god thats a lot of flowers

I really gotta wrap this up,,

"Wh- Fire?"

"Yeah, some guy got high or something and set a fire to the house. Burnt it DOWN. Crazy party."

"Jesus- No, I'm here for you. W-Wh-"

"Kinda broken upper arm, minor concussion and twisted ankle." Jared said, rather proudly. "Guy could barely break me."

"And?"

"His name was indeed Ram." He nodded, confirming the culprit. "He was huuuuuuge."

"No, I-I mean, what were you fighting about?" Jared's face fell.

"Oh."

"O-Oh?"

"You know you should probably go, nice seeing you, bye."

"What was it?" Evan pressed, leaning in closer to directly see his face. Jared left out a few key aspects of his injury- He clearly had a black eye and what looked like a bloody nose, but it was all dried up and not cleaned properly. Maybe even a broken nose, if he didn't know any better.

"Evan Hansen, it is rude to pry."

"I won't tell anyone!" It almost sounded like they were in 5th grade talking about crushes or some secret.

Jared exhaled, rolling his eyes and feeling a slight warmth on his cheeks. Evan clearly wouldn't give up and was acting stubborn for such a pushover.

"He said shit about you." Came a small mumble.

"What?"

"I said," His voice was raised, bitterly. "He talked shit about you, ok?"

Evan's heart raced. He did care.

"Listen, I know this sounds lame, but... I treated you like shit. 'Cause, let's be honest, you really were my only friend. Kinda just didn't want you to know that. So..." He started, trailing off.

"When I told you that we were fine on our own, you thought that meant I didn't need you anymore?" Jared nodded at Evan's continuation.

"Yeah. Sorry."

"Sorry, too."

"...S-See you at lunch when you come back?"

"Sure, dude."

-

A week later and it was the last five days of school. Evan was extremely thankful to get a scholarship from winning a few essay contests Heidi encouraged him to do- Maybe Evan was as good of a writer as his mom boasted about- and got into a college in New York which was an hour away. Alana said she'd gotten an acceptance letter from a school out in Pennsylvania and was preparing for the graduation speech. Jared announced that he was taking a gap year but the next day blew up their phones about how he'd gotten into his dream college, also in New York, and Connor remained a mystery.

He avoided everyone's questions like the plague and cheered his successful friends on from the background. Other than that small problem, everything was going great at the time.

-

June 19th, 5:40 PM

Co: u probs have work but can i crash at your place tonight

Van: ? sure ig? Why?

Co: parents are being assholes

Van: ok :( i dont have anything tonight, you can come over if u want

Co: already on my way

He wasn't lying. In less than ten minutes, Connor's car was parked right outside of Evan's house and the lanky boy was slithering out of it before grabbing a backpack from the passenger's seat. He seemed frustrated, walking a brisk pace while clutching his bag by the loop on the end, and nearly kicked open Evan's door, frightening him when a large noise exploded from the side only to find the boy with messy hair and brows furrowed.