37/38
? JUPITER ?
? HIGH ?
?(A high school r0m@nç£)?
Episode 37
ANDREA POV
I sat in the waiting room waiting for the doctors to come out of the operating room.
“Here you go”Max said as he stretched a cu-p of coffee towards me
He had been gone for a while and I thought that he had left but seeing that he was still around made me feel comforted.
‘Don’t get your hopes up Andrea, remember that he is only doing this because he finds you annoying’ some thing in me said
I collected the cu-p from him and looked at him.
“You should go now, i will stay here by myself”I said
“I don’t Think so, I will stay here with you”he replied
“That’s what you say all the time, you draw some one in and push them out, you are being kind to me now, even offering to stay with me and later you tell me you find me annoying and that am a loser”
“I know that what I said that day hurt you……..”
“It didn’t hurt me Max, it shattered me,you were the only friend I had, the only one I could trust, I even thought of you as my guardian angel, you kept my secret and didn’t ask for any thing in return,I was grateful to you and I wanted to give you some thing back, to pay it in a way, maybe by being your friend or by being your listening buddy but you told me to keep my distance and I respect your wish but here you are,Not keeping the distance you had asked for, what do you want exactly?”I asked
“You” he said softly
“What?” He couldn’t give me a better response because beatrice and the others arrived.
“What’s going on? How is your mom?”Beatrice asked
“Still in the operating room”I said
“Sorry we couldn’t come straight away”Brenda added
“It’s fine, am just glad that you are here “I replied
I tried finding Max amongst the crowd but it seemed he wasn’t there.
He didn’t finish what he had to say to me and I wanted to know what he had to say
The doctor c@m£ in at that moment taking my attention.
“Well she is stable now but we will nee-d to keep her un-der observation “He said to us all
“Can I see her now?”I asked
“Not now,as we have said we still have to keep watch on her, so you will have to wait”he replied and walked off
“Why don’t you guys just go,I will be fine on my own”I said to them
“But we can’t just leave you here alone”Beatrice said
“Don’t worry, I will be fine”I said to them all
“But Andrea?”Brenda said wanting to stay to with me
I felt t©uçhed by their insistence and am glad that I have friends who are re-ady to stay with me when I am in nee-d, I thought as I gave them all a hvg.
I would have let them stay if I didn’t have any secret to keep but I have one and am not re-ady for them to know that.
“Why don’t we just leave, After school tomorrow,we will all come back to check on her”Jack said pushing the girls off
As they left,I whispered a thank you at him knowing that they wouldn’t have gone if Jack hadn’t f0rç£d them to.
I stood by the wall, thinking about everything and where Max had gone.
“Andrea !” I heard Jack call and I turned to see him running towards me
“I forgot to do this”he said and before I could un-derstand what he meant, he pu-ll-ed me into a ti-ght hvg
“Don’t worry every thing will be fine, you just have to stay strong” he whispered into my ear and knowing that he was trying to comfort me,I hvgged him back
“I will”I whispered back and he pu-ll-ed away and stared at me briefly.
For the time that he held me in his arms ,I felt that he wanted to do more but then he moved away and ruffled my hair before walking off.
Knowing that he had come back just to say that to me made me feel t©uçhed and guilty.
Once the truth is out,I know that they will hate me for sure.
I was dozing off on the chair when I felt someone watching me.
I opened my eyes only to see that it was Max, he had a troubled look on his face and though he tried not to show it,I can feel that something is wrong.
“You didn’t go back home?”I asked
“I didn’t, I just gave you some privacy”He replied
“You should go home too,I will be fine”I said
“I don’t want to, I will stay here with you “He replied
“Don’t! I don’t want you to do it for me or for my mom, I don’t want you to be burden with me, Just as you have said, Am annoying and…………”I couldn’t finish my word because he had moved up to me and had placed a f!nger on myl-ips
“Until when will you st©p tormenting me with I said “he asked softly
“Into you see how much your words hurt me, We were getting along so well and I was lucky to have you as a friend but you pushed me away and you told me that I was annoying and that I was a loser, that hurt a lot, it hurt so much “I said as the tears fell gently
“Am sorry Andrea! Would it comfort you a bit if I told you that I didn’t mean what I said that day”He asked as he wiped off my tears .
“If you didn’t mean it, why did you say it”I asked as I tried to st©p the tears
“I didn’t want you know my secret “He said softly
“Your secret? What secret is that?”I asked
He took a seat beside me and held my hand in his.
“I don’t know if you will hate me for what am about to say but I will really prefer it if you un-derstand me and try not to get mad”He said ma-king me worried
“It’s okay Max, whatever you are going to say to me,I wont judge you”I replied as I held his hand ti-ghtly.
“It’s about what happened to Nick, I…..I….caused his death “He said with tears in his eyes
Just seeing how hurt he looked, I knew that it was ha-rd for him to tell me this and I promise myself that I will try to un-derstand him no matter what
He began to tell me about what happened a year earlier.
