Stranger

“Ow! Damn Cassie. Crap. I think I just bit my lip! Fuck”, Max cursed while I rubbed my head.

“Sorry Max. I didn’t mean to. You just caught me by surprise!”

I stopped rubbing my head and took his hand away from his lip and pulled him closer, looking at his lip. It was bleeding a little but it wasn’t that bad. I took out a tissue from my bag and tried to wipe it away but Max just took the tissue and sat down beside me. It was clear that he was still pissed at me so I just gave him space. I sat back down and wrote on my notebook while the rest of the class walked in as the final bell rang.

Halfway through the class, a note was on my desk.

“Sorry I blew up on you like that. Just had a terrible lunch break.”

“I’m sorry I hit you. You surprised me.”

“I thought you were crying. Turns out you were writing. My bad.”

“So…why did you have a bad lunch break? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Max hesitated and chewed on the top of his pen before writing something down and passing it to me.

“The girl I like has a boyfriend. I just found out. I’ve liked her for so long but I never had the guts to tell her and just when I was about to, I saw her with this guy.”

“Whoa. That’s harsh. Did you ever show her how you feel and not just watch from the sidelines?”

“Uhmm…I only talked to her once and that was to tell her she was pretty but that was it.”

Before I had the chance to ask her who this mystery girl was, the bell rang and Alex instantly stood by the door, waiting to take me to my next class. I was going to ask Max what his next class was but he was instantly gone. I walked over to Alex, only to see him rubbing his shoulder.

“Stupid Max Ryder. Crazy git”, Alex cursed.

“Hey. You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m okay. Chemistry next, right?” he asked.

“Yup”

I take his arm and we walk to the labs because chemistry was a class we had together. There was silence between us as we stroll through the corridors and halls but it wasn’t awkward. Just a very comfortable silence but I decided to break it anyway.

“Do you have anything against Max? He seems like a pretty nice guy to me.”

Alex stopped in his tracks and looked at me. Suddenly, anger flashed across his eyes and he had me against the wall, his hands on my shoulders.

“A pretty nice guy?! Honey, you have no idea what that Max has done! Stay away from him as much as you can! Stay the hell away from that fucking Max!”

His grip on my shoulders tightens and I whimper in pain but he still doesn’t notice. Soon, tears are in my eyes and his eyes change and another voice could be heard from the end of the hall, right where the labs were.

“Alex!”

Max comes running to the scene and pushes Alex from me and hits him square in the jaw.

“Didn’t you see that you were hurting her already?!”

“I…I didn’t mean to!”

Before Max could throw another punch, I took both their hands and tried to pull them apart. Max had tears in his eyes while Alex had blood running down his cheek. I was fighting back my own tears and just looked at both guys standing on either side of me.

“Look. I’m fine! I don’t want you guys to fight. Especially not over me. So please! I don’t want to have to choose between you two so you two better settle this before any of you decide to talk to me! And no more violence!”

After that scream-fest, I grabbed my bag off of the floor and walked to the labs but I gasped when I heard,

“Some kind of best friend you are.”