The Bad Boy

Chapter 9

If I could kill my alarm clock, I'd be behind bars a long time ago.

That was my first thought when my alarm clock woke me up at 7 am. I groaned as I groggily sat up. I got up and changed and was ready within 30 minutes. I grabbed my school bag and plugged in my earphones into my phone before I headed out. Self reminder, stay out of Isaac's way.

That was all I could think about. He seemed very mad about everything and I just wanted to stay out of his sight, more like he told me to.

I entered the school building and went straight to the library, as I had 40 minutes till class started. Taking a seat in my usual spot, I took my phone out when it started ringing. I looked at the caller ID, and picked up seeing that it's Joseph. "Hello," I greeted. "Hey," he said back. "You at school already?" he asked. "Yeah, where are you?"
"Home. I called to tell you that I'm not coming to school today," he said. "Are you sick?" I asked, concerned. "Nah, my head is just hurting a lot," he said. "Oh, okay, well take rest. I love you, bye." He muttered a quick bye and hung up. I furrowed my eyebrows when I noticed he didn't say I love you. He always tells me that, even before I do. Shaking away the thought, I hoped that he'd be okay and focused on my book. Today was going to be a long day.

The class bell rang and I gathered my belongings to head to class. I had AP Science, so I walked towards my classroom. A roar of chant and camera clicking held my attention when I entered the main hallway. I looked to my right and saw a crowd gathered, everyone with their phones in their hands. Usually, me being me, I would ignore it and keep walking. But today I didn't. I went towards the crowd to see what was going on.

"Excuse me," I muttered as I tried to make my way to the front. Once I did, my eyes widened. Isaac and Joseph were busy in a fight, with each other.

"Joseph!" I cried out as I almost leapt to the scene. Both of them were in a bad state, but Joseph was in a worse state than Isaac. His face was completely beaten and their knuckles were bleeding. "What are you doing?!" Then I tried to stop the fight by tugging at Isaac's shoulder in attempt to get him off of Joseph. "Isaac, let go of him!" No one paid me any heed, however.

"Isaac!" I shouted as I tugged on him again. He jerked his shoulder back, hard, and pushed me backwards. I fell and my head hit the hard floor. I touched my forehead, only to find it bleeding. However, that was not my priority at the moment. I needed to stop the fight. What were they even fighting about?

I got back on my feet, and saw that Joseph was now on top of Isaac. I tugged at his shoulder, hoping he would listen to me. "Joseph! Please stop!" He did not listen. "Joseph!" I yelled again.

It was then when I decided that enough is enough. I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. "STOP!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. Never in my life, have I shouted this loud. "Just stop it!" I said again. They stopped swinging punches at each other, and looked at me. Both of them were breathing heavily. I could feel everyone's eyes on me. "What is wrong with you two? What are you even fighting about?!" I asked, exasperated.

Isaac gave me a hard glare which would usually intimidate me, but now I just felt angry, and walked away, not bothering to pick up his sweater or bag. He walked towards the school entrance/exit and left. I could literally feel his anger in the air. Joseph looked at me, "Get to class people!" he yelled, while not breaking eye contact with me. All the students hastily dispersed, and soon, the hallway was clear except the two of us.

"Let's get you to the nurse," I said, breaking the ice. I was about to start walking towards the nurse's office, but Joseph said, "Wait." I stayed in place and looked back at him. "We need to talk," he said.

Ah. That sentence. That one sentence always makes my blood run cold, however I always try not to show it. Why does that sentence even exist? It can make the most innocent of us all, nervous. It makes me think about every single deed I have done in my lifetime, and my brain goes on overdrive. It starts to overthink every detail, and I just hate it.

"Okay, talk then," I replied, trying to keep my cool.
"I think we need to take a break," he said. I froze. No, my brain froze. I managed to say, "From what?"
"From each other," he replied.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Why are you saying this?"
He looked down, "You don't always have to know everything, Olivia."
"Yes I do," I said, "I do if it something to do with me. My life. My relationship with you. You matter to me, Joseph. I'm not going to let you go without knowing why I should in the first place."
He looked around, frustrated. "Why don't you fucking understand the situation?!" he yelled. "I would if you'd just tell me what's going on!" I debated. He ran his fingers through his hair, something I also do when I'm frustrated. "You know what, fuck it. Fuck you, Olivia," he said to me and walked towards the exit, and then walked out of the school building.

I stood there, with no expression on my face. Just stared ahead, while I tried to think. What had just happened? First, Joseph lies to me and tells me he's not coming to school today. Then I see Joseph and Isaac get into a fight, at school. Not verbal, but physical fight. Then, I knocked my forehead on the floor, I shouted louder than I ever did, Isaac left, Joseph broke up with me, and then he used profanity and left without any sort of explanation as to why we are breaking up.

I noticed the few tears streaming down my cheeks, when I realized I was crying,

How could Joseph just leave without an explanation?