The Third Word

Chapter 2

What the hell just... happened?

I couldn't believe my eyes that I had just seen Ethan get punched in the face and fall on the ground.

The guy who'd punched Ethan was coming towards me and I just froze. He looked angry. I couldn’t stop staring at his face.

He made eye contact with me for like 2 seconds.

He was the first guy whom I had looked right in the eyes. He pushed me away and walked out.

Ethan was looking at me and I was just standing still.

Should I say something? 'Its alright, I didn't see anything.' No, he'd be mad at me.

I bit my lips, looking at my feet and then walked back to my classroom.

Canteen-

Stace was eating her burger peacefully when I spoke,” Well, I had made up my mind to talk to him.”

“Really?” she asked,” When are you going to?”

“I don’t think I will anymore."

"Why's that?" She questioned.

"I went there today and saw a guy punch him. The way he looked at me was as if he didn’t want to see me anymore. He must be embarrassed.” I told her.

“Hang on, someone punched him?” she asked, putting her burger down in the plate.

“Yeah, a guy who seemed younger than Ethan.” I answered and she unlocked her phone and started swiping aggressively.

“Is this him?” she showed me a picture on her phone and I nodded.

“I knew it! That’s Edwin, Ethan’s younger brother.” She said,” Sometimes I want to beat him but I just can’t dare to.”

“Wait, his younger brother punched him and he didn’t do anything?” I asked.

“Ethan can never hit anyone, then hitting Edwin is just impossible.” She sighed.

“Why did Edwin hit him…” I uttered.

“Who knows?” she rolled her eyes.

I couldn’t talk to him for days. I was afraid he might ignore me, although he wasn’t that kind of a person. He didn’t do lives or upload videos for a week. His 380K followers were going crazy and many started unsubscribing his channel. He acted like himself in school but something was bothering him.

Was he too hurt because of what his brother did?

11th November

I woke up cheerfully and got ready for school before time.

“What’s gotten into you?” mom laughed.

“It’s my friend’s birthday.” I said.

It was Ethan’s birthday that day and I had decided to start our conversation by wishing him. Who would be mad on their birthday?

“Your dad will take us shopping today so don’t go to cram school okay?” mom asked.

“I’ll be back early then. Bye, mom!” I left for school.

School-

I couldn't control my excitement in the first four periods. I was just waiting for the bell to ring and run to his classroom. I had bought him a black tie as a gift because it was on his wish list and in my budget.

When the bell rang, I took the gift-wrapped box and went to his classroom.

Canteen-

"I can't believe he's absent on his birthday." I whined.

"Stop crying. You can send him a request on Instagram." Stace suggested.

"You think? He gets hundreds of requests each day. He might ignore mine." I said.

"Don't be so stupid. Just give it a shot. Give me your phone." She said.

"No- I- I'll do it myself when I go home." I said.

"Bet? If you don't, I'll make a fake account and text him." She said.

"Are you for real? Don't ever do that." I said and she laughed.

Home-

I reached home at 6 when mom was getting ready to go to the mall.

"Hurry up and change." She ordered so I went upstairs to my room. I threw my bag on the bed and turned on my Laptop.

"If not now, then never." I said to myself as I opened i********: and sent Ethan a request message.

Me: Hey Ethan.

Me: I'm Gwen. Idk if you know me by name but I'm sure you've seen me. I'm in grade 12-1.

I left my laptop on and started changing because I knew my request would be lying in his DMs forever.

But I heard a notification sound.

"Some stupid advertisement or E-mail?" I muttered while slipping into my denims.

Another notification

"It's not possible." I said to myself, squinting my eyes at the screen.

He texted back.

Ethan: ur th qirness

“What…?” I uttered.

Was he drunk? Or did the phone slip out of his hands? Was he joking around with me?

I could understand the first two words were ‘you’re’ and ‘the’ but the third word was very strange.

He was typing. His status showed typing… for the next 1 minute and then he went offline.

He was typing something more but didn’t send it.

“Gwen, are you ready?” mom called out.

“5 minutes.” I replied and turned off my Laptop.

I didn’t have time for some guy who was trying to tease me. I just didn’t expect him to do that. He could’ve just deleted my request but he went ahead and typed something stupid. I bet he would be laughing at me.

"That's utter bullshit." I said, shaking my head.

"Gwen hurry. You're taking forever." Mom called out again and I hurriedly took my jacket and phone before leaving my room.

"Stace called on landline." Mom informed me when I went downstairs.

"She did?" I asked and checked my phone. It was turned off due to low battery. I sighed and walked over to the landline but mom stopped me," Call her back later sweetie. We need to head out now." I groaned and agreed.

I knew why Stace must've called- To check whether I had texted him or not. And I didn't want her to text him with a fake account and flirt with him. It was really important to inform that c***k head that I had texted him and he gave a shitty reply.