Counting Down The Days To Go

The following morning after Mike’s little visit to my house, I was hoping that he would pick me up and we would go to school together like usual. And with that in mind, I waited and waited at my porch steps for him to come.

But did he show up?

No.

Mike has been extremely confusing and I really don’t know what’s wrong with him. Did he want to break up with me but didn’t have the guts to tell me face to face? I walked into the garage, took out my car and drove myself to school. This was definitely not a good start to a new day.

I wheeled into school with five minutes to spare. I walked down the school’s hallway, hoping to maybe catch a glimpse of Mike and ask him what was going on. But he was nowhere to be found. After grabbing my belongings from the locker, I walked into homeroom, thinking that Mike would be there and waiting for me in his usual seat which was right beside mine.

However, the seat beside mine was empty. Chanel was already there though.

“Chanel! Mike came back last night,” I whispered urgently to my good friend.

“Oh. Did you ask him why he left?” Chanel asked.

“No. You see, he left this charm and a note for me on my doorstep. I didn’t really see Mike,” I explained.

“Then what makes you-,” Chanel began to ask but was cut off as a figure barged into class.

That figure was Mike.

“So kind of you to finally join us, Mr. Bergen,” The homeroom teacher snorted out. Instead of walking over and sitting beside me like usual, Mike plopped himself down on one of the spare seats at the front of the class instead. Whispers and stares followed after the whole class witnessed Mike’s actions. Sympathetic glances were thrown at me from all directions but I shrugged them all off. I was determined to find out what the heck was wrong with Mike.

The first period passed by treacherously slow and I thought I was going to die with anxiety. Yeah, that was how curious and confused I was. Finally, the minute hand ticked into place and I rushed out of class, hoping to catch up on Mike who zoomed out of class too. It was almost as if he was…avoiding me or something.

After running out of class, I saw Mike fast-walking away in the direction of his locker. I jogged for a bit before finally managing to catch up.

“Mike,” I called out as I grabbed his elbow, hoping to get his attention.

He turned back for what seemed like a millisecond but after realizing that it was me, he shrugged off my hand rather violently and continued walking away.

That simple gesture completely caught me off guard. Did Mike just ignore me? Why didn’t he want to talk to me?

“Go after him,” Chanel said as she walked passed me. I gave a firm nod and walked towards Mike’s locker.

I slowed down to a stop when I finally reached him. He was stuffing books into his backpack and he pretended to not see me standing right next to him.

“What’s going on?” I asked rather timidly. As curious as I was, I didn’t want him to answer. I was afraid of what the answer might be.

“Just leave me alone,” Mike said rather harshly and he walked passed me to go off to his next class. Those four simple words felt like four sharp daggers piercing through my chest.

I looked on as Mike staggered away before deciding that maybe I should talk to him some other time. It wasn’t worth making a scene in the middle of the hallway. I really didn’t get it. What did I do that made Mike not even want to talk to me anymore? Tears welled up in my eyes and threatened to spill out but I managed to keep them in. I had been humiliated enough as it is. Never had Mike used such a harsh, cold tone on me and never had he brushed past me like I was just some unimportant stranger. Was that what I am to him now? A stranger? A passer-by?

It sucked having to share so many classes with Mike. He didn’t sit next to me anymore. Instead, he chose to sit on some spare seats lying around the class. He didn’t even glance at me. How did I know? My line of sight was trained on Mike and only Mike, hoping that he would turn and catch my eyes, even if it was only for a second. I just needed him to make a gesture of some sort to show that he still knew who I was.

Chanel, Amanda and the rest of the student body soon heard the news about me and Mike. Apparently, everybody thought we had broken up. Had we?

Amanda thought Mike was just having a bad case of PMS while Chanel was still trying to figure out a logical reason to explain his strange behavior.

What did I do? I just wanted to curl up into a little ball and spend the rest of my life under my blanket. That was how hurt I was. I never knew that Mike had so much power in him. I never thought that with just a few harsh words and a couple of mean moves, he could bring the whole world crashing down on me.