No, Liam stubbornly denied and looked at the constantly changing scenery outside the car window.
Yesterday felt like a storm was raging all day, but today continuous calm peace prevailed. The only incident, if it was an incident, was when everyone was eating lunch and Sophia refused to be with Virgil, so Leda, Alice, and Sophia headed to the cafeteria while the rest gathered on the campus lawn.
“I’m wrong. It’s all over.”
Barely eating the food in his lunch box, Virgil muttered in a voice without hope.
“What happened?”
Nathan asked, his eyes sparkling at Virgil. Charlotte also seemed to want to know what happened.
“I said something harsh to Sophia and we had a big fight. Since that day, Sophia hates even being in the same place as me.”
“What did you say to her?”
“That if she hung out with Leda or Alice, she’d definitely be the DU… FF.”
“You’re really the worst.”
Charlotte didn’t spare her criticism of Virgil and tore off some naan from her lunch box and dipped it in the crimson curry to eat.
“Last night I steeled my resolve and contacted Sophia to apologize, but the signal didn’t even go through, like she’d blocked me or something.”
“You’ll have no choice but to apologize face-to-face.”
“…So I need to move right away.”
Virgil put down his lunch box and headed toward the cafeteria with a look full of determination. Charlotte, Nathan, and Liam cheered loudly for him.
“But if we support Virgil too much, is that unfair to Sophia?”
At Nathan’s question, Charlotte asked why that would be the case.
“You know too. Who Sophia likes.”
When Nathan said to Charlotte while looking at Liam, Charlotte nodded and Liam played dumb, just chewing on his chocolate bar.
“That’s true, but he doesn’t have any intention of dating a girlfriend or anything anyway.”
Charlotte said to Liam that it was amazing he had no interest in dating when so many kids who liked him followed him around.
“I’m not uninterested. Rather, I’m quite interested.”
Liam said, looking at Charlotte.
“You?”
“Why? I recently dated and broke up…”
“From what I see, you and Leda were never once sincere while dating.”
Charlotte said, her eyes shining sharply at Liam. It was an incredible deduction.
“Fool whoever you’re going to fool. From what I see, you’re…”
“Your lunch box smells delicious.”
“Have some. I packed a lot knowing you’d fill up on chocolate bars again.”
Liam glossed over the situation while receiving naan from Charlotte, and meanwhile Nathan threw a question at Liam.
“Anyway, who’s Liam Blake’s next lover? Sophia Hernandez? Alice Miller? Or Olivia Torin?”
“None of them, so don’t ask weird questions.”
Around the time Nathan and Liam were having a small conversation, Virgil, who’d come back outside, could be seen trudging over with a somewhat dejected look. When I asked if he couldn’t make up with Sophia, I got the answer that they made up but that was it.
“What does that mean?”
“Sophia is already not the person I knew. So even if our relationship has been restored, it doesn’t… look like I’ll hang out with her like before. Probably.”
“Instead of thinking so pessimistically, how about trying to ask her out on a date?”
When I suggested to Virgil, everyone waited for Virgil’s next words with faces full of interest.
“If you ask Leda out on a date, I’ll do the same. How about it?”
At Virgil’s suggestion, Nathan and Charlotte looked like they were dying of amusement at this situation, but only Liam seriously stepped in to mediate.
“Something like asking on a date should be thought over a bit more…”
“What are you talking about? You just ask someone on a date and see what happens.”
Nathan actively disagreed with Liam’s opinion.
“You haven’t even been on that many dates.”
“Still, these days I’m selling pretty well!”
While Liam and Nathan bickered, I worried about how to accept Virgil’s suggestion. Ask Leda out on a date? Just imagining it felt like I’d disintegrate on the spot, but somehow a corner of my mind thought it might still be good. Not because I had a chance of success, but rather because if I got clearly rejected, I felt like I’d be relieved.
“I’ll do it.”
“Huh?”
“I said I’ll do it. Ask Leda out on a date.”
“Really?”
Virgil asked as if he couldn’t believe it even though he’d suggested it first. He knows me well, so he suggested it believing I’d obviously refuse given my personality.
“Ooh!”
“As expected of a champion. Amazing boldness.”
Charlotte and Nathan applauded my courage, but only Liam watched the situation with a rigid face. He seemed worried because it was obvious I’d get rejected, so I smiled slightly at him to mean it was okay. Then Liam’s expression hardened even more, and from then on I felt cautious too.
If I’d decided, it seemed less complicated to act immediately, so I went to find Leda as soon as class ended. Since there are always many people around her, I decided to call her aside for now.
