A little bit after that whole fiasco at the diner, we all headed home. Ivy and I lived in the same direction from the diner.

“You mind telling me why you were so happy?” Ivy stated out loud, perplexed.

“Those 2…” I looked up to the sky. The bright white stars twinkled as I traced the constellations with my eyes, “were in love for a long time. They just didn’t want to face it, they didn’t want to ruin the friendship between the 3 of us. I think Theo thought I had a crush on her which wasn’t the case at all, I’ve always seen her as a friend—nothing more,” I took the last bite of the burger I was carrying with us and tossed the wrapper into a trash can we passed by.

“So what I’m hearing is… you’re happy you transferred?”

“Happy isn’t the word I’d use to describe the feeling but I’m glad that my ‘departure’ helped them come face to face with their feelings.

“All good things come with sacrifice,” Ivy profoundly spoke.

“You’re surprisingly wise,” I looked over at her and smiled.

She looked away.

“Yeah, yeah,” despite muffling her voice with her sleeve, I could hear her struggling to keep it together.

“You know your house is pretty close to mine?” She walked in stride next to me. The street light casted a soft glow on her face as she wasn’t really paying attention to the path in front of her.

“I wonder if we could ever see the stars together—” I muttered to myself.

“Did you say something?” She swiveled on her heels.

“Nope,” I stuffed my hands in my pockets.

We walked together for a while, talking about our lives in middle school, our interests, and other things that came to mind. We chatted like actual friends, like we were actually people who knew each other.

“You know… You’re not that bad,” She said to me, stopping abruptly.

“Thanks,” I responded, not really sure why or what she meant. I thought she already thought I was a decent person.

“Well I’m gonna go. I’ll see you on Monday. Peace,” she held up her index and middle finger in a piece sign. She caught her foot on a crack in the sidewalk as she began to tumble forward.

Without a second thought, my body lunged forward. I wrapped my arms around her and held her up for a moment. As time slowed, I looked at her eyes hidden behind her glasses. They were a beautiful chocolate brown that made me almost melt right then and there.

Her cheeks flushed a dark crimson. She cleared her throat.

“Oh! Sorry,” I helped her up onto her feet.

“It’s okay,” she swiped at her pants—getting the dirt off or what dirt she thought she saw.

We looked at each other awkwardly before waving to each other. She walked towards her house as I made my way to mine.

She shot a quick glance, so fast I didn’t even notice.

“You’re late,” Ivy’s mother said as she walked through the door.

“Whatever,” her demeanor did a complete 190, the opposite version of her previous self.

“Don’t ‘whatever’ me, Astrid.”

Ivy ignored her and walked down the hallway. She opened her door, quickly entered, and

slammed the door behind her.

She laid her head down on her pillow, her mind elsewhere.

Back at the diner.

“I wish I had friends like that,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes.

She closed her eyes, dreaming of a better place.

Tomorrow had come by promptly—an abrupt realization as we stared at each other awkwardly on the ride to school.

Ivy laid her head against the window, avoiding any conversation.

“We’re doing this again?” I asked her.

“Doing what, again?” She responded.

“When we have a great time and then you ignore me—acting like you don’t know me.”

“I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

I sighed as I rested my head on my backpack and closed my eyes.

A nudge to my shoulder jolted me awake—we had arrived. The school building loomed over us as it usually does, harboring despair and drama.

“Wake up,” Ivy nudged me.

“Ugh,” I rubbed my eyes, groggily.

“Move, I need to get out.”

“Hold your horses. We have the same class—” I yawned.

She impatiently tapped the leather seat as she waited for me to put my backpack on my back. I walked down the aisle, a student allowing me to leave before them. I smiled and nodded to them.

After a quick walk, Ivy and I had made it to our homeroom.

She performed her usual routine of taking her book out of her backpack and propping it up, burying her face into it—losing herself in it.

“I wish I could read like that,” I murmured.

“These books are too sophisticated for you,” Ivy quipped, not looking away from her book once.

“Would it kill you to be nice to me at school?” I quickly snapped.

“Probably,” she smiled to herself, clearly amused by her witty remark.

“That’s what I’m here for,” Alyssa appeared out of thin air and sat down next to my desk. Ivy looked over with a strained smile.

“Yay~” she struggled to get the words out through her gritted teeth.

“What was that?” Alyssa was smiling, goading Ivy.

“I’m just so—” she forced her smile to go even wider, “happy to see you!” The look on her face actually looked painful to the point where I could feel her pain.

“Thanks, Alyssa. I also noticed you’re into writing?” I asked her.

“Yeah, I write short stories from time to time. I, even, got a few published,” She replied casually, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“What kind of stories?” I asked her, genuinely intrigued.

“Mostly thrillers. People try to outsmart their fate but it always catches up to them in the end,” her words lingering in the air with a certain tension.

“Interesting,” I replied, my interest piqued, “do you think you can avoid fate? Or change it per say?” I asked, leaning forward.

