41

Katherine Thrones

The next that followed was me crashing and landing on the soft grass and a larger body fell on top of me, the weight was crushing — the weight of a jock, an athletic. Alex's weight.

Alex saved me.

Holy Shit! Alex saved me! And he's right here in front of my mother's house on top of me! My mother would freak out and get angrier than she already is right now!

I quickly pushed Alex off me and got up at the same speed, my eyes spiraling to the door to affirming my thoughts that my mother was standing there angrily, ready to pounce on me and Alex too. He was the reason I was failing apparently, she hated him and the mere concept of him. And seeing him here right now would make her flip!

But on the contrary, my mother wasn't there. The door was shut. I looked around to check if she had switched positions but she was nowhere around. After comparing me to my father, she must've angrily gone back into the house and thankfully didn't witness what had just happened now.

Phew, I exhaled a breath of relief.

"Oh no, you don't need to thank me for risking my life to save yours. You're welcome, Katherine." The sarcasm in Alex's tone was whole enough to slice with a knife. It was then I was jolted out of my thoughts and remembered that he was still here and he had saved me!

And I hadn't thanked him yet!

I quickly turned around to face him with guilt all over me, "I'm so sorry Alex, I was scared and carried away. My mother was just outside a few minutes ago and I thought she had seen me with you."

I explained and stretched out a hand for him to grab, he held unto it and pulled himself up then dusted the grass off his jeans.

I watched him as he took off the grass and dirt from his jeans and shirt and how he would mumble a cuss when a particular stain won't come off, it would make me snicker seeing him annoyed just because of grass — although, those jeans looked expensive so I wouldn't blame him for getting mad that they were dirty.

But what I was more focused on was the way his dark hair glistened underneath the sunlight, he had gotten a new haircut and I admired the way his perfectly groomed hair appealed and complemented those opalescent and dreamy eyes of him — definitely not what a girl who nearly lost her life should be thinking about but here I am.

I didn't realize I had been gawking at him until he looked away from his jeans and his eyes met with mine, I was taken aback and snapped out of my thoughts. He noticed my flustered-ness and chuckled, before returning back to attending to his clothes.

This boy saved me, I would repeat it as many times as I have to until I can believe it because it still seems like a dream.

He risked his life for me! He could've gotten hit instead of me if we had wasted even the slightest second. He took that risk for me.

And then people call him all sorts of bad names, accusing him of being cruel and selfish, even Katie had said so. They all said he would hurt me, he would break me and he would ruin me, but here he is today, pushing me out of the way of a speeding car.

Will a selfish guy do this today?

I couldn't hold it in anymore! I threw myself into his arms in a big and tight hug,

"Thank you, Alex. Thank you so much for saving me!"

-:-

Alexander Walters

Katherine and I were in my car and we were driving back home. She hasn't said a word since we got in, with the way her head was leaning on the window frame and looking out the window, I knew she was lost in thoughts.

But I wanted to hear her voice, I wanted to hear her talk and there's a whole lot I wanted to ask her.

"How were your test scores?"

"Katherine, why were you trying to kill yourself?"

We both opened our mouths to speak at the same time — apparently, we were both bored of the silence and decided to spring up a conversation at the same time. We both laughed at the ridiculousness of what just happened.

"You first." She urged and I nodded. That's fine by me, but we would still have to discuss why she ran into the road without looking.

"My test scores were great," I stated matter–of–factly, I was really happy about the way everything turned out.

"Come on, don't be vague. Tell me about the scores!" She pressed and I smiled, I'd have no problem telling her how well I performed. Hell, I'd tell it to anyone who cares to listen and even those who don't care to, because these were the best scores I've literally ever gotten.

"Well, I got an eighty–eight in three. Uh, seventy in two. A sixty-nine in one and a fucking hundred too!" I stated excitedly, these were way above my normal scores that were just a tad bit over failures.

Her lips spread into one of those smiles I absolutely love, "Wow, wonderful! Alex, I'm so happy for you!" She beamed, extending her hand for a high–five, or handshake. I don't know what she wanted, but I wasn't interested in that.

"I'd prefer a kiss, Katherine. Come on, I got a hundred on a test, I'd need something better than a flimsy handshake!"

She laughed and I went back to focusing on the road. The day Katherine would actually kiss me, that day may actually be the most surprising and happiest da—

I felt it on my cheek, her lips. I felt her lips on my cheeks.

And as quickly as it had come, it ended in that same manner.

Katherine pecked me — not as overwhelming as a kiss on the lips would be, but I'd take it. And hell, if that's the closest her lips would get to being on me then I'd take it with open arms.

I faced her with a surprised teasing smirk, "Huh, Katherine's getting wild huh? A peck? What's next, you force me to take my pants off?" I made sure I implied what I said comically and playfully so she won't pick an offense.

Luckily it worked.

She snickered, "You'd better be watchful of me."

"Immediately I got my test scores, I wanted to tell you because I don't think I'd have ever gotten these kinds of scores if not for your push and your encouragement, I wouldn't have gotten scores this high. I followed you to the parking lot and saw that you weren't looking fine, you seemed so distraught. So I secretly followed you."

On heading that, Katherine immediately turned to face me with shock, or surprise — man, I don't even know how to describe the look on her face, maybe it was a mixture of all. Most of the time I really don't know what she's thinking.

"Well before that, Katie actually caught me following you and she scolded me and called me a creep for doing that. But I explained to her that you looked so, y'know, un–Katherine like. And she told me about your test scores and how you were freaking out about the two marks, your mum and all that."

"And it hurt me deeply because I knew I was the reason for it. Before I forcefully came into your life, you had perfect grades and have never failed. But to me, I still felt that it wasn't a big deal, it was just two marks! But if those two marks mean so much to you, then I'm so, so, so, sorry for making you lose them!"

I apologized. I knew I was the reason for everything, it wouldn't take rocket science for me to figure it out. And the immense guilt I felt at that moment was way too much, I knew I was bad for her — for a girl like her, I was nothing but an unwanted distraction to her goals. And at that moment, I considered leaving. I considered leaving her so she can focus on more important things and not me.

But for some reason, I couldn't.

Katherine has a hold on me that I can't just understand right now, this wasn't how I envisioned things to go.

This wasn't the plan.

"It's alright, Alex. Please don't blame yourself. And as you've rightly said, it's just two marks I lost and it's not really a big deal. To be very honest, I don't see it as one and I'm very happy I did well. The reason I panicked was because of my moth— never mind." She was about to say something and she quickly retracted back her words.

I decided to let her be and not press her to reveal anything to me.

"So I followed you here and saw that it was your mother's place because I recognize the car park as the one she drove to your apartment the other day. So I felt you were safe and was about to drive off, but then I heard yelling. And the next moment, you were running out of the house and she was yelling at you."

"You were running and you weren't looking, something immediately pushed me to go after you and I'm glad I did because a car was almost about to hit you, but I was by you and I just pushed you out of the way."

She said nothing.

After a moment of waiting, I turned to face her and saw that she was sniffling — her face buried in her palms, sobbing.

Why is she crying? What did I say wrong?

"Katherine, I'm really glad I was able to save you."

She wouldn't be able to understand the gravity and weight those words of mine carried, because if anything had happened to Katherine if she was hit by that car, I don't think I'll be able to handle it.

I know how I felt every single night, every single day I stayed in that hospital with her. It broke my heart to see her eyes shut, seeing her unconscious. I never want to experience that again.

But this wasn't the plan, at all. I never planned to be admiring the way this brunette girl smiles, the way she talks, the way her nose crinkles when she's nervous, watching her sleep, and risking my life for her.

Katherine Thorne, what are you doing to me?