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Daniel Nussbaum's POV
Donovan's voice doesn't crack often. But when it does—it's hilarious.
That's the only reason we became friends with him in the first place. At first, we only pretended to be interested in talking to him because we knew if we did, we'd always be around to laugh at him.
It's horrible I know, but we were in preschool! Besides, even though we tease him a lot, he's a great guy. Daniel and I consider him the only other best friend—the only other friend—we have. We'll never tell him that though.
◆◆◆
When Donovan started puberty, his voice started cracking, but only when he was upset. And ever since, we've been kind of bullying him. Not bad or anything, just like teasing him or whatever. Even if we were being mean, it's not like he's stuck with us. He still has those brainiacs.
Speak of the devil, Donovan was at his locker, and we could already tell he was pissed off. Whenever he's annoyed, his brows are always furrowed, and he tends to grind his teeth, which you could hear all the way down the hall.
"Hey Donovan—" Daniel started. "Can it. I don't want to hear it right now," Donovan grumbled, his voice breaking at want.
"What's got your panties in a twist?" I snorted. Donovan glared at me.
"Wait, wait, let me guess!" Daniel said, raising his hand in the air like it was class. "Your parents yelled at you again!"
"That's a horrible answer, Daniel!" I exclaimed. "When aren't they yelling at Donovan?"
Daniel laughed. "Damn, guess I'm not as smart as those dweebs you always hang out with."
"Ugh, shut up!" Donovan snapped. "You guys really need to leave them alone."
"What is it the nerds? Do they not want to be friends anymore?"
"We told you that you were too stupid to be hanging with them!"
"It's not that, you idiots! Just leave me alone," Donovan said. He tried walking away but we followed.
"Daw, don't be like that," I told him. "Brad wouldn't like that at all."
"Shut up!" Donovan shouted.
"Oh, come on, Donnie! Just tell us!" Daniel groaned. "Did you fail a test?"
"Please, like that's surprising?"
"Ha! Did the eggheads replace you?"
"I feel like you should've known that would happen, Donovan. You were basically useless to the team!"
"He's dumb, Daniel, keep up! Or, or did you find out they were stringing you along just to laugh at you?"
"Like we did?" I laughed.
Daniel Sanderson's POV
Donovan stopped and turned around. There were tears in his eyes. "What?" He whispered, in the quietest voice I've ever heard him speak in.
I guess Daniel inherited a lot from Donovan over the years. Including not thinking before he speaks. I elbowed him in the side.
Trying to smooth things over, I tried to explain. "Listen man, it was preschool, we were dumb—"
"Yeah, you are," he interrupted.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. We—"
"Just like me."
I've seen a lot of things from Donovan, but I've never seen him cry. Even when he got hurt, he would shout or scream in pain, but not cry. But here we are. The first time I see Donovan cry, and it's because of us.
"Woah, man. Are you, um..." Daniel trailed off.
"Yeah, man. I am," Donovan said, trying to wipe tears from his cheeks. "Whatever. I should've known you guys didn't like me."
"No—" I started.
"No! Just leave me alone," he yelled as he stormed off.
●●●
I don't know where he went. Maybe he skipped the rest of school. He wasn't in any of the classes I shared with him. I didn't see him at lunch, and found out Daniel hadn't seen him either.
We still hadn't seen him when it was time to leave. One of Daniel's older sisters picked us up.
We were hanging out in Daniel's room when I asked a question that had been gnawing at me all day. "Did we go too far?" I already knew the answer. I know I'm not the smartest, but even I could figure it out.
"Nah," Daniel replied. "He'll get over it."
If there was someone I knew better than Donovan, it was Daniel. I knew when he was lying.
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
He knows when I'm lying too.