After the transfer student had finally gotten to reveal her name and introduce herself, the day continued in a surprisingly normal way. Being called a criminal first thing in the morning weirdly enough didn't seem to have changed much.
Some people did come to ask me about it, but they all quickly moved on. Most of them choose to believe the transfer student's story, or just lacked the interest to learn any more about it.
She had gotten quite a lot of attention, though. Many people had gathered around her throughout the day, saying how surprising and funny she had been.
I could feel a certain dissatisfaction begin to take rise because of this whole ordeal. It was clear that a part of me had expected something more to happen after all of these events.
"Couldn't they have at least asked a bit more about me? How could they all just discard someone so easily? And what about her? Doesn't she care?", But before I could answer that question myself, "it" interjected.
"Of course she wouldn't want anything to do with you, especially after yesterday. Or are you really that dense?", it said.
I couldn't think of any objections to that statement. I felt kind of embarrassed. Of course, she didn't want anything to do with me, how stupid.
Calling me a criminal must've been her way of getting revenge, and now that
the score had been settled, there was no longer any reason for her to associate with me.
Her light, it really had blinded me… well, at least it was over now, no more delusions from here on!
Contempt with that conclusion, lunch soon arrived.
"Sooooooo… Donut-Girl?", Me and Sadim sat facing each other by our usual empty table. It was placed in the most right corner of the cafeteria, the table itself being black in color with the chairs surrounding it varying between black and white. We had been eating today's lunch in complete silence until my friend had finally chosen to break it.
"I admit, not my brightest moment. But you know how terrible of a liar I am!"
Sadim raised his eyebrows, "So it was a lie…", I had once again fallen straight into his trap. Not that I possessed enough energy to care too much about it.
"Yeah, that's right", I took a sip from the apple juice which had been included with today's lunch. "But before we talk any more about this, how about an apology?"
He seemed surprised by my comment, which irritated me. "Apologize for what? You were the one who betrayed me"
I was just about to counter when I realized that he was completely right. "W-well yeah, but I almost had a panic attack because of you!"
"Then don't run away next time!", he aggressively shoved his vegetarian beef into his mouth after telling the whole cafeteria about my cowardice.
Some people looked our way, surprised by the sudden outburst. "Okay, okay, I get it,
; I'm sorry for abandoning you... But please don't yell like that"
"What was that!!? I didn't catch it, what didn't you want me to do!!?"
"Ha ha, very funny"
Sadim cut off yet another piece from his vegetarian beef, I fully expected him to shout once again, but this time, he instead spoke to me in a surprisingly calm manner "you think too much, Grey"
I could feel the dead expression form in my eyes as he said those words, "Wow, being original today, are we?"
With a mouth still busy munching, Sadim didn't respond. Instead, he raised his index finger as a sign for me to wait. So I waited, surprised by his sudden etiquette. Then he finally swallowed and answered: "Well, it's true, ain't it?"
Without thinking I allowed my jaw to drop, utterly speechless.
"Why do you look so shocked? You do realize it yourself, don't you?", he just kept kicking me while I was down!
"Honestly, no, I don't get it. Anyone would be uncomfortable if the person sitting next to them suddenly yelled out of fucking nowhere. That's not called thinking too much, it's just called reacting like a normal human being", Flustered, I still tried to bounce the ball back at my friend…
"I'm not talking about that, I don't care what you think of my yelling, I'm speaking about the Donut-Girl!", … only to realize that he had been playing an entirely different game.
"...What about her?"
Now Sadim's jaw was the one to drop, "Wait, wait, wait; you being serious right now? Like, you aren't acting dumb?"
"Why would I?", I was acting dumb.
"Well… as soon as you saw that girl it looked like you went full-on Grey-Mode and you admitted to the whole donut story being fake, sooo… What's the real story here?", why did he have to be so curious!?
"Eh…", in my panic I found myself glancing over the cafeteria, not knowing what I was looking for, but the one observation I was able to make, was that "she" was nowhere to be found.
"Looking for your accomplice?"
"She's not my accomplice!!" Before I realized it, my emotions had gotten the better of me. Those delusions of mine, I hadn't been able to leave them behind after all…
"Then what is she?", Sadim appeared unaffected by my sudden shouting.
"Wha-what kind of question is that?", I could feel the palms of my hands beginning to sweat like crazy. The people in the cafeteria, I could hear their mumbling. Comments on my sudden outburst were spreading, and even without being able to hear a single word, I knew what they were saying. It was ironic, "Now you suddenly care?", I thought.
But Sadim just continued speaking: "Like, how long have you known her? Is she just a friend, or something more? That kind of stuff" was he really so dense that he hadn't noticed the storm of gossip surrounding us? Or maybe... was he ignoring it?
Either way, I could feel myself mirroring his calm. "She's… nothing", My friend was holding his chin, listening to my words with such an intensity that it made me tense up a little. The crowd of the cafeteria had vanished entirely from my mind.
"I met her for the first time yesterday, in the middle of the night by the ruins", to my own surprise, I managed to explain without any hesitation.
Sadim evolved a snarky smile, "In the middle of the night, huh", though he still tried his best to provoke me. But it mattered not, for I had decided that no matter what; I wouldn't let him get to me!
"Didn't I tell you before? I was out running, that's how I met her", Please buy this lie!
"So that's when you ran into the wall?", There was still some doubt in his eyes, but I could feel his guard lowering.
"Yeah, that's right. When I arrived in the ruins, she suddenly called out to me, and as you can guess, it was quite a surprise. You know, running in the middle of the night and all of that. Therefore, this happened", I said, pointing up at my wound.
Sadim continued observing me in his usual calm manner, but then he suddenly shone up; looking as if he had reached some kind of revelation, "Wait a minute…", had I been found out?! "Is all of that really true?", what had I done wrong?! Where did I mess up?!
