Chapter Nineteen
I find myself sitting on the couch with my cell phone in my hand, roughly ten minutes after I'm home. I'm torn between whether to call Len or not. I want to apologize, but I'm afraid Rin might pick up, and she hates me enough already. Suddenly, a shadow comes across my face. I bite my lip, grab my phone, type in Len's number, and press the green button.
As it rings, I plan out what I am going to say. Hey Len, I'm sorry. Please come to school tomorrow. I really miss you. No, too desperate. Len, sorry about what happened. No, too casual. Hello, Len. Are you okay? I would love to see your face in school tomorrow- No way, too formal.
"Hello?" says a young voice that can only belong to Rin. Just my luck. "Rin, may I please talk to Len?" I ask politely.
"This isn't Madoka, is it?" she asks. I sigh. "Madoka! Len doesn't want to talk to you," she rumbles.
"Please, tell him I'm really, really sorry," I plead.
"Uh-uh. He said go away," Rin says.
"Please, Rin. Just this once! Please!" I implore. A silence follows. Suddenly, I can hear a muffled sound of what sounds like the phone hanging up. I bite my lip and feel a single, wet, salty tear rolling down my soft pink cheek.
"Madoka?" I hear in the phone. I almost drop it. Len's depressed voice answers.
"Len, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," I cry, "Please come back to school tomorrow!" I say, my voice cracking from sorrow.
"Didn't anybody tell you? I have an eye infection," he mumbles.
"I don't care! I want to see your face again!" I say, frantically. Len sighs quietly.
"Why?" he asks. "I thought you wouldn't even want to look at me again."
"I thought the same thing," I admit.
"You did? Madoka, I-I'm just so sorry…" Len sighs.
"Don't be. I should be the one who's apologizing."
"No, it was my entire fault," he says. There's an awkward silence.
"You're upset again, aren't you?" I ask.
"No, it's just… The song lyrics… They're coming back to me suddenly," he says.
"What do you mean… coming back to you?" I ask in wonder.
"Like, they all make sense to me now!" Len says. I smile to myself.
"Well, that's really weird, considering I don't yet understand them," I admit.
"But you wrote them," Len points out.
"You're right. I did," I agree, "but still, I don't get it." Another silence follows.
"What happened when I was gone?" Len asks.
"Oh, you missed a lot. Kaito broke up with Miku, so she's kind of depressed, Gumi is playing guitar for us, and Luka may be playing drums for us instead of Kaito, oh, and we wrote another verse and chorus, just to name a few things that happened," I list.
"Wait, did you just say Kaito broke up with Miku?" Len asks.
"Yeah," I sigh.
"And she's in depressed?" Len cries.
"Yeah," I sigh.
"Why wasn't I there for her today?" he shouts. I can hear him smack his forehead. I bite my lip and look down.
"Len, it's okay, don't feel bad, she's fine now!" I say.
"No, it's not. I wasn't there for her, when I should have been- Ugh!" I hear Len yell to himself.
"Len, don't be mad at yourself, it's not your fault. She's gotten over it," I sigh, creasing my eyebrows.
"No, really, I have to apologize to her," Len repeats.
"Len, I thought that you were one of the ones who wanted those two to break up," I point out.
"Yeah, at first, but I didn't know it would hurt her this bad!" he says.
"Len, just… I'm sorry. I don't know what to say," I start. "Just… no matter the odds and ends… just be glad everyone is okay. I mean, look at the bright side. Everything is good now. No hard feelings, right? And now that Miku and Kaito are through, Miku knows what to avoid in the future! Oh, I suck at this," I exhale, "Help me out here, Len," I plead.
"There's no need," he says, "I think you just wrote the last part of the song."