It appeared as if Boingo was already fully immersed in a conversation by the time I caught up to him. My legs at this point, while I was immune to physical harm inside the labyrinth, were starting to stumble from the endless sprint that I had engaged in.
"Stop." Endora was trying to push Boingo away from her, backing up and heading in the opposite direction. "You know that we -- Feste!" The taller alien waved at me, halting me in my tracks. "Boingo's being creepy. Can't you tell him off or something?"
"What's he doing?" I already knew the answer.
Endora folded her arms and narrowed her eyes. "He thinks we're dating." Although I had anticipated that response, it still caught me off guard. "But we're not, is that right, Feste? We became friends just for the duration of that field trip."
I furiously nodded, peering down at Boingo. He was still obviously hostile. "Yes, yes. I didn't have a choice to bring you in."
"But you did," Boingo spat. "You two could've just separated but still you kept together. A-And then..." His speech devolved into a series of grunts and soft hisses.
Endora and I began to back up independently of one another, fixing our gaze on the now unpredictable Boingo. "Calm down, Boingo..."
"You expect me to calm down while you two are in cahoots with each other?" This only added to Boingo's rage. Endora and I also knew that if we simply ran Boingo would not hesitate to chase us. Added to that, we were much slower than him. "And yet I can't even make friends even if I try?"
"Boingo," I started. His head whipped around to face mine. "That isn't true. We're friends, remember? And you made the first move when we met."
"Yeah, well... That's not the same!" Boingo reverted to his feral state. "You know it! You weren't even trying to make friends with Endora and here she is!"
"Boingo, stop." I had stopped, my feet now planted onto the cold ground. "If you keep going like this..." I fired through my mind to pick out a possible punishment. "...I'll point it out to Midnight. Maybe he will be able to fix whatever this is then."
"Fine..." Boingo made the effort to forcibly stifle his behaviour. "But you two still have something going on behind my back, I'm sure of that."
I rolled my eyes. At least this was a solid start to Boingo's decline in aggression. "There. Now can we all get along?"
By sheer chance, we began to fade back into our beds as we began another conversation. I welcomed the change, now somewhat glad to be back in my safe dorm room. I don't doubt that the field trip did have some luxury sleeping quarters, but it was nothing compared to the security around Midnight's establishment.
Boingo still carried a shred of hatred as I entered the classroom and sat next to him. "Hey Boingo," I started.
Instead of replying within a few seconds, he instead looked over at the blackboard. "I'm fine."
"Oh." I rattled my brain for prompts that would hopefully ease the tension that still lingered between us, but nothing came to mind. I pulled out my booklet and started to study the numerous points that Day and I had written.