Ding!

  My phone chimed.

  Ding!

  My phone chimed again.

  Ding!

  My eyebrow twitched.

  ‘Is she serious? Right now?’

  Looking next to me, I saw Aurora staring at me with a grin.

  Ding!

  Aurora kept spamming my phone and I was getting increasingly annoyed.

  After all, I couldn’t focus on the science lesson.

  I’m sure you may have had someone like this in your life, so you may know the appropriate way to handle them.

  Naturally, that way was to kick them in the shin

  “Ow?” She yelped quietly.

  Although, I probably shouldn’t have done that in the middle of chemistry.

  Mr. Bostav, who was teaching at the front of the class, turned to Aurora and I.

  My back straightened slightly.

  “You two, chill out,” He instructed before going back to teaching.

  I sighed. If it was any other teacher, they would’ve gotten way more upset about this. Even if it wasn’t just a small disruption.

  Aurora looked at me with a frown.

  “How dare you hit me, I’m your girlfriend!” she complained with a seemingly dramatic tone.

  ‘Oh. She’s right. She is my girlfriend. I forgot we aren’t just friends anymore.’

  I internally smacked myself in the face.

  ‘That’s definitely a relationship violation. Hold up, does that make me toxic? Oh no, I’m a terrible boyfriend. I’m definitely going to become single for this.’

  I began to bow profusely with my hands clasped together. “I’m super duper sorry. I didn’t think while doing it. It won’t happen again. Can you please forgive me?!” I said as I bowed

  Aurora looked taken aback for a moment, then she rolled her eyes.

  “It’s whatever, don’t worry about it,” she said.

  “Anyway, did you hear about what happened in last week’s game?”

  “Like the basketball game?”

  She looked at me like I was dumb.

  “Yes, the only sports games I talk to you about,” she said with a deadpan expression.

  “I get it. I’m dumb. Are you going to explain what happened now?” I replied.

  “Okay fine,” Aurora answered.

  Then, Aurora proceeded to describe to me the events of the game. Although, she mostly focused on the injury of one of the players.

  From what she described, it was pretty serious and it was likely that he wasn’t going to be able to play again for a long time.

  This player in particular, was one I knew Aurora liked a lot. He was one of her favorites.

  So when she told me about his situation, even though I didn’t feel that worried about him, I was a bit worried for her.

  “But yeah. It sucks, I probably won’t get to see him play for a while,” Aurora said as she rested her chin on her palm.

  Her expression wasn’t incredibly solemn or even a bit worried. Yet, something about the look in her eyes seemed to resemble disappointment.

  “Why can’t healing just be bought or something? That’d make everything so much easier,” Aurora mumbled under her breath.

  Hearing that, I didn’t really know how to respond.

  ‘This must be kind of hard for her. Sports is like her favorite thing. And now she has to watch someone she admires deal with something only time can solve. Even if I wouldn’t be as bothered, she would be.’

  For a few moments, I didn’t really know how to support her.

  I had an idea but I wasn’t sure if it was too early to go through with it.

  Honestly, I was afraid.

  But, I still reached out my right hand and softly held Aurora’s left one.

  It was soft and warm. A stark contrast to my cold hand.

  I adjusted my hand so that we were now properly holding hands.

  Aurora looked slightly confused but she didn’t move her hand.

  “Uh, If you want to vent about it or anything like that, you can talk to me about it,” I said, a bit nervous.

  Aurora stared at me for a moment. Then, she smiled.

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  “Thanks but I’m okay for right now,” She replied.

  I nodded and released her hand gently.

  From there, we paid attention to the lesson for the rest of the period. Or at least I did, I don’t know about Aurora.

  Next period I had art.

  When I got to the class, I couldn’t help but think that Thursday was the one with the best schedule out of all the days in the week.

  I had math with all my friends in second period and science with Aurora in third. Then I had art for 4th.

  It was a really good schedule.

  Anyway, I enjoyed art like usual and worked on actually drawing what I imagine accurately.

  It was a bit less fun by myself, but I couldn’t complain.

  45 minutes later, it was time for lunch.

  “Yo,” I greeted Tristan as I sat down at our table.

  “Yo,” he responded.

  “How’s the cat doing?” I asked.

  “Good. My parents adopted him,” Tristan answered calmly.

  My eyes widened slightly.

  “Really?” I said.

  “Yeah, they said it would be a nice addition to the family,” Tristan said with a shrug.

  ‘His parents will really just do anything, won’t they?’

  Since Tristan didn’t seem affected by his new pet, I figured I shouldn’t think about it too deeply.

  I was actually about to take out the bagel I bought before school started before I felt a tap on my shoulder.