“Hey, Leda. If you have a moment…”
I spoke hesitantly like an idiot to Leda, who was talking with friends in front of the lockers. As soon as she saw me, she made a cryptic smile, then immediately answered that it wasn’t okay.
“If you’re talking to me to ask me out on a date, it’s really not okay.”
“Ah.”
“Honestly, I don’t even remember your name well. Sophia’s friend? To me, you’re exactly that much. It’s not that I dislike you, but really. Hmm, if I’ve said this much, you understand, right? Then excuse me.”
Leda cleanly rejected me and left her spot, and soon I could hear the kids who’d been listening to the conversation nearby giggling and mocking.
“…”
The situation flowed as I’d hoped, but I’m not very happy. I left behind the pouring ridicule and went to the track team locker room, meeting Liam on the way. He seemed to have run urgently from somewhere and was panting heavily.
“What’s wrong?”
“Hah, you…”
“I’m listening.”
“Why are you so harsh to yourself?”
When I asked what he meant, Liam said it was hard to watch me hurt my own feelings without hesitation.
“It doesn’t bother me. Actually, I brought it on myself. I thought if Leda rejected me, I could organize my feelings. She spoke more, um, clearly than I imagined, so I think I can organize them even better.”
“I told you there are many kids who like you.”
“Ah. You did. Thanks for saying that.”
“I wish you’d…”
Around the time Liam was stalling as if he’d say something or not, the football team guys called him and informed him that practice time was imminent. I didn’t have time to delay either, so I told Liam to talk to me when he was comfortable after practice ended, then ran to the locker room.
What was Liam trying to say? I was curious, but since I had to move as quickly as possible, I had no time to think at length.
***
“Your condition is particularly bad today.”
Almost getting injured while warming up, and my record was a complete mess during actual practice… The coach, unable to stand watching, said to me. I slapped both my cheeks hard with my palms and tried to gather my scattered concentration.
“Did you get dumped by a girl?”
The coach asked, throwing me a bottle of water.
“…Where do you hear such things?”
Even when I fought with Aiden before, the coach already knew. Does he have some means of getting news delivered to him?
“As a coach in name, I should know what happened to the kids I look after. And a place called school is so small that even this—much of an incident spreads in an instant.”
The coach said that and gave me a 15-minute break.
“I’m telling you this specially because you’re not immature, Cheick. What’s important to you now isn’t the problem of getting dumped by a girl or not. Think about representing the United States at the Olympics. Think about going out and winning a medal. It’s even better if you add thinking about holding a record. For some people that might be a far-off story, but not for you. Even so, does getting rejected matter? Think that this competition you’re preparing for now is the first step of the myth you’ll write. Then everything will become trivial.”
“That’s certainly true.”
The coach’s words seemed like nagging but weren’t without merit. Today I got rejected by a girl I like, but thinking about it, that’s a trivial matter. With an important competition right around the corner, if just that kind of thing interferes with preparation, that’s an excessive loss.
“Right. If only the other guys listened to me even half as well as you, our track team would have been number one at Moonbeam, not some football team.”
The coach said that and left to look after the other kids, and I sat down on the ground and drank water. Then I naturally looked around the field. The field, where kids from other clubs also gathered for after-school activities, was noisy beyond measure.
In the midst of it, a particularly grating loud voice could be heard, so I turned my head toward where the noise was coming from, and there the football team coach was scolding someone, even using violence here and there.
“If you’re the captain, you should set an example like a captain, what are you doing all spaced out since earlier? Won’t you do it properly?”
Even if the person being scolded there was someone else, I couldn’t help but pay attention, but it happened to be Liam getting scolded.
“Right now I’m trying to somehow help your pathetic life. Then you should repay that! Not make people’s blood boil like this!”
I heard that our school’s football team coach was a star who shone brightly in his youth, scouted by the chairman with big money, but as glamorous as his background is, he’s famous for being vicious in his actions. Hurling verbal abuse at players is routine, and I’ve seen him use physical violence like that more than once or twice.
During the 15-minute break, Liam kept getting scolded by the coach. I was in agony watching that sight, but somehow I couldn’t take my eyes off him, so I watched him with an anxious heart.
When our club’s coach reappeared 15 minutes later, I mentioned Coach Marcel from the football team to him.
“Coach Marcel seems too violent. Even if he’s a sports team coach…”
“Enough. You, absolutely don’t talk about that to other teachers. Especially not to Coach Marcel himself.”
The coach said he didn’t want me to experience a difficult situation. I nodded to mean I understood and resumed practice. The output of practice resumed after the break was truly the worst.