“I should have been there for him, I should have st©pped him, I could have done it but I let my anger over rule me and I hate it, I hate myself and I regret all what happened”he said crying and instead of judging him,I pu-ll-ed him to a ti-ght hvg
“What happened a year ago is not your fault, you didn’t ask for him to die,it’s Nick fault for being weak, he should have stayed alive and ask for your forgiveness properly, don’t beat yourself too much Max , even though I wasn’t there,I know that you were the best brother to Nick and I know that wherever he is,he will also testify to that”I said holding him as he kept on crying.
It took a while for him to calm down and when he did, he was a bit shy with me
“I didn’t mean to cry,it’s so embarras-sing”He said softly
“It’s not, you should always cry than to have it all bottled up and besides we are friends, I will help you keep it a secret” I said and he laughed
“Is this the reason why you pushed me away, you didn’t want me to know about this?”I asked
“Yes I didn’t, I thought you were going to blame just as have always blamed myself,I would rather have you stay away than to have you hate me”he said and I punched him lightly on the arm
“Why would I hate you, no matter what you do,I don’t think I will ever hate you”I said
“Why?”he asked softly
Because I love you, because you are the oy guy I ever want,because you are the one my heart beats for, I thought silently to myself
“Because you are my angel”I said instead
“What?”he asked having a smile on his face
“You are the angel who kept my secret and has always been watching over me, how can I hate you?”I said, putting on a cute face and he laughed out loud.
“Friends again?”he asked as he stretched forth his hand to me
I stared at it for a while and wondered if we can be more than friends some day.
I doubt that Max ‘s future is alre-ady planned for him and that is to marry Rose and when that time comes,I will just have to accept it.
“Friends”I replied as I put my hand in his
“Why don’t you rest your head on your friend shoulder”he said a while later
“What?”
“You nee-d to rest and I know that you wouldn’t want to leave, so just use my shoulder for a while”He said as he Pat his shoulder again
“Okay”I replied softly and put my head on his shoulder
“Promise me that we will never fight like this and that you will always tell me what is bothering you”He said
“I will”I replied and as his arms envelop me, I gave into the sleep, knowing that my angel is right beside me.
? JUPITER ?
? HIGH ?
?(A high school r0m@nç£)?
Episode 38
MAX POV
I woke up in the wee hours of the morning,only to see Andrea all cu-mddled around me.
If it had been someone, I would have pushed away because I hate cudd-ling. I didn’t allow it to happen with Rose but seeing Andrea around me made a difference a bit.
Could it be that’s it because I love her, I thought as I stared down at her
I found myself pushing back her hair to ca-ress her face.
It felt so good,I wonder when I will have the right to hold her in my arms and call her mine
Maybe when I finally summon up the courage to tell her how I feel but I don’t think that will be happening soon.
Have never felt like this before, never been so nervous around a girl, have always believed in going after what I want but with Andrea, I find myself waiting.
I know that when the time comes,I will have her for a long time, so I should just be patient and wait for the right time.
She woke up with a start and yawned out so loud.
Seems like she has forgotten that I am around and that she is not alone.
Still yawning, she turned and when she saw my smiling face,she used her hand to cover her mouth.
“Don’t! You look cute”I said and that got me a punch from her
“I must have looked like an hungry dinosaur, you should have made me know that you were still here, I feel so embarras-sed”She said
“Don’t! I mean it when I say that you look cute and besides we are friends, I will help you keep it a secret” I said and she stared at me giving me a smile.
She had said the same thing to me last night, and I am just returning it.
“I even got your clothe rou-gh”She said as she tried to straighten my clothe
Just then a nurse walked towards us, giving us a smile
“Your mom is awake and she has been taken out of the (I C U) ” the nurse said
“Can I see her”Andrea asked
“Of course you can, if you will come with me”The nurse said and she went off with Andrea.
It took a while before she c@m£ back and as soon as she c@m£ to me, it was to give me a hvg
“She is okay Max, she is okay”She said and I held her close, breathing in her fragrance.
“I’m glad”I replied softly.
“Just go to school l, I will be fine here “She said a while later
“But i don’t want to leave you here alone”I said
“I will be fine and besides I won’t be alone, there are a lot of people here, just go to school, remember I will nee-d to get notes from you” she said finally persuading me
“Okay then, I will leave but promise me that you will take care if yourself”I asked
“I promise”She replied
************************************************
I got to school feeling great, just knowing that Andrea didn’t get mad or blame me for Nick’s death made me feel happy.
Now that that is out of the way, I can now think of courting her.
I got to clas-s and was swarmed by Beatrice and the other students wanting to know how Andrea mom is.
Knowing that Andrea has a lot of friends that support her made me feel happy.
