Jury

by David Dada

  He quickly walked into the gents, washed his face and stared into the mirror. It was something he did to calm himself and it was also an opportunity to admire himself. He stared at his reflection for a long time. Damn. I am really handsome! He shook his head and smiled when he thought of how vain he was. His friends always told him he was vain and he never really paid them any mind but he definitely could see it now. He took out his face towel, wiped his face dry and then took thirty seconds to do breathing exercises.

  When he was sure that he had his emotions under control, he walked out and immediately started regretting the fact that he did not stay longer to stare at his face in the mirror. There was something in the air calling people to him and he hated it.

  Under normal circumstances, a pretty, tall, light-skinned and petite girl with ginger hair would have been a welcome sight to behold as he walked out of the comfort room but these were not normal circumstances, so he rolled his eyes and immediately walked back in the direction he had come from.

  “TAYLOR!!!”

  What was it about this day that had people screaming his name? It was driving him crazy.

  “TAYLOR!!!”

  That was May, Mike’s best friend and his ex-girlfriend. They had not parted on the best of terms but they were still close friends, which many people thought was weird and he was on a mission to prove them wrong. He was one of the few people in the world who thought you could still be friends with your ex and not necessarily be awkward around them. She had definitely heard about what happened and probably thought it was a good idea to come looking for him. She was also kind of the root cause of his scuffle with Mike.

  Taylor now regretted being a part of Mike’s little secret. It had gotten him to lose his temper once and it looked like it was searching for strike two. He started whistling nonsense and did not stop until he got into class. The crowd had cleared and Mike was not anywhere to be seen which was a good thing. He headed for his seat and May walked in right after him.

  “You bloody coward. Why don’t you answer me?” She shouted.

  Taylor sighed. She was persistent and he knew there was no way he was getting rid of her unless he answered her.

  “I do not have to answer you, Maya, or anyone but I will bite.” Taylor turned and faced her. “How may I be of help to you?” He smiled.

  “I just want you to tell me why you had to fight with Mike.”

  “You say that like I am the one at fault. Why not go and ask your best friend what happened instead of mouthing off to me and you know what?” Taylor paused “Never mind. Just go and be with Mike. I am sure he needs your company now more than ever.”

  May obviously got the message he was trying to send because she moved to slap him, but someone grabbed her hand from behind and that really hurt because whoever it was, he or she squeezed hard and the nails that dug into May’s skin only helped to make matters worse.

  “If you lay a finger on him, I’ll punch your teeth in.”

  Taylor could only smile because he recognized the voice. He had closed his eyes, bracing himself for the impact of the slap and when he opened his eyes, he saw Emily, his best friend, still holding on to May’s hand. He was surprised she was here; she was not supposed to be in school today, something about her having the flu, which he could see was a lie, but he was glad nonetheless. He would not have liked to know how hard May slapped because she had always threatened him with it. He preferred it remained the legend it always had been.

  “Let go of me, Emily. You’re hurting me.” May managed to say through gritted teeth as she tried to wrestle her hand out of the grasp.

  Emily released her hand and allowed May to walk away, not taking her eyes off her. She turned to face Taylor once May had gone far enough and smiled.

  “Thanks but I did not need you to do that.” Taylor still wore a smile on his face that was met with a slap.

  There were collective gasps in the classroom. The crowd must have reconvened but they were not as much as before.

  “Wipe that grin off your face because I only stopped her so I would be the one to slap some sense into you.” Emily turned and started walking away. “Meet me outside, we need to talk.”

  Taylor was speechless. If there was anything he hated more than being slapped, it was being slapped in front of an audience and he knew Emily knew that, which made it hurt even more. He gave the death stare to one of the girls in the class that was laughing and stayed that way till she stopped laughing. He showed her his middle finger and went after Emily.

  TWO

  Emily knew she should not have slapped Taylor because she knew how much he hated being slapped. She also knew if anyone was wrong, it would have to be Mike. Taylor never liked getting angry and only got physical in worst case scenarios. She wondered why he did not get into more fights with Mike as he was always the worst case scenario, but he had found a way to get along with Mike and this had to be the worst fight they had been in. Something must have gone seriously wrong and she was going to get answers. She walked into the lecture theatre beside theirs and waited for Taylor.

  “I do not know what was going through your head, but I do not appreciate being slapped in front of everyone.” Taylor stormed in. “And the next time you pull a stunt like that, you will be searching for a new best friend.”

  Emily could not help but laugh. Taylor always had that effect on her. He never gave up the chance to tell a joke, even when he was angry.

  “You think this is funny?” Taylor cracked a smile and walked up to where Emily was.

  “Fine.” Emily put on a straight face. “I am sorry for hitting you, but you have to tell me what happened.”

  Taylor sighed and sat on a table. He looked really sad. “Mike came after me.”

  “Why?”

  Taylor put his face in his hands and stayed that way for a while. Emily wanted to give him a hug but she decided against it. She did not like it when he was sad because it made her sad. She was about asking him again when he slowly lifted his head to face her.

