I stare in fear and worry. I just knocked out Cara's brother in a game of basketball. I freeze, unable to think after that. I nervously lean down and grab his arm as the whistle blows, attempting to lift him up, but he shrinks down. Seconds later, Akako's dad jumps into the court and grabs his son from the chest, slinging him over his shoulder. All I can do is move my eyes and stare at my dad, who is already staring back. I step up and walk off the court.
"Sorry; there has been a severe mistake!" The coach yells out. My dad angrily gestures for me to move. I bolted out the door, trying not to cry. Oh god. No, no, no, no! I catch up to Akako and her family, avoiding Akako completely.
"Hey! Jon!" I scream.
"You okay?" I ask. I half expected his dad to dismiss me and yell at me, but he didn't say a word.
"I'm so sorry!" I say this to all of them. My dad catches us as Akako and her family strut out the door. Oh god, no. Please! Don't let my dad find out a single thing, please! I wipe the tears off my face that I didn't even know had spread over my entire face. Please.
"Listen, man." My dad starts. My heart freezes.
"I'm really sorry for the confusion. Just know that I'll pay for any fees this may cost." He continues.
"Well, we're going straight to the hospital, so it might cost quite a bit." Akako's dad says it angrily. My eyes widen, and then I squint. I press my eyes so that the tears roll out as fast as possible. This can't be happening. What is my luck? Is this because of the Akako thing? What did I do to deserve this? It was an accident, I swear. I don't know who I'm trying to explain this to, but please! I've given my soul and a half for this world; I don't need anything else on my plate! Why? Why?!
The whole ride to the hospital has me freaking out. Not that it's important right now, but this is the first time I've sat with Akako in a car in months. Why am I thinking about that? I got her brother knocked out. I look at his disheveled body. His body looks charred, and his lungs go up ever so slightly every ten seconds or so. What if it's severe? What if her dad yells at me and brings up our falling out? Oh., but why do I care about that right now? I just might have put someone down, twisted their ankle, or given them permanent brain damage. C'mon, though. Really? It's been so much happening these past few months. I could have tripped anyone else up. Anyone. It just had to be Jon. I'd rather get pummeled by some six-foot guy than do anything to Jon. I sit there in silence, scared of even moving. After minutes and minutes and minutes of silent torture, the car doors swing open. I carefully hold up Jon as I take cautious steps to the hospital doors, eager for the transaction to end; each of our families is splitting up without a word. I make it to the spinning doors, luckily, without hurting Jon. I nervously hand Jon over to his dad before he immediately rushes out to the front. I can hear my dad making a phone call in a shriveled and scared voice. It's probably for my mom. How could this happen? What kind of luck is this? I patiently wat there, twiddling my thumbs like I didn't have anything to do with what might be happening in the other room. While me and my dad are sitting on the cold chairs, we don't say a word to each other for a while. I still can't believe this is happening. Sitting there in that cold chair, it's probably worse than the electric chair. You know—the one used to follow through with the death penalty. Yeah, I have no doubt in my mind that the death penalty would hold less importance to me and less fear to me than sitting in this chair.
After a while of waiting, my dad asks me.
"You haven't talked a lot about Akako for a while. And you don't seem that interested in being with her now, so what's up?" I keep silent for a bit, trying not to bawl all over.
"I might've hurt her brother; I don't really care to assist her right now." I say so solemnly. My dad is a really genius indivisual; he might have seen through what happened just from our minimal interaction—or lack thereof.
"Hey. I know what's happening." He says. My eyes widen. There's no way. He's probably trying to get something out of me; there's no chance he can see what's happening in such a small amount of context. I cry harder, and he pats my back. I feel a sense of warmth from him. In case you didn't recognize it, while I love him, I don't really talk about my feelings or anything with my dad. He supports me, though. The warmth overwhelms me. Even though it's just a feeling, it seems to dry my eyes off and clean them all up. It also hurts through my frown. Somehow, I smile in the face of almost destroying someone.
Luckily, about two hours later, Jon comes back perfectly well. He broke a bracket in his braces in his fall, but nothing serious. I teared up in joy.
"I'm so sorry, Jon. So sorry! Please, I'll buy you a coffee or something. No, maybe that's not eno-" I say.
"Listen man. I'm doing great. Y'all don't even have to pay for anything. Well, maybe, except for the killer match I missed. We should meet sometime." He says. I grin childishly.
"Well, it really went from 'I'm sorry I hurt you' to 'let's grab something together'." I joke. He snickers.
"Go ahead and text me when you're free." He grins back childishly as well. I laugh out loud. I try my best to not look at Akako.