30 Days Together

Chapter 6

After talking to Jessica that morning, Kyle was even more confused than before. She hadn’t told him anything of value that he could use in trying to understand Akina.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice where he was going until he nearly tripped on something. f**k! He cursed and looked for what had nearly tripped him to his death. To Kyle’s surprise, it was a book, or something that looked like a book. He picked it up and flipped it open.

It was a journal. Who the hell leaves a journal laying on the floor? Was Kyle’s first thought but he flipped to a random page in it. It wouldn’t hurt anyone if he read something trying to figure out who it belonged to, so he began reading.

After the first paragraph, Kyle already knew who it belonged to and he wished he hadn’t read it. It was Akina’s personal journal, a place where she wrote down all of her thoughts and secrets and Kyle had unknowingly violated her privacy.

Shite, shite, shite.

He had to give it back to her and he was thankful he was the one who had found it. If anyone else had found it, then he didn’t know what damage would have been caused. He looked at the page once more trying to close it and his eyes fell on something that made his entire body freeze. Written just below the page in big block letters was. ‘I WANT TO DIE!!!’

That was not something Kyle could ignore and he knew he’d have to ask her when he returned it. He tucked the journal in his bag and wandered the hallway looking for her.

Luckily, Kyle didn’t have to look for long because there she was, five lockers from where he stood. She was frantically removing things from her locker searching for something. Kyle assumed she was looking for her journal.

He casually approached her with a smile on his face. “Hey stranger!” he was trying his best not to outright ask her about why she had written such things.

Akina was startled and she slowly turned around to look at the person. She had a surprised expression as she looked at him. “Hey!” she said awkwardly.

Kyle couldn’t blame her for acting weird around him, after yesterday, no normal person would have still wanted to talk to her. He casually slung his hand on her shoulders. “I hope you feel better today because I have a surprise that I’d like to show you.” He could pretend to not know anything until the end of the day.

“Yeah I feel way better today,” she responded.

Kyle beamed showing his perfectly white teeth. “Great! I’ll meet you at your locker after last period,” he said and then removed his hand from her shoulder. “It will be great, just trust me.”

“I hope it’s worth my time.” A grin broke out on Akina’s face that lit up her entire features. She really was beautiful now that he could really see her for who she was.

“It definitely will be.” He threw a sly smirk and wink in her direction. “Welcome to the world of Kyle surprises Ms. Matthews.”

Akina laughed, literally laughed and it was like music to Kyle’s ears. He had never heard anyone laugh like that. He stared at her, why would a girl like her want to end her own life? It just didn’t add up in his mind.

“Don’t’ forget we meet up here after school,” he said. “I’ll see you then.”

Kyle smiled at her and then turned to make his way to his class. He was already planning everything in his head, from how the conversation would go to what he was going to do after he found out the truth.

Jackson slung his hand on Kyle’s shoulder startling him. Wyatt and Vincent weren’t far behind.

“You scared me,” Kyle said as shoved Jackson’s hand from his shoulder.

Wyatt, Vincent and Jackson all laughed. “Aw man, what had you so preoccupied?” Jack asked with a knowing smirk. “Was it Mariah? Because I saw her coming out of the janitor’s closest looking a bit frazzled.”

The other two guys laughed even harder. But Kyle didn’t understand what Jackson meant. What was Mariah doing in the janitor’s closet?

Vincent threw him a not so subtle look. “No wonder you were early,” he said, “it makes so much sense right now.”

“Did she finally agree to go out with you or was it a pre-dating hook-up thing?” Wyatt asked still laughing. “Because Jess said Mariah was finally warming up to the idea of you guys together,” he wiggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

Kyle stopped walking and turned to look at his friends who hadn’t yet noticed that he stopped. “What are you guys talking about?” his brows were furrowed in confusion.

Jackson stopped laughing and turned to stare at him. He c****d his head to the side and his blue eyes glimmered with curiosity. “What do you mean what do we mean?”

“I meant exactly what I asked.” Kyle huffed in frustration, he needed answers and not more questions.

“Didn’t you and Mariah hook-up in the janitor’s closet early this morning?” Wyatt asked with a smirk etched on his face from ahead of him and Jackson.

Kyle rolled his eyes and glared at him. “No Wyatt, Mariah and I didn’t hook-up in the janitor’s closet.” The people around him turned to stare and listen in to their conversation.

Jackson glared at them to mind their business and they look away. But Kyle could still see some of the students pretending to be busy doing something at their lockers while eavesdropping on them.

“Oh damn dude, I’m sorry,” Vincent said just as the first bell rang and the other students made their way to their respective morning classes.

