After the Drone Lift, He Begs Me Back

Disorders

I walked into the classroom without looking any other way. Joseph was sitting with Wendy. That girl took my spot.

She was leaning on the desk, staring at Joseph with a sickly sweet smile on her lips. Joseph was staring down at her, curling a lock of her hair around his finger. I'd never seen him acting so sweet.

He raised his head and offered me an indifferent look. "Hey." He was calm, as if he hadn't nearly killed me the day before.

Wendy sat up and gave me an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Jess. I had no idea they would go so far. I just said I thought Jackie Chan's movies were cool, and then…"

She started tearing up. I gave her no response. Joseph frowned and pulled me aside. "Hey, she already said she's sorry. What more do you want?" Impatience laced his voice. "It was just a prank. Stop looking at us like we owe you something. Fine, I know you sprained something because the drones' batteries died. I'll pay for the meds."

He took out hundreds of dollars from his pockets and tried to stuff them into my hands. I moved away, and the bills fluttered down to the ground. His face fell.

"Don't push it, Jessica. I'm only saying sorry because we're childhood friends. It's not like I can't live without you."

The class was staring at us, engaged in whispered discussion.

"I can't believe she's pushing away money."

"Yeah, if it were me, I'd do the same thing a hundred times."

I bent down, picked up the money, and approached Wendy. Then I slammed the cash into her face right in front of the whole class. "I don't give a flying fuck about your apology or money. And woman, this is my spot. Get your ass off."

Silence choked the classroom. Everyone was staring at me in shock, including Joseph. He never thought the usually gentle me would do something so outrageous.

Wendy's face turned into a sickly shade of greenish-white. Tears were swirling in her eyes, and she looked at Joseph like a hurt kitten. "Joseph…"

Joseph snapped out of it and shoved me off. "Are you out of your goddamn mind, Jessica?"

That threw me off balance, and my back slammed into the corner of a desk. The pain nearly took me out, but I kept my eyes locked on Wendy. Slowly, I repeated, "I'll say this one last time. Get. Your. Ass. Off. My. Seat."

The look in my eyes scared her, and she stood up without thinking. Then I started packing my stuff. I did not care what everyone else was doing. I put my books, my notebooks, and a pen into my bag. All my stuff, I took all of them.

Joseph was still standing, but his chest was heaving. "What are you doing? Trying to fuck off now?" He was still mad.

I ignored him.

Then he grabbed my hand with enough force to crush my bones. "I'm talking to you, Jessica! I've known you for ten years! You're overreacting!"

This again. Finally, I looked into his eyes. His eyes used to be as bright as stars. Now they were only filled with fury and confusion.

"Have you ever wondered what it felt like to be hung three hundred feet in the sky, Joseph? Ever wondered what it felt like to be watched like a chimpanzee doing unnatural tricks in a circus? Ever wondered what it felt like when the girl you like laughed at you for wetting your pants?"

Every question drained more color out of his face. "I…"

Not a sentence came out of his mouth.

"You think I'm overreacting. I call this an appropriate response." I flung his hand away, zipped my backpack, and stormed off. What followed me was the classroom's silence.

Instead of going home, I went to the hospital. My aunt was a department head here. She noticed the bruise on my hand and the deathly pale look on my face, but she said nothing.

She put me through a series of tests and checkups. When the report came to her and she went through it, her face fell.

"Acute stress disorder, severe anxiety, and depression tendency." She slammed the report down on her desk with enough force to crush a boulder. The fury in her eyes threatened to burn everything around her.

"That son of a whore! I'm going to drag his ass for this!"

"Auntie!" I pulled her back. "I don't want to make this mess bigger than it already is."