Music Girl

The next day, Aravic thought he’d have to wait until Friday to talk to her, due to his monster hangover. He left in the middle of his second class to vomit. He felt a little better after lunch, and fortunately by homeroom, last class of the day on Thursdays, he was back to himself for the most part.

Sam and Cynthia were in their corner again. Aravic sat with his mates in the center like they usually did. Jared worked on Chemistry homework while Kevin and Tomas talked football. Aravic tried as subtly as he could to stare at Sam. He looked at her over the top of his English book. Cynthia was talking animatedly, her pig tails bouncing. Sam was chuckling and smiling slightly. He watched her, fascinated. He liked her scowl, but her looking happy…it was magical.

Unfortunately, she looked up and saw his staring. Her gray eyes locked with his blue ones and she unleashed a glare so angry Aravic thought the clouds from her eyes would come forth and circle her head. He smirked at her and she bared her teeth. They were straight and fairly white. Her canines were sharp, like small vampire fangs. Sam moved her chair so she wasn’t facing him and Aravic’s eyes dropped to his book, slightly disappointed. But he wasn’t going to let this set him back.

When the bell rang, Sam was the first one out the door. Aravic followed swiftly, making sure she didn’t see him. Luckily, her locker was in a hall with a lot of people. She opened her locker and as her insane hair disappeared in it, he approached, leaning against the lockers casually. Without even looking at him, she said, “Fuck off.”

He just stood there, watching her, trying to imagine her in a skirt. She slammed the locker shut, threw her bag over her shoulder, and marched off, combat boots clunking. Surprised, Aravic lunged towards her, grabbing her bangled wrist. “Hey, wait!” Sam sighed and tried to yank herself free, but Aravic’s grip was solid. Several people were observing them now.

She turned around to face him, angry. “If you continue to touch me, I’ll punch you.”

Aravic snorted. “Sure. How about you kiss me instead?” Sam snarled and smashed her free fist into his face. Aravic stumbled backwards, shocked. Never had a girl hit him, much less say no to him. His nose was bleeding, but when he felt it, he figured it wasn’t broken. He looked at Sam, amazed. He had never known a girl that could hit that hard. A muscle twitched in her jaw, like she was trying to suppress a scream.

“Touch me again,” she said deadly, “and I’ll crack your head open.” Then she whirled around and left.

Aravic found his friends outside. He was still slightly dazed and he hadn’t bothered to wash himself off. Blood had stained the collar of his white shirt. When he found them, Kevin’s jaw dropped. “Dude, what happened?”

“Sam punched me in the face…” Aravic replied dreamily.

“DUDE!” Kevin said, completely flabbergasted. Tomas sank to his knees, laughing. Jared shook his head.

“I told you to stay away from her dude…”

“What did you think of her punching power?” Tomas asked, still laughing. Aravic sighed.

“It totally turned me on.” Kevin and Jared looked surprised, while Tomas went back into another laughing fit.

-

I slammed the door shut behind me as I entered the house. Dad was still at work and Tomas would be forever getting home. I threw my bag on the counter and found a bottle of juice in the refrigerator. I popped the lid and leaned against the sink, chugging the orange and strawberry goodness. I wiped my mouth and stopped. The boy’s blood was still on my knuckles. I turned on the sink and scrubbed away the blood. ‘Who the hell is he?’ I thought, drying off my hands on my pants. ‘What does he want?’

I spent the rest of the time I was home alone in my room, learning a bridge from Metallica’s Master of Puppets. By the time I was finished, the joints of my fingers burned. I packed up my guitar and stashed it under my bed. As I stood up, voices from the street below drifted up. “…so don’t be late. Antonio wants you to be present,” Tomas was saying. I poked my head out a window to see my obnoxious brother walking with the boy I had punched.

“Don’t worry, I will be,” he responded. I got a glimpse of his face and unfortunately, he wasn’t bleeding anymore.

They parted at the corner. Tomas headed for our front door while the boy crossed the street and disappeared from sight. My mind whirled with more questions. Who was Antonio? Be present for what? None of it sounded good, and I made up my mind to keep as far away from this boy as possible. He was nothing but trouble, and if I got into anymore of that, bye bye a free place to sleep.