"Y-y-yeah, it's true! A-are you saying that you don't believe me!?", there was some serious voice cracking going on as I defended this lie of mine.
"So it is true? Every single word?", there wasn't a hint of relaxation in his expression.
"It is. Every single word", I would sink with this ship! Because no matter what, I couldn't let him discover my "hobby".
"Oh... that's just far too cruel…", he sounded genuinely saddened.
"What?...", I hesitated but decided to pry deeper.
"Well, you heard her when she called out to you in the ruins, didn't you?"
"...Yes?", he sure knows how to make me confused.
"So, that means you were running without any headphones…"
"Okay?"
"What do you mean, 'Okay?'!? Don't you see the problem!?", No, I clearly don't!!
"Not really. Is there anything wrong with not using headphones?"
My friend took a deep breath and looked at me as if he was going to tell me that my whole family had passed away, "I need you to listen closely, Grey. This is a harsh truth which you need to realize before it's too late…", he paused for a short second and quickly glanced at our surroundings. Then he came closer, leaning over to my side of the table, and whispered: "People who don't use earphones while running are all psychopaths"
Once again, he managed to turn my eyes dead, "I see. Good to know"
"I'm sorry, I don't make the rules", he waved both his hands in an apologetic manner.
"Good to know", I repeated, completely monotone.
"Yeah, so just think about that next time", I felt ashamed of myself for expecting anything more from this idiot… "I mean, why would anyone choose to do that in this day and age? Like, you have all these choices, but still choose to listen to the freakin wind?"
"Don't let it get to you", I told myself. He continued ranting, "Like, that's basically the same as admitting that you're a psycho, or at least a very boring person, like, extremely boring. Like, from a scale of one to ten, a person who doesn't use earphones is like a minus three, at least!"
"It's just words, it's just words", I chanted internally. "And you're not boring, right?", Sadim looked at me.
"W-well, it's pretty relaxing to run without any music, you know? Just soaking up the environment and stuff, you should try it sometime", I said as a guy who's barely ever run longer than two kilometers in his life.
"Wow, you really do sound like an old man", that was the last drop.
"I would rather run with nothing than listen to your freaking playlist any day of the week!"
"What's wrong with my playlist!?", I could tell that I was going to enjoy this.
"Oh, where do I even start? First off, you have no creativity whatsoever. All your songs are just taken from the 'top fifty songs in the world' section. Do you really enjoy hearing these famous artists sing about how lonely and unloved they are, as they literally bathe in money? Doesn't that seem a tiny little bit forced to you? And those raps of yours!! Oh, those raps!! Can you even hear a single word they're saying? Because I sure can't. So yeah, in conclusion, I would rather listen to the literal wind any day of the week than having to plug your torturous tunes into my ears"
My friend just sat there, stunned. At first, I thought I had managed to put him in his place, but soon he looked at me with pity in his eyes, "Who hurt you?", he said in a low voice.
"Forget it…", I didn't have the energy to continue.
"If you say so", then we just sat in silence for a bit, until I, this time, broke it.
"How long until the next lesson?"
He took up his phone and checked, "fifteen"
"Ok, thanks…", then the silence continued. An awkward atmosphere formed between the two of us, both waiting for the other's move.
"By the way…" Sadim spoke, "... When were you planning to fess up?"
"Huh?"
"We both know you're a terrible liar, so isn't it about time you told me what really happened yesterday?", he figured me out?!
"Y-you knew?", How did he do it?
"No, but now I know!!", oh…
I felt like an apology was in order, for calling him an idiot that is. Because I realized now that there was only one idiot sitting by this table, and it wasn't him…
"Your story did sound kinda plausible, but the thing which had been bugging me the most was why she called you a criminal, especially since the donut story proved to be a lie. Since you didn't give an explanation for that part, I just assumed you weren't showing me all your cards, and wouldn't you know it, I was right"
I had never wanted to slap myself more than in this moment.
"Now tell me, why'd you lie?", he didn't seem mad, just awfully curious.
Now, the only question was: would I continue digging this hole of lies or would I start telling the truth…
"N-nothing special happened, that's really all there's to it. I honestly don't know why she called me criminal, I have some theories but…", I lied and lied. He couldn't find out, I wouldn't allow it. What would he think of me yelling at some stranger or about the fact that I had been spraying graffiti all over the ruins? I mean, that was even something illegal. No one wants to hang out with such a pathetic person, a person who has nothing in their life, someone who values nothing, a person who has to force even their own freedom. Someone who has to lie to everyone, even themselves. No matter what, I didn't want to learn the shape of it, I didn't want to learn the shape of his back as well.
So I lied
"You have anything more to say?", he asked after listening to my mad rambling. I didn't know if he believed me or not, I did not care, just as long as he wouldn't turn around.
"No, that's all", for some reason, after my answer, the girl from yesterday and her laughter appeared in my mind. Even though it was for less than a second, in that moment, that was the only thought which filled my conscience.
"...And you? Do you have any objections?", Sadim didn't look at me while saying that, his sight was on something behind me.
"Hmm… no, not really", this scenario, with the voice, suddenly appearing behind me out of nowhere, was all too familiar.
She moved in front of me as if she had completed her goal of surprise. Since we were sitting in the outermost section of the long table, she stopped between the two of us. Her brown hair was in a ponytail, she was wearing tight jeans with a purely black t-shirt.
She pointed at me, "I just came to tell him something", her eyes stared right through me, refusing to let me forget yesterday. "You. Me. Roof. After school", then she gave a small wave and left.
"Huh?...", before I was even able to register what had happened, she was long gone.
"Nothing happened, huh?", Sadim's snarkiness had returned in full force.
"Shut up…", Well, I guess it's time to do-or-die.