what he probably didn't know.. [042108]

It was almost the end of the school year, a couple more weeks to go before they finally put a closure to their Grade five years. She arrived late that day. Luckily, their first period English teacher still wasn’t around. She immediately sat on her seat, next to the person sitting in the aisle on the right side of the first row.

He was already there. He was seated beside her. He was scribbling something on his notebook.

She wasn’t sure if he was drawing the usual robots that he loved to sketch or if he was merely doodling nonsense. She didn’t bother to talk to him. She was quite tired because she ran from the parking lot all the way to their classroom which was located on the second floor of one of the school buildings. She crossed her arms on top of the wooden table and rested her head in between her arms.

All of a sudden, two girls were murmuring something behind her. They were talking about her. Those fouls words were intended for her. She wanted to talk back to them. She was good at that. She knew that even if there were two of them, one her mortal enemy and the other her former close friend, she could easily shut them up. She dared but she couldn’t do that. She was one of the top ten outstanding students of their batch and once she engaged herself in petty fights like this one, it might disqualify her from the honor ranking. She had to keep quiet and stop the urge to defend herself. And that’s what she hated most of all – not being able to do anything especially if she’s being unfairly treated by others.

She was almost close to tears because of two things: (1) she was hurt and (2) she was helpless. She felt degraded in a sense because their accusations about her were really mean and they’re not even true. Her other friends were still not there (most of them were latecomers) while the others were seated far from her. And those who were in hearing vicinity were just her sheer classmates who did not want to get involved.

She was about to stand up and run out of the classroom even if it meant putting herself to shame when something unexpected happened.

He stood up and yelled at them.

 

“Would you stop it?”

“Stop what?”

“Stop saying mean words about her.”

“This is none of your business so stay away from it.”

“No, I won’t. I’m standing up for her.”

 

They were still arguing when the English teacher arrived. The fighting stopped and the three of them were reprimanded in front of the whole class. They all cried because they felt humiliated and the teacher was really very scary at that time. Her eyes were glaring and she was roughly shouting at them.

During that time, she did nothing but sit stiffly on her chair. It was torture for her. She was crying as she stared blankly at the floor. She felt guilty because he didn’t deserve that. She should have been the one in that position and not him. She cursed herself for being such a weakling.

As soon as the scolding was over, the English teacher went out to get her paraphernalia for her lesson that day.

He returned back to his seat.

 

“Why did you do that?”

“What?”

“You know what I mean. Why?”

“I just can’t bear seeing you being treated like that.”

“But look what happened to you. And it’s all because of me.”

“It’s not your fault. I wanted to do that for you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“As long as I’m here, I’ll be the one to protect you.”

 

Those were the words she knew she’ll never ever forget. He might not remember them at all. But she will always keep them in her heart.

That was the first time that somebody had stood up for her. He promised to protect her. Spur of the moment pledges maybe. He may have said that just because he needed to make her feel safe and to stop making her feel accountable for what had happened. But for whatsoever reason, she didn’t really cared at all.

That’s why even if in absentia, or even if they never really get the chance to be the kind of friends that they used to be, he’ll always be someone out of the ordinary for her. He’ll always be the one she’ll feel safest with.

But then, what he wasn’t able to protect her from was a heartache which he himself caused. :)

 

Reviews

[In Progress]

eeehm...i can see great potential in this; i'm assumin its a rough draft though right?
my suggestion is to make it more realistic; guys usually don't talk like that right off the bat to u unless there's history between the two of em...and don't be afraid to spice it up with a bit of language
good start though :)