Best Friend

Boys Are Stupid

Shawn, age 16
Camila, age 17

Shawn stared at his tray of cafeteria pizza in disappointment as he made his way to the same lunch table they sat at every single day. It truly baffled him how they managed to fuck up pizza. Unfortunately, it was the best option out of what was available of the school's lunch options that day. He did grab an apple and a bag of pretzels too — just in case the pizza was too bad to tolerate.

"Where's Camila?" he asked when he sat down at the round lunch table.

"I don't know. She's your girlfriend," Brian retorted. Shawn glared back at him.

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"I know, dude. It's just a joke," Brian laughed. "Chill."

"It's still weird to joke about," Shawn shrugged. "But seriously, where is she? She's usually the first one at the table."

"I don't know." Brian brushed it off like it was no big deal that Camila wasn't there yet but something about it didn't sit right with Shawn. He glanced at the other guys at the table but none of them seemed to know or care about where she was. Shawn's brows pinched together in worry. Camila loved routine and she also loved lunchtime. He couldn't recall a single day of school where she hadn't been the first person at their lunch table.

Maybe he was just overreacting. Maybe she had to talk to a teacher or something. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent her a quick text.

S: U coming to lunch?

He grabbed the bag of pretzels on his red lunch tray and ripped it open, grabbing a handful of them and tossing them each into his mouth one at a time. Camila finally texted back six minutes later.

C: probably not today

It might sound silly to some, but the lack of emojis in her message worried him even more. Camila loved emojis. Even messages that most people wouldn't think to add one to she managed to find at least one that worked.

S: U okay?

C: not really

S: Where r u?
S: I can come talk if u need someone

C: Can u? I'm in the girl's locker room

S: R u alone? I don't wanna walk in and creep out any other girls

C: Its just me

S: be there in a few

Shawn slid his phone back into his pocket and grabbed his apple and his pretzel from his tray, sliding the pizza over to Brian.

"I'll catch up with you guys later," he mumbled as he hastily walked away from the table and towards the gym where the girl's locker room was. Once he was out of the cafeteria he started jogging in the hopes of getting to her quicker. He pushed the door to the girl's locker room open slowly, peeking his head in just to make sure no one had gone in since Camila's last text. Once he confirmed that the coast was clear, he stepped fully into the room and let the door shut behind him. "Camila?" he called out. She didn't respond but he did hear some sniffling. He followed the sound to a shower stall near the back of the locker room. The curtain was closed but he could hear that it was her behind it. "Hey," he said softly. "It's me." He slowly pulled the shower curtain back to reveal the petite girl sitting on the floor of the small shower with her knees pulled up to her chest. Her cheeks were pink and tear-stained. Camila brought her hand up, using the sleeve of her hoodie to wipe away some stray tears as she continued to sniffle sadly.