Chapter Text
"I think I'm in love!" said Cassandra.
"No, you're not. You always say that, and it always turns out that he's never the right guy for you. I doubt there's any difference this time," I spoke, sipping on my soda.
"Oh, what do you know? I'm sure of it this time. I can smell it in the air!" She talked back, swirling around her drink with her nose in the air. I stared at her, almost not believing that this was the same girl I met years ago. How did it end up like this?
"Well, for one thing, I've known you for quite a while now. Let's say around five years? And you've probably fallen into that ditch once every month! In fact, sometimes weekly, or even daily! Don't you think that it's starting to get… tiring?" I replied.
"Tiring?" she smirked with an eyebrow raised. “Are you serious? I could keep going.”
I exhaled. This conversation felt so pointless. "I mean, why can't you just stick with your friends? Those guys are never your type any way." I told her, like as if I haven't told her a million times already.
"Max is different!" she retorted. I practically choked and I spewed out the soda I was drinking. What?! It was Max?!
After I recovered, I burst out, "Max?! You're going out with MAX?! You're going out with him?! He’s a douchebag! How can you even think about going out with Max?!" I felt my patience reach its breaking-point. I slammed the coke in my hand on the table, causing brown liquid to erupt up and fall back down over my fingers. The room hushed. "You know what?! I've had enough!"
I stood up from my seat and everyone at the cafe stared at me. Ignoring them, I continued, "I can't keep up with all of your break-ups, and I'm sick of trying to fix things up for you! I am totally fed up with having to prevent these problems for you, and fail, over and over, again and again! I am sick of it!"
Silence. I glared down at Cass. Her mouth was open, like she was trying to think of something to say, but nothing came out. She was speechless. I grumbled, moving out. "I'm out of here."
I stormed out of the room. Everyone watched as I stomped out of the cafe.
"Wait! Jae, come back!" She yelled. "Plea-"
Her voice was cut off by the closing of the glass door. I shook my head, ignoring her. Moving quickly down the street to the river, I heard her footsteps far behind me, trying all too hard to catch up with me.
"Get away from me!" I shouted behind my back, as I took a swift turn. I wanted to get away from it all. When she was off my tail, I finally paused to catch my breath. My legs were trembling from the sudden exertion, but I could feel them tugging me towards a certain direction. I exhaled and shook my head, knowing where I’d end up going again. I started trudging towards the river.
At the river, I kneeled at the banks and washed my face, cooling myself from the excitement and frustration. I moved back to the old tree. Resting my back against its huge trunk, I closed my eyes and exhaled, letting the light breeze blow over me.
I couldn't believe it. Max? How could she pick Max?! She's made some dumb choices before, but he takes the cake.
Five years. I've known her five years. In that five years she's probably had about fifty different boyfriends. Or maybe she had a few repeats, but I can't even count! I bet even she couldn't. It was just one boy after another, getting worse and worse and worse. I mean, she started out decently, but now this was all just craziness! What did she see in Max?! Wasn't he the same kid that bullied every other little wimp in school? Wasn’t dating him supposed to be some kind of nightmare?
I was getting really overworked by this. But I cared because she was my best friend. Because it was my job to protect her from harm. Because I didn't want to see her heartbroken all over again. Dang. Memories of seeing her cry at the foot of her staircase flowed into my consciousness. I had seen that scene too many times before.
Whenever I saw her cry, it was like an arrow straight through my heart. More than half the time, those tears could have been prevented. But whenever I would see her smile with the boy she was dating, it hurt even more because she was so happy with him and I couldn’t stop her.
But it never ends happy. Never.
I looked up at the green tree leaves, shading me from the late afternoon sun. It was an old tree, probably almost a century old. Huge boughs heavy with leaves stood strong against the light wind. I thought back to the reason why I always came back to this place.
"Gosh, it's so hot," I huffed, moving over to the shade of the tree. I pulled out my handkerchief and wiped myself.
“It’s pretty cool up here, you know.”
I looked up. Up there in the tree was Cassandra; red hair, rosy cheeks, blue eyes and all. "Hey, what are you doing up there?"
"Oh, nothing. Just watching you."
"What for?"
"Because I've got nothing better to do." She hopped down to the next branch. "Come up here. Now that I've caught your attention, I might as well talk to you." She moved a bit to the left so I could sit beside her.
