I turned in the direction that had grabbed his attention and made eye contact with Mel. She was standing in the doorway holding the water bottle that I couldn’t find earlier.

“Here’s your water bottle, douchebag,” she said in a low voice, dropping it on the floor. My heart fell and I didn’t know what to do or say, but she was already gone.

“Well, that was awkward,” Donny observed.

“Donny?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut the hell up.” I grabbed the bottle and left.

I had to find Mel and tell her I didn’t want her to leave King’s, but I was afraid the damage was done. I knew she had a free period during my gym class, but I had no idea where she was. I checked her usual hangouts: underneath the stairs by the cafeteria — no luck; outside by the bleachers — also no luck. I sent her a text but I didn’t hear back. I was starting to freak out. I felt like there was a ball pit inside of my chest and everything was being swooshed around.

The last place I checked was the library. I saw her back to one of the bookshelves. I could tell it was her because she was wearing her skeleton keytar button-up shirt. I walked up with a knot of worry inside of my heart and said, “Hey, Mel.”

She turned around. She looked pissed when she saw me.

“Do you have something to say to me?” she asked angrily.

“Umm.”

“If you’re gonna say something, say it.”

Wow. I was completely lost for words. We had never actually gotten into a fight before, so this was new territory for me.

“Yeah. Maybe. Can we go sit down somewhere?”

“Under the stairwell. Come on,” she told me. I followed.

I tried to hold her hand but she swiped it away from me and said, “Not the time.”

When we made it beneath the stairwell, she rounded on me. “Why didn’t you just tell me? Why did I hear that you don’t want me in your kickboxing class like that?”

“I do want you there,” I said feeling tense. “When I said that to Donny, I was jealous.”

“Jealous? Why?”

“Because you’re really good.”

“Oh, come on. You’re upset because your girlfriend can do fancier kicks than you?”

“Fragile masculinity. I know,” I sighed.

“That’s one word for it, dude. I wanted to help you. We can’t go jogging, we can’t do stupid planks, and we can’t do push-ups outside anymore. Winter is going to be here soon so it’s too cold for that. I wanted to join the class and help motivate you. I also wanted to join because I miss it. My parents couldn’t afford for me to continue karate after the divorce, so I was alone. I never really got over it. I always kinda feel alone, Adrian.”

A wave of regret unfolded inside me. I wasn’t fair to her. I didn’t want to take that sense of community away from her. I knew she was lonely, and this could be good for her. She was right.