  “He thinks I told Chloe something he said to me and made me promise to keep secret.”

  “And what might that be?”

  Taylor cocked his head to the left. “Really? I literally just said I was supposed to keep it secret and you think I would tell you? Come on E, I gave him my word.”

  Emily hated when he cocked his head to the left. That was the “Are you kidding me?” angle. He cocked his head to the right when he was teasing or flirting. She mentally shook herself when she realized how weird it was that she knew that.

  “So, you didn’t tell Chloe.” Emily knew he would never go back on his word but she still asked anyway.

  “I obviously did not. I have not even spoken to Chloe for close to a month now.”

  “Why is that?”

  “There is nothing for me to say to her. Plus, I would rather read a book than talk to that bundle of sass.”

  Classic Taylor answer, Emily thought. He got along with everyone but he also preferred to keep to himself. He only spoke when spoken to and the only exceptions to this rule he had were Mike, May and herself. Books were kind of like his hiding place and that was something they had in common except she was more social and prettier.

  “You’re a cunt.”

  “You are right about that.”

  They both smiled and he stood to leave.

  “Hey Taylor.” Emily knew he was not going to like what she was about to say. “You really should apologize to Mike.”

  Taylor looked back at her and frowned. “Why would I do that? He came after me!” He started pacing. “If anyone should be apologizing it should be him.”

  “I know that, you know that, hell, Mike knows that but he isn’t going to forget about you kicking his ass and he isn’t big on forgiveness.”

  “I do not give a shit. He deserved the ass kicking he got because I warned him, twice.”

  “Well I give a shit Taylor. If he decides to get revenge, I’ll be forced to get involved and I am
sick and tired of getting dragged into your pissing matches.” Emily snapped.

  Taylor stared at her like he wanted to argue but decided against it. He looked out the window.

  Emily waited a while before she spoke again. “You know I am right. I am always right.” She smirked. “Plus, if you don’t apologize to him, you’ll be searching for a new best friend.”

  Taylor turned to face her and smiled. “I hate you.”

  “I love you too.”

  “That is my line.”

  “Well, I just used it and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

  “That is a good one.” Taylor turned and started leaving but stopped when he got to the door. “By the way, why are you in school? I thought you said you have the flu.”

  “Oh well. I guess it went away once I saw the video of the fight as it was streaming live.”

  “Think I went too far?”

  “Nah. It was the right dose of what he deserved.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Taylor smiled and left.

  Emily sighed. She knew he was going to apologize but she was not sure if he would get the chance to. Mike was definitely planning his revenge and if the past was anything to learn from, Taylor was definitely going to forget about apologizing and a war would start. Why did these two always have to fight? I need new friends, she thought to herself, but she loved Taylor way too much and if she did not rein him in, who would?

  ***

  The OakCreek college library was every student’s dream. Students did not really like going to libraries but this library actually made you want to stay in it. It was as if the owners of the school had gotten ideas from a fifteen-year-old boy when planning the library. Apart from its vast collection of books and its wide study area, it boasted a cyber library that was stocked with both iMacs and Windows pcs, catering to everyone’s taste. There were about five different study rooms, a mini cinema where they mostly showed films made by students of the school, a conference room and three gaming rooms. That last part caught the attention of most people every time it was mentioned.

  The gaming rooms had the latest consoles and different arcade games, the kind of stuff that made for weekly tournaments. There were the popular ones; FIFA, NBA 2K, WWE 2K, C.O.D and if you were not into those games, you could also go old school with Donkey Kong, Super Mario, Street Fighter and many others. No one was left out.

  Mike was currently seated in one of those rooms playing FIFA 18 on the PS4. He had a dislike for the Xbox that may or may not have been a side effect of him constantly losing to Taylor on that console. He did not have much luck on the PlayStation either but he had managed to win once so he stuck to it and kept trying his luck. All in all, he was not really good at gaming but he would never admit it.

  May walked into the library and headed straight to where Mike was seated. Her hand still hurt. Emily always had to ruin her moments but she was glad that Taylor still got slapped. How she would have loved to be the one doing the slapping. She saw the game Mike was playing and immediately shook her head.

  “Really?! FIFA 18.” May sat beside him. “You are shit at FIFA”

  “Get a controller and let’s see how good you are.” Mike did not take his eyes off the TV screen. “By the way, what took you so long?”

  May got a controller and sat back down beside him. He quit the match he was playing and started a new one. She selected Manchester City and Mike went with his favourite team, Real Madrid. They adjusted their team formations and kicked off.

  “I took the stairs. How’s your face?”

  “Funny”

  She did not even bother trying to hold back her laughter. “Forgive me but I cannot stop laughing at the fact that Taylor kicked your ass and you didn’t even get a punch in. What happened?”

  “He got lucky. I wasn’t expecting it.”

  “Or he’s just stronger than you.”

  This was fun. It was easy to get Mike off the edge and May lived for that.