“I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not? Trying is half the fun so who cares, right?” She bit her lip ever so slightly, leaning forward as well. The air had suddenly crackled with an interesting aura, an uneasiness settled over me.

“Twists and turns are a part of life,” Alyssa leaned back in her chair, kicking her feet up onto the desk, “It’s human to want to try and change something you can’t control, knowing you’ll fail,” her gaze landed on Ivy who was staring at Alyssa with a darkened expression. Ivy closed her book and focused her attention on the two of us.

Stolen story; please report.

“Failure helps you grow. Whether you fail at something or not doesn’t matter. What matters is getting up and trying again,” Ivy spoke with an unmitigated passion, one I never thought I’d hear from her.

“Even when that failure is something you can’t overcome?” Alyssa’s expression had grown curious, she tilted her head—waiting for Ivy to crumble.

But she didn’t.

“Failure isn’t permanent, if you think that just because you hit a wall that it’s game over then you should give up. Because you’re weak,” She crossed her arms, her posture that of a silent strength that exuded from her.

“You’ve never lost anything. You don’t know what it’s like to truly lose something. Something you can never get back,” Alyssa’s voice was low, like a soft growl.

Ivy’s gaze darkened, her expression betraying her stoic exterior.

“I know loss. I know how it feels to lose something and to never get it back. That doesn’t mean it’s over,” her eyes flickered over to me before returning back to her, “you just need to try again. It might be hard but I won't give up. That’s the difference between me and you, Alyssa.”

Alyssa’s smirk faltered ever so slightly, her facade almost disappearing. Alyssa had tried to bait her into snapping but Ivy didn’t bite. Perhaps, Ivy had been through more than I originally thought. Alyssa seemed upset at the fact that she couldn’t break Ivy, that she couldn’t make her lose her cool in front of everyone in the class.

Although, I do feel as if I stumbled into something I didn’t quite understand. These two must’ve had a history that goes deeper than I thought.

A game of chess, one moving the pieces after the other with rapid succession. Each move felt calculated, with a purpose behind each flick of their wrist. I couldn’t help but feel like I was out of my league as Alyssa and Ivy made moves I couldn’t quite understand. Each word, each movement, each one trying to gain ground on the other while I stood there—blind to the board. I was stuck on the sidelines, watching in awe and confusion as I had wished I could play but deep down, I knew I never could.

The bell rang, breaking through the silence that had occurred between the two. I stood

there—unsure of when or how I could’ve broken the tension. The bell provided a much needed end to the quiet war that they had waged with their words.

Ivy grabbed her things from her desk and stuffed them into her bag while I did the same. I jogged to catch up to her.

“What was that?” I questioned.

“It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with,” she put her hands in her pockets and walked to her next class, me in tow.

The next two classes went off without a hitch, well pretty much anything that happened after homeroom wasn’t close to whatever it was that I witnessed. The school day stops for no one so the 3 of us continued to do our own thing, avoiding one another. I avoided them out of caution, not knowing when they’re going to snap or worse. Those two clearly have some history and I’m not one to get involved in drama that isn’t my own.

I’m worried about what’ll happen here.

I walked through the door to be met by familiar faces grouped up in 4s.

The bell rang as I sat down.

“Okay, class! I have a question. How many of you are done with your presentations?” Our teacher asked.

Every group raised their hands.

“Then we’ll present today!”

Groans filled the classroom. Nobody was prepared to present today but it seemed like the teacher was set in her ways.

“Are we ready, guys?” Daren leaned over his desk.

“I’d say we are,” I replied.

“It’ll be fine,” Alyssa smiled and reassured us.

Something about Alyssa threw me off but I decided to push that down for now.

“Sure,” Ivy quickly stated.

With that, all of the other groups presented their projects. The fun facts that we learned about some of our classmates helped us gain a sense of identity to them, some people went over and talked to other classmates because they shared common interests. It helped us introduce ourselves without actually having to get up and talk to them.

And it was finally our turn.

“Okay, this is the last presentation! Well done, guys! We’re on record pace here!” The teacher clapped her hands together.

We all got up and walked over to the projector screen as a student flipped the light switch and the teacher pulled up our presentation.

“Hello! I’m Alyssa! And this is our group!” She bowed, holding out her hand towards Ivy.

“I’m Astrid but everyone calls me Ivy,” her voice was monotone, like she didn’t want to be here.

“I’m Daren, make sure you come out to watch us crush Four Lakes High School next week,” he flexed his biceps. Girls were fawning over him, waving their hands in their faces.

“I’m Wyatt,” I waved to them. A girl in the middle was staring intently at me, like she was appraising me. I couldn’t make out her face or outfit in the dark, all I saw was her eyes.

I walked out of the spotlight where Alyssa swooped in and charmed the pants off the class.

“I guess I’m first,” Alyssa emphatically said, her charisma and charm settling in the room—captivating all of the male students, even some of the female ones.

“This is Daren, Daren Springer,” she swiped her hand in the air, her hand pointing at Daren. He smiled and waved at the class.

