“Sssooo…” Andie stayed mostly quiet, as she watched Dyllan finish off his first bag of Super Poofs. “How’s it going? Feeling okay?”
Dyllan was silent for a moment, staring at his empty snack bag in thought. “…No.”
“Well… that’s… Uh…” Andie’s face froze in utter confusion in panic, reminiscent of a deer in headlights as she let out a squeaky "okay".
“Well, you must be feeling at least a little better, if you managed to last this long in school.” Cedric glanced toward Andie, whose eyes were pleading for him to fix things. “Which means you’re recovering, so we don’t have anything to worry about long term… not to be dismissive of the rocky bit in-between ‘now’ and ‘better.’ That part will still suck.”
“…No.” Dyllan noticed the extra bag of Super Poofs in front of him. A smile crossed his face, as the kindness of his friends let him forget he was depressed for a second or two. “I don’t feel better at all.”
“I…” A perplexed look twisted into Cedric’s face, as he stopped eating for a few seconds. “I’m sorry… I genuinely can’t tell if you’re being snarky, or if you really don’t feel any better.”
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
“Genuine.” Dyllan hesitantly picked up the second bag of Poofs. A slightly guilty look crossed his face when he opened it, but he quickly shook it off. “I don’t feel better, but now I’m motivated to try and make myself feel better instead of moping.” He took a deep breath. “See, about what you said last night, Cedric… you’re right, some people are mopers. They really do need to mope to feel better, and that’s okay… but it got me thinking. Thinking about me, and how I feel when I mope. For me, it only makes things worse. The longer I mope, the more I think about bad things, and the harder it becomes to think about good things. Moping makes me feel worse, not better.”
“I see.” Cedric frowned. He didn’t like being wrong about his friends. He couldn’t help them if he didn’t know what kind of help they needed - and it was a wound to his pride as well. “So, what’s your plan, then?”
“I’m going to prove to myself that the world really does need me and that I really can help people - remind myself what’s important.” Dyllan forced a smile as he looked toward Andie. “Winning. Winning is important, and losing doesn’t matter. That’s why I want to go nightmare hunting with you guys as soon as possible.”
“Hell yeah!” Andie shot upright, snapping back to her usual, energetic self. “Cheesy inspirational speeches save the day again!”