Chapter 7

Leapfrog over something
To omit or exclude something; To skip over something.

• o 🦋 o •

I had called, texted, visited his house (they never opened)–

And… that was really all that I’d done. Because.. well, I didn’t really have more information on him..

Mica had disappeared ever since his ballet recital. I was worried sick about him. I knew something bad was gonna happen and here we are.

I had gotten desperate and asked Riley where his school was. Maybe I could find him there or at least find some info on what was up with him. Riley had been suspicious of course. I told her we’d been texting and that we’re friends now but that he wasn’t responding. She said he hadn’t been responding to her messages either. So I’m going to check it out.

I walked onto the school grounds.

Bellford Academy. Damn, this place was posh.

I looked at all the students in their uniforms. They all looked the same. One big army of teens in black and white. Finding Mica was going to be hard.

Also, I wasn’t sure I was even allowed to be here. After all, this was a private school. So that meant this school was… private? As in, not open to the public, right?

Whatever, if anyone asked I’d just say Mica was my cousin.

I grabbed one of the guy-students.

“H-hey. I’m looking for Mica Walters. Have you seen him?” I asked.

The guy looked kind of freaked out. Oh.. right.. I was sort of squeezing his shirt. I let go.

“Sorry about that.” I smiled freakishly.

“Yeah… that’s .. fine.” The guy fixed his shirt. “Uh.. who were you looking for again?” He asked, looking into the distance behind me.

“Mica. Mica Walters. About this height, super elegant. Hyper nice?”

The guy wasn’t paying attention at all.

I turned around to see what had gotten his attention.

A bunch of girls out of uniform were standing outside the fence waving at him and his friends.

“Uh, see you later, man.” The guy laughed, tapped my shoulder and ran off.

I sighed in aggravation.

Fine. I guess I’ll find him myself.

I trudged into the school earning myself weird looks from everyone.

How awkward.

Oh, well.

I asked about three people for Mica before finding out his class number. It seemed not that many people knew him, which was a huge surprise. ..I kind of expected him to be popular with the ladies.. I mean, even I could see he’s really hot and he’s the kindest person I know.

Okay that sounded like I was in love with him or something. Of course I wasn’t. I was just…

SO ANYWAY I followed the herd of posh-teens on the elegant wooden stairs of the school. It was beautiful here. They had actual paintings with golden frames on the walls. We just had stupid posters and random motivational quotes.

As I reached the top of the staircase I noticed this part of the school wasn’t dark and warm like downstairs. This place was flooding with light. Parts of the floor were a light intricate mosaic design and the there were lighter artworks here.

Alright. I need to look for class 4-b..

But apparently that wasn’t necessary anymore. I spotted Mica further down the hallway with a few guys. He was laughing and smiling like everything was okay.

I know I should feel relieved but it actually made me angry. He’d been ignoring me for four days, I was worried sick and now he was just fine?!

I took a deep, angry breath and went over to him. He’d just waved his guy friends goodbye. Hmpf. And I thought he was popular with ‘the ladies’. Seemed he was popular with the guys instead. Which was like way worse.

“Mica,” I said.

Mica turned around and he was visibly surprised to see me.

I was even more surprised cause with just the look of his eyes all my frustration melted away.

He had his hair in his signature low-bun. And… Oh God, he looked great in uniform. It didn’t suit him at all as it was something that he would normally never wear but that’s what made it look so good. The uniform consisted of black pants with white dress-shoes and a black tunic-jacket with golden buttons. Even in these fancy clothes he looked adorable. If anything they just emphasized how cute he was.

“James!” He said surprised.

I was about to say something when a random guy wrapped his arm around Mica’s shoulder and pulled Mica close to him. He kissed his head roughly.

“What are you doing?!” Mica laughed trying to pull away from him.

“Just greeting my little girlfriend.” The guy answered.

He had black hair with bright red highlights. A piercing in his eyebrow and he wore a bunch of obnoxious looking rings. I figured it was probably so that when he punched someone they’d instantly bleed.

Who was this punk and why was he calling Mica his girlfriend?

“Who’s this?” The guy said in a low voice. All his cheerfulness replaced by annoyance.

Mica got out of his grasp.

“Ace, this is my friend, James. James, this is my friend, Ace.” Mica introduced us ever so effortlessly.

I reached forward to shake his hand. Ace just looked me up and down in the most snide way.

“Why are you friends with him?” He said shamelessly, wrapping his arm around Mica again.