“Daren’s obviously a big guy so it makes sense that he went into sports but did you know that when he was little, he wanted to be a doctor?” Her voice was soft yet powerful, carrying over the room.

“Daren also likes to swim, try new foods, go to the arcade, play football—obviously. And he likes Ivy.”

The class grew quiet.

“What?” All 3 of us asked her in unison.

“Oh, my. Did I say that out loud?” She covered her mouth in exaggerated horror.

“Yeah, you did,” Daren’s eyes were blazing with fury, anger, mostly disappointment.

Ivy looked at him, her eyes questioning everything she knew about him. Her friendship… Was it a lie? Was it a ploy to get her to like him back? Ivy ran out of the classroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

“That wasn’t cool, Alyssa,” I stood in her face, my face one of disappointment as well. I can’t believe she’d do that.

I walked out of the classroom, looking for Ivy.

“Yo, Ivy! Where are you?!” I shouted in the hallways.

“Sh!” She was sitting at her locker. Her eyes were streaked with sorrow, the color raw and unguarded, as if tears had stripped away the usual mask she wore.

I looked at her, not with pity or anger, but sadness. I always thought she was strong and now I see that it was all for show. All to hide herself from Alyssa. And Alyssa broke her, Alyssa broke down the walls she had built up for so long.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Ivy wiped her eyes.

“Like what?” I questioned, sliding down the locker next to her.

“With pity.” She sniffled, her face conveyed with so many emotions when she usually showed nothing at all.

“I’m not. I know you’re strong. Although we met not too long ago, I know you’re strong.” I was sitting next to her on the cold marble floor, staring up at the luminous lights.

“Wyatt, I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” she looked over at me, her eyes gleamed like rain-glossed glass, shimmering with the remnants of unshed tears.

“Go ahead,” I set my hands on the ground, taking the pressure off of my back.

The air changed. It suddenly got heavy with the anticipation of her question. An uneasy dread settled upon my shoulders, like a weight holding me down in place. She shifted nervously, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. She sat in silence for a moment, before locking her eyes with mine.

“Why were you at the graveyard?” She asked, hesitantly.

The words struck me in the heart like a knife. I didn’t want anyone to find out about my parents nor did I want to tell anyone. I didn’t want to remember. I thought if it was long enough that I’d forget about it.

But I can’t. I could never forget them.

Ivy was a mess, her eyes were all dried up and her body was slumped like she had given up. Ivy was faced with a truth she didn’t want to admit yet Alyssa cruelly descended the truth onto her ears.

“I—” The words got caught in my throat. The memories of my Dom and Dad flooded my head. All of our sad, our happy memories. All of them clawed back to the surface. The smell of Mom’s perfume when she went out with Dad. Dad’s laughter when he learned that I argued with a teacher over a math problem I thought I knew the right answer to but I couldn’t have been more wrong. When Mom and Dad took me to the amusement park for the first time.

“Why are you crying now?” Her voice congested.

I let the tears come out for a little bit, letting go of the shell, the armor that I had worn for the past 3 weeks.

“That’s where my parents are,” I looked down on the ground, my hands flexed trying to shake the weight off my shoulders.

“I’m so sorry—”

“Don’t…” I lingered on my words for a moment before enduring through my pain, “I don’t need pity.”

She nodded, quietly encouraging me to continue. My heart ached but I knew I needed to do this.

“I didn’t think I needed to say this out loud,” I admitted, the tremble in my words betraying me, “but I do. I need to talk about this.

“Then talk to me,” Ivy smiled at me, her voice steady despite crying a moment ago.

“My parents—” I paused. I gritted my teeth, trying to get through. Trying to break through.

“It’s okay,” Ivy set her hand down on mine.

The floodgates broke open. I tried to clench my fists again to keep it together but it was too much. But everything slipped through.

“My parents were my best friends—the only people I thought I’d ever need. We did everything together—shopping, going out, eating at their parents’ diner, playing at arcades—” Ivy and I smiled at each other through our sadness at the familiarity of our situation.

“It was us vs the world,” I let out a shaky laugh, one that only halfway broke through.

“We were driving like we usually do, and then a semi came onto the road—” The dam broke entirely. Tears streamed down my cheeks, hot and relentless.

“They ran a red light while we were going. They collided into the side of the car—the driver’s door. My dad—” my words wouldn’t come out. My voice gave out, drowned out.

My chest heaved. The sobs crashed like tidal waves, shaking me to my core. It wasn’t just tears, the grief clawed its way to the top, escaping where I had buried it.

Ivy reached over and wrapped her arms around me, the gentleness of her arms was something I didn’t know I needed. I buried my head in her shoulder, letting the grief pour out, unfiltered and raw.

“For now,” she whispered to me as she ran her fingers through my hair, “I’ll be your friend,” She sounded fragile, her voice barely coming out as a whisper. Her arms wrapped around me were steady, grounding me in a way that I didn’t know I needed.