4 Mission Apologize: Unsuccessful

[19th December]

"Johnny! Why'd you run after him like that?" Ethan had carefully dragged me out of the classroom before the teacher arrives.

"You'd expected me to do nothing when our classmate was being bullied and humiliated?!" I snapped at him, working my fingers through my tresses frustratingly. Ethan was taken aback as he cleared his throat ineptly.

"It's not that," Ethan lowered his voice, leaning in closer.

"YOU used to browbeat him," he unveiled, sounding more like a question.

My face morphed into terror. "What?!" I hissed. "No way – that's impossible! I would never -" then I remembered I wasn't Johnny, to begin with. Fair enough. It also made sense now; how Ethel would recoil and spin around in haste when I catch him staring or when he would hesitate to speak with me.

"Crap…I did," pulling an act, I rubbed my face with the palm of my hands as if a wave of epiphany washed over me. Ethan watched wordlessly, addled.

"I guess I finally realized what I did was wrong…so wrong. I should apologize to him," I gave him a lopsided smile, scratching the back of my neck.

Ethan flashed me a dazzling smile and strode to my side to lightly smack my back like a proud father. "Atta boy! Go and make things right before the teacher enters." Ethan gave me a supportive push into the classroom and I stumbled a little. He followed after, throwing me a wink before going to chat with Silas. Honestly, Ethan was the best.

Taking a deep breath, I sauntered to my desk as I eyed Ethel, who was toying with the drawstring of his hoodie, his entire head under the cloth like always.

"Ethel -"

"Where's that punk?!"

The room door flung open and heavy footsteps began approaching me. "Huh-?" before I knew it, I was struck firmly on my left cheek. That was sure to leave a bad bruise. Dropping to the ground, I wiped the blood at the corner of my mouth and winced at the sting. I scoffed in disbelief and glared at the person who had fisted me to the floor.

"What's your problem?!" I tried to rise but he forcibly shoved me down again. I wheezed in shock when my back crash-landed on the ground again.

"You," the man snarled as I struggled in his hold.

"How dare you lay hands on my girlfriend!" he grabbed my neck, making me gasp. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Jay leave his seat to walk over and Dylan fishing for something in his backpack.

"I did not touch.... anybody!" I knocked my left knee into his crotch area with all the strength I could muster and speedily got onto my feet after the man lost his balance and fell over.

Jay helped haul me up by my armpits. I coughed at the stinging pressure that lingered on the base of my throat, watching intensely as the man keened in agony on the floor. The class watched dumbly as the scene played out.

His peers that accompanied him looked back and forth between the man and me, too terrified to make a move. Though in a flash, one of them lurched at me with a tightly clenched fist. It took me by surprise as I stood, frozen and stunned.

Jay held onto my shoulders and briskly exchanged places with me, kicking the man in the stomach with his heel. The man keeled over and, in an instant, the other man standing pounced Jay, who dodged him easily. My eyes were wide open in confusion, I didn't even notice that I was hauled aside and away from the uproar.

A bone-crushing noise caused me to snap out of it. "Jay! Stop!" it was a futile attempt to get them to cease, but that was on impulse. The man who struck me was still hunched on the ground, writhing in discomfort. How hard did I hit him? I was starting to feel sorry. The other fellow was already on his feet as he went into a fighting stance. All of a sudden,

one smack,

two smacks,

and both men collapsed to the tiles, exposing Dylan, who stood behind them with a Biology textbook in his hand. "...ah, finally it's peaceful," with that, Dylan yawned and dropped the book on his desk. He coolly retreated to his seat, leaning against the back as the class went dead silent.

"You could've done that sooner," Jay grunted, rolling his shoulders before he hauled the knocked-out men by their feet out of the room with Ethan keeping the door ajar. After that, he cornered the alleged boyfriend of the girl who bullied Ethel in the canteen, towering over him.

"Want me to tap you out too?" Jay's voice was orotund, causing the crouching man to tremble in panic.

"Then walk yourself out, will you? For someone who barged into our classroom acting like he was some kind of mafia boss, you sure are puny," the man tottered out of the classroom but unintentionally knocked into a cupboard, some of the trinkets and knick-knacks created by our classmates falling to the ground with a soft thud.

The man frightfully glimpsed at Jay, who was observing from behind with his arms crossed and a stern look on his face. All it took was an anticipating arch of his brow for the man to hurriedly grasp them from the floor and return the ornaments to where they belonged on the shelf. Then, he floundered out of our classroom with damaged pride.

I watched in awe and almost applauded.

"Does it still hurt?" Jay suddenly walked over and examined my face, holding my chin to tilt my head anxiously. I was flustered by his touch.

"Not really, I'm okay," I gently removed his hand before sighing in great relief.

