16:26
October 28th, Wednesday
＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ Pudding Cup ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*＊
"So... Oreo isn't here yet?"
I'd arrived at Watermelon's house a couple minutes ago, expecting everyone to already be here, only to find out the guy who promised to help me out with my project... wasn't here yet.
"You know him, he's not really that punctual," Watermelon waves dismissively, heading to the kitchen.
"And I was just about to get a snack for us too! Perfect Timing Pudding Cup," Watermelon says absentmindedly, opening the fridge.
"It's? Literally almost 30 minutes past the appointment time? And he hasn't messaged you either?" I ask her, incredulous. As much as Oreo might be an airhead, half an hour was a bit much.
"No..." Watermelon tells me, a hint of anxiety in her voice. "I'm sure he's fine."
"Man, I need to submit the French project in an hour and a half!" I tell her, rustling my hair. "If he's not here soon I'm literally gonna kick his ass."
Watermelon laughs, two bowl of sliced apples and Goldfish in her hand.
"Ah, whatever. I told him if he was more than 30 minutes late I had full privilege to noogie him," I remember, gently taking one of the bowls from Watermelon's hands.
"Well make sure not to kill him," Watermelon replies jokingly, as she heads upstairs.
"Don't worry, I will," I reply, as I follow her up and into the large guest/study room where I see Kit and Police Hat sitting together at a low square table, looking at a small pile of papers and talking.
They hear us walk in and look up, Kit grinning and waving at me, Police Hat just slightly raising his hand at me. I nod in return to the both of them.
"What are you guys doing?" I ask them, putting down the bowl of Goldfish I had been carrying as Watermelon does the same with the bowl of apples. I throw my backpack aside and sit down, leaning back on one arm.
"We have the same Literature class, so we're just proofreading each other's essays," Kit tells me, smiling and slowly twirling her red pen around in her right hand.
"Eugh, Literature," Watermelon says disapprovingly, typing on her laptop.
"Yeah," Kit responds, laughing slightly at Watermelon's comment. "All three of us are working on the essay."
"Bro, I literally finished that two days ago and I would be doing my French project if a certain dumbass was here," I respond jokingly, shaking my head.
Watermelon giggles responding with "At least you can noogie him. It's 4:31."
"Fuck yeahh..." I sigh, pumping my fist. I never noogied people very hard, just a headlock and gentle but maybe not so gentle head rub, but Oreo had been super against my traditional birthday noogies when he turned 14.
We made a deal where if he was 30 minutes late -- for no reason -- to any appointment we made, I had full rights to noogie him. However, if he managed to make it to his 15th birthday without being more than 30 minutes late, he would be immune from my birthday noogies forever.
But as we can see, nobody can evade my birthday noogies. Nobody.
16:34
October 28th, Wednesday
..｡o○ Oreo ○o｡..
FUCK, OH MY GOD.
Guess what my dumbass just did? Fall asleep! Take a nap! Snooze a little!
I'm late. Pudding Cup's gonna kill me.
I hit my forehead with my fist, speeding up slightly.
I was getting super tired but I knew if I walked and took my sweet time, Pudding Cup would be less merciful. As chill as she was, when it came to grades she did not screw around, even when she was blind.
I see Watermelon's house in the distance, and panting hard I accelerate, I sprint the last couple of yards there.
I run up to her porch, ringing the doorbell aggressively.
I bend over, hands on my knees as I pant, my breathe short. Sweat drips down my face and I hastily wipe it off with my bare arm.
The door opens slightly, and I see Watermelon peering at me. Upon seeing it's me, she opens the door wide, giving me a smile.
"Oh, dear Oreo," she says, doing the classic Shakespeare pose, minus the skull.
She opens the door for me and I walk in, shooting her a grin.
"You are in grave danger," she tells me, grinning and closing the door, as she looks down the hallway.
I follow her gaze and find Pudding Cup standing at the end of the hallway, cracking her knuckles, giving me a grin.
I close my eyes.
This is it. Farewell, cruel world. I can imagine it now, 'Orion Chaleux dies after receiving noogie for being late to a hangout'.
Pudding Cup thunders down the hall, grabbing me in a headlock.
"GOD, you're sweaty!" she yells, her headlock unfaltering.
