The first day of school continued on and in a span of a few hours, it was as though Dye and Jenny had never met. It felt like the first day of school last year, but at least back then she noticed him. Today it was as though she didn’t feel the need to even look at him. Between classes, when he tried to approach her she looked away and stormed off. This made Dye feel regretful of what he said. All he wanted to do was apologize but she wouldn’t even award him the chance to do so. This began to make Dye feel resentful. During his next class he started to justify why he said what he said to make himself feel less guilty.
And it worked.
The more he played this game with himself the more he felt like he did nothing wrong.
After class when he saw her they briefly made eye contact and for a second he saw some sort of remorse in her eyes. Almost as though she wanted him to come talk to her. He wanted to and he clearly saw the opportunity to do so. Instead, his face turned stern and he secured his bag and walked off.
Jenny couldn’t believe it.
He just walked off without a second thought and that made her even more upset. She turned up her nose and walked off.
Dye’s internal irritation was growing as he learned that Bluestone was in two of his classes that morning. To his dismay, Bluestone seemed to be quite knowledgeable on quite a few topics. With every question from the teacher, Bluestone’s hand shot up. Each time, Dye waited for the know-it-all to be wrong and finally be shut down by the teacher. Unfortunately, Dye’s fantasy never came true as the new student proved to be quite intelligent. The more questions he answered, the lower Dye slumped in his seat, arms folded, brooding like a jealous competitor.
When the bell rang, Dye didn’t hesitate to grab his bag and be the first one out. His locker was across the hall and as he opened it he saw Jenny standing at her locker exchanging books.
This was stupid. He thought to himself. That sudden feeling of rationality hit him hard as he saw her standing there grabbing her books. This whole thing was unnecessary and he knew it. They didn’t need to be fighting and for the most part Jenny was right. He hadn’t contacted her at all over the break so she had a right to be upset. He could fix this stumble in their relationship right now, and he was determined to do so.
He grabbed his books for his next period, closed his locker and began on his way over to her.
Like a hawk swooping in to catch its prey, Bluestone cut in front of him and approached her first.
“hellao love, weell yah be joinin me faw lunch?” he leaned against the locker next to her, blocking Dye from view. Just before she was able to answer, Dye tapped him on the shoulder.
“Hey man, mind if I talk to Jenny?” he asked as politely as he could.
“Shooah, mate!” Bluestone replied.
“In private,” Dye added with a subtle irritated tone.
“No, whatever you have to say you can say it right here right now,” Jenny said, folding her arms and waiting for what he had to say.
“Can we not do this now in front of –”
“ Huyng on, ahh yah the boyfriend?” asked Bluestone, who felt as though he stepped in something he shouldn’t have.
“Can you stay out of this?” asked Dye, eyeing him intently. Bluestone raised his hands in surrender.
“Why don’t you answer his question. Are you the boyfriend, Dye?” She stood there, arms folded, staring at him attentively.
“leesten mate, Oy daon't wahnt t' geh' intao the meeddle of whuytevah thiies is.”
“Could you please shut up!” Dye snapped.
Jenny snickered. “Look at you. I’m right here and you can’t even tell me how you feel.”
“I would if this Aussie prick would shut up!” Jenny’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe what he just said.
“Oy Mate, do we have a prawblem?”
“Yeah! We do!” Dye dropped his things. “My problem is you!”
“Oh yayh?”
“Yeah!”
A crowd started to form as the two boys eyed each other with ire. Tensions ran high as the horde of students anticipated a fight.
“Come on thaen, Take the fuhst shawt.” Bluestone said with a taunting edge in his tone.
Dye became thin-lipped and was on the edge of doing just that. Nothing else mattered at that very moment.
Not Jenny.
Not the horde of students watching.
Not even the possibility of being suspended by Vice Principal Charles.
He wanted nothing more than to punch Bluestone’s lights out and he wanted everyone watching to see him do it. Dye tightened his fist. He was ready.
“Dye don’t!” said Jenny. Oddly enough there was a tinge of worry in her voice, but Dye didn’t hear it. He was so imbued with the desire to strike Bluestone that he almost didn’t hear her plea.
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“Dude!” Jason stepped between them. “What’s going on?”
Dye saw his brother and immediately unclenched his fists. “What are you doing man?” Jason asked Dye.
Dye wanted to reply with something that sent a message to Bluestone to not cross him again, but he couldn’t. Just a second ago he was ready to fight but now his senses must’ve been turned back on.
“Dude, VP Charles is watching. Not here, bro!” Dye looked past the crowd and saw the Vice Principal glaring right at him.
“Fine!” Dye said through gritted teeth still staring at Bluestone. The crowd started to disperse.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into you Dye but you need to get a grip!” Jenny said with an inkling of worry in her tone of being upset. “Come on Zach, I’ll take you up on that lunch offer.” She turned and walked off. Bluestone looked at Dye with a sly grin.
“Naext toime mate, tyke the shawt!” he whispered; grinning with ill intent. Dye clenched his fist and was about to lunge at him when Jason stopped him.
“Dude, what the hell is wrong with you?” Jason asked, clearly upset with Dye. “Starting fights? I thought you were the guy who finished them!”
“Yeah well, first time for everything.”
“Dude, I don’t know what’s gotten into you but those muscles have turned you into a meathead! You need to chill!”
“Don’t tell me what to do!” Dye spat back.
Jason was taken aback. He had never seen his brother so enraged before. It was far from the Dye he was used to.
