"I didn't expect you to be the type to make dirty jokes," said Billy.

"And I didn't expect you to be so... I dunno... nice?" I couldn't quite find the right word to describe Billy's personality. Soft? If I said that, he might find it offensive, but I wanted to convey that there's more to him than I initially thought.

"Nice?" Billy looked at the ground. "After everything, I don't think I deserve to be called 'nice'. At least not yet. There's still so much I need to do to... you know... make amends with you."

"You already did though," I replied. Maybe the hurt was still there, but I was working on forgiving him. This had more to do with me than with him.

"I don't feel that way. I don't know if I can ever truly 'fix' what I... did to you. Or I don't even know if I can ever repay you for, you know, being here for me or whatever."

"You don't have to 'repay' me or however you think that works," I said truthfully. I didn't expect anything from him for just comforting him.

"But you've done so much for me~"

"And so what?" I interrupted. "Not everything someone does for you needs to be repaid, whether that's good or bad. Imagine if I tried to get revenge for bullying me."

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"But that's not the same! Also, even if you did, I still wouldn't be mad at you. I'd get it. I'd deserve it anyway. I...I do deserve it," he replied, his voice tinged with shame and regret. "If I could, I would travel back in time and try to be friends with you back in middle school, but I guess we can't change the past."

"Exactly. That's why we can only hope for a better future. Also, did you just call us friends?"

He looked at me with a shy smile on his face. "Yes. I'm friends with a nerd now. And I'd say pretty close friends too."

"I mean, we did cuddle and whatnot. I don't think just 'enemies' or even 'acquaintances' would do something like that. What we did was... pretty intimate."

"You say it like we had sex," he laughed.

My face turned bright red. "F-fuck you, you know what I meant. Also, enemies and acquaintances can indeed have sex; it just happens rarely. If you know what I mean. B-but they d-don't cuddle, stupid."

"Rrrrrrrrrright... that night at the park, we still hated each other, remember? At least I did, I dunno about you."

"I hated you too, dumbass. But that was... different."

"Different how?" He loved to tease me. Idiot.

"Just different. Now fuck off, I need to draw."

"Okay," he got up.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Well, didn't you tell me to 'fuck off'?"

"I meant to leave me alone to draw, not to actually go away," I clarified. I knew that he was kidding, but he could act childish sometimes. "Stop acting like a child."

"Okay, sir," he said, trying to be submissive, whatever that meant.

Author's Note: Hello everyone, I hope you're enjoying the story. I wanted to let you know that going forward, the book will be updated on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at around exactly 2 P.M. GMT+2.