craze // skephalo | HIATUS

The Tour

~Darryl~

During lunch, I strayed from the usual schedule of meeting with Sam and Ant and immediately went to give Zak the tour. We shared the period before so it was perfect. I was worried about the other two who didn't know I was ditching for the new kid, but I figured it'd be fine after I explained to them.

The new kid and I walked out the classroom together. We agreed to stop by our lockers to return supplies, books, and such. Conveniently enough, our locker chunks were only two away from each other. Because of that, the tour started very quickly. Soon after we were over putting objects away, we walked together out in the courtyard where we officially started the tour.

"Alright! We could start the tour now. Are you fine with skipping lunch or do you want to stop by the cafeteria to grab some food first," all of me hoped he wanted to skip so that I wouldn't have to face Sam and Ant in the cafeteria.

Zak thinks for a moment. "I don't need to eat, but you can get food if you want to. I'm fine either way."

I nod. I notice he doesn't make eye contact with me. He just looks around, anywhere besides where I am. I tend to do the opposite. My eyes targeted around him. I do my best to tone it down, worried he was avoiding eye contact for a reason.

"Yeah, I'm good with either too but I'd rather not go inside the cafeteria."

He digs in his pockets, coins clinking. "That's good. If you're hungry we could just get food from the vending machines," Zak points at a nearby vending machine that leaned against a building. It stood next to another, one dark blue, one dark neon orange. The blue seemed to be functioned for food and the other for beverages.

"It's fine. I left my money in my backpack," I tell him. Zak does some sort of half nod before walking away to the two machines. From the blue, he seems to purchase two drinks. Both orange sodas in fairly-sized plastic bottles. As he waits for those to dispense, he moves onto the orange machine which from he buys two bags two miniature bags of potato chips. Securing leftover change in his pockets, he returns with the drinks and snacks in arms.

I tilt my head out of habit before receiving a copy of each. "Here," he smiles but doesn't face me, making the nice gesture feel forced.

I look down at my occupied hands, cradling the two items in my arms. I could feel the force of his stare as I was looking away. It seemed like he'd only look at me when I wasn't paying attention to him. I look back up and notice his head whip back to face away.

"Thank you," My smile is wide and visible. His smile was now wiped with a sleeve hovered over his mouth and visibly embarrassed eyes. He just nods in exchange.

"We should start now. I don't want to run out of time."

In agreement, I lead him to the entrance of one of the buildings without another word. He follows closely behind. The first part we pass is the water-fountains and bathrooms.

"These are the one of the bathrooms. There's a lot around the school, but this is one of the most used since it's the closest to the courtyard. It's really dirty and the fountains aren't to sanitary, so I recommend avoiding this one if you could."

I notice his nod as he opens his bag of chips, bringing one close to his mouth. "Do you know where your classrooms are?" I ask.