The Game of Love

The Game of Love Chapter 8

Sarah:

 

The next day, Leon, much to my relief, hasn’t bothered me at all. Rather, he just pretended that I didn’t exist. I swear to God, he must be (in some way) bipolar because the first two days he was perverted and all over me; just yesterday he was being a total son of a bitch, and today he’s pretending I don’t exist. However, the latter I preferred since it was like he never attended my school.

Whenever I stole a glance at Leon to see what must be going on in his head, the expression on his face was…remorseful. When he met my gaze, he’d always avert it, a somber look engraved. As much as I wanted to see if he was doing A-Okay, I figured that this might be part of his plan to toy with me, so I turn my attention back on the board, Mr. Daven droning on and on with his usual Physics lecture.

Everywhere, the teasing stopped just like he did—for now. When class was adjourned, I walked out the room with Seth. Noticing the worried look on my face, he reminded, “Remember…he’s just trying to mess with you.”

“I know…” I said crossly. Don’t look back, don’t look back, I repeated my thoughts.

* * * *

Leon sat all by himself at lunch, rejecting anyone who tried to join him. God…he must’ve felt lonely… Damn it, Sarah, stop thinking that! I shook my head as I took a bite out of my sandwich.

Sophia sighed. “Oh…I feel so bad for Leon. He’s all by himself.”

I rolled my eyes. “I thought you said you didn’t like him anymore?”

She looked up at me. “Well…I didn’t…yesterday…”

“Oh my freaking God!” exclaimed I, completely annoyed with this girl. But I love her (no homo…obviously).

“I’m sorry, I can’t help it!” she yelled back. After a moment, we cooled ourselves. “Still…seeing him like that”—

I cut her off, “That bastard’s only doing that to mess with me. He’s trying to get me to be nice to him. You just watch; tomorrow he’s going to be a full-blown jerk again!” I took a sip of Coke Seth brought for me.

“You never know…” Sophia muttered. “Why don’t you go talk to him?”

I laughed in disdain. “Me? Talk to him? Hell. No.”

She asked, “Why not?”

“Soph…just drop it,” Leanne interrupted. “You know how Sarah is. If you were her, you’d be acting just like this. It’s not like she can forgive him. We all thought he changed—except Sarah, whose suspicions were right on the mark—but it turns out he’s a maniacal jerk face.”

“I agree with Leanne,” Seth said. “If he’s damaged her this much since childhood, then she won’t be able to let go of it—she’ll always see him as nothing but a devil.”

“But,” she turned to me, “you picked him up at the school the night before and gave him a ride back.”

I shook my head. “Two days ago, I thought I was being too harsh on him. Now that I look back, I never should’ve gone back.”

Her eyes showed sadness, like she expects everyone to forgive and forget. Sorry, Sophia, but the real world doesn’t always work that way. So when she asks, “In the end, you’ll never forgive him?” with a shake of my head, I replied:

“Never…”

Leon: