Grabbing my Razor, we rode down towards the park. There was a glorious cement sidewalk that led to the park which was an amazing place just to ride and feel the wind whip past you. I crouched down on my Razor to get more momentum; Evan was well past me on his tiny brown Mongoose. He saw me looking and did a 360-degree spin; show off. I just rolled my eyes and pulled my shoulders in towards my body to gain more speed. As we rounded a bend, the park became visible. It was called Blues Park. All the structures were a hideous dark blue and all the paint was peeling away. It wasn't the best-looking park, but as long as the monkey bars functioned, that's all that mattered to us.
Evan threw down his bike in the grass and ran into the wood chips towards the monkey bars. I watched in awe as he jumped up and pulled himself over-top of the bars. His upper body strength was insane. I dropped my Razor in the grass next to his bike and ran towards the staggered monkey bars.
"You didn't even attempt the challenge of the staggered bars," I said as he settled himself on the flat bars.
"That's because my butt fits nicely on these."
I jumped to grab the lowest bar, but my fingers only brushed it before I fell back to the ground. I could hear Evan sniggering and I glared at him before leaping up and grabbing a hold of it this time. The next obstacle though was actually pulling myself up to grab the bar next to it which was slightly higher. I didn't have as much strength as Evan. I pulled my body upward and gripped the next bar then tried to pull my full body over the bars. Grunting and cursing, the next thing I knew, I was hanging limp off the two bars. Evan was still giggling. I sighed, and hung there, defeated.
I heard wood chips crunch and suddenly Evan had his hands on my waist.
"You need to do more pull ups."
Evan pushed me up until I got my knees secured on a bar. Then he followed and sat on the highest bar. He was grinning from ear to ear as he watched me struggle on the bar next to him.
"Ass," I muttered.
"What did you say?" He put his hand under his chin and leaned forward towards me with the smuggest expression.
"You're a jack ass," I said, kicking his foot.
He started to kick me too and soon he got a hold of my shirt collar.
"You know if you're not nice to me, I can just let you drop."
He tugged on my collar and sent me falling forward. Right before I fell through the bars though, he pushed me back.
"Evan, quit it," I said and tried prying his hand away from my shirt.
He grinned evilly at me and did it again. This time he kept me suspended there.
A panicked, shrill voice sounded throughout the air at that exact moment.
"What the hell are you doing, Evan?"
I looked down towards the ground and saw a petite brunette. She had her hand over her mouth. She must have thought that Evan was actually going to throw me down. Evan pushed me back onto the bar and waved down at the girl. She gave a small wave back, still looking a little concerned.
"Willow this is Melvin, Mel for short. Mel this is Willow."
"Hi Willow, nice to meet you," I said, jumping down to shake her hand. She had the wimpiest hand shake ever, but when I looked into her eyes, I was mesmerized. They were such a unique grey. I let go of her hand but kept staring at her.
Evan landed, ran up to Willow, and took her in his arms. My heart stopped. The hug was the longest hug I had ever witnessed and something inside of me felt like it was being crushed. I don't know why I was feeling this way, I mean, Evan had the right to hug whomever he wanted. I just couldn't believe he would hug this girl who I had never met before. Who was she to him? Why was she here with us? I stared down at the wood chips until they finally let go of each other.
"I missed you," I could hear him tell Willow. Her face turned a beautiful rosy pink. God, she was gorgeous.
She took his face before he walked away and whispered something in his ear that I couldn't hear. They both started giggling and then Evan hoisted her up onto the monkey bars with him. I just stood on the ground, speechless.
I made my way over to the swings, sat down, and watched the two of them chat. Willow kept grabbing his thigh and nudging his ankles. I could barely watch. Evan didn't even look my way once. After about five minutes of them still ignoring me, I got up, picked up my Razor, and rode back up the hill. Neither of them said a word or even looked my direction.
On the way back to my house I couldn't stop thinking about her whispering in his ear. She was so beautiful, of course he would be friends with her. I bit back the tears and skidded to a stop on my driveway. Running over to my fence, I burst open the door and stood on the top of the hill. I thought about all the times we rolled down it. I shook my head and I threw myself down. This time wasn't very enjoyable. I couldn't get Willow and Evan out of my mind. I landed at the bottom and just sprawled out. The sky was getting cloudy. I could only see a few blue patches. It wasn't beautiful like yesterday or the day before that. It was like it had given up.
The day slowly waned into night, and I was still sprawled out in the grass. I couldn't bring myself to get up.
---------------------
"You're the rudest little shit ever."
The moon was high. It must have been about eleven. Evan picked me up with one hand and shook me.
"Willow was so upset. She thought you didn't like her. Why would you treat my girlfriend like that?" He was shaking and I could see his free hand ball up into a fist.
I didn't even respond. Girlfriend. He had a girlfriend. I sagged under his grip.
"Why did you leave?"
I had enough. Pushing him off me, I ran towards my patio, but he was right behind me. He snatched a hold of my arm and spun me around. I could see the confusion in his eyes which made me feel like a horrible person. I just couldn't understand why I was feeling so upset that Willow and Evan were together.
"I don't know, okay?" I gritted my teeth to keep the tears from coming. "I just did."
He shoved me away and ran a hand through his hair. I could tell he was trying to think of something to say that wouldn't upset me. Walking up to him, I put my hand against his chest, and looked up at him hesitantly. I felt him stiffen. He avoided my gaze and looked down towards the grass.
"I give you my blessing."
Before I could say anything else, Evan grimaced, backed away, and left without another word.
The next day I looked out my window and saw Evan and Willow walking down the sidewalk, holding hands. I closed the curtains.
