Realized that they meant it for her.
Go. Big. Red.
She looked at Park. He knew it, too. He was staring straight ahead. His fists were clenched tight at his sides. He looked like someone she’d never met.
‘It’s okay,’ she said.
He closed his eyes and shook his head.
The bus was parking in front of their school, and Eleanor couldn’t wait to get off. She forced herself to stay in her seat until it stopped, and to calmly walk forward. The chanting broke up into laughter. Park was right behind her, but he stopped as soon as he was off the bus. He threw his backpack on the ground and took off his coat.
Eleanor stopped, too. ‘Hey,’
she said, ‘wait, no. What are you doing?’
‘I’m ending this.’
‘No. Come on. It’s not worth it.’
‘You are,’ he said fiercely, looking at her. ‘ You’re worth it.’
‘This isn’t for me,’ she said.
She wanted to pull at him, but she didn’t feel like he was hers to hold back. ‘I don’t want this.’
‘I’m
tired
of
them
embarrassing you.’
Steve was getting off the bus, and Park clenched his fists again.
‘Embarrassing me?’ she said.
‘Or embarrassing you?’
He looked back at her, stricken. And she knew again that she was right. Damn it. Why did he keep letting her be right about all the crappy stuff?
‘If this is for me,’ she said, as fiercely as she could, ‘then listen to me. I don’t want this.’
He looked in her eyes. His eyes were so green, they looked yellow. He was breathing heavy, and his face was dark red under the gold.
‘Is it for me?’ she asked.
He nodded. He dug into her with his eyes. He looked like he was begging for something.
‘It’s okay,’ she said. ‘ Please.
Let’s go to class.’
He closed his eyes and, eventually, nodded. She bent over to get his coat, and heard Steve say, ‘That’s right, Red. Show it off.’
And then Park was gone.
When she turned to look, he was already shoving Steve back toward the bus. They looked like David and Goliath, if David had gotten close enough to let Goliath kick his ass.
Kids were already yelling ‘fight!’ and running from every direction. Eleanor ran, too.
She heard Park say, ‘I’m so sick of your mouth.’
And she heard Steve say, ‘Are you serious with this?’
He pushed Park hard, but Park didn’t fall. Park took a few steps back, then cranked his shoulder forward, spinning into the air and kicking Steve right in the mouth.
The whole crowd gasped.
Tina screamed.
Steve sprung forward almost as soon as Park landed, swinging his giant fists and clubbing Park in the head.
Eleanor thought that she might be watching him die.
She ran to get between them, but Tina was already there. Then one of the bus drivers was there.
And an assistant principal. All pushing them apart.
Park was panting and hanging his head.
Steve was holding his own mouth. There was a waterfall of blood on his chin. ‘Jesus Christ, Park, what the fuck? I think you knocked out my tooth.’
Park lifted his head. His whole face was covered with blood. He staggered
forward
and
the
assistant principal caught him.
‘ Leave … my girlfriend … alone.’
‘I didn’t know she was really your girlfriend,’ Steve shouted. A bunch more blood spilled out of his mouth.
‘Jesus, Steve. It shouldn’t matter.’
‘It
matters,’
Steve
spat.
‘You’re my friend. I didn’t know she was your girlfriend.’
Park put his hands on his knees and shook his head, splattering the sidewalk.
‘Well, she is.’
‘All right,’ Steve said. ‘Jesus.’
There were enough adults now to herd the boys to the building.
Eleanor carried Park’s coat and his backpack to her locker. She didn’t know what to do with them.
She didn’t know what to do with herself either. She didn’t know how to feel.
Was she supposed to be happy that Park had called her his girlfriend? It’s not like he’d given her any choice in the matter – and it’s not like he’d said it happily.
He said it with his head down, with his face dripping blood.
Should she be worried about him? Could he still have brain damage, even though he’d been talking? Could he still stroke out, or fall into a coma? Whenever anyone in her family was fighting, her mother would start shouting, ‘Not in the head, not in the head!’
Also, was it wrong to be so worried about Park’s face?
Steve had the kind of face that could take or leave teeth. A few gaps in Steve’s smile would just add to the big creepy goon look he was rocking.
But Park’s face was like art.
And not weird, ugly art either.
Park had the sort of face you painted because you didn’t want history to forget it.