Wyatt, Jackson and Vincent looked at Kyle sympathetically. “I know you really liked her,” Jackson was the first to speak up.

“It’s cool. Shite happens I guess,” Kyle shrugged. Sure he did like Mariah and he had been trying to get her to go out with him for almost three months now but she hadn’t fallen for his charm. And she didn’t seem to care about his status, money or looks, that’s what had made Kyle like her even more. But now, a huge part him didn’t feel betrayed or angry with her. She could date or hook-up with anyone she wanted, it was none of his business. “She can do whatever she wants. She’s not mine anyway.”

His friends seemed to not believe him but Kyle didn’t care. They could think whatever it was that they wanted. The second warning bell rang but they made no move of heading to class just yet.

“Are you sure you are okay with it?” Jackson pushed. “Because if you aren’t, we definitely understand.”

“Yes I’m okay with everything. I’m okay with her leading me on, I’m okay with her pretending to maybe like me back, I’m okay with her being her. I’m simply okay with it all.” Kyle was hurt by what she had done. She was someone he was willing to stop his player ways for. In fact, he had gone three months without randomly hooking up with any girl that threw herself at him. Yeah, his friends were right about him needing to get laid. “I’m done with trying to be something that I’m not. I need to get wasted and hook-up with the first girl I lay my eyes on,” he sighed as he ran a hand through his hair and tousled it, making it look as though he had just rolled out of bed.

“Hell yeah, screw girls and their overly complicated brains.” Vincent fit bumped Kyle and Jackson.

The third bell rang signalling they were late for their class. Kyle casually leaned against the wall with his feet folded and placed his bag on the floor.

“Definitely,” Jackson added.

Wyatt glared at them, “hey! My Jess is not like them,” he defended. “She may be complicated but if she heard any of you say that, then she’d have my balls, literally and figuratively.”

“You are totally whipped,” Kyle said and the other two guys started laughing.

“I’m not,” Wyatt huffed.

“Are too,” Vincent said smirking.

“Mr. Thornton, Mr. Hart, Mr. Nash, Mr. Johnson.” A voice boomed from behind them and they all turned to stare at their Deputy head teacher. “Shouldn’t you be in class?” Mr. Briggs asked with his hands folded over his chest as he stared at each one on them coldly.

Kyle exchanged a look with his friends before he turned back to face him. “Sorry sir, we’ll get going,” he said with a huge insincere smile. Kyle didn’t like him, in fact most of the student population didn’t like him. He always found something to get them stuck in detention or for him to have to call their parents for a parent-teacher meeting.

“Detention after school, all of you.” Mr. Briggs looked at them disdainfully. “Go on, head to class before I make it two days’ worth of detention.

Kyle nearly cursed, he couldn’t afford detention, he had already made plans that he could not cancel. But instead, he picked up his bag and they headed to their class which they had already missed a third of.

The rest of the morning classes flew by without Kyle getting another detention. He was thankful when lunch period rolled up. He only had one more class and then detention before he finally saw Akina again. That thought alone brought a smile on his face.

                                                                       ********************

When the last bell of the day rang, Kyle bolted out of his English class. He didn’t wait for any of his friends. He had to make it to Akina’s locker and explain himself before he attended detention. He really didn’t want to postpone their talk but he had too, unless he wanted another detention or his dad getting called. The thought of his dad getting called to school made his blood run cold.

He shoved some people out of his way as he run through the hallway. He wasn’t about to stand Akina up but he also wasn’t about to miss detention. If he hadn’t met Akina, then he would have gladly enjoyed spending time in detention with his friends. It wasn’t like they did anything; all they did was just sit there for forty-five minutes and play with their phones and make paper planes while talking about how horrible school and the teachers were.

Akina was stood by her locker waiting for him. Kyle ran and stopped in front of her panting. “Sorry, but can you wait for me for another forty-five minutes?” he asked in between breaths.

“Why?” Akina asked.

Kyle gave her an innocent smile, “I may have gotten myself detention,” he said sheepishly. “But I’ll explain everything later, I’ve got to go before I get another one. We meet here, don’t forget.” He gave her a hug and her body immediately went stiff against his. He pulled away awkwardly, said his goodbye and quickly rushed to detention. He would think about her awkward hugging skills later.

Detention was the same as usual. Their detention teacher, Mr. Finn was fast asleep while the rest of the students talked, others tossed paper balls at him and others played with their phones.

“Dude stop bouncing your leg, it’s annoying,” Jackson snapped as he looked up from his phone.

