Chapter 29
When Mel got to school the next morning, the first thing she noticed was that people were staring at her once again. She sighed and shook her head. When were people going to get over the fact that she was dating Mike? It was just pathetic that they had nothing better to talk about, really.
The whispers and murmurs only intensified as she made her way down the hall, and by the time that she got to her locker she wanted to smack the living shit out of everyone. They all needed to mind their own business and focus on their own lives and relationships, not hers.
When Mike showed up at her locker a few minutes later, she was angrily stuffing her textbooks into her locker. He was surprised at how pissed she was; Melly rarely got mad. She was always a happy, optimistic person. It took a lot to upset her to the point that she was on the verge of throwing things.
Mel's thick Chemistry textbook slipped from her fingers and fell to the linoleum floor with a loud thud, causing her to curse. She bent to pick it up, but Mike was faster. He scooped the book up and held it out to her, a curious look in his blue eyes.
Mel knew that he was wondering what was wrong with her, but she didn't really feel like talking about it. She tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear and took the book, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Thank you," she told her boyfriend, placing the book in its correct place on the top shelf of her locker.
"What's bugging you, babe?" Mike asked, clearly not about to let her off the hook that easily. He leaned up against the locker next to hers, his arms crossed over his broad chest.
She knew that he was only asking because he was concerned about her, but she was exhausted and still a little angry, and she didn't want to explain to him how everyone in the school was talking about how they were still a couple. She had a feeling that they were all amazed at how the two of them were still together. She supposed she could understand why. The biggest nerd in school and the star quarterback weren't usually a typical match.
"It's nothing, baby," she replied finally, closing her locker door and brushing some more hair out of her eyes. "I just didn't get much sleep last night." That much was at least true. She had been up really late with Zack, watching movies and eating popcorn. They had needed the quality time together in order to start to piece together their broken relationship, and she didn't regret losing hours of sleep because of it.
Mike tilted her chin up gently, his eyes searching hers. Sure enough, there were bags under her eyes and she looked like she was going to fall asleep at any moment. He kissed her forehead softly, thinking hard. He knew that there was more to this than what she was telling him, but he didn't want to poke at her too much. After their fight yesterday, he was just happy that she was still with him. "I'll try to keep you awake as best as I can, okay?" he told her gently.
Mel smiled a little. Mike always knew how to cheer her up when she was having a bad day. Just the fact that he cared enough about her to say that made her feel better. "Okay," she whispered, kissing him softly. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," he replied, kissing her back. "I love you."
"I love you too," Mel said with a warm smile.
The bell signaling the start of class rang suddenly, and Mel and Mike looked at each other sadly. They had different first hour classes, which meant that they had to wait a whole forty-five minutes before they could see each other again. It was torture for them every day.
"Come on, I'll walk you to class," Mike said, holding his hand out to her. He didn't want Melly to go, but after what had happened the last time that they skipped school, he knew that they couldn't do it again.
Mel slipped her hand into his, and they walked to her Math room together. They stopped outside the door, and Mike pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her slim waist. Mel reached up and took his face in her hands, and for a moment they just looked at each other. Then he dipped his head and brushed his lips lightly against hers in a loving kiss, and she melted a little inside.
"I'll see you next period, okay?" Mike whispered, just soft enough for only her to hear.
"Okay," Mel whispered back, tangling her fingers in his dark spiky hair. "I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too, babe," Mike replied honestly.
The one minute warning bell rang, and the two untangled themselves from each other reluctantly. Mike gave her one last peck on the lips before spinning on his heel and taking off down the hallway, heading for his English classroom.
Mel watched him go before turning and going into her own classroom, already feeling empty without him.
That Math class felt like the longest forty-five minutes of her entire life, and when it was finally over and the bell rang, Mel sprang out of her chair and raced for the door, eager to see her boyfriend.
Mike was leaning up against the wall outside of her classroom, and when she emerged from the crowd of students that were filing out, his face lit up like a Christmas tree. He held his arms out for her, and Mel ran right into them, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and hugging him close to her. She hadn't realized just how much she'd missed him until she caught a whiff of his familiar cologne.
"Hey you," Mike murmured, running his fingers through her silky brown locks. He'd missed her too, of course. English always felt like the slowest class of the day, not because he disliked the subject but because he knew that he got to see his Melly right after it.
"Hey," Mel said. She pulled his head down to hers and kissed him deeply, feeling better once she felt his lips on hers.
Mike kissed her for a couple of seconds before pulling away and taking her hand, and the two of them started walking to their second hour class, French. Maryse gave her tons of dirty looks in that class, but Mel didn't mind simply because she had Mike right next to her. Being near Mike always made her feel safe, especially when Maryse was around.
They were almost to the classroom when Mel saw Punk standing by a bank of lockers. She hadn't spoken to him since the night that they had slept together, and she had to admit that she kind of missed him. She was just about to ask Mike if they could go say hello when she saw something that made her heart stop.
A pretty redhead whose arms were also covered in tattoos appeared from the crowd of students and wrapped herself around Punk. Dimly, Mel recognized that she was a senior named Lita. As she watched, Lita said something into Punk's ear that made him laugh, and then she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
Mel felt suddenly sick at the sight of that, and she just kept staring until some people passed between them, obscuring her view of the couple. And then they were in the French room, and Mike was leading her over to their seats in the corner.
As she sat down, all that Mel could think about was that damn kiss. She kept telling herself that it wasn't a big deal, that Punk could kiss whoever he wanted, but her heart was saying otherwise.