"Oh. Okay. But how'd you get up there, anyway? That branch is so high up!" I asked as I tried to get a foothold.
"Okay, see that stone wall over there? It's got lots of bumps and edges. Makes everything an easy climb." She instructed.
"Why didn't I think of that before?" I climbed up the stone wall, and she asked me a few questions as I went up.
"So anyway, my name's Cassandra Jamerson. You?"
"Jae Park." Suddenly, I lost my foothold and slipped. I panicked and was able to catch unto a bump in the wall. My glasses fell off, and I was barely able to snag it before it hurtled to the ground. I tried to recover my breath from the sudden shock.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine,” I murmured.
“Do you always wear glasses?”
“Yeah.”
“I think you look better without them.”
I blushed lightly. I could feel the hotness on my cheeks, so I hung my head down, pretending to search for a foothold until the color faded. I replied smiling, even if she couldn't see it. "Well, I think I’m more comfortable keeping them on."
“That’s too bad,” she comments. By this time, I had climbed up the tree, and was pretty close to the branch she was sitting on. "So… are you new here?"
"Quite…" she mumbled. "I just came here from Toronto."
I sat beside her and lay against the tree trunk, arching up my knee and resting my arm on it. "That's pretty far away. Why'd you move?"
"My parents. They get transferred all over the place." She looked me in the eye. "I never get to make any real friendships with anyone."
"Oh, that's too bad."
I couldn't believe I felt so much sympathy for this stranger. I couldn't even believe I came up here just to talk with her. Somehow that made me feel a little stupid. But then she smiled. And my doubts rolled out of my mind and memory.
"I'm hoping I could stay long enough to get a best friend here though."
I nodded, "I see. So… you never had any real friends?"
"Friends? Dozens. But I've never had anyone behind my back all the time. Somebody I could count on, someone who I could trust, someone who I could talk to. Haven't been lucky enough to come across someone like that yet, but seeing how decent the people around here are, I'm placing my bets."
And then we just talked. The conversation dribbled on, and we just kept going until we lost all track of time. Looking back, the topics in our conversation didn't seem so important. But I still remember everything. Because it was the first time I had ever spoken with her. I was so lost in our chat that I completely forgot that I had promised to play badminton that day. We talked to each other until I heard my friends looking for me. "Jae!"
Brian would kill me if we lost by default. "Uh, listen, I've got to go now. My friends are looking for me." I jumped down the next branch, hesitated, and looked back up at her. "Can I see you here again tomorrow?"
"Sure." She nodded. I was just about to make the next jump down, but then she said, "Ah, wait."
"What?" I held on to a branch for balance and twisted my head to see her.
"You know, Jae? I like you."
I almost let go of the branch, caught off guard. Cass fished something out of her pocket while I stood there, partially frozen so I wouldn’t fall. She handed me a silver chain bracelet. I looked up at her, slightly confused. She smiled and pushed my hand away from her. "Keep it. I keep on moving from town to town most of the time, so just in case I do again, you should keep it.” She grinned, tilting her head. “At least I can say I had a best friend, even for just a day.”
I smiled for half a second. I wanted to say something in reply. But I couldn't think of anything. Then the voice of Brian broke the silence, "Jae! Where the heck are you!?"
We looked down at him through the branches. He was just a few feet away from us, on the bridge. He was facing the other way, turning his head from side to side, searching for me. My eyes trailed back to Cassandra’s. "I better-"
She didn't let me finish. She just nodded with a smile, "Go."
I grinned and jumped out of the tree, swiftly swirling around to wave good bye. Then I shot my hand into the air, waving, and shouted at Brian, who eventually heard me.
"What are you doing there?" he bellowed from behind the railing of the bridge.
"Nothing," I answered.
"Nothing. Yeah, right. Come on! We need the MVP to teach the rookies how it’s done!"
"Coming!" I jolted and ran, skipping from one stone to another across the river. Brian turned and started darting back up the stairs and took a left, going to the park. When he wasn't looking, I turned my head and looked up at the tree. Then I faced forward and ran.