  Turning around, I saw Aurora.

  “Hey?” I said.

  “Hey, do you mind sitting with me and my friends this time?” Aurora suggested.

  I paused for a moment.

  ‘I really don’t wanna have to meet them. I’ll definitely mess something up and that would give a bad impression. Ugh, this sucks.’

  “Sure,” I answered, getting up from my seat.

  “See ya,” I said to Tristan.

  Tristan waved goodbye as he began to read a book he pulled out from his bag.

  And so to my great despair, we went over to the table Aurora is at when she’s not with us.

  “Hey guys, this is Elliot,” Aurora said, introducing me.

  “Hello.”

  “Hello!

  “Hello.”

  A variety of different voices greeted me, each in different tones.

  Those voices came from a table full of girls that were all different, yet they all felt the same.

  “Hey, nice to meet you all,” I said, sitting down at the table with Aurora.

  Aurora and the girls began to converse among each other, asking me questions about Aurora once in a while.

  They weren’t extremely friendly nor were they rude either. They just felt shallow.

  All of them spoke about designer clothing, vacations, or shopping for jewelry. None of which were bad topics of discussion, it was just weird to see that it was the only thing they talked about.

  Aurora in particular was being frequently asked about things she bought or things her parents bought.

  Everything was so focused on money that I got bored really quickly.

  Unfortunately, I had to endure this boring experience for all of my lunch period

  Finally, once lunch ended, I was able to go to my next period which was study hall.

  And I had study hall with Aurora.

  But due to the hell of an experience known as being with her friends, I didn’t feel like going out of my way to talk.

  I usually started conversations when texting or in person and since I wasn’t speaking, that catalyst was gone.

  So we just studied next to each other for a little bit in silence.

  I was in the middle of studying my Spanish when Aurora spoke up.

  “Hey, Elliot?” Aurora said while she did some science homework.

  It was a surprise to see that she was doing work at all.

  “Yeah what’s up?” I asked, still looking at my notes.

  “I don’t think my friends like me for…me.”

  Aurora’s words caused my expression to become a bit more focused and I looked up from my notes.

  “What do you mean?” I questioned.

  “I mean that I think they’re only friends with me for my parent’s money,” She said.

  Looking at her, my expression remained unchanging.

  ‘I can’t say I’m very surprised. Those girls didn’t look like they were interested in each other at all.’

  “So why don’t you stop being friends with them?” I responded.

  Aurora shook her head.

  “Nah, it’s okay. They do what friends do anyway. They give me attention and they praise me. If they do that, then I don’t think it really matters why they’re my friend,” Aurora answered.

  This time, my expression did change. My eyebrows creased and my lips pursed.

  ‘The hell? What does she even think friends are?’

  “Wait, so as long as people act how you want them to, it doesn't matter what their intentions are?” I asked, my confusion leaking through my voice.

  Aurora shrugged.

  “Pretty much,” Aurora confirmed.

  ‘Maybe I’m the one in the wrong? I mean if it doesn’t bother her, then why should it bother me? Right?’

  Aurora ended up changing the topic and we spoke for a few moments more. Then, we went back to studying for the rest of the period.

  After study hall, I had social studies.

  Social studies was a struggle as usual.

  I had to give my full attention to it and I did. But I didn’t really want to.

  At this point I was looking forward to track and field. At least there I had the freedom to run, even though we weren’t in competition season yet.

  Still, I managed to get through that class.

  For my last period, I had Spanish with Soriel.

  There, I decided to ask her about something that was on my mind.

  “Hey Soriel, what is a friend to you?” I asked as I took notes from the lesson.

  Soriel tilted her head slightly in confusion.

  For a few moments, Soriel seemed to be deep in thought before letting a smile slip onto her face.

  “I know! A friend is like glue,” Soriel said with a proud expression.

  Now I tilted my head in confusion.

  “Huh? How?” I asked.

  “Well, when you’re friends with someone, you get attached to them, like putting glue on your skin. And a true friend, like glue, is supposed to stick onto you. That’s why it’s so hard to get them off just like glue. Because they want to stick onto you, for who you are,” Soriel explained calmly.

  I stared at her for a few moments.

  “You’re so weird,” I said.

  Soriel’s smile faded and she began to pout.

  “That’s so rude,” She replied.

  Her face looked so goofy, I couldn’t take her seriously.

  “Pfft, my apologies madam,” I apologized dramatically with a bow, trying not to laugh.

  ‘Still, even if what she says is hard to understand. At least, someone agrees with me. So maybe, just maybe, I got one thing right.’

  From there, I continued my day, with a clear mind.