𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 || An Original Story

𝟷 | 𝚂𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛

A/N: Just a li'l heads up; anything I put in brackets within a piece of speech or a thought, is what they would say in fixed, formal English sentences, since they speak in a sort of slang, if you get me...Hopefully, you'll understand when you read it ^^. Just to sum up, they aren't speaking those brackets, they're just there to show how what they say is usually said in formal English, I suppose. Anywho, enjoy!

[TO BE PROOF-READ]

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"Cleo! Hi-hiii, how's your brother doing?" A girl wearing an elastic, green headband ran up to catch up with her taller friend as they reached the traffic lights at the road which separated one of their town's parks from their school.

"Hm?" The girl next to her turned, adjusting her satchel a little on her shoulder. "Oh, hello, Liana. And Juni's fine, yeah, why do you ask?"

"Oh, he just seemed a bit off yesterday's all..." (is all)

"Oh. How so?" Cleo thought for a moment, staring at the cloudless winter sky. A mistake because it clearly caused her to loose track of their conversation and ended up making her cut off her own question instead. "It's winter but the sky is so clear..."

"Mhm. And dunno, he just seemed a little edgy...He wasn't all calm and smiley as usual, you know..?" Her friend replied, not missing her question since she was used to Cleo's antics.

"Oh hey, did you do the bio homework? I've only done the first bit, so I have a few questions left and...we have biology third period, right?"

Cleo sighed, quietly. "I can show you mine at break if you want." Her brother was being 'edgy'? Now that was a new one.

Liana beamed at her, feeling slightly bad but pushing it down and replacing her negative feelings with expressive, grateful bounces. "Thank you! I was scared for a second there."

"No problem." Cleo replied with a smile. The light for pedestrians blinked green, and they both made their way across the road, towards their high-school's building. Cleo thought for a moment again, before deciding to voice something that had sort of been bothering her for a while. "Hey, Liana?"

"Ye?"

"Uh, I've noticed how much more reserved you get when you're with my brother recently...am I looking too much into it...? You seem a little more timid with him then you are with Dex. You've hardly know them both equally but I've noticed you struggle to interact with my brother more..."

Liana halted abruptly, just short of the school gates, almost causing one of their year-mates to run her over with his bike. He swerved, almost slamming into the side of the gate, narrowly avoiding another student as he continuously rang his bell in a panic, all while thankfully still managing to keep himself balanced and upright.

"Oi, watch out!"

"S - sorry!"

Liana quickly ran to the side of the pavement out of the way, slightly shaken.

Cleo lightly slapped a hand to her forehead, trying to hold in her laugh as she calmly followed her. "Not gonna lie, his control was impressive, pff —"

"Don't laugh at me, I'm already embarrassed enough as (it) is!" Liana seemed to refrain from swatting her friend on the shoulder, her cheeks tinged with pink. "A - anyway..."

Cleo attempted to smooth down her amused smile, deciding to let her friend be free of the teasing for once. "I wasn't there yesterday, but you said Juni seemed a bit on edge?"

Liana nodded vigorously. "Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah. But despite that, I don't really understand why, but something about facing a sick person makes me nervous...I was really scared when he collapsed last time, you know...It's like he's so fragile (that) he'll snap in two if I accidentally scream too loud or something —"

"Woah there, make sure you don't say that in front of him..."

"I know! Dex is fine, awkward and all cause he's a guy of course, and we only know him 'cause've Seiya — we're in the same boat with that, right? But it's just even more awkward with Juni because I feel so bad for him but I don't want to act as though I don't care or aren't (am not) weary or anything as his sister's best friend, but then I end up getting too responsive and it just feels like I'm annoying him more or trying to be fake about my intentions and it's just, you know, aaaaaaagh —"

Cleo sighed again, in sympathy this time, tugging her friend to resume and walk with her, continuing into the school's front yard. "You know," she started, fiddling with the strap of her black satchel. "I think he'll feel much better if you treat him as normal. He isn't going to break or anything, and as far as I know, he's pretty strong-minded. In fact, you'll make him feel bad if you continue to act all intimidated around him, you know?"

"Really?"

"Mhm, I —"

"Yo! G'mornin' people!"

A short boy with chocolate brown hair bounded up to them, and they turned to find him frozen in a half-formed gesture, as though he was about to slap them both on the back in greeting as he'd do to his male friends, but changed his mind mid-way, realising that it would be disrespectful, uncomfortable and most likely very awkward in the girls' (who he only knew because of his cousin) perspectives.

"You...you guys walk so fast..." Another familiar voice of a glasses girl sounded from behind them, as she slowed to a walk and breathed in deeply to catch her breath. It seemed as though she'd half-jogged, half fast-walked just to catch up to them. Her cousin, on the other hand, didn't seem fazed at all. Which they supposed should have been expected, since he — Dex — despite his height, was known as one of the best players in their school's tennis club.

"Nah," He corrected, pulling out his phone. "We were just really far away."

"I —" The glasses girl, Seiya, started, before getting interrupted by the loud ring of the first bell.

"Wait," Cleo said, slightly confused and rolling her sleeve up to look at her watch. "I thought it was only 8:34 —"

Dex peered over her shoulder, glancing at his phone before pointing at her watch. "Dude, your watch's frozen..."

There was silence for a moment, discounting the buzz of other (also late) students around them.

"Welp," Dex announced, breaking through the silence. "Time to speedrun it, right?"