“Mr. Haven,” Vice Principal Charles approached him. Dye huffed and rolled his eyes. “Boy, don’t roll your eyes at me,” The VP pointed his stern finger at him. “I recall this situation happening the same time last year only then it was you on the receiving end of an unprovoked attack from another student.”
“Yeah? And?” Jason was shocked at Dye’s sudden response. The carelessness in his tone made Vice Principal Charles look at him with a laser-eyed focus.
“You listen to me, Boy. I allowed you to stay here due to a technicality, but if you cross me again I’ll have you out of here faster than you can say see yah. Do I make myself clear?”
Dye didn’t say a word. He looked off the side, doing his best not to make eye contact with the Vice Principal.
“You better answer me,” the vice principal growled.
He folded his arms and dropped his head. He sighed and said “Yes Sir!”
“Now get out of here!”
Dye picked up his bag and blew past the vice principal and his brother on the way to the cafeteria.
“What has gotten into that boy?”
“Dunno dude,” the Vice Principal looked at Jason with a mild look of disrespect. “—- I mean, Sir.”
“Keep an eye on him.”
“Sure.” Jason went his own way.
“Oh and Jason,” the Vice Principal caught him just before he turned the corner, “If I find out you're cutting class this year I’ll make sure you don’t graduate.”
Jason saluted him. “Sir! Yes Sir!”
The vice principal turned around and walked away.
“Pssh, you’d have to see me to catch me! Duh!” Jason mumbled under his voice.
Dye sat by himself during lunch. He was isolated at the usual table where he would eat lunch with Joss and Jenny. Joss was nowhere to be found but Jenny, she was across the cafeteria sitting with Bluestone as well as other students. Bluestone was engaged in telling a story, at least that’s what it looked like from afar. Just then Jenny and everyone sitting at the table burst into laughter. Dye dropped his food and got up.
He dumped his food and slammed his tray into the bin. He left the cafeteria as Jenny looked over only to see him no longer sitting there. Her face turned concerned but just as Bluestone told another line of his story, the students around her began laughing, breaking her concern for Dye.
Dye entered the bathroom. He turned on the water and splashed his face. He stared at himself in the mirror and then splashed another hand full of water on his face. When he wiped his face a round of maniacal laughter echoed in the bathroom. It was odd as Dye thought he was alone. He didn’t sense anyone else in the facility but he could’ve been wrong. Looking behind him he noticed a stall with the door closed. Perhaps a student was in there looking at videos. He shrugged it off as nothing, dried his face and left.
As he passed through the courtyard he ran into Joss and Molly. The two were making out and when Dye appeared they suddenly stopped.
“Oh, don’t stop on my account,” said Dye, as he passed through.
“Dye, wait,” said Joss. “I heard what happened, you okay, Ma Man?”
“I’m good,” though he said this with no amount of conflict or remorse. Joss found this odd, as like Jason, Joss knew Dye wasn’t the aggressive type. “Go back to your make-out session or whatever.” Dye turned, but not before taking a subtle jab at Joss. “Oh and thanks for lunch! It was great sitting at the table by myself.” Dye gave him two thumbs up and disappeared through the next set of hallways.
“Is he always a dick?” asked Molly.
“Not usually, no,” said Joss.
“Now, where were we?” asked Molly, pulling Joss closer to her.
The next few weeks were a lonely stretch of time for Dye. He did everything by himself.
Walked the hallways by himself.
Ate lunch by himself.
Walked home by himself.
It was as though he didn’t have any friends. To pour salt on the wounds, Joss and Jenny rarely spoke to him. This wasn’t all due to them being preoccupied all the time. Dye did his best to avoid them. He avoided them when either of them came his way in the hallway. Whenever he had class with one of them he was the last one in and the first one out just to avoid any kind of contact. He even went so far as to use his speed when no one was watching to get away as fast as he could.
He couldn’t figure out why he felt the need to avoid them. Perhaps it was due in part to him feeling embarrassed with the way he acted in regards to Bluestone, or the way he spoke to Joss.
It could have been he didn’t know how to say sorry to Jenny for what he said. Nevertheless, the dirty little secret was he could apologize at any time for what he said but every time he came close there was a little voice in the back of his mind telling him don’t bother, and Dye obeyed. This constant back and forth forced Jenny to spend more time with Bluestone while Dye continued to sit by himself during lunch.
And that was ok.
The more he did it, the less obligated he felt to apologize to her.
Joss, on the other hand, was a bit different. Dye never really said anything to make him upset. Sure, their encounter in the courtyard left a bad taste in Joss’s mouth, but Joss took it upon himself to spend more time with Molly and leave Dye alone.
This indeed caused a rift between the two friends. Dye didn’t feel the need to say anything to Joss if Joss was just going to hang him out to dry because he had a girlfriend now.
To Joss and Jenny, it was as though Dye had disappeared all together, and Dye, oddly enough, was okay with that.
As he walked through the hallways, he caught Jenny and Bluestone holding hands. He didn’t feel anything even though in his head he felt as though he should’ve. He grabbed his books, closed his locker and headed home. Not before passing the main office and seeing a sign.
Come and Celebrate Beach Shores High Homecoming
When: October 15
Where: Beach Shores High Gymnasium Come and enjoy a night of fun as our Football team comes home with another win. Tickets are on sale now for $25 in the main office.
After he read the sign something briefly came over him. It was quick but that tiny spark reignited something that he had forgotten about. Would he take a chance and try and win Jenny back? Or would he continue down the path of no remorse.
Only time would tell.