was wearing makeup to cover the bruise. Could you help me out with it? I thought I had passably covered it up." Hopefully, she was able to help me out.
"Yeah, sure thing. In all honesty, you didn't do a bad job. I'm a girl, though. We pick up on who's wearing makeup a lot easier than guys can. I was also standing pretty close to you when I saw it." She said.
I suppose what she said made perfect sense. Many guys didn't pick up on just how much makeup someone could be wearing, especially if they knew nothing about makeup.
I was relieved. "Here, I brought this just in case."
I handed her the foundation and brush that I'd placed in my bag to bring with me. In case I needed to touch it up.
"Good thinking!" She took the items out of my hand. "Um, did you maybe want me to do it in a more private area. Just because, it seems like you don't want anyone to catch on."
This girl. Jemma is so thoughtful and sweet.
"Uhh, yeah." I said and a moment later she grabbed my hand to lead me into an empty classroom.
I sat on top of a desk as Jemma stood before me. She grabbed my chin with her hand as the other brushed the powder on my skin.
"Okay, hold still." She said, in which I hummed in response.
Moments later she announced, "I have a little compact mirror in my bad, lemme grab it."
I flipped open the mirror so I could take a look and smiled, satisfied with the result.
Jemma had done a great job covering up the bruise. I didn't get a single question about it. Not even a suspicious look.
It was now lunch break and we were eating the cafeteria's spaghetti. Mycah was right about the food here, it was decent.
I was seated next to Jemma, of course. Across from us, sat Spencer who had Jackson's arm wrapped around her and Arsen sitting to the boy's right. They were all joking about something, but I wasn't interested, not anymore.
My spaghetti had been ruined, I lost my appetite when I saw Cole.
He entered with Dylan, Anthony, Isaac and the twins. The usual crew, except I couldn't see my brother among them.
Would Cole tell Mycah what happened?
Cole made eye contact with me from across the room. I fidgeted under his gaze. The way he had narrowed his eyes in my direction made me nervous. I had been relying on my wishful thinking, that Cole wouldn't even glance my way, but he did.
"Woah! Dude, someone's not a fan." Arsen punched me in the arm.
"Isn't he your brother's friend? Why would he stare at you like that? He wasn't even being discrete about it either." Spencer said.
I was gobsmacked. It seemed my friends quite easily picked up on the stare Cole gave me. It made me wonder if any of Cole's friends had noticed or anyone else currently in the cafeteria. I wanted him to pretend I didn't exist, and I'd gladly do the same.
Jemma sudden stood up, grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the cafeteria.
"I figured it out," She said.
Figured out what?
"You got the bruise from Cole. Although, what I'm struggling to figure out is why he'd wanna hurt you. Go to your brother, he will fix this if Cole is bullying you."
Damn, she's good.
"Look, yes, he did do it. But he's not actually bullying me. You can't tell anyone. He seems like he can be really mean, you could get hurt. And I can't go to my brother, they're friends, I don't want to ruin anything. Besides, I'm pretty sure it was a one-time thing." I told her.
She was entirely unconvinced, however she didn't push the matter anymore. "Okay, okay, don't worry we will figure it out. But why - I must ask - did he do it?"
"I- I don't really know." I partially lied.
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Damn it, I accidentally deleted this chapter when I was trying to edit the story. How the hell does that even happen? I'm almost going to have ten published chapter soon. I've actually written more. I think I'm currently writing chapter 14.