"Hey!" I walked up to Jarrod as he slammed his locker loudly. He'd been giving me the evil eye for the last few days, I didn't blame him to be honest.
"What's up?" He asked curtly, pushing past me.
I followed him, undeterred. I knew he hated me. "Have you heard from Maria?"
He swung around, a self satisfied smile plastered across his face. "The great Mike is asking me where Maria is?"
His words were so biting and again the rage, that seemed to have taken up residence in me these last few days, started bubbling again. But I bit it down. "Yes! I am."
He smiled a cruel, twisty smile at me. "Must be crap not knowing where she is, huh?"
"Look, have you heard from her to not?" I stepped forward clenching my fists just in case they found themselves somewhere else.
"Dude, you're a fucking dick, you know that!"
"What!" I half-screamed at Jarrod. I was shocked, not just because he'd said that to me, but rather that someone like him could actually say that. It didn't seem part of his vocab.
"Just let her go."
"Sorry, what?"
"She's fucking in love with you. Everyone knows it. Everyone can see it. But you don't even know that she-"
I cut him off. I knew what he was going to say, "I do! Okay, I fucking do!"
Jarred looked at me oddly. I don't think we'd ever said more than two sentences to each other before, this was a first. His face softened a bit and he looked around. The corridor was empty though and I think that everyone must have been in class by now.
"I like her, okay." He said, the words almost knocking me off my feet. "But she'll never like me, or anyone else for that matter as long as you're there."
I blinked a few times. Startled by this conversation that we were having. Startled that I wasn't hating Jarrod either right now, I actually felt sorry for the guy. He liked Maria, well, at least we had something in common.
"If you're not going to..." He paused and looked reluctant to continue.
"What?" I prompted, fascinated with what he was about to say.
"If you can't give her what she wants, you should let her go. Seriously. She's fucking trapped, she has been since I've known her."
"Jesus!" I took a step back. I had not expected him to say that to me and a part of me wanted to jump in and defend myself and tell him I was ready to give her everything she wanted and deserved. But something stopped me.
"It sucks liking someone that doesn't like you back." He added. I knew he was talking about Maria and in that moment, I felt so sorry for him. Not in a pitius way, not like that. I tried to imagine how that would feel, and then I realised, that was how Maria had felt for so many years. It must have been so shit for her.
"So no, I don't know where she is and No, I haven't heard from her." He said and walked off. I watched Jarod disappear and knew that he was right- even if I didn't like it one little bit. Unless I was prepared to give her everything she wanted,and I mean everything, because she deserved everything.... I needed to let her go.
But I wasn't prepared to do that! Not now. Not when we had just found each other. But I needed a plan. A good one, and I needed help with it.
I took out my phone and messaged Brett.
Mike: I'm coming to you after school, I need to chat.
Brett: Cool. Bring food. Good shit!
Mike: Only if you come jogging with me tomorrow.
Brett: Go fuck yourself ;)
Mike
I sat in Brett's room while be chowed down on a bag of crisps and looked deep in thought. He was staring out the window as if he was waiting for something to run past and give him the answer. I started out too in case something would.
"So you need to apologies for what you said to her obviously."
I nodded.
"You need to assure her that you are committed and ready for a relationship with her."
I nodded again.
"You need to reiterate how you feel about her and all that jazz."
Again, I nodded. "So how do I do that?"
He shrugged. "I have no idea."
"That's no help, I came to you for a plan of action."
"I've never been in a relationship Mike, what do I really know about all this stuff?"
"Of course you have!"
"Who?" He asked seriously and flatly.
I thought about it for a while. He was right... he'd never been in a relationship before. Ever! God, I'd never really thought about that. Had he even kissed a girl? Properly? I think most girls don't really see past his physical appearance, they don't see that he's actually a dude worth dating. Anyone would be lucky to have him...
"The right girl is out there." I offered in a lame way. As I didn't really know what to say.
"I'm not looking for your sympathy or Cents worth psychology tips! I know what they think of me... whatever, this is about you. And your pathetic attempt at a love life."
"Thanks."
"You do need a plan though!"
"I know. But what?"
He munched down on another chip and put his legs up on his
