Fiend

Another day at school. Rumors were running rampant about what happened yesterday at Chi Chi's. I’ve heard some say that I was in a fight which caused me to quit my job, others saying that Jason sexually harassed me on the job, sending me into a manic rage. And my all-time favorite: Jason and I realized that we were meant to be together so I quit my job for the sake of us. People make up the stupidest shit.

I passed by Jason and his friends and I when I arrived at school. Jason's death glares were piercing into my skin. He was not happy with me but I could have said the same to him. I heard the word “bitch” come out of his mouth as he passed me in the hallway with his friends, snickering like little school girls.

“At least I’m not an emotionless asshole like you.” I muttered. I almost wanted to cover my mouth after I said that, as if it wasn't supposed to escape my thoughts.

But he heard me because he was clenching his fists. He swiftly turned around and walked back towards me. His friends didn't follow him for once.

“Watch who you pick a fight with for once.” He nervously laughed.

“I’m picking the fight? I think you’ve been blind for four years.” I watched as his jaw tighten. He was looking me in the eyes for once.

“How? I’ve never once bullied you and you know that!”

“Yeah right, throw some more lies at me why don’t you, Jason?” I turned around and tried to walk away to end the conversation. But he grabbed hold of my wrist. I began to panic.

“Let go of me.” I said with no hesitation.

“No. You want the truth? Come with me.” He dragged me out the front doors. Everyone was following us, even my best friend Aaron. They were expecting to hear some juicy gossip to spread around next period.

He was leading us to his car but that was not where I wanted to be. I tried to pull away from him, but his grip wouldn’t budge. I was stuck and I could feel the pain in my wrist. I started to beg him to let me go but he was set on talking this out. I didn’t want to talk though. I never wanted to talk. I liked the silence, I liked being alone.

“Please let go.” I pleaded.

“No. You said you wanted the truth, why the hell don’t you want to hear it?” He paused for a few seconds and then sighed, whispering to me "I can't risk my reputation here. Just get in my car and I'll explain everything from there."

“I don’t want any apologies or explanations. Please, just leave me alone okay?”

He raised his fist up. I closed my eyes and flinched as I waited for it to hit me. Instead, I heard a loud thud and his grip on my wrist loosened completely. I looked at my wrist which was bloody and bruising. He has his eyes closed as he was leaning against me and his car. His body was so close to touching mine that I almost pushed him away out of fear.

I was at a loss for words. I don’t even think noticed my blood on the palm of his hand yet. What was going on?

“Um, Jason?” I gently tried to shove him, only to see if he was still conscious.

“Stop, I’m okay.” He pushed himself off of his car and held onto his head. He blinked a few times before he looked at his other hand, the one covered in blood.

“What the fuck?” He paused for a good minute. “Where is this from?”

His gaze shifted over to my wrist. I didn't bother to cover up what was already too big of a mess to clean up. His face said it all, sadness and anger tied into one emotion. He wanted to yell at me, I knew he did. What was even worse was that I almost forgot that there were people watching us from the steps.

I felt exposed, in the open. Everyone was staring, gasps and disgusted looks on their faces.

“Why? Why would you do this to yourself?” He shouted and I could see the principal and guidance counselor showed up to see what the whole ordeal was.

“Alright you two, stop whatever it is you are doing! You’re distracting the school from its routine. Mendez, Golden my office now!” The principal yelled at us through a megaphone.

I held onto my wrist as I walked back with Jason to the building. I could tell he wanted answers. Why did it have to end up this way? Hasn't my life been worse enough already?



We waited outside the principal’s office for a good hour. I begged for time to slow down as I didn't want to face the consequences as to what was to come later.

I’ve gotten myself into a web of problems that I needed to solve. My father would want to kill me if he found out I’ve been sent to the principal office and what I had done to myself. If I stayed the "precious, straight A" child he always wanted, he wouldn’t have a reason to come after me…

Then there was Aaron. His face when he saw the incident. He was in tears. I knew that he saw what I had done to myself. How could you deny something like that to your best friend, who had seen the evidence already?

Lastly, there was Jason. He was sitting right next to me, silently wondering why things happened the way they did. I owed him so many answers that I didn't even know where to begin. But my problem was that I didn't want to solve any of my problems. I didn't want to face them.

“I’m sorry.” He unexpectedly whispered to me “I’ll get you out of this, I promise.”

“Don’t apologize to me and don't make promises you won't be able to keep.”

“Mendez, Golden” The principal shouted from his office.

Jason led the way into the place I had never seen in those past 12 years of my life.

“Well, well, well. Two straight A students, with perfect records, no flaws and one of them is the star of our football team. But yet you two are still in my office. How come?” The principal had our files open in front of him. Jason and I looked at each other like the news from our files were some shocker for the both of us.

“It was my fault. I got carried away after Marina stood up for herself.”

“You were bullying her?”

“Well, yes but-“

“You know what I do to bullies don’t you, Mendez?”

“It wasn’t just his fault.” I felt this confidence that I had never seen in myself before. I knew that if I just kept quiet, like I usually did, Jason would have taken all of the blame and faced a severe punishment.

“Marina-“ Jason hisses at me.

“I was bullying him too. I even damaged his car outside.” I gave Jason a small smile to show him that this was the lie we were weaving together.

“Ms. Golden! Mr. Mendez. I am appalled by you two right now.”

“She hurt her wrist from my window. Some of the glass ricocheted back and sliced her wrist.” Even though he didn’t hit his car anywhere near the window, his story was pretty convincing.

“I don't know what else to say besides that your punishments for this crude behavior is a month’s worth of Friday detentions and bullying counseling sessions with Ms. Mays until I receive her confirmation that you two are changed and well-rounded citizens of society, not wild and crazy animals like your behavior was today.” Jason and I both sighed out of relief. I don't know which part he sighed about but I was pretty happy that the story was reasonable enough for him to fall for it.

“And Ms. Golden, go and get those wounds checked out.” He gave me a disgusted face.

Walking out of the office, Jason trailed by my side in sync. We stopped in the middle of the hallway as the men’s bathroom and nurse’s office were across from one another, our two destinations. We stood next to each other in silence for a few more seconds.

Jason cleared his throat, “It was brave of you to stand up for yourself today. Can I just ask you one question? Am I the reason for that?”

By that, he meant my cuts. I wanted to say yes because in a sense, he was. The mean remarks he and his friends had made about me over those past 4 years. All of the torment I went through that didn’t just stop at school. I was tired of it all. And he was one of the major reasons I wanted to kill myself.

I looked him in his dark, brown eyes and responded with a flat, “No.”

Honestly, I couldn’t tell you if I was lying or not. I watched him give me a light smile and then he walked away to the bathroom. From there, I headed into the nurses office in hopes that she would believe the chaotic story that Jason and I created. The story that would start the emotional road that I am on today.