The Suburbs

two

She tightened her grip on his sleeve, "Kody. Listen to me." She said firmly. "You don't want to be friends with someone like that. You especially don't want people knowing your friends with someone like that."

He was liking Rhea less by the second, so he resolved to leave before his opinion on her was irreversibly changed. He shook her off, ruffled his dark hair and crossed the corridor, leaning against the wall beside Arlo. The boy flinched when he saw him approach, his fingers curling around the strap of his backpack nervously. Kody noticed that his nails were painted black, and it made him smile. Maybe he wasn't as average as the rest of them. "Hi." He greeted in the friendliest voice he could muster, trying not to notice how many pairs of eyes were on him.

Arlo looked ready to bolt at any second, but something kept him rooted to the spot. Up close, Kody noticed some smaller details. Deep dimples, freckles splashed across his face like raindrops, a necklace that dipped into his jumper, something gentle in his forest eyes, and two little creases on either side of his nose which indicated that he wore glasses. However, his most prominent expression was fear. "H-Hello?" Arlo replied.

"I'm Kody. I'm new, I joined last week." He smiled. "And you are?"

Arlo looked surprised, "Y-You don't already know my name?" He queried skeptically.

"I want to hear you say it. It is your name after all, no one else's. Plus, it's a pretty cool one." He smirked.

"Arlo." He gulped, his nerves appearing to slowly subside. He was like a wild animal that Kody was learning to tame. "S-Sorry, why are you... did you need something?"

Kody laughed, "I just wanted to introduce myself. I know what it's like being the new kid."

"But I'm not new."

"Yeah, you are." Kody countered. "Every time you get a haircut or have a shower or buy a new set of clothes, you grow into a new version of yourself. We're changing everyday, Arlo." He winked.

Arlo nodded, whilst Kody tried to figure out a way to get through to the kid. He'd finally found a dose of contrast in the black and white blend of repetition and familiarity. The boy stood before him was different. He was too far from average for Kody to give up on. He couldn't go back to conversations about reality TV and pizza toppings every lunchtime. He needed at least a fragment of his old life back, and Arlo embodied everything he was craving.

"So, do you-?"

"I should go." Arlo gathered his books into his arms, his pale cheeks blushing red. "It was nice meeting you." He mumbled, and Kody couldn't tell whether he was telling the truth or not.

At lunchtime the canteen was full of chatter revolving around one topic, or more specifically, one boy. As Kody sat with his new friends, he searched for any sign of Arlo, but there was none. Apart from their brief encounter before first period, he hadn't seen the boy all day. Rhea and Christopher talked loudly amongst themselves, reevaluating every detail they knew about Arlo's 'stunt', as they called it, while Isabel ate in silence, occasionally sharing short, sympathetic looks with Kody.

"Surely, he used pills." Christopher was saying through a mouthful of mashed potatoes. "You've gotta be an idiot not to use pills. Why would you wanna kill yourself any other way? It's just messy otherwise."

Rhea shrugged, "I don't know how he did it. Darya never told anyone."

Kody was trying his hardest not to pay attention to their conversation, but his interest got the better of him, "Who's Darya?" He inquired.

"Arlo's sister. She's in the year below." Rhea answered. "She's the one who found him."

"Poor thing." Isabel didn't take her eyes off her food; her mind was somewhere else.

"I don't know how anyone could put their sibling through something like that." Rhea shook her head disapprovingly. "She'll never recover... seeing someone you love like that..."

Isabel dropped her fork, "He obviously didn't mean to hurt anyone." She snapped, her eyes widening at her own words. She hastily picked her cutlery back up and continued eating, her cheeks reddening.

Christopher didn't acknowledge his girlfriend's mini outburst. "Arlo just stopped coming to school one day, and no one knew why." He explained to Kody. "Darya told a couple of her friends about what her brother had done and eventually, the whole school knew. It got too much for Darya, eventually she stopped coming in too."

"Yeah, for like a week." Rhea added, "Not four months like her brother."

"Guys." Isabel looked up at them with big pleading eyes. "Please can we talk about something else?" She begged.

The table fell into silence.

They all ate quietly for a few moments before Christopher piped up, "So, has anyone seen that new horror film yet?"