Repeat and Retribution

Chapter 15

Crystal knew she shouldn’t get involved with Clyde again, but after hearing those stories from Larse’s group she was now suddenly in conflict with her self.

There was a part of her that kept shouting that she should at least let the man know what was happening, but there was also a part of her that kept nagging that she should just let him be.

It bothered her so much that she wasn’t able to realize the person sitting next to her because she had been so deep in thought to notice. She was only jolted back to her senses when she felt a quick tap on her shoulder.

“Hey!” Larse greeted.

The man’s smile was wide and very sunny, showing the dimples on her face, his eyes was almost squinting from it.

Crystal felt a bit off and uncomfortable, since the memory of yesterdays was still clear in her mind. But It was of course their first day again of class, thus the reason why the young man was so enthusiastic.

“Hey,” she just says.

Yet it came out in a low and ragged voice. She couldn’t help sounding indifferent and uninterested as her mind kept shouting at her to avoid this person at all cost.

“You alright?” Larse asked, worry was showing in his face as his brows furrowed.

Crystal just gave a half smile as she fixed the hair that suddenly covered her before looking at him.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she states, trying to make her voice as sweet and lively as possible.

She knew there wasn’t a point in ditching the man instantly like that without any reason, as that would really look unusual and rude.

“You seem to be spacing out,” he says as he pulls his chair to get closer to hers.

There was now a tingling sensation in her palm right now, hearing the conversation in her mind again. She could not help but feel goosebumps knowing that his man and Dana were screwing around. The thought just made her cringe, knowing the two were well aware of what they were doing and seem to not be bothered by it.

“I was just thinking about something,” she says lips straightening as her mind wandered off into that thought again.

“Really, what about?” Larse continued to ask, his face getting a little too close for her comfort.

The man kept giving her that smile of his that was now starting to annoy her, though it would seem that it wasn’t his intention to do that.

“Something personal,” she just answers, though her voice was now starting to become more monotoned.

She swallowed hard from trying to keep her composure and avoiding her anger from showing.

But Larse seemed to have notice the sudden discomfort Crystal had as she really didn’t bother to turn while talking. The man quickly straightened up and was now looking around, suddenly unable to make eye contact.

“Oh, okay,” he just says.

Crystal just gave him a nod before looking back at the book that she was reading, wanting to just erase all that tension a while ago. There was a brief moment of silence before Larse decided to say something again.

“By the way, the team’s going to have dinner after practice. I was thinking if you’d like to come along?” he asks.

His voice was a bit more lower this time, like that of a child, giving a puppy dog look as he stared straight at her.

Though it sounded sincere and the man look really cute in the way he was asking, she could not help the nagging voice behind her head telling her that there was something fishy about the invitation.

“No thanks, I can’t stay up that late,” She just says remembering that she had a lot of chores to do when she got home.

“Oh c’mon, can’t you at least come to the practice,” Larse whined.

Though she did remember promising to do such a thing, it never occurred to her that the man was going to look forward to it. She knew that the so called practice took hours and she didn’t really get the point of waiting that long in the gym, plus after what she had heard between the man and his friends, she knew it was bound to cause a stir of gossips and telltales after.

“Larse, I have a curfew, remember?” She just says in the sweetest tone she can muster.

Reminding the man what she had said before over and over again as he would always ask her out during their first semester.

“You can just slip out this once can’t you?” Larse starts off again, but this time he seemed more bent on getting what he wanted.

Crystal let out a sigh sensing the inevitable confrontation that was about to happen. She knew that kid of tone, since she would usually hear it from Clyde before when he wanted something.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t,” she says in a soft and melodic voice to try to mellow things down.

Yet the young man seem to be adamant of getting her to come as he suddenly leaned closer to her once more.

“Please, can’t you just come up with an excuse?” he says in a pleading manner this time.

Before Crystal could even answer a shadow suddenly loomed over the two of them. She couldn't help but looked at the man standing right in front of her, eyes piercing as if it was staring right into her soul.

“Hey man, she already said no,” the man said.

It was Clyde that intervened between the two of them, he must have sensed the discomfort that she was feeling at the moment from the non stop advancement of the other man.

Though she didn’t want to feel relieved at the moment she could not help but smile, seeing the chivalrous young man that she remembered.

It seemed that didn’t really go that well as Larse stood up, eyes firm and straight. The two were summing up each other as they gave gazes to one another.

“I’m not talking to you,” Larse said in a deep voice. Face contorted from the forced grin that he had.

“And she already said no.” Clyde was unfazed as he stood his ground, arms clenching and ready for trouble as he answered back.

