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“So this is where you were.”
Hazel raised their head, their eyes meeting with emerald green ones, a pair of eyes they really didn’t want to see at the moment. Still, they scooted over, letting Rohan take a seat beside them on the school rooftop.
“You don’t usually go up here, not even when we fight. What’s different today?” he asked, starting to unwrap the bread he bought at the cafeteria.
“Just didn’t feel like eating,” they said. Despite their words, they took the piece of bread that Rohan tore off and handed out to them, immediately taking a bite out of it.
Rohan sighed. “Surjadi. You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you? I can tell from the way you’ve been avoiding me all day. You’re a terrible liar.”
“If I’m a terrible liar then you should’ve figured out what was wrong by now,” they said in a slightly snappy tone that Rohan didn’t expect, “Kishibe.”
Oh, so we’re playing this game, huh? Well, tough luck, it allows a Player Two, he thought, crossing his arms and leaning back. “You’re really not going to tell me? I thought we were friends.”
“We’re friends? ” Hazel laughed sarcastically, turning to him. “You? Me? After you ignored me for two days? ”
Rohan stared at them, surprised. “I- I ignored you? You’re the one who hasn’t been talking to me! You’re lucky I still remembered to check up on you!”
“After two days! ”
“Who cares how long it’s been?! I - as your good friend - checked up on you. I could’ve been using this time to eat and talk with literally anyone , but I chose to talk to you, and you’re not even grateful for it?!”
“Then leave me alone and go eat and talk with those anyones you care more for than me!” Hazel yelled. “Or are you scared about your reputation? Huh? Is that it?”
“This isn’t about reputation! If anything, being near you hurts my reputation even more!”
Only when the words left his mouth did he realize the weight of them, but it was too late. Hazel stared at him, hurt in their eyes, a fuel for the blazing anger that started within them only moments after. Hazel stood up, towering over his sitting frame, fists shaking like they would swing at him at any chance given, but he knew they wouldn’t. Not since the incident in 7th grade.
“Then leave me alone, if I’m such a shameful thing to you. Stop talking to me. Just pretend I don’t exist. Keep being Mr. Perfect, teacher’s pet, top-of-the-class Rohan Kishibe like you always are.”
“Surjadi-”
“Stop talking to me!” Hazel threw something in his general direction, bouncing off the floor and sliding just next to his feet. Only when it stopped did he see that it was a piece of bread, squeezed by the force of Hazel’s fist. “Guess what, I don’t want to be near you either! You’re always belittling me even if you don’t mean to! You’re sociable and lots of people like you, your hard work always comes through, you’re better than me in everything I do- Hell, you’re better in me even in things I’m good at, not that I have any of those left now, do I?! Do you know how difficult it is for me to suddenly be second place, then third place, then not even a place and all the way to the bottom of the barrel?!”
The two stared at each other for a while, Rohan stunned by the sudden outburst and Hazel starting to calm down, wiping the tears running down their face. The school bell rang, signaling the end of their lunch break, and they turned away and ran, looking to the wire fence surrounding the roof for a split second as if considering something but deciding against it. Rohan finally registered what was going on and started to get up, running after them. “Surjadi, wait!”
If there was anything Hazel was good at, it was running away, and as he turned the corner he found that he was too late - they had disappeared in the sea of people returning to class. His best bet was that they were already back in class, and that he would see them there again, hiding away from his gaze as much as they possibly can. No matter how hard the two fought, Hazel had never let themselves skip a class.
He didn’t see Hazel in class, however, or anywhere in the school building, throughout the entire remainder of his day.