I stood up and walked back to the riverbank. I stared at my reflection in the waters. Truth was, I sort of had a crush on Cass back then, but it slowly wore off. I guess some things really are like that, they just disappear. I figured that she'd never like me, so I just threw any ideas out the window. Just forgot about it. Sad, I know. But I wasn't the kind of guy who would fall in love, anyway. I always thought it was just some hopeless mess people get themselves into. I mean, isn't it always like that?
And why would she like me anyway, right? I was pretty much a geek, not to mention I was part of the debate club. I tended to keep to myself, and I was a little weird. And I was sickly, and skinnier than other boys my age. Why would she fall for someone like me, of all people? Let's be practical, the odds aren't what you would call even. I felt like I was the furthest thing from her type. I don't find myself ideal, at least. And I wouldn't want to fall for anyone. Pfff. Please.
I looked at the bracelet she gave me, hanging from my wrist. With a sigh, I stood and walked along the river. I began to wonder if I should say sorry.
It was frustrating. I wanted to somehow teach her a lesson, get her to straighten up. I wondered if maybe I could get her to get her act together if I refused to apologize. But that also entailed not being friends again, and honestly, I’d sooner die than have that happen. And I knew that if someone was going to make the first move to make up, it would be me. I knew who Cassandra was. She was pretty filled with pride and never really ask to be forgiven. It was in my hands to act contrite, even if she was the one in the wrong.
Now, if I would apologize, or act like nothing happened, she would never learn anything. The thought of her getting with worse and worse crowds consumed me. And here I was again – helpless to help my best friend. I mumbled under my breath, "Crap."
My eyes lifted to the heavens, and I said in a tired, pleading voice, "I can't let her go on like this, can I?"
"No, you can't," I heard a familiar voice respond. My brows lifted and I turned to the direction of the sound.
"Hey, Brian." I greeted him.
"Hey, man. What is it this time?"
"Guess," I rolled my eyes, sitting down with my knees up.
"Cassandra has made another bad pick," he answered, reading my expression.
"Nailed it," I exhaled.
Brian was the type of person would go to school wearing his black shoes and jeans and a cool shirt with some weird statement on it, like, "Friendship: It is like PEEING IN YOUR PANTS. Everyone can see it, but only you can feel its TRUE WARMTH," or "common sense is an oxymoron." Inside, he was really nerdish, but outside, he let people think he was a pretty cool kid. Aside from Cass, Brian was my closest friend. Aside from them, I was pretty much a loner.
He chuckled, "When will you two ever grow up?"
"What’s that supposed to mean?" I glared at him.
He laughed, "I mean, seriously. Don't you know both of you are acting like such kids? Especially you, Jae."
"What do you mean by that?"
"What I meant was that you're making a big thing out of nothing at all. She can choose who she wants, and you can give her advice. But you can't stop a heart from loving."
"Where did you hear that mojo?" I said, fidgeting with my pocket and unwrapping the candy I took from it. He smiled, "My little sister has more influence on me than you think."
"Lemme guess. She went on that date with Izzy?" I asked, popping the candy into my mouth.
"You're so smart, you know that?" He said sarcastically.
"Yeah, I know," I played along. "In fact, yesterday, Mr. Kay asked me to check the facts in his report."
"Mr. Kay is the janitor… and that was the bathroom cleaning report."
"I don’t see why that shouldn’t count. " I exhaled, "Dude, what am I supposed to do with Cass?"
"Like I said, loosen up. What could that boy do to her?"
I moved the candy around in my mouth, crossing my arms. Then I threw it at him like a dart. "It's Max."
When he heard that he almost choked on the coke he was drinking, like what had happened to me. Bull's eye. He spat out, "Okay, okay. Now that's bad."
I glanced at him and then turned my gaze back to the river. "So, I have a reason to worry?"
"Bet your life on it," he coughed, still recovering from shock. "How does she get into these things?!"
"You're finally asking the right questions," I said with this amused smirk. "So what do we do?"
"What we ALWAYS do!" He exclaimed, spreading his arms out. I smiled. I really wanted to hear him say that. "When's the next time they're out?"
"From what I heard her jabbering about, probably tonight."
"At Little Red's?"
"You know that's where he takes all the girls before fooling around with them," I sighed. Brian shuddered, disgusted, "He’s a douchebag."
I gritted my teeth, shaking my head. “Now if only she thought the same.”