Crystal suddenly felt panicked realizing the tension between the two. She was sure that Clyde wasn’t the type to easily lose his temper like that and Larse wasn’t the kind of man that would get easily provoked. Yet it seemed like there was fire in both the men’s eyes. seeing the grin on Larse face she seemed to have

“Maybe you should mind your own business,” Larse states smirking as his face came closer to Clyde.

“Says the man who can’t mind his own,” Clyde answers not backing away.

Upon hearing that Crystal couldn’t help but remember the thing regarding about the two. She suddenly felt that there was something already going between the two, she thought that Clyde might already have an idea on what was going on between Larse and Dana.

Thankfully the professor comes in before the two was even able to raised their fist. Everyone was quick to scatter back to their respective chairs, though it took a little while longer for the two young men to go back to theirs.

She can sense the bad blood that was going on between the two, since she was quite sure that it was impossible that she would be the reason for the conflict between the two.

In order to avoid any more confrontations Crystal was quick on her feet after that. Once the class finished she was already out of the room.

“Hey! Hey Crystal wait up!” the voice echoed behind her.

She was surprised to see Larse running after her, bags dragging and panting as the man manuevered himself around several other students just to get to her.

“Hey,” she just say as she turns to face him.

Larse frowned as he noticed the sudden poker face. “Do we have a problem here?” he asks.

“Why?” Crystal smiles as she hugged her books in front of her to keep the man from getting any closer.

“I mean, you’re acting weird,” Larse says scratching his head in confusion at the sudden change.

It was obvious that she wasn’t able to hide her indifference anymore as she wasn’t really good at that. She wasn’t really feeling good about it, but she was just not feeling comfortable with the man after what she found out.

“Aren’t you the one acting weird,” she answers back.

She was now sure something was not right as she too was caught off guard at the sudden change in the mans behavior. Larse wasn’t really that pushy before and was quite respectful when it came to her personal space, that’s why she could not help but say those words as she was quite surprise at the abrupt approach.

“What! What did I do?” he chuckled, suddenly avoiding her gaze.

It was on that moment that she decided to end their budding friendship as she was starting to become aware that something bad was going to come out of it.

“I’m not your girlfriend Larse. I’m just your classmate, remember,” she states as she looks him straight in the eye with a serious look.

Larse swallowed hard upon seeing this, obviously caught off guard at the comment.

“Well, yeah, I know that,” he just says with a half smile somewhat looking hurt.

“Then why are you making a big deal when I said no?” Crystal continued as she wasn’t really letting herself get affected by such actions.

She’s well aware of those kind of manipulations, seeing how many times it had happened to people she knew, plus the fact that her best friend Brittany had warned her about it.

She let out a sigh suddenly feeling her lonely without her close friend. But she remembers that Brittany wasn’t bound to transfer to her school until the second semester, so there was no chance that she would be able to see her now.

“All right, I didn’t think you thought of it that way, I was just being nice,” Larse scoffs.

The man was obviously offended by the words that came out of Crystal’s mouth. But there was no way that she was backing out now, seeing as the man was starting to show his true colors.

“Thanks, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she just says, waving goodbye as she turns.

“Yeah, whatever,” Finally realizing that there was no point in his actions, Larse just stood there, watching her walk away.

Though Crystal felt bad about it, she knew she had to burn bridges as she wasn’t really sure of what Larse intentions were. He was just a fluke within her current life as she really didn’t get along with the man during her previous lifetime.

Burning bridges was a thing that she knew she had to do as early as now. For she did not want to make the same mistakes again.

When she thought that she was over one issue another one suddenly appears in front of her. As the unlikely couple were blocking her way.

“What is your problem?” Clyde hisses pain etched on his face.

Dana just sighed. “I just don’t think this is working out right now,” she says pouting.

“What!” That cause an instant change in Clyde’s face, his sweet and calm demeanor was suddenly tranformed into a menacing one.

“Baby, please understand, I want to focus on my studies first,” Dana tried to touch the young mans cheeks to calm him.

But Clyde was not having none of it. “Bullshit!” Grabbing the girls hand he glares at her.

“Baby, please understand!” Dana purrs, trying to calm the man down.

The two then end up quiet as they noticed Crystal standing a few feet away from them watching watching with a smirk on her face.

“You have a problem?” Dana hisses at her.

“Do you?” She says, the line on her face getting even wider seeing the young woman’s annoyance.

“Piss off!” Dana shouts.

Crystal raises an eyebrow in amusement, an Idea suddenly formed in her mind as she walks away smirking and feeling both pity and satisfaction from what was happening.

There was a though that began building up in her thought as she was now piecing together some parts in her life and some things were starting to become clearer and cleared as if something was trying to make her see things that she did not know before.