“Oh don’t worry, we won’t tell Lemon… yet”
Those words have hunted you ever since you left Sunny Flare’s house. You were not even sure if you liked Lemon that way. Sure she was pretty, cool and fun to be with, but you had no idea if you had any common interests or anything like that. You do like music, and she clearly does so that was one thing? She loves roller skating, but you never tried it, so that would be both funny and embarrassing to do, but that was not a common thing. Ugh, why were you even thinking about all this in the first place? Just because you liked someone doesn’t mean it will get you anywhere with them, right?
Well not with that attitude for sure, and neither if you do not do something for it to happen, but the real question is… do you want anything to happen? Look at your options here… you barely just made a few friends. Twilight was cute, but she was probably not interested in you, and you certainly did not want to ruin the friendship you have with her rushing things. Sunny Flare or Sugarcoat? They both know you are more interested in Lemon than them. Sour Sweet was a huge no… that only left you with two options. Indigo Zap, and Lemon Zest.
On the one hand, you had a really athletic, sports like girl who likes to have fun with some friendly competitions and a few bets and damn you were addicted to gambling. You could lose for sure some times, but you did not care. If the prize is worth, then you would take your chance, and Indigo was the kind of girl that would keep your life active with that gambling desire and not take it too far were you would actually do something really stupid you can’t fix, like betting money against the mafia or something like that.
On the other hand however, you had a fun party girl, with a really good sense of humor and a really cheerful attitude. Lemon was the soul party of Crystal Prep, and the designated DJ of course. Her taste on music was great, and her smile was almost hypnotizing. She was pretty cute as well, but there was the same problem you had with Twilight. You just began this friendships, and trying to reach for more than a simple friendship is a really big risk. You could potentially drive them away… and since you had almost no experience in relationships, maybe it was best not to risk the biscuit this time around.
No, that was going to be a problem for future you. Present you needs to focus on one thing, and one thing only… not screw up big time. You were still walking in thin ice with the shadowbolts after all.
Speaking of which, your phone suddenly began buzzing about in your nightstand. Who could it be this late? Maybe you forgot something in Sunny Flare’s house? As you picked up your phone, you frown and looked at the number. You did not have this number in your agenda and could not recognize it, so you hesitated for a moment before picking up “Hello?“
“Hello Anon, it’s Sugarcoat. Sunny Flare gave me your number” And knowing her, she probably gave it to her friends as well. The only reason why you gave it away was to make sure you could stay in contact just in case you want to go back to work on that history project, like if you’ll need to.
“Hey Sugarcoat… to what do I grant this surprise?” You asked casually as you smile. It was pretty rare to receive a call, especially from her.
“Don’t hurt Lemon” She said flat and simple waiting for your response.
You were a little confused and not all too sure what to say, or even what she meant “Uhhh, excuse me? Why would I hurt Lemon?”
“Do you like her or not?”
“Well… I mean… I guess she is pretty cool and all...”
Before you could finish your sentence, you were interrupted by her “It’s a simple question with a simple answer. Do you like her, yes or no?”
“Well… I guess… Yes?” It was more of a yes than a no at the moment to be honest, but you still had to give it some thinking.
“Then please, don’t be a douche like the last guy who tried to go out with her” Without any other words, she hung you up. Not only you were worried about why Sugarcoat would think you would try anything with Lemon, but you were also worried as to what happen in the past. From what you heard and seen, Lemon has never stopped smiling one day since she was in Crysal Prep.
Maybe she had some sort of problem before? Or she never let her bother it on the outside but was hurting her on the inside? Who knows. You would need to look into this ‘problem’ sooner or later, maybe if she feels confident enough with you once your friendship gets stronger, then you will be able to talk to her about that.
Finally Friday! Your favorite day of the week for obvious reasons… It was hamburger Friday! And who doesn’t like a big juicy and delicious hamburger? It doesn’t necessarily need to be a meaty hamburger either, vegetarian hamburgers are delicious as well! But there was a problem. Considering how popular they are, they run out pretty fast and you hardly ever get a chance to even get near one. First come first served and all that.
But you simply had to mess that up as well.
As you walked inside the cafeteria, you already began regretting your decision of staying longer after Algebra to ask your professor about any doubts you might have left about the new topic you just learned but at which cost? Sure, by doing this, it would help you in the long run, making it easier for you to pass your next exam, but now you were probably end up having no hamburger at all. All you could do now was pray to the gods of lunch to give you a hamburger.
Unfortunately your prayers were not answered and you could see how one student was taking the last burger away in his tray, leaving you and other students groaning in frustration because you did not even have a chance to take a good look at those delicious master pieces. At least there were other choices that were almost as good, at least in your book that is. Maybe some other students even hated those hamburgers.
