BOYFRIEND | takahashi ran

11. spidey senses

    haru must have noticed the people staring because he grabbed you by the shoulder and spun you away from the common crowd, using his back to hide your face.

" here to pick you up of course, " he smiled.

" what for? " you asked him, feeling anxious about the people watching. you didn't want people to misinterpret anything.

" figured that you might still be feeling unwell from yesterday, " haru shrugged, " i can't pick up a friend? "

" thanks but... please don't ever do this again, " you brushed him off as you began your walk home.

" what? no. why? " haru questioned as he trailed after you.

you picked up your pace.

" because i have a boyfriend and it comes off to others as weird when another guy who doesn't even attend here comes to pick me up, " you densely replied as frustration slowly creeping into your heart.

" why should that mean anything? " haru scoffed and rolled his eyes as he quickened his foot steps.

you knew that the problem between takahashi and you was not haru's fault but in that moment, you were at the tipping point and haru's stubbornness just pushed you over.

" YAH! CAN YOU STOP FOLLOWING ME? " you turned around and shouted.

haru was speechless.

" please, " you said desperately, almost begging, " we'll talk another day... just... just not today. "

you felt the stinging pain kick in again at the back of your head.

" i don't get it, i'm just trying to be a- "

" hey man. back off yeah? she said she doesn't wanna talk today. " you heard another familiar voice coming from behind you. you thanked the heavens. you have never been more grateful to have someone on your side.

" who are you? " haru retorted.

" her best fucking friend. who are you? " aki sassed as she slung her arm around your shoulder as she leaned her weight on her right leg.

haru just stood there in disbelief. he never had anyone talk to him like this and you could tell he was starting to feel intimidated. he rolled his eyes and said, " i don't know what's going on but this conversation is not finished. "

with that, he took one more look at aki, then at you, and then left.

" ' this conversation is not finished ' okay jojo mcdodd looking headass, " aki mocked as she rolled her eyes.

" aki, what are you doing here? " you asked.

" my spidey senses told me that problem was going to arise from here, so i decided to wait around and turns out, there really was a civilian that needed my saving! " aki smiled as she pinched your cheeks.

you looked at her weirdly, " really? "

" haha... just kidding, " she laughed nervously, " i was actually waiting for someone... but i mean, i saw you with that strange man and you know... "

she was very obviously trying to avoid the topic. you made a mental note to bring up the topic again when given the chance to.

" oh! by the way, who is that guy? i swear, after i left school, someone sent me this photo of you at the pop up bar with him... " aki trailed off, " wait... don't tell me that's- "

" yeah that's haru alright, " you sighed as you rubbed your temples, " the whole school must've seen that stupid picture by now. who the hell is even circulating this shit. "

" that's crazy honestly. is gossip all that matters to these pests? " aki rolled her eyes, " if i find out which one of these motherf- "

" aki? "

someone you didn't recognise called out to her.

" oops, that's me, " she laughed nervously as she released her hand resting on your shoulder, " time to go. "

you looked at the mystery girl. her hair was black with ash grey highlights. her air bangs framed her face nicely. she was wearing an oversized grey hoodie jacket which complemented the white shirt and short, high rise, black denim skirt she wore under. she had on a pair of classic vans and ankle socks to finish the look. she was just as pretty as aki.

" text me when you get home okay? " aki shouted as she waved bye to you.

" you too... " you said, softer than you intended to be.

now you had even more questions as you watched aki rest her arm around the girl's shoulder as she pats her head. both of them had huge smiles on their faces. you watched as they disappeared into the background.

back at home, it was time for reality to set in again. upon charging your phone, you found out that takahashi had sent you 57 messages and left you with 18 miss calls. most of the messages were asking if you got home safe, which started getting more and more distressed over time when he realised that you weren't replying. little did he know that your phone has been flat for almost 24 hours.

you contemplated replying to his texts but felt that it would've been inappropriate to do so, given that he
" doesn't want to deal with this today ".

you lay down on your bed as you stared at the ceiling, collecting your thoughts and reprocessing everything that has happened today.

takahashi's mad.
haru's mad.
hana's psycho mad.
aki's... nevermind. she's probably living her best life right now.

so much has happened in the past 12 hours. pictures of you, which you didn't consent to have taken, were circulating within the school.

they were probably the reason why takahashi got angry.

and then you remembered why you decided to look for haru in the first place. because somebody was seen on a little lunch date with hana. there were even rumours flying around about the two of them and he did nothing to address it, or to reassure you that nothing was going on. so instinctively, you were sent into a whirlpool of negative emotions, just like any other normal person who thinks that they have been cheated on.

your sadness started developing into rage as you thought about how he wronged you.

how can he get mad at me when he's doing the exact same thing? he started it in the first place.

you smashed your face against the pillow as you mumbled a curse under your breath. maybe what aki said about settling things in the ring wasn't such a bad idea...