Tyler
Troye and I entered the cafeteria. The usual chatter and noise jumped upon us, reverberating in our ears.
Troye looked like a startled rabbit, eyes wide and tense. He shuffled closer, body clenched together.
I felt a bit bad dragging him into this situation, but I really wanted him to open up and come out of his shell. Honestly, I was surprised he had followed through with our agreement.
I motioned for Troye to follow, leading him towards where his old friends sat.
I heard Alfie and Louise's laugh first, a smile already spreading across my face.
I looked back twice to check if Troye was still following, which he was.
"Hey guys!" I greeted as soon as I was within earshot of them.
"Hey Tyler! And, Troye?" Zoe asked, confusion written all over her face. At the sound of Troye's name, Jim and Connor turned to face me.
"Uh, yeah, he's joining us today. If that's alright" I said.
Please let them accept him I prayed.
A huge smile spread across Zoe's face, eyes shining with happiness.
"Yeah sure he can sit with us" Zoe agreed, shuffling over to make room.
I saw Troye's shoulders relax slightly, evidently being afraid of rejected.
I sat down and Troye followed. At the sound of bags on the floor, the rest of my friends turned.
Marcus, Joe and Tanya had confused faces when they saw Troye, Louise was surprised but happy, Caspar was unreadable.
"Troye!" Louise nearly yelled. "You're joining us."
He looked down at the table, nodding.
"Yeah, I decided to join today" he mumbled.
"Are you going to continue sitting with us for the term?" Joe asked hopefully. Troye nodded.
The girls and Joe cheered, receiving a few glances from surrounding tables and a blush from Troye.
I smiled, giggling a bit. I was so happy they had taken his sudden appearance so well. They had truly missed him, it was noticeable in the few times they talked about him and how they looked at him now.
The group went back to talking to each other, sometimes asking Troye small questions. They seemed to know what questions were too personal and avoided asking them to him.
As I was talking to Marcus about whether there are gay chickens or not, I saw in my peripheral vision Caspar glancing at Troye with... anger?
I realized why as soon as Caspar opened his mouth.
"Troye, why did you ditch us all those years ago?" Caspar asked Troye, facing him as his conversation with Connor finished.
"Um..." Troye hesitated, swallowing nervously.
"He will tell you when he's ready, let's not bombard him with questions like that" I intervened, hoping my answer silenced anymore questions on the subject.
"Why not? I would like to know why my best friend suddenly dropped me three years ago, wouldn't you?" Caspar questioned, his tone sickly sweet.
I glimpsed at Troye, seeing he was slowing building his walls up, protecting himself.
"Well it will just ruin the mood and it's a heavy topic" I replied calmly.
"What, do you know why?" Caspar accused.
I realized Troye hadn't told me why, nor why his father abused him. I guess he didn't know the second one but the first one he must do.
"No he hasn't, but just let him be" I hissed.
I knew Caspar held grudges, heck he still had a grudge on the teacher that gave him a C on his report. But he still held one on his best friend?
"Are you his mother? I think Troye still owes an explanation and he can speak for himself" Caspar sneered, turning back to Troye.
I gaped at Caspar, insulted that he could be so rude to me, a friend of his. Our table had now stopped talking and instead decided to watch this little scene. Some were confused, some were angry and others were unsure.
"Troye?" Caspar asked once again.
I tried to speak again, but got shot down with a glare from Caspar.
"I'm not ready to speak yet" Troye spoke up, steely and monotone. I knew this voice, it was how he spoke when he had retreated into his shell. If Caspar pested further, shit will go down.
"Can't speak to your friends of four years, who you used to trust us with everything?"
"Don't guilt me, you don't know me" Troye growled.
Anger had sunk into Troye's voice, causing shivers of fear to slither through my bones.
"Yes I do, we told each other everything" Caspar said, continuing the argument and ignoring the emotion pouring out of Troye.
"No we didn't."
"I did, didn't you? Or are you just a terrible friend that once they knew everyone's secrets pushed everyone away so they could be popular."
I saw Troye's arm twitching, a flicker of pain flashing passed his face. Yet it was swiftly replaced with fury and hurt.
"I did it so you wouldn't get hurt" he growled, gripping the table with so much force his hands turned a ghostly white.
"From what? Your anger issues?"
"Caspar!" Zoe spoke up, glaring knives at the boy.
"What?" He asked too innocently.
"Shut your goddamn mouth or I will come and do it myself" Zoe snapped, a fierceness in her voice that could scare a lion. Even Alfie looked slightly scared at his girlfriend.
Zoe's threat did work though, Caspar promptly snapping his mouth shut and sinking into his chair. Not without a quick glare at Troye.
Everyone went back to eating. Soft mumurs of conversation were passed around but other than that it was silent compared to our usual rumpus.
The bell went 5 minutes after, and everyone got up. We mumbled goodbyes and left.
I followed Troye out of the cafeteria, since we both had art together.
I fell into step with him as we walked towards the arts block. Instead of his usual long, fluid strides, he took short, stiff steps. I sighed, knowing Caspar had affected him badly.
Why couldn't Caspar be quiet?
"Are you okay?" I whispered to Troye. I knew the answer anyway, even if it was a lie, but I still wanted to let him know I was there.
Troye gave a curt nod in response.
Yet I heard him softly breathe "no".
A/N Hi!
Another chippity chap!
Caspars got a bit of a attitude as well. It wasn't supposed to be that intense but I was in the mood.
I've also realized that I can pretty much only write angst or fillers, I can't write fluff at all. Not sure how that's gonna affect the future chapters or not, oh well.
Also, I got a question. Does your school have a cafeteria, like that's the spot where you buy food and eat? Mine just has a canteen indoors and we eat outside.
I've started listening to Fob and p!atd recently, and it's bringing such nostalgic memories back.
Also thanks for 3k wowa!
I'm rambling so comment and vote and Imma go now.
BYE!!!.
Jam.