Not many things fancy your eyes except for one thing. A simple bowl of Ramen was displayed on the corner almost like if it was left behind and no one seemed to be going for it. Either because it was bad, or people were not interested in it, you decided to take a chance and get those noodles. Once you had the bowl, a small bottle of water and an apple pie for dessert, and after making sure there were no SourSweets on the way to which you could accidentally drop your food, you head straight to your usual table to find that someone was waiting there for you there.
“Hey Anon, I was beginning to think that you were not coming or something”
“Hey Twi. Sorry about that, the line to buy the food was huge and I did not even get a chance to get one of those hamburgers everyone has been talking about all week”
Or at least that you overheard others talk about. No one has actually said anything to you about them personally and since Twilight usually doesn’t eat that kind of stuff so it was logical she did not said anything to you either. She in fact had her own food that she brought from her house right now. A salad Caesar with some orange juice. Twilight was the kind of girl who prefers to go for the healthier choice when it came to food, it was a rare sight seeing her with any sort of junk food as her lunch or dinner.
“Well, at least you are here now”
The way she said that was all not too reassuring. You could feel how this words were filled with both sadness and relief, but mainly, it seemed like she was angry… You were about to question what was that all about, but then it dawn upon you. You were her only friend, or at least you think you were considering she never hangs with anyone else other than you when you go and make homework or projects together, or rather… she does most of the work.
You could not think of a proper response to that so you just blurted out what came to your mind in a hurry, almost like you did not even mean it and sound a bit desperate.
“Of course I am! I will always be there for you? That’s what friends are for, right?”
Maybe it was a little cheesy, but it was the best you could come up with at the moment. At the very least, Twilight seemed to let out a weak smile. She did not all too convinced about your response and frankly, neither did you in a situation like this.
“Thanks”
That was all she said. Clearly something was on her mind, but you were afraid to ask what it was so you just remain silent about it. The rest of your lunch was pretty quiet, not only the tension had built up, but the few glances you both shot at each other, made it even harder to talk to one and other. Neither of you were really the kind of person to “open up” or were easy to talk to.
You had to say something… this was one of the few times you could spend with her… lunch, PE and well, when you need her help with studying. Those seemed to be the only times you could free up in your ‘busy’ schedule of playing games and wasting your time on the internet.
“So, I heard you got another perfect grade on Biology?”
You asked with an awkward smile trying to ease this silence into some sort of conversation. Even though you already knew the answer, you wanted to hear it from her… but she did not even grant you a nod nor a look. She was just staring down at her food, playing with it, pushing it around with her fork for a solid 30 seconds before she finally looked up at you. Her eyes were filled with pain and worry, and this, made you feel the same way.
“Why do people hate me and only try to use me?”
That was certainly something you were not expecting to be asked… you had no idea how to answer or even if you should answer. All you could do was stare at her, but she did not seem all to happy about that.
“Well?”
“I… umm, you see…. Well….”
“Do you hate me?”
“What? What kind of question is that?”
Was she thinking that you were using her as well? If you think about it… you kind of were. So far, all you did together outside of school was well… take her back to your place so she could help you with upcoming exams or homework, never to just, hang out or something like that.
The fact that you also avoided her question with another question did not ease her up, if anything, it just made her even angrier and her gaze was turning from one of sadness, to rage.
“You are just like the others, aren’t you? You are just trying to use me! That’s all you did so far!”
Of course not Twilight! You are my best friend That is what you would like to tell her, but as soon as you open up your mouth, something prevented you from saying those words and only air managed to come out from your mouth. The fact that she was questioning you and the fact that it took you by surprise, caused your brain to just shut down and not be able to give her a proper response.
“I knew it. The rumors were true! I did not want to believe them, but you just proven me that you are like them! Don’t even bother talking to me again”
With those sharp words stabbed through your heard, all you could do was stare as your friend stood up with her eyes covered in tears, taking her bag with her and quickly running away from you leaving her food behind. No matter how much you tried to move your legs to run after her or even shout her name to try and stop her, they would simply not answer. You were dumbstruck about this situation. You were only brought back to reality when other students began gossiping and whispering things about what just happened.
First you mess up with Sour Sweet, then with Lemon, now with Twilight… boy the planets were not aligned in your favor this week or something, or you were just stupid. Either way, you were back to being along, and not only that… people were talking about you, and most likely… not happy and fun things.
You could not bear with the pressure. You had to leave… this was too much to take in. Before anyone could even get near you to mock you, you decided to just take your stuff and leave. Who cares if your day was not over? You really did not want to go to class right now, and just like the coward you are… instead of looking for Twilight to solve this right now… you decided to run. Always running from the past.