Pandemonium

The night terrors.

"Are you alright man? You seem tired."

Oliver has always been a great friend to Mars. They have been prectically inseprable ever since the summer before seventh grade. They first met at the neighborhood skate park, Oliver was struggling to keep his balance as he shakily rode past Mars, who was sitting on a nearby bench, attemping to enjoy a mediocre pb&j.

'You're gonna fall.' Mars said bluntly.

'What?' Oliver asked, a bit confused.

'Your posture is terrible, if you keep your front foot at such an angle, your gonna fall the seond you try to turn.' Mars said with a chuckle before taking another bite of his sandwich.

'Oh... how should I be standing then?' Oliver asked hesitantly, he was never good at talking to strangers.

'You can keep your front foot like that when your pushing off, but when you put your back foot up on the board, straighten it out, and keep your feet parrallel to each other. That way when you are trying to turn, you can just lean forward or backwards, and you wont lose your balance so much.'

After that day, the two often frequented the skate park together. Mars was a more seasoned skater, where as Oliver was most deffinitely not. Mars spent most of that summer teaching Oliver everything he knew about skating, and by the time summer was over, Oliver had become a fairly experienced skater himself.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I just didn't sleep well last night." Mars replies, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he tries focus on whatever nonsense his teacher was talking about now. Mars cares a great deal about his academics, however he struggles to see the point in analyzing literature over five hundred years old. I mean, Shakespeare's work has been analyzed by historians for centuries, is there really anything that a classroom full of highschool students are gonna find, that even literary scholars have somehow managed to overlook?

"What's keeping you up?" Oliver asks, it's unusual for him to see Mars like this. Even if it's a subject he doesn't particularly care for, Mars is always attentive, and prepared for class. Today he seems the opposite. Mars appears as if he had just rolled out of bed, his shaggy hair unbrushed, and his clothes happhazardly put together. As if that wasn't out of character enough, Mars actually had to ask Oliver for a bit of paper for notes, as he had forgotten his notebook at home. It wasn't hard for Oliver to tell that something about last night had really bothered Mars, and he made a mental note to ask him more about it at lunch.

"Nothing really, just a bad dream." Mars replies plainly. Before Oliver can inquire further, the teacher barks a stern 'QUIET BOYS!' at the two before returning to his lecture. Truth be told, Mars was a bit relieved at the teachers interjection, as he would prefer to move on with his day and attempt to forget about the dream from the night before.

The two boys finish up their morning classes, before meeting up in the lunch room. Sitting down at the same table they have been every day of sophmore year, in the far right corner under the window. The two sit in silence for a few minutes as Mars picks at his food, barely eating a thing. This is until Oliver finally breaks the silence with a question.

"So. Are you gonna tell me what has you so shook up?" Oliver asks as he unwraps a granola bar.

"What do you mean?" Mars replies, not looking up to meet Oliver's gaze as he continues to pick at his food.

"Oh come on, man. You look a mess, what's gotten into you?" Oliver asks, pressing his question. Mars is usually quite straight forward, not one to beat around the bush like this. As such, his distant attitude has Oliver's curiousity piqued.