"Thank you for backing me up," Jay smiled and nodded. "I didn't know that the girl had a boyfriend though," I rolled my eyes in disbelief as I retired to my seat as if nothing happened. The class acted like it too, did it happen often?

"Hm, it's the similarity-attraction effect," Dylan hummed, his chin resting on his arm that was dangling on his desk. I snickered at his remark.

"Nice going with the Biology book by the way,"

"I just wanted to take a little nap before the teacher arrives but these rascals burst into our classroom like it was some kind of market-"

The door cracked open, followed by a nervous chuckle. "Do you guys know why two of your seniors are napping on the floor out here?" the teacher pointed his finger to the corridor.

The boyfriend abandoned his friends to save himself? Talk about loyalty.

"Speak of the devil," Dylan's eyes twitched, perching up and indolently uncrating his books and pens onto his desk.

All of us shrugged at the teacher's query.

"Hm," the teacher pursed his lips and shut the room door. "Must've gotten kicked out by Ms. Lim again," he shook his head and began his lesson.

I chuckled and opened my textbook as I recalled what happened, suddenly recollecting that I hadn't apologized to Ethel yet.

I leaned over my table to tap Ethel's shoulder for his attention. He flinched and timidly peered over his shoulder.

"...yes?"

"Do you have time after school?" I whispered, throwing him a smile after. His eyes grew and he averted his gaze around the room anxiously.

"I don't think so," he said ever so softly. My smile faltered and I cowered back into my seat.

"Ah, that's alright then,"

"What for? Might I ask..."

"I want to apologize formally," I affirmed, staring at him with determination in my eyes. "For what I've done, you know - in the past," I added because Ethel basically had a question mark above his head.

"Oh," he turned around and lowered his gaze, as if in contemplation.

-

The bell rang and all of us began packing up, some already dashing out of the classroom eagerly. I was laughing at a joke Silas had made when I felt a light tap on my hand. I turned my head to see Ethel fumbling at his words when I made eye contact with him. "Yeah?"

"I'll see you....at the school entrance," he sped out of the room after that. I grinned from ear to ear and immediately swung my bag over my shoulder.

"I'll meet you guys at the front," I patted Dylan and Silas' shoulders – since they were the nearest to me – and hurried out. "What –?"

-

"I'm sorry for bullying you – I'm sorry for making your life terrible– Nah," I repeated my speech as I speed walked to the front gate. I beamed when I rounded the corner and noticed Ethel's small figure at the gates of the school, staring at the concrete school ground with his hands in his pockets, attempting to keep himself warm. Winter was approaching after all.

To my surprise, no other students were around the area. I promptly marched to him. When he heard the approaching footsteps, Ethel glanced up before staring back down.

"Hey,"

"Hey..."

Suddenly, I grew nervous as I shifted the pressure on my right foot to my left. "So," I clasped my hands together and brought them up to my chest. "I sincerely want to apologize for being a jerk -"

"Johnny! What are you doing?!"

"Oh, for heaven's sake," I rolled my eyes in agitation before turning around, being face–to–face with a raging Dylan.

My second attempt to give a proper apology was ravaged once again.

He stared at me for a moment before averting his gaze to the boy behind me, his gaze turning into a cold glare. He looked like the spawn of Satan; you could almost see the hot blazing flames surrounding him.

"What are you doing?" he growled at Ethel who winced and began to quiver.

"Dylan! I wanted to apologize. I'm sure you know why, calm down!" I grabbed him by the shoulders and glimpsed over mine in a fret at Ethel.

He looked terrified.

"I don't see why you should have any regrets," Dylan pushed my hands out of the way. I faced him.

"What?"

"He deserved what he got," he affirmed. I gawked at him in incredulity, my mouth opening and closing in shock at his blunt words. Then, my eyes twitched in fury as I delivered him a dirty glare.

"How can you even say that?!" my hands balled into fists.

"Johnny -"

"I've done shameful things to him, Dylan!" in all honesty, I had no idea what Johnny did to Ethel in the past but all forms of bullying were never tolerable. Plus, he must've done something awful to have the poor boy shrinking every time I called for him.

Dylan frowned deeply.

"You feel bad?" he whispered in a distressed tone, which I completely overlooked.

"Yes, I do! That's why I'm apologizing. At least I was going to until you intervened."

"...even after everything I told you that day?" Dylan had a look of treachery as his shoulders sank, the rest of our friends stood behind him as they exchanged looks of dismay.

I took a step back and gawking at him, confused myself. After a moment, he scoffed and ran out of the building, harshly colliding with my shoulder as he did so. Ethel was already long gone but I barely discerned, now bothered by another issue.

...what did he tell Johnny?