I stood there for a moment and he beckoned for me to have a seat, which I did at the other end of the bench.
"Okay," he said slowly. "Now that I have your attention, will you please let me explain?" He asked nervously as he expected me to run off again. I looked at him and nodded my head yes since I had already decided to do just that.
"Great!" He said relieved. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions and I will do my best to answer them, okay?" Once again I nodded in agreement. But as we sat there near each other, I began to be distracted by how close we were. I began to analyze his face and soothing gentle voice. Coming back to my sense I nodded my head again as I was too enamored with his soothing voice to object. His mouth curved upwards into smiled as he continued. "My name is Collin Cotheran but you know that already. I know I carry the reputation of being a handsome, popular, smart—and," he chuckled as I rolled my eyes at him,"—and my least favorite is being mistaken for a bully, which I can whole heartedly say I am not. Yes I do know who I hang out with but trust me, not entirely by choice. Bray Quintero's parent and mine have know each other for ages. They thought that since Bray and I are the same age we would get along and be best of friends like they are. But Bray and I have an understanding since that's not how we see things. We will be civil with one another but we won't interfere with each other. My parents and the deans are friends as well so when we know they are coming to the school we act like best of buds for their sake but we both know we just have different interests. Keeping up so far?" He patiently waited for my to wrap my mind around what he said so far. I looked at him still with wide eyes. I question arose in my mind but he asked the question first as if to read my mind. "Then why didn't I help you when you fell? Yes, why didn't I indeed." He questioned while looking intently at me. You probably won't believe me but I was trying to protect you."
"What?!" I could barely gasp out.
"As hard as this sounds," he continued, "it took me a while to remember some things since my concussion occurred but bit by bit everything started to make sense. Everything that happened last year with you up until now came flooding back once I picked up a dried up rose. And of all the memories that one stood out because I myself could not understand until I heard Kayline talking about you and how she spoke—with great cruelty and hatred. It astonished and confused me as to why she would react that way towards you but the I remembered the incident with the rose. As you can probably already figure out, I was the one leaving those roses for you. And since we weren't in the same classes but a few, we rarely had a chance to interact let alone speak. When you first started, everyone knew what happened to your friend since she was a prior student who was expected to return. But instead of being there and offering comfort we withdrew. I for one didn't know how to comprehend what happened but can only imagine the pain. That's when I decided to leave the rose , to offer my sympathy in my own way. At first I was doing it for you, but at some point it became about me, and for that I am sorry. I did not realize the pain it would cause looking at it and later more pain by the misunderstanding. I stopped leaving them because I hated myself for getting you in trouble and I could not look at you the same way. I did not want to add anymore to your burden, that's why I didn't help because I saw that there were eyes on you ready to cause you more trouble at the drop of the most insignificant thing. But look at me now, what hell am I? From here on out I promise to do better. I won't let them hurt you anymore. I'm here for you , OK? " he reached out his hand to hold mine. I was hesitant at first but then let him. I looked into his eyes and knew he was being genuine. I heaved a sigh of relief as if a weight was lifted. Everything he said made sense as I was processing it through. I looked at him and smiled slowly. "Okay." I said as I got up slowly.