The sunlight filtered in through the window, waking me from my slumber. My phone still lay in my hand. Shit, I never replied to Mai. She must think that I am mad at her.

Shit. My phone was dead. I placed it on the charger, turning it on. It booted up and I was shocked to see 47 notifications, most coming from FacePage. What was going on? I clicked on the first notification, to my horror, I was tagged in a picture of Mai and I. It was from last night, that moment between us, our lips almost intertwined as we embraced. The post read:

“Mai is nothing but a two-timing BITCH. Caught in the act. Tokuda deserves better.”

The post had went viral around the school, classmates reacting with angry emojis, commenting horrible remarks about Mai, telling her to go die. She was tagged in every grizzly comment.

My heart raced. Had Mai seen these yet? Had Tokuda? I threw the phone down, plunging myself out the room and down the hallway to Tokuda’s room. I swung open the door to find Tokuda fast asleep. Mai was right. It wasn’t fair to do this to him. He was my best friend, I had to make things right.

I gently sat next to the bedside, careful not to disturb Tokuda.

“Tokuda,” My voice barely audible. “Tokuda”

Tokuda stirred, opening his eyes, focusing on me.

“What are you doing in my room man? What time is it.” He rolled over to go grab his phone from the nightstand.

“Tokuda, before you look at your phone, I got to tell you something. You deserve to know hear it from me. I know Mai already told you, but I wanted to tell you.”

Tokuda rolled back over, raising up and adjusting himself on his pillow, giving me a listening nod.

I could feel the guilt, the pain I know that I had caused both of them, the worry for what was to come, as I tried to know where to start. I could feel the tears welling into my eyes as I looked downward unto the bed.

“Tokuda, I don’t know what to say.” I gritted my teeth. Feeling the heat of my tears racing down my face. “I am sorry. You have always been there for me. You are my best friend, my brother, and I betrayed your trust. Someone caught a picture of Mai and I almost kissing last night. I wanted to be the one to tell you. I love Mai, but I don’t want to do anything to destroy what we have. Forgive me in my moment of weakness. I swear it won’t happen again.” I looked back at Tokuda who sat on the bed with a soft smile on his face. He reached forward to me, bringing me into a brotherly hug.

“You fell in love with Mai dude. I know. It’s a stupid thing to do, but, I understand. Besides, I have known that you had a thing for her since middle school. I should of known you would finally grow up and grow a pair.” My eyes widened. He definitely was more discerning than I gave him credit for.

“You knew? Since middle school? I didn’t even know that I loved her then. How did you?” I put my head back down analyzing a whole decades worth of moments and interactions between all of us. Was it really that obvious? I felt my face getting flustered. Tokuda put his hand behind his head, giving a hearty Tokuda laugh.

“Akira, don’t worry about it, you are my brother dude.” His voice grew serious, “Plus, I haven’t been the best boyfriend to Mai. I don’t blame her for wanting us to go on break or for almost kissing you. If I am being honest, I have pushed Mai away these last few months. And, I might have kissed another girl.”

I raised my head up, turning it slowly to meet his gaze. My face strained as I kept in the anger. “what do you mean, you might have kissed another girl?”

Tokuda sighed. “Its just that girls are always throwing themselves at me. It’s so hard to thwart their advances. They tell me how handsome I am, and cool, and they smell and look so good. I couldn’t help myself.”

I took a deep breath, trying to rationalize that Tokuda had went through with what Mai and I attempted. It was only fair for me to be reasonable.

“When did it happen? Who was it?”

Tokuda smirked, “So you want to know the gory details huh? Well, it wasn’t just one girl, it was a few girls if I am being honest. I had went to a mixer with some of the guys from soccer and there were these hot babes from other schools there. I ended up making out with three of them. Oh and then, Sano from class 3-B, You know that hot chick with the long purple hair and big boobs? Well, me and her ended up going all the way one night in the storage room after practice. I also kissed Megumi a few weeks ago during a spin the bottle game.”

He said it so proudly, like Mai didn’t even exist. I clinched my fist, showing my disgust as Tokuda rambled on and on about his women conquests. What happened to Tokuda? I’ll admit we had been a little distant lately with him being in sports and a popular guy. But he had always remained that humble happy-go-lucky guy when we were home or hanging out. What was going on? Who replaced Tokuda with this douchebag?

“Oh and Megumi gave me a blowjob, it was fucking amazing, Mai never does stuff like that. She is so hot too. I guess now that me and Mai are done, I could go for her now.

“SHUT UP you BASTARD!” I couldn’t take it anymore. Hearing Tokuda move on from Mai like she was just something to be thrown away.

I looked at Tokuda, If looks could kill, then Tokuda would be dead. “You have been cheating on Mai this whole time? What the fuck is wrong with you? Do you not care about Mai at all? Does she not matter at all to you?” I screamed, feeling the rage exude from my body.

“Woah dude, hold on man, we are high-schoolers, of course I care about Mai, but I want to have fun. Sure, I was faithful in middle school, but this is high school man, all these girls are primed and ready for the taking. Mai’s pretty and all but I need a little something more than Mai to be satisfied. She lacks in the breast department dude, and she won’t even let me go all the way with her, so I have had to get it from girls who will.”

“I SAID SHUT UP!! Do you even hear yourself right now? What the fuck is wrong with you? Why didn’t you just break up with Mai if she wasn’t enough for you? Does she know you have been cheating on her?”

Tokuda put his hand on my shoulder. It felt like scorching fire with the amount of anger that was building inside me.

“Akira, I do hear myself. It’s not that serious. Relax. Guys cheat, its normal. Plus, other than the sex, Mai is a good girlfriend. She cooks, cleans, is smart, she even has given me a handjob once or twice. We’ve been together so long, I would hate to waste all the time I have invested in her. I would like to marry her eventually after I have had my fun. Can’t settle down with just any slut am I right?”

I couldn’t take it anymore. I reared back and punched Tokuda in the face with the force of all my fury and built up rage. “FUCK YOU!!”

Tokuda fell off the bed, his face oozed blood from his nose. He chuckled, wiping the blood rolling down his chin. “Who knew you had it in you man? I have never seen you in this state. For now, go ahead and take my sloppy seconds, I will be back with Mai sure enough. Her and I both know that when it comes to us, we are endgame. But go ahead, have fun trying to get into her pants.” He laughed.

The anger had reached its tipping point, my face burning with acid hot tears of rage. I ran down the hall, grabbing my skateboard and left. I skated along the narrow streets, the hot tears drying to my cheek. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and called Mai.

It rang for what seemed forever. She never picked up. I tried again but she didn’t answer. I began to get worried.

“Please let her be home and okay” I murmured softly to myself, letting the wind drown out my thoughts.