I told them the news about her mom feeling well and soon the teacher arrived st©pping them from asking more questions
Later at day break, I was busy working on some Math problems when Beatrice called me
“We are preparing some thing for Andrea, will you like to join in”She asked
“No”I replied and got back to my work
“What a j£rk, to even think Andrea considers him a friend”I heard Beatrice say and I smiled to myself.
I don’t nee-d to join in their surprise cause I have my own surprise in sto-re.
I was heading to the cafeteria when I saw the summer vacation board.
Every summer the school takes us for a camping session.I always found it boring but due to Nick who always f0rç£d me to go, I had no option than to go but now I don’t have Nick to go with.
‘What about Andrea?’ something in me asked and I smiled to myself, though I don’t have Nick to go with me, it would be worth it if Andrea is there, I held this thought in mind for the rest of the day.
I got to the hospital late and it was all due to the math teacher who asked me to stay back, so I can help him with some script.
I was holding two tickets to the cinema when I saw Andrea with Beatrice and the rest.
They were all laughing at something Geoffrey had said but what I noticed and disliked most was the way Jack had his arm around her.
I walked towards them and wished I had the right to push off his hand from her but I didn’t and that will only be a matter of time.
“Oh Max you are here, we were just about to take Andrea out, You don’t mind staying at the hospital to upd@t£ us right?”Beatrice asked
“I do mind”I said still staring at Jack arm around Andrea
“We took a whole lot of time to prepare this for her and we even asked you but you said you weren’t interested so you wouldn’t mind being a guard for us” Brenda added
“As have said,I do mind and I would also like to join you , as for someone to watch over Andrea mom,I will settle that right away”I said as I went to a nurse.
After a bit of negotiation, I went back to the group.
“Shall we?”I asked, giving them a smile and we all left the hospital.
As long as Jack is close to Andrea,I will always be around……..
***********************************************
“This is the best ride ever!!!!”Andrea yelled as she sat beside me on one of the rides.
This is the worst one ever,I thought as the thing kept spinning and spinning.
I always avoid the amusement park because of these terrible rides and now here I am going throu-gh one and it’s all because of a girl.
We all got down and I wanted to puke but I held it in
“Are you alright Max? You look a bit pale” Beatrice asked me when he saw my face
“Am fine, I just nee-d a little rest”I said as I sat down on an empty seat
“Are you sure you are alright?”Andrea asked this time
“Yes I am”I replied hoping that my voice sounds a bit strong
“I know what’s wrong with Max?” Geoffrey said
“What?”they all asked in unison well except for jack, who kept on staring at Andrea every move
“He is scared of Heights, it happens to my little brother”Geoffrey said and they all bur-st out laughing ma-king me feel more embarras-sed
“You should have told us Max”Andrea said
“Am not scared of Heights and how dare you compare me to your brother?”I said to Geoffrey
“Don’t try to act macho in front of them,just admit it,you are scared of heights, the great Max is scared of heights”Geoffrey taunted and feeling so angry, I stood up wanting to punch his face but he ran off ma-king me run after him.
A while later, we strolled around the park,while enjoying an ice cream each,a treat from Jack.
I should have thought of that before he did ,I thought
“Oh that’s beautiful”I heard Andrea say as she stared at a hvge teddy bear
We all went to it and the man told us what we had to do to get it .
We just had to shoot straight into the hole and the teddy will be ours.
“Now who will be Andrea hero and get it for her?”Beatrice asked staring at Jack and i
At the same time Jack and I picked up the gun and we began to shoot.
I sh0t throu-gh the hole thrice and unfortunately for Jack,he sh0t somewhere else.
“Max wins round one”Geoffrey said to me softly and I gave him a murderous glare.
I smiled as I watched Andrea cudd-ling the bear, knowing that I got it for her made me happy.
“Everyone gather here”A man with a mic said attra-cting every one.
Andrea held my hand in hers and ran along with the rest towards the guy with mic
“We are giving out br@nd new phones to people that will p@rticipate in our competition”the man began
“Have always wanted a phone of my own”Andrea said staring at me
“All we nee-d are two couple who will volunteer “The man said again
“Max,let’s go”She said
“What? I don’t do that sort of thing, if you nee-d a phone I will get you one”I said
“I don’t want you getting me one, I want to have my own phone by my own means”she said
“But still………….”I couldn’t finish my word when Jack c@m£ to Andrea
“Let’s go”He said and before I could st©p them, he had pu-ll-ed her out with the others.
Feeling jealous I walked off ,I had to control my jealous mood.
“Round two goes to Jack” Geoffrey said behind me
“If you don’t want your face to be sma-cked, you better leave”I said
“How can I leave when I know you are having a problem of love”He said
“What are you saying?”I asked
“You like Andrea right? Don’t try to deny it, I can see it written all over your face”He said.
To Be Continued