The Bookmark

A few weeks have passed since the incident. I distanced myself from Juno but that was okay. This isn't the first time we've had a fight and won't be the last. He had no idea why I was mad, but he knew me well enough to just respect that and give me time to recover.

What really hurt me was what happened with Mina.

On the day she needed me, I turned my back on her in my sulkiness and left her alone.

We have not talked since then, and never even had a single eye contact although I gazed at her from my seat many times. She was really good at ignoring someone when she wanted to.

I don't know how or why it happened, but suddenly I became a loner in class. No matter how angry she is with me, I don't think Mina would have told other people about what happened between me and her, and definitely not what happened with Juno.

Yet, I could feel that everyone in the class was against me. My guess was that Tasha sensed something was wrong between me and Mina, and used the opportunity to rally the troops against me although Mina didn't speak anything about the incident.

I was in pain.

Every time I looked at her I felt a piercing pang in my heart.

I wanted to speak to her again. I didn't want to explain things. I just wished that we could skip all that process and hug, like we did before, even if it were to be the last time.

I was a total mess and it showed. I came to school looking scruffy, regularly forgot to bring stuff, and got scolded all the time for spacing out during class.

So there I was, sweeping the floor again of the empty classroom after school, another disciplinary action I'm dealt with today.

Just as I was resting on a chair sweaty and exhausted, Mina walked into the classroom. Our eyes met for the first time in weeks, probably only because I was the only person in the room and she was not prepared to see me there either.

I got up from the seat, hoping, and wishing to say something to her, but my mind went blank and all I could feel was the pang in my heart.

Mina seemed to quickly recompose herself and walked over to her seat by the window in swift strides, then grabbed a book from her desk drawer and turned to walk out again.

I just stood there frozen like a statue with my one hand half raised as if to grab her from ten meters away, but I couldn't speak and I couldn't move.

And at that moment - just as she was approaching the door to leave, I saw that something fell off from her book.

I was a few meters away but I immediately recognized what it was, it could only be that - Juno's movie ticket.

I don't know what took over me, but that pushed me over the edge. I frantically ran over to her and hugged her tightly from behind, wanting to never let go. Just like this, just this once…

Mina stood still for a second and then squirmed her way out of my arms. She turned to face me and her eyes were full of tears. She started hitting me with her tiny hands like a child throwing a tantrum.

"Why… why…"

"Mina-"

"What took you so long…."

She threw herself into my arms and buried her face in my chest.

We just held on to each other like that forever.