Forgotten

“So, how was school today Jon?” Melanie asked her melancholy son.

“It was okay,” Jon muttered, still stabbing at the spaghetti in his plate.

“Just okay?” Melanie pressed on, trying to engage her son.

Jonathan shrugged. “I broke up a fight, took a kid down to the nurse’s office.”

“You didn’t get hurt did you?” Daniel asked, clearly disapproving of the idea of his son meddling in other people’s business. Although at the same time he was proud that Jon had stood up and put a stop to a violent altercation.

“No, I’m fine. I didn’t have to physically break it up. I just told them to quit it and took Caden to the nurse,” Jon explained.

“Caden. That’s an unusual name, isn’t it?” Mel asked. Jonathan just shrugged again, finally taking a bite of his food.

Sarah discussed her day at school but Jon didn’t really pay attention. His mind had wandered back to Caden. He wondered whether he had sustained any serious injuries from that beating. He thought back to those cuts on Caden’s arms and that nervous look on his face when Mrs. Higgins had told him that she had phoned his father.

* * *

The next day at school Jonathan didn’t see Caden anywhere. He didn’t know if it meant that Caden was in a hospital bed somewhere or if it was just that he didn’t have any classes with him besides gym (which only happened every other day).

He bit his lip and stared down at his turkey sandwich in the noisy cafeteria. Brett came over and took the seat next to him. “What was up with you yesterday?” he asked.

Jonathan shrugged and took a bit of his sandwich so he wouldn’t have to answer right away. He swallowed then spoke, “Nothing was ‘up with me’, I just didn’t think it was right for you guys to beat on a kid that looks like he weighs like 90 pounds. I mean, it wasn’t exactly a fair fight with all of you ganging up on him.”

“Oh, come on! When did you become such an ass?” Brett asked, annoyed.

“I’m the ass? Right, I’m the ass for not beating on a kid one-third my size. I’m the ass for not attacking some defenseless guy with all of my buddies,” Jonathan said sarcastically as he grabbed his binder and stood, walking away and leaving his friend behind in the cafeteria.

As he roamed the halls he realized how strange it felt to finally just say what was on his mind. He normally endured the stupid jokes and cruel remarks that his friends directed at everyone who wasn’t on the A-list at school. He ignored it, put up with it but now he had had enough. Something inside of him snapped yesterday and he didn’t want to stay quiet any longer. He was so lost in thought he didn’t even notice the girl searching through her bag until he bumped into her.

“Sorry,” he said, kneeling down to pick up the pen and notebook he had made her drop.

“It’s okay. Thanks,” she said as he handed her things to her. “Wait, you’re Jonathan.” Jon nodded, wondering how this girl knew him. They certainly didn’t swim in the same circles. She wore all black; even her hair was black with hot pink tips although her eyebrows indicated that she was naturally a blond. The thick but attractive ring of eyeliner around her blue eyes reminded him instantly of Caden.

“Did you hear me?” she asked hesitantly.

“Oh, sorry. What?” he said, embarrassed for having spaced out.

“I just wanted to thank you for helping Caden yesterday. He called me last night and told me everything. We’re best friends. I’m Liv,” she said warmly, holding out her hand for Jonathan to shake.

“Nice to meet you,” Jonathan said as he shook her hand. “Would you happen to know where he is? I was kinda hoping I could talk to him,” he muttered sheepishly. She studied him closely for a moment, her eyes sweeping over his face in a calculating manner.

“Why do you want to talk to him?” she asked bluntly.

“I just wanted to see if he was okay,” Jon said, suddenly feeling very awkward. Liv finally looked away from his face, glancing down at her feet.

“He’ll be okay.”

“W-What are you not telling me?” Jon asked, feeling as though he were overstepping his bounds but needing to know if Caden was alright.

“He, uh, he never went to the hospital so we don’t really know exactly the extent of his injuries,” Liv explained delicately.

“But I thought his dad picked him up so he could get him checked out?”

Liv gave a humorless little laugh. “Yeah, Mr. MacCoroy isn’t the best of dads,” she said vaguely. “Um, I-I gotta go. But thanks again for helping him out,” she said, rushing off without another word. He stared after her trying to process what she had said. How could Caden’s father ignore the fact that his son had been severely beaten?

“Wait!” he called after Liv, running to catch up with her. “Wait,” he said again, grabbing her arm once he had reached her at the top of the stairs.

“What did you mean about his dad?” Jonathan asked.

“Look, don’t worry about it. He’s working late today. My mom and I are going to take Cadey to get looked at after school.” Liv said quickly.

“So… if Mr. MacCoroy were home he’d stop you from making sure his son was alright?” Jonathan asked, not wanting to believe something so horrible. She nodded reluctantly after a moment.

“That’s fucked up,” Jon muttered.

“You’re telling me,” she replied, her eyes blazing. “Seriously though, don’t worry. We take care of each other,” she said, gently extricating her arm from his grasp and walking away.

“Hold up!” Jonathan yelled. Liv stopped and turned back to face him. He ripped a sheet of paper out of his binder and grabbed a pen from his pocket. He quickly scribbled his number down twice and ripped the paper in half. He walked over to her and handed her both pieces. “Take my number and give it to Caden too. Call me when you find out what the doctor says, please,” he said earnestly.

Once again, Liv’s eyes studied Jonathan’s face closely. She nodded slowly. “I’ll call.”

“Thank you,” Jonathan said. He gave her a small smile before turning around and heading back downstairs.

“Hey!” Liv called. He turned at the bottom of the staircase and looked up at her. “Tell me one thing. Why do you care so much?”

Jon opened his mouth to speak but didn’t know what to say. Why did he care so much? “Um, I don’t know. He just seems like a nice guy,” he said with a pathetic little shrug. But Liv didn’t press the matter. She nodded and watched as Jonathan walked away with his hands shoved self-consciously in his pockets.

He could feel her eyes on him as he walked away but he didn’t really care. He had finally realized why he cared so much about Caden’s well-being....