" I RAN HERE," I yell back, laughing.
"Hoowee, smelly, you got a good excuse or what?" she asks me, as I hear the grin in her voice.
"Nah, I fell asleep," I tell her, shrugging in her headlock.
"Happy late birthday, cookie boy," she replies triumphantly.
"NO, no, wait Pudding Cup!! Gahg," I laugh as her knuckles meet my head, scrubbing my head and messing up my hair.
I felt almost like those old timey scrubby laundry boards.
Maybe that was my past life? Who knows...
After a good minute, as she clearly enjoys every second, she releases the headlock and I stumble out, laughing.
"Jesus Christ, man. Projet francais! Due in une huere et demie!" she tells me, snapping after every word she says in French.
"Okay, okay, French project due in an hour and a half, okay. This is the interview project right?" I ask her, following Watermelon and Pudding Cup up the stairs.
"Yeah, man," she responds, not looking back. "Yo, Watermelon, could we use the spare bedroom? We need to record for the project."
"Yeah, of course!" Watermelon's voice comes from a little bit farther away.
"The door next to the study room leads to the guest bedroom," she tells us, hand resting on the door handle to the study room.
"Thanks, cutie patootie," I say in the most oily voice ever, blowing Watermelon a kiss.
"Anything for you, poopsie," she responds, blowing a kiss back and giggling.
Pudding Cup makes a retching sound in front of me, finger pointed towards her open mouth.
Watermelon and I laugh and we wave goodbye to each other, entering our respective rooms.
16:54
October 28th, Wednesday
᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ Watermelon ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃
It's been about 20 minutes since Oreo arrived, but I still can't get rid of the weird feeling in the pit of my stomach.
I don't know.
I stare blankly at the computer screen. Something after seeing Oreo laugh so hard as Pudding Cup head locked him.
He never laughed that hard around... me.
Jealousy...?
I shake my head.
I shouldn't be like this. I'm dating him, for Christ's sake. And Pudding Cup's my best friend.
Problem solved, right?
I look back at my computer screen, my typing resuming.
The feeling in my stomach stays.
16:47
October 28th, Wednesday
｡ₓ ू ₒ ु Police Hat ू ₒ ु ₓ
Honestly, I do admit, I felt super nervous before coming here. I would have bailed if Kit wasn't there.
Growing up with not so many friends and my only experience with a friend being bad, I wasn't the best in social situations.
I'm STILL not the best in social situations.
Honestly, Pudding Cup being absolutely okay with me randomly approaching her on the first day of 10th grade literally saved my ass.
My approaching her was, yes, I needed a friend, but it was also a pact I made to myself.
I'd promised myself that if this attempt at making a friend failed, like all the others before, I was never going to try to make another friend. What was the point?
It just hurt, honestly, being rejected all the time, over and over again. Rejected at something my peers find so easy to do.
Overtime, I just grew a resentment for making friends. Grew a resentment for kids my age.
Started thinking that all my peers are terrible, all of them are mean.
"Wait, it might be better to put this into two sentences," a voice interrupts my thought process.
"Huh?" I ask, focusing back on my paper.
"This sentence is kinda confusing," Kit says, pointing at a sentence on my paper underlined in red.
"Oh. Yeah, I see that. Thanks!" I tell her, finding said sentence on my laptop.
"Yeah, of course!" she responds, focusing on her own paper, biting the end of the pen.
I watch her focused on her paper, eyebrows creased, and I can't help smiling.
I think about the few friends I've made. And as few as they may be, so much more than I'm used to having.
So much better than some "friends" I've had.
Kit notices me randomly smiling at her out of the corner of her eye and turns her head, grinning back at me.
"Hello, Mr. Smiley," she greets me, tip of the red pen on her chin. "Need anything?"
"Nothing, nothing," I respond, shaking my head and looking back at my laptop screen, smile unfaltering.
I'm just glad someone proved me wrong.
a/n:
yes, i searched up "absolutely terrible pet names" to find the names oreo and watermelon call each other
ALSO I JUST REALIZED I PUBLISHED THIS OUT OF SCHEDULE?? I THOUGHT THISPART WOULD B PUBLISHED THIS WEEKEND BUT I FORGOT EYE