My mouth dropped, what a jerk!

“Ace..” Mica sighed. He gave me an apologetic look. By this point he was blushing and very embarrassed.

“I’m just saying, he doesn’t seem to be in the same league as us.” Ace gave me another bitchy look.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I took a step forward. Ace did the same.

“Okay, guys. Stop.” Mica came in between us.

He didn’t have to. It’s not like I would have punched him or anything. Ace on the other hand..

Ace took a step back.

“Come on, let’s talk. That’s why you’re here, right?” Mica said, grabbing my hand.

It made me sweat profusely and as much as I loved holding hands with him I wished he would let go.

I nodded.

Ace was glaring at me.

I wanted to stick out my tongue.

“I’ll see you later.” Mica said to Ace.

He lead me through the building all the way to the courtyard garden, smack dab in the middle of the school.

Mica sat down on one of the pristine looking benches outside. The benches at my school were usually covered in bird poop.

I sat next to him.

Mica looked into my eyes. It made my knees weak. His eyes kind of had a catlike shape to them and he had long lashes for a guy. And the color was so unusual, his eyes were like a piece of art.

I did my best to look away so that I could form a sentence.

“Where have you been?” I asked.

Mica started fiddling with his fingers. “Sorry I haven’t replied to any of your messages. I was just.. embarrassed.” He said quietly.

“About what?” I asked.

“About what happened at the ballet.. With my dad and stuff..”

“But you could’ve at least replied. I was worried sick!”

“I don’t want you to worry about me!”

“Well I’m sorry I care about you.” I answered quietly. I didn’t understand why he was so defensive about this. He acted like me worrying about him was uncalled for. His dad made him walk home after a 10 hour day filled with workouts. And before that he’d made him cry. No wonder I was worried.

“You care about me?” He said quietly.

I turned to him. “Of course I care about you. Why else would I send you a thousand messages asking if you’re okay?”

“I thought you were just being considerate.”

Is he stupid?

I sighed of frustration.

Suddenly Mica grabbed my hand. It turned my cheeks red.

“I’m really sorry. I promise I’ll answer next time. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”

I looked into Mica’s stunning eyes and nodded. “Okay.”

Mica smiled and my heart took off. The sun shone into his hair and it glowed like gold.

I was still holding his hand. His hand was soft and delicate. I caressed it.

This was probably really weird. I looked back at Mica and he seemed to be just as unsure of what to do as I was.

I think… I think I might just really like this guy. It’s strange cause I’ve never liked a guy before but.. Mica was different. He wasn’t like the other guys. Come to think of it, he wasn’t like the other girls either. He was in a league of his own.

That reminded me of the guy from before, Ace. I got annoyed just thinking about him.

“Who was that guy?” I asked suddenly.

Mica pulled his hand away. I wanted to take it back.

“That.. Ace. He called you his girlfriend..” I met Mica’s clueless gaze. “Is he… Are you guys..” I wished he wouldn’t make me finish this sentence but he still didn’t understand what I was getting at.

“Is he your boyfriend?” I said through clenched teeth.

Mica was surprised at the question. Then embarrassment colored his cheeks. “N-no! Did it look that way?!”

“He called you his girlfriend.”

“That was joke! He’s known me since I was a freshman… He’s like a brother to me.”

Was I like a brother to him too? I wondered how he felt about me. He called me his friend.. I wanted to be more than that.

“Is everything okay?” Mica asked tilting his head. Some loose strands of hair covered his eye.

Without thinking I brushed them behind his ear, ever so gently.

Mica blinked a few times and carefully met my gaze.

His look was so innocent. So clueless. I was sure he had no idea how fast my heart was beating or that he was the reason for it. My eyes went down to his plump lips. Could I kiss him now? Would he be alright with that?

Oh, of course not! We’d only met a few months ago and hung out like four times!

“Mica!” A low voice called.

We both looked at the door. Standing in the opening was a guy with green hair.

“Class is starting.” He said calmly.

“Oh! I completely forgot!” Mica muttered grabbing his bag. I got up.

“I’ll see you later, okay? I’ll text you!”

“Alright.” I smiled.

Mica ran up to the green-haired guy who gave him a pat on the head before wrapping his arm around Mica’s shoulder. It seemed one couldn’t help but want to touch Mica. There was something so irresistible about him. This precise thought made me wonder how many guys at this school agreed with me.

Oh no.