When I woke up the next morning, the first thing I noticed was that my jaw did not hurt. I moved it around a little, and the sharp pain from yesterday was gone. My body still felt a bit sore, but it was a huge improvement. The painkillers and the long night of sleep must have helped.
Getting ready for school was easier. I was still limping, but I did not need to rely on the crutches as much to get around my apartment. I left them by the door and decided to just take it slow on my walk.
The morning air felt good, and the walk was not as difficult as I expected. I followed the same route as always, my mind just kind of quiet. When I got near the corner where Nina and I had gone our separate ways, I saw someone standing there. It was her.
She was leaning against a short brick wall, looking down at her phone and scrolling with her thumb. She was not wearing any earbuds. 'I guess she was not going to make that mistake again,' I thought.
I was not sure what to do. I just stopped for a second, watching her from a distance. Then I decided to just walk over. I limped the last few feet to the corner.
"Hey," I said.
She looked up from her phone, and her face brightened a little when she saw me. She put her phone in her pocket.
"Morning, Kofi," she replied.
I stood there for a moment. "What are you doing here?" I asked.
She gave me a small smile. "I was waiting for you," she said.
I just looked at her for a second. The idea that someone would wait for me was a new one.
"Why?" I asked.
She shrugged, and her smile got a little bigger. "I thought we could walk together," she said. "If that's okay."
"Oh," I said. "Yeah, okay."
She fell into step beside me, and we started walking down the street toward the school. She naturally walked at my slower pace without me having to say anything. I noticed it, but I did not comment on it.
We were quiet for the first block. I tried to think of something to say that was not about getting punched or crying in the hallway.
"So," I said, deciding to just go for it. "Did you, uh, look up that manga I told you about?"
"The one about the sword?" she asked, glancing over at me. "I did. It sounds really weird."
"I told you it was good," I said.
"I know," she said, and I could hear a laugh in her voice. "I might read it this weekend. I'm almost done with the book I'm on."
"What about that band?" I asked. "The Lumineers. I listened to that song you mentioned."
Her eyes widened a little. "You did? What did you think?"
"It was okay," I said honestly. "Not really my kind of thing, but it wasn't bad. It did sound like something my mom would listen to."
She lightly shoved my shoulder. "Hey," she said, but she was smiling. "I told you it was good."
I smiled back. The rest of the walk was easier after that. We just talked about random things. It felt surprisingly normal.
As we got closer to the school gates, our conversation just sort of faded away. The school yard was already full of students hanging around before the first bell.
The first group of people we passed stopped talking and just stared. Then it happened with the next group. Heads turned as we walked by. I could feel my shoulders get tight, and I started looking down at the ground instead of ahead.
'This is exactly what I was worried about,' I thought.
I glanced over at Nina. She was looking straight forward, walking with her head held high like she did not notice anyone. Maybe she was used to being looked at, but I definitely was not.
The walk through the main hallway felt a lot longer than it usually did. It was crowded, and it felt like every single person stopped what they were doing to watch us pass. I could hear whispers starting up all around us. I did not say anything, and Nina did not say anything either. We just kept walking side-by-side.
When we finally reached our classroom, the quiet chatter inside stopped the moment we walked through the door. It felt like we had brought the silence in with us.
I walked to my desk and sat down without looking at anyone. I could feel all of their eyes on me, and I hated it. I focused on pulling my textbook out of my backpack, keeping my head down the whole time. The quiet in the room was uncomfortable, and it was all because of us.
Nina walked over to her own desk on the other side of the room and sat down too.
I could still feel the attention of the entire class. It was like this heavy thing pressing down on me. I opened my book and just stared at the page, not reading any of the words.
'I should have just walked to school by myself,' I thought. 'This is exactly what I was trying to avoid.'
It was quiet for what felt like a long time. I was just hoping the teacher would start the lesson so people would have something else to look at.
"Hey, Kofi," a quiet voice said.
It was Nina. I did not look up, but I knew it was her. She must have been talking from her desk across the room. I guess she was trying to act normal, to break the weird silence.
"That walk was pretty intense, huh?" she said.
I heard her, but I did not know what to say. If I answered her, everyone would keep staring. They would start whispering about what we were saying. The thought of it made my stomach feel tight. I just wanted it all to stop. I wanted to be invisible again.
So I did not say anything back.
I just kept staring at my textbook, pretending I was reading. I acted like I had not even heard her. A few seconds passed, and the silence in the classroom felt even heavier than before. I could feel her waiting for me to answer.
Finally, I risked a quick look up from my book. She was still looking over at me from her desk. When she saw me look up, her expression changed. She was not angry or annoyed. She just looked disappointed.
She held my gaze for just a second, and then she turned around in her seat to face the front of the room. She did not look back at me again.
The teacher started talking then, beginning the first lesson of the day. The rest of the class finally turned their attention to the front. The moment was over, but I could not shake the feeling that I had already messed everything up.
'Dammit, I did it again, I pushed her away.'