  “You seem to be having a swell time poking fun at me.” Mike noticed her nursing her wrist. “What happened to your hand?”

  “That bitch Emily. She stopped me from slapping Taylor.”

  “What did she say when she grabbed your hand? I am sure she said something.”

  “Try sounding more like a fan and if you must know, she said “I’ll punch your teeth in if you lay a finger on him”.” May did her Emily impression and they both started laughing.

  “I knew it. They have catchphrases for everything. You’re useless”

  “I am going to let that slide.” May paused the game and turned to him. “I have a way of getting back at Taylor.”

  “What do you have in mind May?” Mike knew he was not going to like whatever it was she had planned.

  “You know how both you and Taylor always talk about wanting to be lawyers? Well it got me thinking and I came up with something you’ll both enjoy. Why don’t we have a mock trial, like the one you are always talking about? We can ask Professor Wishbourne to be the judge. This way you get to air any of his dirty laundry without looking bad.”

  “We both know he’s clean.”

  “Don’t worry your pretty head. I’ll focus on getting us something while you focus on winning but first I need to know, did he really tell Chloe about our one-night stand?”

  Mike shook his head. “You and I know he never goes against his word and he gave me his word.”

  “Then why go after him?”

  Mike sighed. “I am not sure anymore. It just felt like the right thing to do at the time.”

  “Doesn’t matter. We’ve got a trial to prepare for so go work up a lawsuit to slap him with”

  “What’s the lawsuit going to be about?” Mike really hoped she would not have an answer.

  “Aren’t you the one that’s supposed to know these things?” May thought for a few minutes. “Uhm how about battery? He hit you.”

  “Yes, but I am sure there’s video evidence somewhere that shows me attacking him first.” Mike explained. “Taylor is way too good to let the suit last too long. He’ll get it thrown out.”

  “Do you have to rain on my parade? Even if he gets out of that one, we’ll find something else to go after him for. We’ll keep throwing things till something sticks.”

  “Fine. I’ll work on it.”

  Mike got up and left the library. He was not going to get anywhere by arguing with her. He did not like the idea and if he told May that, she was going to say he was not as good as Taylor which was true in some sense. He and May were a good team but Taylor and Emily had a chemistry that always had him wanting to be a part of it. He never liked declaring war against Taylor and that’s what serving him with a lawsuit was but if going through with it would make May happy, he would do it.

  May on the other hand was not all too worried. She switched Mike’s team controls to computer and checked to see the difficulty was on World Class. She cracked a smile when she saw it was and got to playing.

  ***

  Taylor was seated in the lecture theatre alone. He had needed a place to clear his head. Why did he always have to be the bigger person? Why was he the one who had to apologize? Mike had a larger share of the blame and usually that meant he was the one to apologize. One thing was true though, a war with Mike was to be avoided. Mike was smart but he never relied on his wits to win: he preferred to play dirty. A war would make things complicated.

  Taylor drove the thoughts away and got his notes out of his bag. The quiz had been moved since the professor was not going to show up and everyone had gone to get lunch so he chose to stay behind to work on a few of his undone assignments.

  The door opened and he looked up to find Mike walking towards him.

  “See you in class for a mock trial because I am suing your ass for battery and assault.” Mike dropped a folder on his table.

  “A mock trial?” Taylor picked up the folder and scanned through the content. “This is a good one. I am surprised you were able to get this do
ne.”

  “I am surprised you still look down on me” Mike sat in the chair in front of him.

  “How long did it take you to put this together?”

  “Five minutes.”

  “Impressive.” Taylor smiled and looked at Mike. “You know, I was going to apologize to you.”

  “You were going to apologize?” Mike looked stunned.

  “Yup and I still will. I am sorry. I admit I went too far earlier.”

  Mike was not sure what was going on. He had just waged war with Taylor and he was apologizing?

  “If you think apologizing now will make me forgive you, it won’t.”

  “It does not matter. It is what it is and well, what I see is a good opportunity to kick your ass at something else so you also have my gratitude.” Taylor smirked.

  “You think this is a joke? Your arraignment is in an hour.”

  “That is way too early you prick.”

  “I really don’t give a shit. This isn’t like a real court and I want you punished as soon as possible.”

  “Are you sure you want to do this or did Maya put you up to it?”

  “Why would you ask that?”

  “Well, I saw your reaction when I said I wanted to apologize. Deep down, you do not want to go to war and it is the same for me and you know I did not do shit to you that is not justifiable so you will be starting a losing battle.” Taylor relaxed back into his chair. “You know you were wrong and we can just end it all right here, right now.”

  “Not a chance.” Mike stood up.

  “Then please leave. I have a mock trial to prepare for.” Taylor picked up his phone and dialled Emily’s number. “See you in our not so real court.”

  “See you in an hour.”

  Taylor smiled as he watched Mike leave. This was what Emily warned against. He was to apologize and avoid war but Mike already had his mind set and Taylor was glad he was going to get to act like a lawyer which was a win-win. Now he just needed Emily to pick up her damn phone.