Illusion Shift

~ 12 ~

15:07

October 28th, Wednesday

˗ˋˏ°• 　Orange　 •°ˎˊ˗

"Orange!" a familiar voice calls my name. I mentally cringe.

Don't get me wrong, she's cool, she really is. She's just... one of the the last people I want to talk to right now.

I pretend I didn't hear her, not slowing down my pace.

"Hey, silly! Couldn't you hear me?" Watermelon says beaming and slightly out of breath, grabbing my shoulder.

"Sorry," I tell her simply. Her smile falters slightly as she's quiet, waiting for an explanation, it seems.

I don't provide one.

She looks away nervously, a slight awkwardness in the air.

God, what's your deal?

It's what she gets!

How could she have known?

You're being so irrational right now.

"I've been kind of worried about you?" Watermelon blurts out quickly, cringing slightly and looking away.

"I know it's not really my place to say this since I don't know what's going on, but you've been acting kinda off lately and I just want to make sure you're okay," she continues, seeming unable to stop.

"It's... nothing," I tell her.

I might be going through some ugly shit right now, but one thing's for sure -- being mean to Watermelon won't fix ANY of my problems.

"I'm honestly fine," I tell her, smiling.

"School has just been a little stressful recently," I lie, putting my hands on the back of my head. "Sorry for worrying you."

"Phew!" she sighs in relief, beaming at me. I look away.

"I was worried! Remember you can always talk to me, you know that?" she tells me, arms swinging.

"I know," I tell her, taking a right.

"Where are you going?" she asks me. I look back and she looks at me confusedly, pointing to the other direction.

"Oh, haha," I laugh. "Appointment, remember?"

"Oh! Yeah!" she says, eyebrows flying up. "I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"I'll see you at school."

"Bye, Orange!" she calls to me, smiling and walking in the opposite direction.

"Bye," I smile at her as she walks away.

The moment she's out of sight, my smile drops.

I sigh and make my way the opposite direction.

I feel like a secondary character in my own fucking life.

I feel like the character that everyone forgets about because of how basic he is.

The basic jock character. I'm in the football team. I'm not the smartest, I admit it. Just a meathead.

I feel like outside of sports I'm... nothing. What personality do I have other than football player Orange? There are other guys just like me on the team. What do I have that makes me different than them?

My whole life so far I spent just watching other people succeed and do things. Watch everyone else be cool, and interesting, and unique.

A character that people would replace in a heartbeat.