A series of not so chill events

Jeremy!

Jeremy's POV

Rich had been acting weird lately.. I'm not sure if he was always like this before his SQUIP, but I noticed how he looked at, and talked about Michael. I had nothing against it, but I wanted to find out what was really going on..

"Do you like Michael?" I asked Rich.

He dropped the controller, which got him killed, and turned slowly to look at me.

"Whaaaat. What maketh you think that? We're just guyth being broth."

I exhaled. "I'm just curious is all.."

"Well, I like Michael- but not romantically! I just think he'th cool.." Rich mumbled.

"Okay.. but if you do, just say so, I'll help!" I winked at him and he just nodded.

Rich was so... different. It was really off putting, honestly.

Michael came back after a bit.

"Hey guys, did Rich win?"

When we both shook our heads signifying no, he frowned. "Aw man.."

I saw Rich glance at me briefly and then answered: "We can try again thome other time?"

Michael nodded and smiled. "Alright,"

I wondered why Rich hasn't left already when it was 11pm, but then I remembered something he had said about his dad back when I had first used the SQUIP at school.

"So- are you ready to lea-" Michael started to ask, but I cut him off.

"Want to sleep over, Rich?" I smiled slightly, while Michael's eyes bulged out at me.

Rich blinked and was about to decline, when Michael shrugged and agreed. "I mean, you could stay. There's plenty of space. Plus it's late, I guess."

Woah I've never seen Michael actually try so hard to befriend people in high school after the first few months of Freshmen year. He used to be one of those really charismatic kids that everyone knew and loved, he was basically the class clown in elementary school. But then, when we got to middle school, we started having rules about what was "cool" and what wasn't. Michael never shows it, but I knew he was affected, maybe even more than me. We always had each other, but I guess anything can happen. It's always good to have friends. ..And maybe even more?

Wait, what was I saying? Michael probably wasn't even gay. And Rich kept denying that he liked Michael. But, he did literally ask me if Michael was single like two days ago. Regardless, I shouldn't really meddle in things like this. Even if it's kind of exciting. Michael never really showed interest in anyone. Or did he? I was always the one with a new crush. I never asked him who he liked, he kinda just always gave me support, or teased me about the girl I liked.

"What are you doing?" Michael kneeled down next to me and waved his hand in front of my face.

"Hello? Earth to Jeremy!" He laughed. I blinked a few times and turned to face him.

"Sorry.."

Michael pushed up his glasses and tilted his head. "You ok?" He seemed concerned.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good." I smiled. "Just thinkin'"

"I see. Well, Rich went upstairs to shower. He said it was okay, he didn't need to but I told him that if he was going to touch my stuff, he'd need to shower or else i'd kick him out." He paused for a moment. "...D'you think that was mean? I meant it as a joke-."