Operation: KYLE

8

"Hey, Kyle!"

I turn around from my new locker at the familiar, yet matured and soothing voice. I get surprised at a pretty girl with black hair with a familiar pinkish-magenta beret that looked similar to– wait.

"Wen...dy...?"

I question, almost stopping at mid sentence. Was that even a sentence‐? "Yes, Kyle, it's me." Aw shit, Stan's gonna kill me for thinking Wendy's pretty. "Oh, then, hey." I sputter, trying to get the terrible thought out of my head. "Hello, again." She quickly says. We both awkwardly look away, standing in front of my locker for a few seconds until Wendy faces to me then asks, "So, how are you?" I get a bit surprised at the sudden question, asking myself why she's talking to me, and why she's not talking to him. "Are you asking about my face, or....?" I joke, scratching the bandage. But I don't think she thought it was a joke, since she looks caught off guard. "Oh– no! Just– in general!" I try to hold back a laugh.

I clear my throat. "I've been better, so, uh– are you looking for Stan?" She looks at me confused with a raised eyebrow, tilting her head a bit. "Or, something?" I nervously add. "Well, no. I'm not looking for Stan. We just broke up a few days ago." She explains as she looks away. Fuck. "Oh, sorry to hear that. Did he do something?" I quietly ask. She shakes her head. "Well– yes, but no. He isn't the reason we broke up, it was me." Well, isn't that surprising. "You don't have to tell me, unless you want to-" "No, no. It's alright. I needed someone to vent, anyway. Bebe has been busy so I haven't had the chance to talk to her. Or text her, even." She gestures her hands. "Well, if you're looking for Bebe, then I saw her when I passed by to get here, I think she was at the cafeteria, if you're still not comfortable with me, of course."

She sways her free hand, smiling a bit. "Nah, it's okay. I've been relying on her too much these days, besides– you're here with me, anyway. Let's talk until we get to class." "Okay, sure. Just let me finish up with my locker first." I mention as I point to my unfinished locker. She then nods, and pulled out her phone. I turn around, put away my jacket, and pulled out my old trapper keeper through the years. I glance back at her to see her all fiddly, like she's trying to tell me something like she's done something wrong, but I brush it off.

"Okay, done." I say, closing my locker. We start walking as we pass by the rushing students trying to get to their morning class. "How's Stan doing?" She began. I put my hand on my chin, trying to look back at how Stan's been doing. I eventually remembered. "Surprisingly, he hasn't been acting that much differently, just spacing out. I didn't even know you guys broke up. He's acting like it's not a big deal." She looks at me astonished, like that was the most shocking news she has ever heard. "Really? Wow, I wasn't expecting that. I kind of imagined him being all edgy and... you know?" She says, trying to snap out of the 'Raven' images out of her head. "Yeesh. Tell me about it." I groan, just by imagining him as 'Raven' makes me day worse. But I guess his current behavior is better than their past few break-ups.

"So, the reason I broke up with him is because of my parents." I raise an eyebrow. "Your parents? How so?" "They said that my relationship with him is distracting me with my studies. They said that they wanted me to focus on getting into a good University, mostly Harvard." She answers. "But i thought that they were okay with you guys. Why else did they let you be together for so long when you guys were younger?" I question, putting a finger on my chin. "I guess that– now that I'm older, I have responsibilities to take care of." She points out.