The rest of the summer went by very slowly. I spent most of my time lounging in the pool or reading on the hill. The air began to smell crisp and clean; I knew what was coming but I didn't want to leave my pool or hill. Soon it was the day before school began: September 2nd. The leaves were already falling, and I shut myself inside that day in denial. Summer was over.
The next morning, my mother was fumbling around like a mad person, and took millions of pictures of me at the bus stop. I hid my face from my other peers and tried to tell her to go away, but mothers love pictures.
"Mom, go, please?"
"Okay, okay, just one more."
"No! Go, please!"
"Okay, have fun! First day of Sophomore year!" She smiled and scurried back towards our house.
Two minutes before the bus showed, I saw someone running up from behind my house, and I knew it was Evan, so I brought my focus to a nearby post. He didn't even hesitate to go to the back of the line. I bit the side of my mouth to stop my fickle emotions from showing. It was a long two minutes. The bus was like a beacon of light. I climbed onto it and sat in my usual seat. Row six on the right side. I was a creature of habit.
I waited for Evan to pass. I had a feeling that he wouldn't even notice me. But suddenly someone shoved me into the seat and sat next to me.
He didn't even say a word; he just stared at me. I looked out the window to avoid Evan, but he just poked my arm in the process. I ignored him as his jabs got harder and harder. Then he started pushing me. I ignored him still until he did something totally unexpected. I could feel his hand slink to the inside of my thigh and I almost jumped out of the seat.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"I hate not seeing and talking to you. It was driving me nuts."
"Well it was your own damn fault," I spit and turned my body towards the window. I didn't feel like talking to him right now.
His hand found its way to my hair and I felt goosebumps start to form all over my body.
"Why do you never cut this mess?" He whispered in my ear as he stroked my long hair. I usually had it in a ponytail, but my mother insisted that I leave it down so that I make good impressions or whatever.
"Piss off!" I muttered, elbowing him. That didn't help get him off though. He moved closer.
"You know you look like a girl because of it right?"
I felt my emotions bubble over, and I exploded.
"Get out of this seat!"
The bus driver glanced at us in the mirror. "You, this seat."
The bus driver pointed to the seat directly behind him, and Evan shot me a grin before moving to the front seat.
Once I got to school, I made my way to the library. Then I skidded towards the bathroom. I stood over the toilet and began to chop off my hair with the library scissors. Silent tears fell into the toilet with the hair, and before long what used to be shoulder length hair, was now a close cut to my head. I stayed in the bathroom for the whole entire day and then decided to walk home so that I didn't have to face Evan.
"What did you do to your hair?" My mom screamed as I walked through the door.
"I felt like cutting it," I said as I looked in the mirror at my jagged cuts.
"Oh dear, let's get you an appointment to clean it up a bit."
Great Clips could not save it, so all I could do was watch as they shaved my head. It was one of the worst things I have ever had to do in my life. I never looked good with short hair, so for a very long time I looked like an egg.
The next few days I begged my mother to drive me to school. But I couldn't avoid Evan forever.
"Mel?"
I dropped my folders and notebooks as someone slide next to my locker.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you drop your things."
Evan bent down and picked up my things and handed them to me.
"What do you want, Evan?" I grumbled, walking away from him.
"I broke up with Willow."
I skidded to a stop and slowly turned around. Evan was still leaning against the lockers and a lump formed in my throat. He broke up with Willow. He broke up with Willow.
"Okay."
"Let's be friends again, please?"
"No," I whispered without a second thought.
"Mel, come on, please? Also, what the hell did you do to your hair?"
"Take a guess, Sherlock."
"That wasn't me was it?" He asked, walking over to me. He tried to make eye contact with me, but I avoided his eyes.
"Just go away."
"Mel, come on, this is just a fight. We can survive it. It was petty of me to choose Willow over you. I didn't have to shut you out completely."
"I gave you my blessing. You just did what I told you to," I murmured, starting to walk away.
"I never should have accepted your blessing then," He said, grabbing my arm to stop me.
I let him hold my arm. In truth, I didn't want him to let me go, and I didn't want to walk away.
"Friends?" He whispered, holding out his other hand towards me.
I looked at his hand. It was a beautifully long hand and I wanted to reach out and hold it, kiss it, anything. I sighed and shook it.
"Friends," I replied.
Evan squeezed my hand.
And suddenly my world started to spin again.
Evan came to my backyard after school that day and pinned my arms behind my back. It hurt like a son of a bitch, but I tried not to show my weakness.
"Self-defense class taught me this," He said, as I tried to get out of his grip. He was stronger though and I just stood there, letting his warm hands thaw my unusually cold wrists.
Then without any warning, he swept my legs and pinned me to the ground.
"This was the other thing we learned."
His chest rose up and down. I placed my hand upon it and watched him make the same face he did when I let him be with Willow.
"Get off," I whispered, pushing on his chest.
The look vanished and he jumped off me, pulling me up with him.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, Evan coughed and said, "My friend, Zachary, you know Zachary, right?"
"Yeah, I think."
"He just told me that I probably shouldn't be telling you, but you'll keep a secret right?"
"Cross my heart and hope to die."
"Well, he just told me that he's gay."
Gay shot through the air like a bullet and I sucked in a breath as Evan stared at me. Something in his eyes called out to me, but I couldn't tell what it was, so I brushed it off.
"That's cool."
"Yeah, I guess. I just hope he doesn't try to feel me up."
I choked on my spit as he said that, and instinctively shoved my hands in my pockets.
"Zachary would never do that. And he's one hundred percent uninterested in you."
"How do you know that? I'm a good-looking guy."
"He would never go after a straight guy."
Evan just nodded slowly and started to back away.
"Evan?"
"Yeah?"
"Zachary won't do anything unless you want to."
Evan took a deep, shaky breath. "Yeah, I know."