Disowned
by Victor Thomas
Chapter 23
Kenny
A week later, I sat in the school cafeteria, watching Hannah and Chris on the opposite side of the table. Those smiles, the short glances at each other, and the sappy tone in Chris' voice, they all indicated that my best friend was in love with Hannah. I found it comforting that my ex-girlfriend had found someone who could genuinely love her. Somehow, it made me feel less guilty.
I took a small piece of lasagna in my fork, stared at it for a moment, then put it into my mouth. My teeth minced the soft pasta, and piece by piece, I swallowed it. There was a lot more food on my plate, and it would be hopeless to eat it all before the lunchbreak was over.
"Are you okay?" Hannah asked, with a concerned expression on her face.
I nodded. My eyes were fixed on Javier and Joshua, who sat behind her at the far end of the lunch room. I couldn't hear what they were talking about, but I definitely saw Joshua leaning toward him. He said something that got the grin on Javier's face to grow wider. Ever since our breakup, that slimy son of a bitch had spent more and more time with Javier.
Chris turned to look over his shoulder just when Joshua touched Javier's hand. I focused quickly on my food, but not before he noticed.
"Your eyes are burning a hole through him," he said. "I don't get why you dumped him."
"I wasn't watching him."
My cheeks blushed.
"Bullshit! I'm not blind."
Hannah gave him a meaningful look, and I used the opportunity to take one more glimpse at the guys on the other side of the room. I hadn't noticed Javier glancing at me even once, and it made my heart sink. And if that wasn't bad enough, Chris seemed reluctant to drop the topic.
"I spoke to Javier," he said. "About you."
"What did he say?" I asked, far too quickly.
"He doesn't know why you wanted to break up with him. And to be honest, I don't get it either."
"Um, I… I don't know…"
I turned my gaze down, but sensed both of their stares. Of course, Chris would talk with his teammate, and now the busy body was sticking his nose into something that was none of his damn business. Besides, if I told him that Joshua had blackmailed me, how many minutes would it take for Joshua to hear about it?
"Dude, seriously, I'm tired of looking at your sad an ugly face," he said. "You clearly like him."
"Can we talk about something else?" I said.
"No! Not until you tell me what happened. Don't you like boys still?"
"Don't you understand? It's none of your fucking business!"
I said it much louder than I meant, and several students, including Javier and Joshua, turned to stare at us. The cafeteria had never been so silent, and my face had never been so red. I rolled the fork in my fingers and took another bite of cold lasagna. It required more willpower than ever to swallow it, but I did it. Eventually, the other students lost their interest in me and continued chit chatting with their friends.
"Kenny, we're your friends," Hannah said in a low voice. "You can talk to us if you want."
"Thanks, but no thanks," I said bitterly.
"Still, I don't…" Chris began to say.
She raised her hand.
"Drop it, okay. He's clearly not ready to talk about it."
I waited until both my friends had finished eating. I didn't touch my lasagna again, and none of us said anything. The silence I could handle, but resisting the temptation to glance over at Javier was more difficult. I failed probably only twice, and on the second time my eyes met with his.
Oh, god, he's so handsome.
We had broken up over a week ago, but the nagging feeling in my heart hadn't disappeared. I knew I wouldn't wake up from this nightmare, but I wished I wasn't so lonely at night when I went to bed. I missed him so much, and there wasn't a switch on my body to turn it off.
"Are you doing anything after school?" Hannah asked.
"I need to study," I said.
"You can do that later. Come with us to the mall, and let's do something fun."
I frowned. She meant well, but being a third wheel wasn't tempting. Besides, I wasn't sure I was able to have fun ever again.
"Seriously, man. You should come," Chris said.
"Thanks, but some other tine," I said, my words lacking any enthusiasm. "I really need to study."
We stood up to leave the cafeteria. I had hardly eaten anything, and if I were home, mom would have reminded me of the starvation in Africa. Luckily, I wasn't, so I tossed the cold pasta into the trash. On my way to the exit, Chris patted my shoulder.
"I'll come over tomorrow," he said. "Let's play something."
"Sure," I replied.
My mouth turned into a small smile that quickly vanished when I saw Joshua looking at me. The bastard had an arrogant smirk on his face.
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