pulled his stuff together and headed out the door. When he was barely out of the doorframe, a hand that Josh quickly identified as Morgan's pulled him aside, into the deserted hallway. "Um, Morgan, I know that you want to know why I did what I did. Well-" stammered Josh, but before he could finish his statement, Morgan's lips embraced his in a passionate kiss. Josh was surprised at first but he caught on and embraced her just as passionately. What was probably only forty-five seconds seemed like forty-five days to Josh. Morgan pulled away, smiled, and headed off to class. Josh followed her example, slightly dismayed.
Geometry and the rest of his classes until lunch were boring. Josh had to keep a casual conversation going between him and Rachel. It took all the self-control he had, and some he didn't have, to keep a straight face. After the painful period that was lunch, Josh continued his day. In the last period of the day he was reminded of the dance that was happening that night. 'Now or never' Josh thought, but that was not the only thing Josh was thinking of, there was also the fact that no matter who he chose, he would live to regret it. Sometimes situations can be lose-lose and win-win at the same time
There were minutes until Josh had to leave for the dance; he was wearing a black collared shirt and some dark jeans. Tonight was the night, the night to choose, the night to risk it all. The theme was Attack of the Snowflakes, 'Who comes up with this stuff?' thought Josh, annoyed that his big night of choice would be themed as a children's board game. He sprinted down to the car when he heard the honk of the horn. He slipped into the car as it took off; starting the eight minute journey to his school and the night he would most likely remember for quite a while.
It was a cold night, the air pounding against Josh's uncovered face. He watched, silently, at the others inside. Everyone there happy, none of them sad, not yet anyway. Inside Rachel saw me and dragged Josh inside. It was sweet when they danced for a little bit, Josh all the while contemplating his decision. Eventually they stopped, and Josh traveled to the punch bowl to be refreshed before what was, almost definitely, going to be a long night.
Morgan was also there, dressed in a tight candy cane t-shirt and a light jacket. As usual, she looked amazing, yet again dragging my attention to the fork in his road. Morgan pulled Rachel aside and started to talk. Josh knew that by the way she was motioning she was explaining the predicament. 'Guess it is now time, ironic, I just decided' Josh thought, taking another sip of punch. Rachel looked more and more distressed as Morgan continued to speak. Josh almost laughed as he turned away while they were heading towards him. They each grabbed one arm and dragged him into the hallway. "Tell this slut that you are mine!" Rachel yelled.
"No no no no no no, tell this bitch that you are mine!" screamed Morgan.
"Girls, girls, you are hurting my ears," said Josh slowly.
"Tell her that we are going to go out in high school! Tell her that we are madly in love!" shrieked Rachel slamming her foot down angrily.
"Just shut up! Why can't you accept that Josh is mine now? We are the ones in love! Just like when we kissed after Chinese today," replied Morgan.
"You kissed?" gasped Rachel "But, but...how could you?"
"Just tell her, you want me, not her, right?" asked Morgan, seeking to end this argument.
"Well, I thought a lot over the last few days, about my feelings, for both of you. If I could see that I liked one of you more than the other, because I love you both. I reviewed my favorite memories. Rachel, when we first said 'I love you' to each other. Morgan, our kiss this morning and when we held hands in class. And I have come to a decision. Not an easy one, but a necessary one. I choose you." Josh ended, pointing at the one, he knew, he could be with forever.
"I pick you," Josh repeated, pointing straight at the one he knew was right for him, Morgan. She was sweet, kind, and beautiful. As soon as he said this she gave him a huge hug. Josh blushed as they both let go. Rachel still had her mouth wide open, waiting, waiting for an explanation.
"Sorry Rachel, I know this is shocking for you, I only discovered my feeling for Morgan yesterday. So if you want to, you can punch me, slap me, or anything else that would make you feel better," sighed Josh. Rachel hung her head and walked slowly. 'Thank God!' thought Josh 'I don't think I could have survived her rage-filled beating'
To Josh's surprise, pain erupted from his stomach, and blood from his mouth. Rachel had punched him, hard. Morgan gasped at the sight of blood. The next punch hit Josh in his cheek, pain and blood followed close again. Afterwards she slammed her fist upwards, into his jaw. There was a crack, and Morgan fainted. "Is...that...all?" asked Josh while still coughing up blood.
