THANTOPHOBIA! (t. okonma!)

5. the bleacher cult

THE BLEACHERS: AN AREA HATED BY MOST, but welcomed  all students. and by all, I mean the weirdos who had nowhere to sit at lunch. Tyler unfortunately falling into that category. the boy let out a long sigh as he headed towards the large plastic seats, his eyes landing on the stupid, weird, cat acting kids and a few other weirdos hanging about.  T hated this spot the most, but this was the one spot where he could truly be alone with his thoughts, even if there was some kids acting like feline creatures right infront of him.

The boy headed to the top of the bleachers, taking a seat on the far end, trying to avoid any human contact. Tyler rolled his eyes as he watched the cat kids hiss at each other before sending a kick to anybody who tried to get close to them.

Meanwhile, rakim was inside, practically losing his shit. The teen had been looking for tyler since the day started. They agreed to meet up outside the school and head in together, but tyler wasn't there once rakim pulled up. However, that may have been rakim's fault pulling up an hour late to school......and, not managing to text tyler to inform him that he was late. But, that doesn't change the fact that tyler has been a no show for practically the whole day.

Rakim was running around the halls frustrated, asking everybody he knew if they had seen tyler, scurrying off once he heard 'who's that again?' or 'huh?'. It was as if Tyler didn't exist in this place, and rakim hated that.

On the other hand, tyler loved it, no-one  knew his name and no-one bothered him...until now. Tyler was basking in the sun warmth  with his eyes closed until he felt the heat disappear, slightly startling him.

The boy slowly opened his eyes, sucking in a gust of air once he saw rakim standing infront of him, with two pretty lightskins; one girl with short, curly, hair that he recognized from his AP english class, and one boy that he was pretty sure sold ecstasy and lsd to a couple of people.

"Where were you?" Was the first words to leave tyler's lips, earning a chuckle from rakim.

"Where were you? I've been looking for you all day. I had to ask..."

"Coi and jaden." The short girl piped up.

"For help!"

Truth be told, tyler purposely dodged rakim today, just because he felt played once he realised rakim probably wasn't gonna pull up earlier. It was a petty thing to do, but tyler didn't know how to react; he was excited to show off his new friend, but his new friend couldn't even pull on time.

"Shit, if you had pulled up on time, maybe you wouldn't have needed to pull a whole manhunt for me." Tyler huffed earning an eyeroll from rakim.

"Jesus Christ, t. Don't tell me you went incognito for that."

"pretty sure that's the wrong word, dummy." Coi piped up.

"Dawg, I'm pretty sure he gets my point." Rakim dismissed before focusing his attention on tyler again.

"Jesus Christ, rocky," tyler mocked making the latter sigh.

"I don't think you understand why I'm upset." The boy continued as he stood to his feet. "I waited for you in that car park, a smile plastered on my face for 45 minutes because, I was excited to show off my new best friend. And for 45 minutes, I looked like a fucking dumbass, cuz you didn't manage to pull up on time."

Rakim instantly froze, the feeling of guilt consuming him. The boy completely forgot Tyler has never really had a friend for the entirety of high school. And, once he got one, that singular one failed him.

The whole field was silent and Tyler's eyes slowly drifted off to the rest of the bleachers who were staring up at the group.

"Damn. That's kinda sad." One of the cat kids yelled out making tyler sigh.