June
When lunch finally ended, Cas came to me, pulling me aside.
"June. Can we please talk?"
"I already told Hue I would listen to your apology or whatever you have to say, but the chances of me accepting it are slim. I'm going to be late. We can talk after school by the back entrance of the gym," I said quickly and walked away.
"Ok."
I was hurt by Hue's words but acted like everything was okay. I just wanted everything to go back to how it was when nobody knew anything. But I couldn't forgive either of them. I had all the reason to be mad and not accept an apology, at least not now.
My head felt like it was going to explode.
I hadn't slept much the night before. For the remainder of the day, I lay at my desk with my head down, sleeping, or at least trying to. When the last bell rang, Hue shook me awake.
"Class is over. Should I walk home with you?"
"What? Why?" I said, sleepy. "Don't you have basketball?"
"Well yeah, but every time I leave you, something bad happens."
"Nothing bad will happen. I'll listen to Cas's apology and then go straight home. Promise." I stuck out my pinky.
"Promise? Text me a picture when you get home."
"Whatever, go play. See you later."
I met Cas at the back entrance as promised. "June. Here."
"Make it quick, please."
"I'm sorry for not thinking about what I was saying. It was insensitive. You have every right to be mad. It wasn't right for me to accuse your mom like that."
"It sounds like you were practicing those words off a script."
"What? What more do you want from me? I'm admitting I was wrong. Can't you see that I feel horrible about this? I barged into your life, accused your mom of murder in front of you, and hurt you. You should hate my guts." She started crying. "I went home and thought about it that night. I thought about how it would feel if someone I loved, someone who raised me, was accused like that. By someone who doesn't even know them. I wouldn't ever believe it. I'd fight to clear their name until the day I died. Even if everything told me they were guilty, I would never- no, I could never accept it. Please, June. At least think about accepting my apology. I don't think you're crazy. I don't think you're delusional. Right now, I can only think of how stupid I am. You needed my help. Not my criticism, but I couldn't realize that."
"Okay. I heard your apology. Also, I don't need your help. There's nothing you can help me with."
I was exhausted; after texting Hue, I again thought for a while. I felt like she and Hue were looking at me like a ticking time bomb. They chose their words carefully, only telling me what I wanted to hear so I wouldn't be upset. Lying to stay on someone's good side, and in this case, creating false reliability. They probably thought id trust them if they said they were on my side.
I'll act like we are all good and we can be friends. That way they'd leave me alone and stop questioning me so I could deal with this myself. It was never their problem to begin with. Right?
--------------
Hue
Cas was waiting for me when I finish playing basketball.
"Did you meet with him?" I asked.
"Mm."
"Aren't you going to say anything?"
"What is there to say? I told him that I was sorry and didn't think he was psycho but all he said was that he didn't need my help."
"Why would you insinuate that he needed help? Jesus, wasn't the goal to make up with him? Not make him hate you more?" I replied.
"Hue are you really just going to ignore my concerns? I'm telling you he isn't right in the head. I listened to you and apologized, now you have to listen to me." Cas exploded.
"Don't talk about him like that. I hear your concerns but I don't believe that they are really needed. So what he's denying it all? Is it so bad that he doesn't want to accept everything against his own mother? Listen to yourself, Cas. I think you should just stay away from him. Please." I responded angrily.
"Okay. You'll see it eventually. You'll see how sick he is in the head soon and then you wont be able to ignore it anymore." She kicked a bucket laying on the floor as she stormed off.
A week passed.
Everything seemed to be fine. June and I hung out around school, ate lunch with Key and Selene, laughed and played around. I was happy that we were back to normal but I couldn't help but think about what Cas had said to me.
You'll see how sick he is in head soon.
You won't be able to ignore it.
The final bell rang. It was another boring Wednesday, so I was relieved that it was over.
"Hey I'm going to grab a drink from the machine, you want something?" June asked.
"Yeah. Get me some juice please." I smiled as he galloped away excitedly.
As I stared, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Cas.
"What do you want?"
"I need to talk to you." She replied.
"Look. June will come back at some point so I think its just best if you go away."
"At the end of the day, meet my at the back entrance. Please, its important. Can you put your personal grudges aside for a minute and just talk to me?"
"Okay just go. Get." I shooed her away before June could return. I didn't want him to get any ideas.
I guess it was obvious to everyone that I was distracted by my thoughts.
''Hey dude. Are you not feeling good today or what? If you aren't going to focus then why not let the freshman play a little bit? You should sit out today or go home," my teammate said as he patted me on the shoulder.
It didn't seem like a bad idea since the freshman need experience anyways. All I was doing was messing up the plays because I was racking my brain thinking about what Cas could possibly have to say to me. June came over to me.
"Tired? You can't catch a ball to save your life today. Are you not feeling good?" He put his hand on my forehead.
"No, no I am fine," I laughed and grabbed his hand, removing it from my head. From the corner of my eye I could see the girls glaring at June; they haven't liked him since they saw we were friends.
"Competition at 9 o'clock" June flicked my head.
"Competition? Please. I have already won because I can do this." He reached out a ruffled my hair but I quickly grabbed his wrists and did it back, messing his hair up twice as bad as he did mine. "Okay, okay, I surrender. Stop STOP, okay." He was laughing now; It was like music. "I'm going to the bathroom. Want anything from the machine when I pass by?" I handed him a 5 dollar bill.
"Yeah could you get me some gummies? Get something for yourself as well because you got drinks earlier." I replied.
"You better hope they don't get stuck again like last time. If I'm gonna for like 7 minutes then that's your que to help me unstick them." He once again ran off.
I saw Cas out of the corner of my eye so I went outside to the alley to find out what she wanted to say.
"He went to the bathroom and to get snacks so make it quick."
"Okay. You need just listen and trust me. It's about June. My mom works at the library across the road and she told me that June has been going there every day after school."
"What is wrong with that? He's an absolute nerd. Are you really going that far to make him out to be crazy? Its a library for god sake."
"No. The thing is that he's been asking for newspaper articles. Articles about June Sekin and the case across the street from your house." I was listening now.
"Why does he need to know about that house?"
What was he thinking?
What was going through his head?