4: Blaze Myron: The Strawberry King

I was sitting with Chloe in the Football ground cafe named 'Kickers' trying to get some Vitamin D in my skin. The curiosity got the best of me and I decided to ask a little about Derek and his friends.

"Derek has one friend, I think, I'm not really sure though, he doesn't talk to many people," Chloe told me.

"Who is he?" I asked.

"He is him," Chloe said pointing towards the ground behind me.

"Huh?" I turned around and saw a single guy talking to Derek while playing.

"He's Blaze Myron, they are friends because of football, but I'm sure I've seen them hang out in nearby diners too."

"But isn't Derek, like popular? He must've many friends," I said.

"Popular people have more followers, fewer friends, people follow him around but I won't call them his friends, besides Derek runs away from most of them."

"Oh..."

"What is Blaze like?" I asked.

"Blaze is like a super friendly person who helps anyone and everyone, he has a heart of gold, and he is also a part of the welcoming committee and even has a fan page."

"Are you kidding?" I laughed.

"No, it's right here, See!" She showed me an Instagram profile.

BlazeMyronisasmolbean

This is a fan page dedicated to Blaze Myron from Eastwood. A precious gem like him should be protected at all costs.

"Oh my God! People have no boundaries," I said.

"Heyyyy, I've been DMing them for the longest time to be an admin of the page, they just don't accept me,"

"Chloe! Are you serious right now?" I asked shocked.

"Dead serious," she gave me a stern look.

"So he's the only friend Derek's got?" I asked. Derek has to have at least two friends.

"Like I told you, Blaze is everyone's friend, they aren't the best buds, but yeah, he comes the closest to being called Derek's friend."

"Oh."

Chloe's revelation left me even more confused. I saw three guys at the night of the blackout. They have a stupid name 'F3'. Derek is one of them. Derek is also the Sheriff's son, which makes it kinda ridiculous to be a part of something like that. There are two others. Derek has one friend on campus, Blaze Myron. But he is a 'Strawberry King'.

Can a Strawberry King be a part of 'F3'? And there's one more.

After sometime I saw Derek looking at me, he waved at me from the ground. I gave him a small smile and waved back and he quickly got lost in the game again.

I was back in my room. I didn't see Derek today apart from the practice, which is why I knew he would come by. I didn't want him to think that I want to impress him, but Uh, I kinda want to impress him. I wore a baby pink tee with white sea horses on it and shorts after my shower. 'Not trying too hard look.'

I unlocked my door and came in, something caught my attention and my eyes shot up.

Derek was sitting comfortably on my bed and had his air-pods on. He was looking at me moving around in my room while, he sat there frozen like a piece of furniture. When he was absolutely sure I saw him he gave me a big smile.

"Took you long enough," he said.

"You've to stop coming to my room, Derek." I said with a hand on my heart.

He stood up and took his usual seat on the chair and pointed towards the bed with his hand, telling me to sit.

"Why?" He asked confused.

"Because," I was thinking what words to use "I don't want to get in any trouble, I promised my mom I would stay away from trouble and you've trouble written all over you."

His expressions changed and he was serious now, "Ashley, Why would talking to me bring you trouble? I can use the door to come in, Boys are allowed in the dorms, you know that, Right?" He asked.

"You know that's not what I'm talking about." I crossed my arms on my chest.

"Okay, okay, I know what you're worried about, but I assure you, you won't get mixed with any of this. Just pretend like the day in the coffee shop was the first time we had met, please." He said in a soft voice.

"You know I can't just do that, I can't just pretend that I didn't see you running out of the maintenance room with two other guys,"

"Yes, you can, you were not supposed to see,"

"I can live with that, I won't tell a living soul, I promised. But I can't still be friends with you. You can't want both the things."

"Why not? Why can't I want to be friends with you?" He asked his voice almost cracking and his Adam's apple working up.

"Because friends don't have secrets, not like these, friends don't come up the window to tell friends that she has to keep her mouth shut. You really wanna be friends? Then tell me, Was Blaze the other person with you that night?" I asked.

"That's none of your business. You know I can't tell you that and you shouldn't ask," He said, his eyes pleading.

"That is my business, if you just do these reckless things for fun and still ask me to be friends with you."

"You don't even know me enough, to make such baseless assumptions about me."

"Oh, I think I know you enough, Sheriff's son, part of a boy band named F3, wants to rebel against his dad, mess with the authority for fun, when he knows he wouldn't have to pay for any of it even if he gets caught, because daddy won't let his precious little boy do jail time for some harmless fun," I wasn't even thinking about any of the stuff until it came out of my mouth.

"You may get away with this, but the two other boys probably won't, people like me won't." I said with all the courage I could muster.

"So, excuse me If I don't wanna get mixed with this rebellious phase of yours." I said in conclusion.

"What do you expect? For me to give up everything in my life just to be a friend to you? Huh? Is that it? Are you one of those who just expect the earth to revolve around them? Is asking to be your friend such a big deal?" He asks irritated.

"You get that, from what I said?" I asked louder. It was laughable that he didn't even care about the insults I threw at him and only focused on the part where I tell him that I can't be friends with him.

He looked at me like he would cry any second now, but he recovered from it and in a few seconds plastered a hard expression on his face, "Fine, Have it your way, Don't worry about me coming to your room from now on, I'm so done with it."

He got up looked at me one final time, but I didn't look at him. He was going towards the window, but then stopped and turned around and started walking towards the door. He opened the door slowly then said, "Goodnight Ashley," and left.

As soon as the door clicked close. A tear ran down my face and I closed my eyes, telling myself that I had to do what I did. What I did was right.