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The group did not notice when Oz stopped in his tracks and looked out among them with nervousness in his gaze. It was still earlier on in the afternoon, and collectively among Oz’s friends, they all decided the bullshit of class was not worth it and made the overall unanimous decision to make a break for it, hope Principal Giant Spider didn’t catch them, and ditch for the rest of the day.
Oz was fine with it at first. The path they were taking was mostly shaded and he would like a good lunch somewhere outside that didn’t taste like the school’s half-assed cafeteria slop, but…
Now he was stopped completely, and the only one aware of that, however, was Liam.
He stopped and turned his head once he’d glanced around at the group, and paused when there was one less with them than before. Upon seeing Oz completely halted, Liam caught the attention of the other five as he came toward him, eyebrows raised but barely visible behind his sunglasses.
“Aren’t you coming?” Vera shouted, annoyed at the hold up. Oz hesitated, keeping his head down. He seemed keen on not leaving the shade of the trees he was standing under, leaning as far back from contact with any light as he could. He looked more afraid of it than anything.
Now that made more sense. A monster from the shadows probably wouldn’t like the sunlight. It was understandable, and Liam understood the feeling quite well.
Liam came closer and stood beside him as he pulled Oz under his umbrella. Oz’s eyes widened slightly at the contact, tilting his head, but all Liam did was look straight ahead at the waiting group.
“Hmph. Not like they’d understand, would they, Oz?”
Oz laughed nervously (though it was also genuine since Liam’s little jab made the annoyed ones of the group roll their eyes). He drew closer to Liam - mainly out of nerves - when they finally stepped out of the shade, hooking their elbows together to keep them close. Thankfully, the umbrella was broad enough to protect them both - an umbrella built specifically to protect a vampire from the sunlight, but in this case to also keep a shadowy monster safe from it too.
Oz turned his head and hoped his blush wasn’t too noticeable, but it also made him miss out on the fact Liam was desperately hoping Oz hadn’t noticed the blush on his face either.