It Happened Last Year

As I lay on my bed, my phone rings. It’s Jana. I answer and hold the device to my ear. “Hello?”

“Finally,” she groans, “you should really answer my texts. Talking on the phone freaks me out.”

“It freaks you out?”

She ignores me. “Something happened between Harrison and Daniel-”

“What,” I interrupt her and swiftly sit up.

“Should have answered the texts, you would have known about this much sooner,” she scolds me, but I could care less at the moment.

“Just tell me what happened.”

I hear her take a deep breath. “Jordan heard from Bradley that Daniel confronted Harrison in the locker room, pushed him against a wall and asked him if he abuses girls.”

My eyes widen. “No way.”

“No one knows what else was said, but I’m almost positive it’s because of what happened in the cafeteria yesterday. I mean, what else would tell Daniel that Harrison abuses girls, other than a ‘don’t touch me’ with a flinch?”

I run my hand through my hair. “So what? Daniel thinks Harrison hit me?”

“That’s what I’m guessing.”

I fall back onto my pillows and let out a loud, dramatic groan. “This is terrible.”

There’s a small moment of silence from Jana. “Well, I mean, it is kinda sweet that Daniel pushed him against a wall and stuff-I don’t know. It doesn’t seem like him, to care about other people’s problems and all. I know Harrison hitting you would be a horrific situation, but no one else did anything. It seems like a humane thing to do, but maybe there was more reason behind it.”

“What are you trying to say? That he likes me? He doesn’t even know me, Jana. He was just trying to stop Harrison, not help me.”

She sighs. “Fine. Whatever. But I’m sticking with my theory.”

For the rest of the night I cannot help but wonder, what did Harrison say back? Did he say that he never abused me? Did he tell Daniel to back off? I can hardly sleep with the question constantly prodding at my mind.

The next morning, with no sleep at all, I pick up Jana on the way to school and let her drive. I don’t tell her of my plan to ask Daniel what happened, she would probably think that I believe her theory. I don’t. I don’t believe that Daniel cares about me, even a bit, but that isn’t going to stop me from digging. How can someone care for a stranger? We hardly know each other. We’ve only spoken once, and that was at Trent’s pool party. Sure, I think he is very attractive, and sure, I think what he did was amazing, but I can’t let that fool me into believing things that simply aren’t true.

When we arrive, Jana and I go our separate ways for the first period. Daphne isn’t here today, and I am thankful for it. Everyone seems less tense when she is not around.

I wait until lunch, until we are all sitting down, minus Daniel. It is tricky because some days he doesn’t sit with us, and I don’t know where he goes then. Luckily, I spot him entering through the main door, and before he can reach us, I take a deep breath and approach him.

Some people around us watch as I do so, maybe they heard what happened. Jana’s eyes are one of the more intense ones. I have an urge to turn back and tell her to knock it off.

Daniel looks down at me, and I don’t waste another second. “Can I talk to you, in private?”

I don’t know what to expect. Will he say yes? Will he keep walking? A moment passes, and I begin to crumble.

He looks onward to Jordan, then back to me. “Yeah, sure.”

I don’t focus on the fact that his voice was emotionless, or the fact that Jordan probably told him to say yes, I just nod and lead him out of the crowded room. We walk around the corner in the hallway to one empty and quiet, then I look up at him. I have to admit, if I was not determined to get an answer to this question, then I would be trembling right now.

“I heard you confronted Harrison yesterday, asked him… Well, you know. I was just wondering what he said back, if you could tell me,” I say quietly, paranoid that someone might hear. I add on a short, “please.”

His eyes roll to the side, looking at the locker to our right for a brief moment, then he looks back to me. “He said he didn’t know what I was talking about.”

Daniel has the type of voice that one can listen to all day. It doesn’t matter what he’s saying, even this bad new sounds lovely. I snap myself out of the school-girl trance. “Oh, thanks.”

He makes a move, telling me he’s going to walk away, but he stops. “You know, if he’s abusing you, you should get professional help.” There is no concern in his tone. It is as if he’s doing me a favor by telling me this.

Suddenly, I grab his arm, bringing him to a halt. “He’s not abusing me,” currently, I say to myself, “we’re not together, we were never together, but thanks for the advice,” my tone matches his, but is a tad colder.

Instead of watching him walk away, I do the honors and slip past him, heading back to the cafeteria.

If he’s abusing you, you should get professional help, thanks, buddy. For someone who pushed Harrison up against a wall and questioned him in such a way, Daniel can sure sound uninterested. I’m embarrassed that talking to me was such a chore. Never again, that’s for sure.

Jana’s eyes spring to the door when she sees me entering. I walk back, partly annoyed, and I sit down without saying a word, though everyone is wondering what we talked about. I glance up to find all of their eyes on me.

“Well,” Jana hints, “how was your day? Have any interesting conversations?”

I roll my eyes. “Try again later.”

Maybe I am overreacting. It’s not like we’re friends, it’s not like he should care. Maybe I started to believe Jana’s theory, and that was my mistake, thinking that he did it for me.

The rest of lunch goes by slowly, and Daniel never comes back into the cafeteria. There is a small part of my mind that wonders where he went, that wonders what he thinks, but the bigger part bullies it into quietness.

Daniel isn’t my friend. I don’t know Daniel.

The most important thing for me right now is to know who my friends are, to know who cares about me.