"Haha, finally we're here." Bradley said, breathing loudly as he looked at the school entrance filled with students.
He waited a few seconds but didn't hear Erik's voice. Curious, he turned to see Erik lying on the ground with his eyes closed. "No, Erik, don't leave me," Bradley said, crouching down and shouting lightly while looking at the sky.
"Sorry, Bradley, I have to go now. Remember me," Erik replied, giving him one last look before closing his eyes again.
"Noooooo Erik."
"What are you guys doing?" a girl's voice suddenly asked. He looked back to see Mia looking at them with a worried expression.
"Oh! Sup, Mia." All his sadness instantly vanished as he stood up and greeted her with a smile.
"What? Huh?" Mia was even more confused. Bradley had gone from looking like he'd lost his best friend to being his usual self, while Erik was eating something in the background. Hearing her confused voice, Bradley and Erik looked at each other and laughed loudly, not expecting Mia to witness their antics.
"You guys," Mia said, shaking her head when she realized they were just playing. "Anyway, I'm glad to see you're back, Brad! And Erik, how was your weekend?"
"I mostly stayed in my room…" Erik replied awkwardly. Even though he loved gaming, he didn't like to show it to other people.
"That's cool! Sometimes I like alone time too!" she said with a smile, thinking Erik had been studying and resting. This made Bradley laugh while Erik awkwardly rubbed his head.
"What happened now?" Mia asked curiously. They both shook their heads. "If you say so. Anyway, Brad, what have you been up to?"
"Well, just resting after all the stuff that happened. I don't know if you've heard about it or not?" He gave an awkward smile, remembering that his old self had been stuck in his room 24/7.
"Oh yeah, I heard from my mom…" she said, looking down. Even though she knew about it, her mother's restrictions had prevented her from visiting him. "I didn't mean to bring it up. I'm sorry that you have to go through all that. I'm glad you're finally back!" She tried to sound cheerful, trying to be a good friend to Brad, who had just lost his father.
"Thanks, and don't worry, I'll be fine," he replied with an awkward smile. He knew he hardly cared about his dead father, and he looked at Mia with curiosity. "That reminds me, I was looking for someone to help me with final exams, so…" She looked at him curiously, proposing a way to help even though she couldn't visit him before. "If you're interested, let me know." She knew it sounded like an excuse, as getting help from someone who had missed a month of school was weird, but she couldn't be more direct.
"Sure, why not? And we can meet at the library?" He immediately realized her intentions and couldn't help but smile at her proposal.
"Um, about that, I have to ask my parents about it," she said, looking down. Even though she said that, she already knew what they would say.
"And let me guess? They'd reject it." From all the memories he had of Mia and her parents, he was sure they would not let her be outside after school.
"Hmm, they wouldn't let me be outside after school," she said, looking a bit sad, as she hated being a caged bird in her own house. "But don't worry, you can always come to my house to study," she said with a forced smile, trying to hide her sadness. "And you already know where my house is."
"Hmm, I'll be there then." He nodded lightly, looking at her as he could somewhat guess what was going through her mind.
"Oh, I should be going now, as science class is starting soon!" She slowly started to walk away, hiding the sadness deep inside herself. "And Professor Okita said it's going to be a tough class, so it might take over an hour."
"Ugh!" Both Bradley and Erik made the same expression, as being stuck in a class for over an hour was rough.
"Talk to you later, guys!" She laughed at their expressions and started walking toward the school gate.
"Wait here, Erik. I'll be back in two minutes." He said with a smile and started running after Mia, who was getting farther away.
Erik watched Brad chase after Mia for a few seconds, then went back to his phone to look at the latest game news.
"Wait, Mia!" He shouted loudly to stop her. She looked at him curiously, and so did some other students.
"Come here for a second." He took her hand and started walking away from the students' gaze.
"I wanted to say that I'm glad you were worried about me, and don't feel down even if you couldn't visit me. I know how strict your parents are," he said with a smile, leaning down a bit to match her eye level.
"You noticed?" She looked at him with a surprised expression. She hadn't expected him to notice that, and she was sneakily looking at her hand, which he was still holding.
"Of course I would. We're childhood friends, after all. And thanks for the study proposal, as I can tell you wanted to help me," he added. He realized that being honest with her would help remove some of her sadness.
"Ugh! You noticed that too?" She looked away from him and started squirming a bit, realizing that all her intentions had been noticed. "Am I that obvious to people?"
"Not really, it's just the childhood friend perk," he said, trying to look into her eyes while she kept avoiding eye contact.
"Uhh! I've gotta go now." Hearing his words, she felt weird emotions in her heart and started running into the school, looking at her hand that Bradley had held.