"Is it really worth avoiding me putting a stop to them?" Dash fixed his gaze on Devon, who was pulling him along by the hand, disregarding the stares.
"You know perfectly well that they would win by just getting you expelled from school for a few days. Unlike them, you have a future." Devon didn't stop even when she felt Dash's hand squeezing hers tightly.
With his head down, Dash looked at the ground, and in a way, Devon was right. Being associated with martial arts, any kind of comment on the internet about him abusing his abilities just to bother others would be more than enough for social media to explode.
Today, social media is a very sharp weapon, most of the time wielded without awareness. One could be an accomplice to murder or a cause of it without realizing that it's because of a comment made on the internet.
Social pressure was a powerful thing of which many were unaware, and if, for some reason, the media found out that someone like him was involved in this kind of trouble, he would not only be expelled from the highly esteemed tournaments, but he would also lose many of those who invested in him.
In all instances, Devon had to admit that Dash got very angry when it came to her. Now that she thinks about it, she had always treated it as something natural, but that was definitely not something everyone did unless they were a couple.
Devon had been lately very nervous because she didn't know what it would feel like to have a boyfriend. She had never thought about it before and believed there was no need to. But lately, talking to her mother led to a conversation about whether she should seize what she had now, or she might lose it in the future.
Normally, young people became interested in having a girlfriend around the age of fifteen, although it really happens much earlier but not seriously. For Dash, this interest should be common and normal. Devon was restless about this, but she didn't want to show it.
Of course, there was another way for all these concerns to disappear, and that was to ask openly. But even when she wanted to bring up the subject with Dash, she could never seem to do it. At the end of the day, everything seemed as if it didn't matter. She had never had these thoughts until she saw many with partners, and there were girls who were directly in love with Dash, so this sense of urgency began to overwhelm her thoughts.
Devon snorted and said, "This is complete crap..."
Dash raised his hand and, holding hers, said, "Once again, thanks for preventing me from hitting bullies, my dear guardian. I could even end up attacked on social media for that."
"You could start by letting go of my hand. Rumors have been a bit agitated lately for any minimal thing that happens in front of their boring lives." Devon said as she tried to pull her hand away from Dash but failed in the process.
Dash smiled a bit knowing what she meant and responded with a question, "Who besides the two of us cares?"
"Didn't you say one of your big goals was to have a girlfriend?" Devon looked at him as if she expected an answer.
"Did I tell you that?" The calm on Dash's face began to disappear as his heart started to race, and feeling that sensation, he asked, "So, do you want it to be you?"
Dash at this moment meant whether Devon wanted to be his girlfriend, something that earned him Devon's gaze. She never expected that calm response from him; he seemed so indifferent that she came to believe that this was a joke, so she responded, "Do you think that would work for us?"
"How can we know that without trying it first?" Dash raised an eyebrow and stared at Devon, waiting for her response.
"I don't want to sound pessimistic, but romance between friends always ends badly. In the end, they break up, and that friendship they had is forgotten." Devon handed her things to Dash and said, "First, help me carry my things. I need to go to the bathroom."
Dash, who stood near the entrance of the classroom that belonged to them for the first class, looked at Devon's back and murmured, "Who assures you that I would give up so easily?"
It was said that falling in love with someone without intentions of groping is the most Velian kind of love. Dash didn't know when it happened, but he knew that the sincere friendship he had with Devon was being erased by feelings of love for her.
Those silly things that many believed in when having a female friend as a male had never happened to Dash. To be honest, his friendship with Devon was never based on infatuation or the need to have someone by his side. On the contrary, their friendship had been one of the best one could have in life.
But like any young teenager, feelings of love happen suddenly, and once they start, they can't be stopped.
Dash, who calmed his heart, shook his head and said, "You're crazy, Dash..."
On the contrary, Devon, who had entered the women's restroom, approached the sink and splashed her face with water, which felt boiling. She didn't know if what she felt was what they called romance. She had never believed she would feel something like this, especially not with Dash since they had known each other since childhood.