Mark stomped down the hallway, heading for his locker. His heart felt cold and heavy, and he found himself mechanically opening and closing his hands, his short nails digging into the meat of his palms with the repeated action.
That was not what he wanted to hear, but he knew better than to expect anything else. It had hurt more than he ever thought possible, seeing the way she acted around that idiot. The way she would shyly smile every time she saw Adam. The way her eyelids would lower and those midnight lashes would flutter when she shot secretive glances in his direction. Even the way she said his name. It hurt so goddamn much knowing that Adam would be the only person that she looked at that way or say his name in that sweet, low raspy voice of hers'.
It pained him, even more, knowing that the only looks that he would ever receive from her were the hurt-filled glares or accusatory glances that she would cast him. That the only whispers that he would receive were of the murderous kind that was full of fear and hatred.
Hell, she never even spoke his first name in over a year. She always addressed him by his last name, creating as much distance between them as possible. It all hurt but what hurt the most was knowing that he deserved every last bit of it. He was a real jerk to her and that was putting it lightly.
He sighed and kicked at something invisible, wanting nothing more than to vent his frustrations.
"Yo! Mark my man, what's got you down?" Adam jogged up to him with his book bag slung over his shoulder. Mark shot a glare at him before walking up to his locker.
Adam, being the idiot that he was, followed him. "Yo, dude cheer up." He put an arm around his shoulders and leaned in close. "Someone has a crush on you." He winked as he leaned away.
Mark grabbed his bookbag and slammed the locker door shut. "You can take your crush, or whoever it is and toss it. I'm not interested."
Adam whistled. "Dude, seriously, what's wrong?"
Mark exhaled trying to calm his anger. Everything that he was feeling was his fault, not Adam's. Not technically. "It's just been a bad week."
"Well, maybe this will make you feel better. I heard a certain girl, who's named after something in the sky, talk about confessing her love for you." Adam gave him a conspiratorial wink as he patted him on the back.
He stopped walking as Adam's words sunk in. How big of an idiot could he be? "Lu...Luna wasn't talking about me." Her name stuck in his throat. Shaking his head at his hopeless self and Adam's idiocy, he walked off toward the student parking lot leaving behind a confused Adam.
After the short drive back to his home, he parked the car in the driveway. His dad's Mercedes was parked in the garage letting him know that his dad was home from work early.
"You're home early dear." His mom commented when he walked through the door. Her brown hair was tied into a tight ponytail and she was wearing her pink floral apron. He couldn't smell anything cooking so she must have just started.
"Yeah, practice was rescheduled for tomorrow. Coach had to take his mom to the hospital. Mr. Lakewood said that she had a myocardial infarction." He informed her as he took his shoes off at the door and placed his feet into his slippers.
"Oh dear. I hope it's not too serious." His mom shuffled back into the kitchen. He followed behind her. "Dinner will be ready in an hour." She leaned into the fridge and started pulling ingredients out.
He picked up an apple from the fruit basket on the counter. "Do you need any help?" He asked before taking a bite.
"No. I have everything under control. Do you have any homework?" She set to work chopping up the vegetables. Her hand moved in quick, graceful movements.
He shook his head. "No. I finished everything in between classes."
"That's my boy." His dad came up from behind him and slapped him on the shoulder. "On the lacrosse team and basketball team while staying at the top of his class." He bragged. It felt like his dad bragged every chance he got.
Mark finished his apple and threw the core away. "I'm gonna work out before dinner." His dad had turned one of the spare bedrooms into a small work out area when they had first moved in. Mark was pretty sure that he was the only one to actually use it though.
His mom shot his dad a worried expression. "Did something happen today? I mean something other than what happened with your coach."
"You weren't turned down, were you?" His mom shot his dad an angry expression that told him to shut up.
"It's alright mom. Dad's actually not too far from the truth." His dad's eyebrows shot up and were lost underneath his messy black bangs. Mark laughed at his dad's shocked expression. "You look as if that's something you believe to be impossible."
His mom sighed. Placing the knife down onto the cutting board she turned to face him. "It is hard to believe that Luna would turn you down and even harder to believe that you asked her out."
His dad raised his hands out in front of him defensively. "Your mother said it, not me." His mom didn't even bat an eyelash at his dad for throwing her under the bus.
Mark leaned back against the counter. "I didn't ask her out. But let's just say that I found out that if we were the last two humans alive then the human race would be screwed."
"Oh, it can't be that bad." His dad tried to reason.
He shrugged his shoulders. "It is that bad and I deserve it after what I put her through."
"You know, if you had just told her the truth, in the beginning, things wouldn't be like this." His mom chastised.
"I know. It's just hard to when I'm around her." If only he could talk to her like he did with his parents.
His dad rubbed his lower lip deep in thought. "You know, it might be that easy." He mustered out loud.
His mom shot him a worried look and shook her head. "Oh no. No one is using that spell again. The last time you used it, we had to move." She shot his dad a look that said her word was final.
"Don't worry, mom. I know better than to use magic for things like this." Four years ago, his dad decided to use the truth spell to help him out of a situation at work. The whole ordeal had spiraled out of control, and his mom decided that it was in their best interest to move. And they did just that, they moved to a whole new country. Well, technically, it wasn't new since they had lived in the United States until Mark was five before they moved to South Korea to help take care of his grandparents when they were going through financial difficulty.
He was really glad that his mom didn't possess any magic. She was able to look into his dad's world with different eyes and had taught her son to do the same. It made him appreciate magic and to be wary of the consequences that came with using it.
"Yeah, that's probably the smarter choice." His dad chuckled before grabbing the newspaper off the dining room table. Mark poured himself a glass of water before heading off to the makeshift exercise room.