Kevin strummed away at his guitar,
humming a tune that he had written. The
rain was pouring on his window giving him a metronome to work with. Tat, tat, tat. He found it easier to write songs on rainy
days like this one. It gave him a
feeling he couldn’t explain. A feeling
only he knew.
The day
Kevin first started guitar was the rainiest day of the year. He had gone to school that day hoping he
could forget about the weather when he was finally with his girlfriend, Anne.
Anne was not the most popular girl in
school, nor the smartest, nor the most athletic, nor the most talented. She was just a girl. Kevin had seen her the first day of high
school looking extremely lost so he helped her out. Ever since then they had been friends.
It was his last year of high school
when he found it. The feeling.
Mandy was running down the hall. “Kevin!”
She yelled out.
Kevin turned around and smiled. “Hey Mandy, what’s up?”
“Not much.” Mandy laughed. “Just thought you needed some company. The weather’s pretty awful don’t you
think?” Kevin looked over at Mandy and
saw that she was only wearing a tank top with a small sweater. “What?”
Mandy said, staring at Kevin.
“Here, take my jacket.” Kevin took off his jacket revealing that he
himself only had a tank on under as well.
He handed his jacket to Mandy.
Mandy refused. “No, you’ll catch a cold.”
“You’re one to talk.” Kevin laughed. They paused for a moment staring at each
other. Kevin noticed for the first time
how beautiful Mandy was. Mandy and Kevin
had been friends ever since childhood.
In fact, Mandy had been best friends with his brothers Nick and Joe too. But Kevin would never date Mandy. She was a best friend that he couldn’t afford
to lose.
“Fine, I’ll take it. Just stop the staring it’s kind of freaking
me out.”
Kevin laughed. “Alright then.”
They continued to walk down the
school hallway. It was still raining
like crazy. Since it was early, there
weren’t that many students around. “So,
where are Nick and Joe?” Mandy asked,
breaking the silence.
“They’re not coming until a bit
later. They were still getting ready
when I left. I think my mom is gonna
bring ‘em school.”
Then Mandy stopped walking. “What’s wrong?” Kevin asked, stopping next to her. Something in the hallway caught Mandy’s
eye. “Earth to Mandy…” Kevin said waving his hands in front of her
face.
Kevin looked ahead of him to try and
figure out what had caught Mandy’s attention.
Before he could pinpoint it though, Mandy grabbed his arm and dragged
him the opposite way. “Whoa! Mandy, what’s up?” Kevin said, almost tripping over himself.
“Nothing, I just don’t feel like
walking that way. Let’s go wait for Nick
and Joe at the front of the school.”
Mandy said walking a little faster.
This is the first time Kevin had seen Mandy act so weird.
“Mandy, can you slow down a
little? Why are you in such a rush? What happened over there?” Kevin said trying to look back. Mandy ignored him and walked even
faster. Kevin thought he saw tears well
up in her eyes. “Mandy.” Kevin said, stopping in the hall. Mandy looked up at Kevin and started to
cry.
“I’m sorry.” She said.
“I just didn’t want you to get hurt.”
Kevin pulled Mandy in closer to him.
Get hurt? He had no idea what
Mandy was talking about but he held her close anyway.
“You know Mandy… seeing you cry hurts
me the most.” Mandy wiped away her tears
and smiled.
“Sorry.” She said looking behind Kevin. “I’m going to go wait for Nick and Joe. Catch you later Kev.” Mandy turned around and started walking.
“Wait Mandy. I’ll come with…” Kevin felt someone hug him from behind. He turned around. It was Anne.
“Oh hey babe, what’s up?” Kevin said hugging her back. “It’s nice to see you but I have to catch up
with—
“You look cold.” Mary said rubbing Kevin’s arm. “Don’t you have a jacket?”
“Oh, well yeah I kind of gave it to…”
“Mandy. Right.
I saw you. And I saw you with her
just a while ago. Here.” She said looking at Kevin. Kevin felt a little awkward but he knew he
had to get to Mandy. He knew that she wasn’t
feeling too well or else why would she just run away like that? It wasn’t like her.
“Well yeah. You know she is my best—
“Why do you always have to hang out
with her?” Anne interrupted.
“Because she’s my best—
“Mandy…Mandy…Mandy…” Anne said.
Kevin couldn’t stop thinking about what happened to Mandy so he turned
around and started walking. “Kevin. Don’t go.”
Anne said. Kevin stopped but he
didn’t turn around. The wind blew and
Kevin felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. “Choose.”
Anne said. “It’s either me or
Mandy. I’m sick of it. You’re always with her. You’re never with me. I’m
your girlfriend. I love you Kevin.” Those three words. Kevin had never heard them from Anne until
today. He was shocked but he still
didn’t turn around. “I want you to
choose. Forever.”
Kevin didn’t hesitate. “Mandy.”
He said and then started to walk away.
The rain was still pouring. Kevin had to look for Mandy. He couldn’t let his best friend just run away
like that. He wanted to know what
happened. He was surprised to hear that
Anne said she loved him. He had never
really given it much thought before but now he realized they had been going out
for over a year now. He didn’t regret
choosing Mandy, even if Anne really did love him.
After a minute of walking, Kevin
started to run. He passed by some people
who said hi to him but he ran past them.
He finally got to the front of the school and looked around for
Mandy. He saw her with Nick and Joe. “She’ll be fine now.” He thought to himself.
All of a sudden, he felt the need to
cough. It was small at first but then he
felt as though he was suffocating. He
put his hands over his mouth and tried to control his breathing by taking in
air through his nostrils but it still didn’t stop. He took his hands away from his mouth and saw
blood. He panicked. There was blood on the ground, on his shoes,
and on his clothes. He picked up
whatever strength he had left and found a pillar to lean against. He raised his arm to cover his coughing and
so his arm became covered in blood. He
felt light headed, fell backwards, closed his eyes and heard nothing but the
pouring rain.