Searing Migraine

Crazy Things We Do For Love

"Thank goodness! He is awake! Sweetie, I have advised you to stay away from bullies. How did you end up like this?" Damon's mom worried about her son and held his hand tight as she got teary.

"He's gonna be okay honey," Damon's dad whispered as he taps his wife's shoulder.

"Dad, Mom I'm sorry. I didn't look for any trouble, I was just trying to protect a new student from Randy and his friends."

"Why didn't you call for help rather than playing hero."

"No dad, I wasn't playing hero. I thought she might get hurt if I didn't help her at that time."

"Her?"

Damon didn't respond the way both of his parents stared at him. He felt like he had done something stupid.

"Well, a young lady got you some flowers this morning, probably one of your friends from school but I haven't seen her before," his mom informed.

"A lady friend? Jordan is my only friend. What does she look like?"

"She has red hair and..."

"No way! Charissa!"

"Charissa? Never heard of that name before. Buddy, is she the 'her'?

"Uhm, no... yes... I don't mean it that way... I have no idea what I'm saying right now."

"Honey I think our son has a crush," his mom teased.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Because it's apparent that you're in love."

The doctor came in with an associate to check on Damon's health.

"Mr. and Mrs. Sherman, I think he's okay now. He can be discharged today."

"Can I go to school today, Doc?"

"No, you can't. You're just recovering. You need to get some rest."

"Ugh!" Damon rolled his eyes and scoffed.

"C'mon bud, let's get you home."

Damon's parents helped him out of the bed and drove to their residence. When they got home his dad pulled over by the driveway and put off the car engine.

"Honey, you go on ahead, I need to have a word with our son."

Mrs. Sherman got out of the car, opened the back door, kissed Damon on his head then goes into their apartment.

"Damon, you're at a stage where your body hormone starts rampaging, this is the period you have body changes and emotions. We humans sometimes do crazy things for the sake of the ones we care about but you shouldn't be reckless when there's a situation where someone you care about is threatened or is in jeopardy. You shouldn't have put up with those bullies all by yourself."

"I don't know dad, my body just moved on its own. I couldn't just watch her being bullied without interfering."

"Okay..."

"I'm telling the truth, dad!"

"I believe you, I understand how that can be but you have to be careful. I'll talk to the principal tomorrow. I love you, son."

"I love you too, dad."

They alight from the car and went into their home, Mrs. Sherman made a scrumptious lasagna for dinner, the Shermans enjoyed the meal and when night fell they said their daily words of prayer together before going to bed. Damon couldn't get over Charissa bringing flowers for him, he smiled as he visualized how the scenario could have played out when he was unconscious.
The next morning, Mr. Sherman discussed the incident with the school principal, Randy and his cohorts were summoned to the principal office and got suspended for two weeks. The bullies left the principal office to the classroom to pack their bags and belongings, Randy gave him a stink eye as he entered the classroom, and grabbed him by his cloth.

"You're so dead Sherman, I got suspended because of you, my dad is gonna kill me!"

"I got hospitalized because of you, your dad would be proud."

"You think that's supposed to be funny? Your joke makes me sick. Outside these walls, we'll see who will be laughing."

Randy shoved Damon back to his seat and stormed out of the classroom with his comrades. The lunch buzzer blared and the student went to have their lunch in the cafeteria, Jordan sat with Damon and they discussed the fight between Damon and the bullies. Charissa came to their table and sat beside Damon, he froze as he stared at her, Jordan slurps his orange juice from a juice box eradicating an awkward moment.

"That was brave of you yesterday, thank you for standing up for me."

"Sure... It's nothing," Damon answered grinning from ear to ear.

"Your name is Damon, right? It's a cool name."

"Really? Charissa sounds exotic too, you know."

"Please call me Rissa."

"Hello," Charissa said waving at Jordan.

"Hola Rissa."

Charissa smiled at Jordan because he responded in Spanish which she thought was impressive, Damon saw them grinning at each other and cut off their moment by initiating a conversation.

"So I heard you telling Joan Johnson on the bus that you were transferred from a school in Dallas."

"Yes, you have a sharp mind, that's quite distinctive of you to remember."

"I'm just good with remembering things."

"I see, so you must be smart."

"Well, I try. Were you born and raised in Dallas?

"I was born in France while my parents were visiting my mom's family. So I have dual citizenship.

"That's so cool. I mean you would be able to speak two languages, I can speak a little French myself... Bone Jaw!"

"What?"

"Isn't that how you say 'good morning' in French?

Jordan spluttered his juice on the table as he laugh at his best friend, Damon's face turned pink in embarrassment. Charissa and Jordan laughed at him, he prayed in his mind to vanish into the air.

"Dude!" Jordan yelled.

"What? Stop laughing like that, you're getting people's attention."

"Your french is so pathetic," Jordan told him and laughed again while trying to catch his breath.

"No silly, it's 'Bonjour', that was very funny," Charissa said, correcting Damon's blunder.

Damon knew he had flunked excellently trying to impress his crush.

"I hate you Jordan."

"Nah man, you should not hate me for your terrific language skill."

The three of them laughed then later ate their meal and returned to their classrooms.