(Flashback to High School)
(Also in this chapter you get to like pick names for some people like friends and rivals so choose wisely)
(The names are like (F/N/1) and (F/N/2) and so on, the rival is (R/N))
(My recommendations would be maybe Naruto, Walt Disney, that girl from the progressive commercials, and Mr. Peanut, but you can choose whoever you'd like)
You walked down the hallway besides your best friend, Toad. You've been friends for a while now, and were currently in 8th grade.
"So, you gonna ask anyone to the dance?" You ask Toad while nudging his arm with your elbow. He laughs and lightly punches your arm.
"No, shut up." He responds, you still laughing. The two of you have been friends for two years now, and were very close.
"And besides, why are you so interested in my love life? Are you..." He pauses, "Jealous?" You laugh harder.
"Pfft, in your dreams loser." You respond. You both continue to chat about whatever until you finally reach your classrooms. You wave goodbye and head to class.
(Time skip to lunch because who wants to learn science or something lol)
You walk to lunch and sit at your usual table. You always sit there with Toad and a few other friends, always. You grab out your lunch and begin to dig into your meal of cat dookie when (F/N/1) shows up to the table.
"Hey (Y/N)!" They greet, you smile and wave, unable to speak at the moment. (F/N/1) sits down with their lunch of an assortment of peanuts and eats.
Shortly after, all your other friends show up, all of them except for Toad.
"Hey, uh, where's Toad?" You ask curiously.
"Why? Can't go an hour without seeing your booyyyfriieeeennnddd?" You friend, (F/N/2) asked. You roll your eyes.
"(F/N/2), stop being so immature, we're not 5th graders anymore." You respond.
"I saw him go straight into the bathroom after class ended." (F/N/3) responded. They had the same class before lunch. "But if he's still in the bathroom, that would mean that he's been in there for about," they check the time, "ten minutes."
"Oh no, what if he's hurt?" You say to yourself.
"Yeah, what if he drowned in the toilet while taking a piss." (F/N/2) jokes. (F/N/1) punched (him/her) in the arm.
"Hey don't joke about his height, he's sensitive about that!" (She/he) exclaimed.
"I wasn't-"
"Yes you were-"
The two continued to bicker, it's what they always did. You and the others always joked about it being because of the t e n s i o n, but never around them, because they hated that idea.
"I'm gonna go look for him..." You say, already getting up.
You walk through the halls, checking each bathroom and calling out for Toad. After a while, you start to lose hope of finding him, and figure that he must've gone back to the table.
As you walk back to the cafeteria, you notice someone in the hallway, wearing a familiar hoodie and on their phone.
"Toad!" You exclaim. Toad looks up and quickly turns his phone off. He gets up and brushes his pants.
"Hey-"
"Where were you? Why weren't you at lunch? We waited for like ten minutes and I got worried and then (F/N/1) and (F/N/2) started to bicker about you and falling into toilets and then I came here to look for you-"
"Whoa whoa chill, I'm fine, okay? I was just..." he paused.
"Also why did you turn off your phone so quickly? Were you... watching-"
"Yeah, yes." He responds. "That's all, that's it, it was nothing more. Let's head to lunch now, shall we?" Toad turned around and speed walked to the cafeteria, you following him shortly after.
Once the two of you got there, lunch proceeded as usual. You all ate your food, chatted, and hung out. Just like usual. For some reason, at the moment you didn't suspect Toad of anything at all. He just didn't seem like anything was wrong, and that's what you believed.
Surprise surprise, you were wrong.
School had finally ended, and it was time to go home, (F/N/1), (F/N/2), and (F/N/3) all took the bus, and you and Toad lived pretty close to each other so you walked home together.
"So, about that history project-"
"Yeah, I have a great idea on what we could do. Hear me out, "Hamilton." Now, I know what your thinking-"
"Actually, I was going to partner up with (R/N)." Toad says awkwardly. You laugh, but notice that Toad is in fact not laughing.
"Wait, your serious? Are you kidding me?"
"I'm sorry, (he/she) asked and I didn't want to be rude-"
"Well that hasn't stopped you in the past."
"I know, but..." he couldn't seem to come up with a comeback. "Look, we can partner up on the next project, okay? You don't have to get mad-"
"I'm not mad!"
"Well you sound mad!"
"Well I'm not!"
"Are you sure about that?"
"I-"
"QUIET DOWN OR I'LL THROW THIS COMEDICALLY LARGE SLIPPER AT YOU TWO!" An old man yelled from a window. You and toad yelled sorry at him and continued on with your conversation.
"Look," you sighed. "I'm really not mad, just kind of... annoyed. You know how terrible they are."
"Ugh, the worst..."
"THEN WHY ARE YOU-" you stop and take a deep breathe in and out. "Then why are you partnering up with them?" Toad shifted his feet.
"It's... complicated..." He responds. You sigh.
"You know what, it's fine. I can't control you and your decisions." You say, Toad smiles in relief.
"But I can judge them, how could you?!" You cry. Toad sighs again.
"Look, I gotta get home, but we can for sure continue this conversation on June 69th." Toad said, walking away.
"But that's not- Never mind..." You run up to walk with him again. The rest of the walk is pretty awkward and silent, but mainly because the two of your were both thinking to yourselves. Why is he working with them? And why does it bother me so much, it's just some history project... You think to yourself.
But that was all just the beginning of a turn of unfortunate events.