"I'm just getting started," replied Rachel, cracking her knuckles.
~A While Later~
Josh slumped to the floor. He was too numb to feel anything, so he just raised his hand to wipe the crimson liquid, which was now everywhere, from his mouth. The beating was over. The results were his right eye swollen to the point that he couldn't see through it, his other eye stained a dark blue, a broken arm, a sprained ankle, and a floor stained with blood. With his operating hand Josh took out his shoelaces and made a makeshift sling for his broken arm.
Josh crawled over to Morgan to wake her, after what was really twenty-five minutes but had seemed like an hour, the beating was finished. "Morgan? It's over, it's not that bad," lied Josh. He knew that this pain didn't compare to what pain Rachel had experienced, so he dismissed it for now, but also knew that he would need some story for his mom. Morgan came back from her unconscious state.
"What happened?" asked Morgan, rubbing her eyes.
"Oh, nothing much my love. The only thing that matters now is that we can now go and dance," smiled Josh. He helped her up and onto the dance floor. They swayed slowly, holding hands, and she tried to ignore his injuries and just to look right into his eye. The rest of the night went by with numerous people staring at Josh's also numerous injuries. Eventually the dance was over and it was time to go home. Josh limped out to the car that belonged to his mom. His mom was obviously in the front seat as Josh was not legally allowed to drive yet. Josh pulled the passenger side door open and got in, cradling his broken arm.
"JOSH!" his mom yelled when she saw him "What happened?" It took Josh a second to figure out what she was talking about.
"Oh," it was do or die time for Josh, again "I got pushed...into a car...and run over."
"What?" his mom screeched "Did you see the person? The car?"
"Um...no." said Josh "It happened too fast..."
"Well, you need to go to the ER," nodded Josh's mom, determined to do something that could be considered helpful. The car ride was excruciatingly boring, and that is literal. Josh's numbness began to fade and the pain came back, however Josh avoided groaning because he wanted to avoid a longer trip than necessary to the ER. The trip was also short because Josh's mom was driving way over the speed limit to get to the ER.
They pulled up to the building, skidding to a stop, making marks in their parking lot. They found a parking spot near the doors to the building. They parked and got out of the car. Josh started to walk but tripped on his sprained ankle. He fell like a log with a 'thump' onto the asphalt, headfirst. His vision started to fade as he thought 'this has been a really crappy and yet awesome night'. Then it all went black.
It was morning, Monday morning to be exact. Today was probably going to be the most boring day of Josh's life. And to start it off he had a breakfast of hospital food, hospital waffles.
Afterwards Josh started to watch TV. There weren't any good shows on, so Josh switched to watching movies. A commercial for Chainsaw came up, forcing Josh to remember what was to happen tomorrow, and mad him wish that Mondays lasted 5 minutes. But to Josh's disappointment Monday was still scheduled to be 24 hours.
After a couple of movies, lunch c
ame. Josh wasn't hungry so he threw it away. The movies got more and more boring until it turned to a romantic comedy. It was so boring that Josh turned it off and requested a book. It was brought to him twenty minutes later. By then it was time for dinner. Josh threw it with his lunch and opened the book that was brought to him. Josh now wished that he had asked for a specific book, because it was another vampire novel. 'What is it with this vampire craze?' Josh thought. Even with that Josh still read, and read, until sleep claimed him for the night. Again he dreamt, dreamt of Morgan.
"Hey, Morgan!" Josh called across the blacktop "Yo!"
"Oh, hey," Morgan said absentmindedly.
"What's wrong?" asked Josh.
"What? Oh. It's nothing," said Morgan dismissively.
"No, it isn't. Spill," Josh said commandingly.
"Fine. Yesterday, Rachel was pissed off and yelled at me. Elyssa backed her up. And now I am just mad at her, that's all."
"What?!" exclaimed Josh "That's it! I was a little mad about what she did to my arm, but now she crossed the line. You can insult and beat me all you like, but as soon as you even get close to harming my friends, you are dead meat."
"Nice," said Morgan "How long did you practice that?"
"For about one year in my head," laughed Josh.
"Well