"Nate... what are you doing here?"
"S-s-sorry, n-nothing, I j-just came to the p-park to... unwind..."
"At this hour." Even with red eyes and cheeks wet, that smug returned to his face, which I knew meant trouble for me.
"Y-yeah..."
He turned his face away into the far distance. He didn't say another word.
"A-are you o-okay...?" I could feel my entire body shaking as those words left my mouth. Why was I asking the person that made high school a living hell for me if they were 'okay'?
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" He looked at me again, but this time there was this fire in his eyes that I hadn't seen before.
"W-well, I k-kinda thought I heard s-somebody crying, so I w-went to check up on them... I d-didn't know it was you..."
"Heh, I doubt that you would have checked up if you knew that it was me..."
Considering how stupid I am, yeah, I would have.
"Aren't you like the smartest guy in the class or something?"
"D-did I s-say that out loud?"
"Yeah. Strange hearing you not stutter for once in your life."
Fuck. My. Life.
"S-so why were you c-crying?" Regret and shock passed through my tiny body as I saw him stand up even more furious than before. He pulled me by my collar and pushed me against the same tree he was crying next to a few minutes ago.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
"Listen to me, you little bitch. Just because I made small talk with you doesn't mean that I'm going to be your friend."
My eyes filled with tears. But not from anger or sadness like his were. Instead, it was pure terror. He noticed my quivering body and my trembling lips, so he loosened his grip on me as he sensed tears were on the verge of streaming down my face.
"Do you really want to know, Nerd? DO YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHY I WAS CRYING? OR ARE YOU JUST GOING TO LAUGH AT ME FOR SHOWING EMOTIONS FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE?!"
"I-I'm sorry, I j-just wanted to ch-check up on you," tears were building up in my eyeballs again.I suppose he was surprised that his main victim was showing care towards him. That's probably why he reacted that way.
'I-I just th-thought that m-maybe you n-needed someone to talk to."
There was silence from both sides after what I said. He looked curiously into my eyes, wondering if I was being genuine or something else.
"O-okay... I'll tell you why I'm crying... I guess... But you can't tell anybody about this, understand? You can't tell a soul that you saw me crying like a little kid. Otherwise, I will kill you, Nerd."
I wanted to say 'Yes, I understand,' but the fear he instilled in me with that deep, scary voice made my throat shut, so I just nodded my head.