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All the sounds are muffled. I see their mouths moving, but it doesn’t make any noise. They’re holding up their test papers, showing each other what they got. "What'd you get?" Akrai asks me. I ignore her, not wanting to deal with her bullshit. "Hello? I’m talking to you," her voice rings through my head, giving me a slight headache. "Sorry," I shrug, Everyone’s attention turns to me. "How’d you do?" Ren asks. "Did you pass?" I take a second and shake my head. I hear a sound come from her and my attention faces Akrai. "How’d you not pass? It was so easy," she remarks with a smirk. What the fuck is her problem? I stare at her as she continues to talk to our other friends. The more I think about it, the more she looks like those monster pigeons you see in New York.
"Well, I got a 98. Unlike some people, I have common sense. " She looked at me again with that smirk . "What’d you even get wrong?" She asks, grabbing the flipped-over test. She starts flipping through it. She suddenly bursts out with a weasel-like laugh. I mentally prepare myself for whatever shit she has to say. "Are you serious? Are you slow or something?" I nearly ripped the paper out of her hands. I shove it in my bag and abruptly get up. "Hey-where are you going?" I ignore her and go up to the teacher. "What’s up?" he says. "Can I go to the nurse?" I ask him, and he nods and takes out the hall passes. "You okay?" he asks, filling the pass. "I feel sick, that’s all." He nods, taking in what I said. "I hope you feel better," he says, giving me the pass. "Thanks," I murmur. "Don’t you think you took it a bit too far?" I hear. I quickly leave the classroom, trying not to cause that big of a commotion.
I make my way down the corridor and take a glance around. I quickly ran up the stairs, quietly closing the door to the stairway. I felt the breeze immediately hit my face. chills travel through my body. I find a bench overlooking the baseball field and the nearby local park. I look at the tiny people playing on the playground. I sucked in the fresh air and held my bag. I feel my phone vibrate. I look in the bag for the phone and suddenly hear the door to the stairs open. Fuck me .
I turn and see Megumi. "Hey," he says, walking towards me. He sits down next to me. I don't look at him. "What happened?" he asked me. "Nothing," I bluntly respond. He sighs, most likely frustrated with my attitude. "How’d you do on the test?" I shake my head. "I don’t want to talk about it," he nods. We stayed quiet for a while. I laid my head on his shoulder. He doesn’t seem surprised when I do. His arm wraps around me. "Are you okay?" he whispers to me. I shake my head.
I’ve known Akrai since middle school. She doesn’t mean any harm... right? I can just break it off after all that time. She's my friend..right? I feel a tight squeeze. "I heard what she said," he softly says. I warm up, embarrassed. I feel small again. "It’s fine—I'm fine, I’m just being a baby." He sighs again. He rubs up and down my arm softly. We sit in silence for another while. "You don’t deserve that," he says softly. "She doesn’t know what you’re dealing with," he continues. I warm up at his words, feeling cared for. a feeling that I haven’t felt being around Akrai and our friends for a while. "You did your best, and that’s all that matters,"
I stare at the horizon for a bit, my mind blank. I spent so much time suppressing how I felt and suddenly couldn't when I did have a chance. “I can help you study if you want,” he says. I suddenly realized what he said and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds nice,” I said quietly. He squeezes me again and soothes my skin. I sat there quietly, appreciating his company.