Kyle hadn’t realised he was anxious. He was never the anxious type but he knew the conversation that awaited was not going to be an easy one. “Sorry,” he apologised and stopped bouncing his leg.

“What’s on your mind?” Jack asked as he set his phone down on the desk and turned in his seat to fully look at him. “Is this still about Mariah? Because I thought you said you were over her.”

“I am over her.” Kyle didn’t know what he had to do for his best friend and friends to finally believe that he was over her. “I just have something that I was supposed to do that’s all,” he admitted.

Vincent stopped amid folding a paper plane and threw Kyle a disbelieving look. “For someone who says you’re over her, you sure have a funny way of showing it.” He gestured his head to Kyle’s phone and then went back to folding his plane.

Kyle looked down at his phone and was surprised to find it on Mariah’s i********: page. “It’s not what it looks like. I swear I don’t know how this happened.” He showed his phone screen to the other two guys who rolled their eyes at him.

“Uh-huh, of course you’re totally over her,” Wyatt said.

“I swear I am.” Kyle tried defending himself but to no avail. None of his friends would ever believe him after he unconsciously searched Mariah up after claiming he was over her.

Wyatt patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, it happens to most of us,” he said with a smirk, “that’s why I invited a bunch of girls from the other high school to Jess’ party tomorrow. It’s going to be a full house.”

“Of course you did,” Kyle said, “and what does Jessica think about it?”

Wyatt shrugged in a who-knows manner that had Kyle, Vincent and Jackson shaking their heads in disappointment.

                                                                   ********************

Kyle quickly said goodbye to his friends before he was off to meet Akina at her locker once more.

True to her word, Akina stood awkwardly at her locker. She was the only one in the hallway which made their impending talk less awkward. Kyle breathed a sigh of relief at that fact.

“Hey! You waited,” he said.

Akina spun around and offered a small smile. “Yeah of course I did,” she replied and pushed her glasses further up her slender nose.

Kyle noticed how her school uniform looked to be two sizes too big and how she looked so fragile. “Oh yeah, I have something that I think belongs to you.” He rummaged through his bag for her journal before pulling it out and handing it to her.

“My journal!” she exclaimed with a huge relieved smile. “Where did you find it? I thought I had lost it,” she was talking really fast and Kyle couldn’t help but smile. He was the cause of her smile and that made him happy.

“I picked it up this morning,” he said in response.

“Thank you, really thank you. I don’t know what I would have done if someone else picked it up.”

Akina was beaming and her smile was contiguous that Kyle couldn’t contain his own smile. “You’re welcome,” he said. This was the part he didn’t know exactly how to go about. How could he ask such a personal question without Akina knowing that he had read her journal without his permission. “Can I ask you something?” Kyle rubbed the back of his neck trying to ease his nerves.

“Sure,” she replied hugging her journal to her chest.

Clearing his throat, Kyle decided to just rip the band aid as fast as possible. “Why do you want to die?” he asked in a husky voice as he gently shoved her against the locker and pinned her in.

Akina swallowed, hard, “You read my journal didn’t you?” she asked instead not able to meet his eyes.

“Yes I did. Now tell me, why? Why do you want to die so much huh?”

She quickly glanced at him before looking away. “It’s complicated,” she said in a whisper looking at her feet.

“Bullshite.” Kyle was getting angry. He just couldn’t understand. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair as he stared at her, “fine! Then give me 30-days. 30-days to show you that life is worth living. If I can’t prove to you that life is worth living, then you can kill yourself and I won’t try to stop you.” He used his index finger to gently lift her chin up and they stared at each other.

“Okay,” she bit her lip.

That’s all that Kyle needed to hear. He could show her what life had to offer. And he planned to start it now. “Good.” He took her hand in his and pulled her through the school front doors.

He could feel Akina trying to pull her hand out of his. “Where are you taking me?” she asked.

“I’m showing you what you’ll miss should you decide to kill yourself,” he replied. He stopped once they reached his car. It was a black sports car that his dad had gotten him for his eighteenth birthday a few weeks before school. “Get in.”

Akina stood there not moving. She rocked back and forth on her heels as she bit her lip and hugged her journal close to her chest like a shield.

“I promise I’ll take you home soon. I just want to take you somewhere,” Kyle said. “I’m sure your mum will understand.” Akina’s mum had made Kyle very uncomfortable when they met and he planned to ask Akina what had happened when he left them together.

“I don’t think she’ll really mind,” Akina said and then got in the car.

Kyle wanted to ask what she meant as he got in the car and started the engine. “You are going to love this.” He threw her a wink and then reversed out of the school parking lot.