𝘔𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘎𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥.

𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘌𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨.

The next day when I got on the bus for school, I was excited to tell Zachary about what happened yesterday. But he wasn't there today when I scanned the rows for him.

I thought it was a bit odd. He wasn't there yesterday, or today. As I sat down, my mind began to wonder about where he was. Did he sleep in? Probably not. Was he sick? Maybe. 

The bus ride seemed way longer than it actually was. Since I had no one to talk to, I just stared out the window. The familiar bump bounced me off of the seat and into the glass. I guess I didn't have Zachary to cushion my fall.

Once the bus arrived, I got off alone and trudged up into the school. I tried not to think about where Zachary was. Besides, I had other friends to talk to. It's not like he was my only friend.

"Hey! Carrot Top!"

I turned my head around to see Oliver leaning against the wall, beaconing me over. I walked toward him. I didn't care if I was late to class, I really wanted to know what he wanted. He hadn't talked to me since we were in detention together.

"Hello Oliver."

"Hey Carrot Top. How ya doing?"

"Alright, I guess-"

"Where's your friend?" Oliver looked beside and behind me, I'm guessing for Zachary.

"Actually, I don't know."

"Ah, if you say so. Anyways, you wanna come somewhere with me after school?"

He smiled at me. I couldn't tell if it was genuine or not. Besides, I didn't know if I wanted to go somewhere alone with him. But, I guess I was just feeling adventurous that day, or maybe stupid. Probably the latter. I stood up straighter, despite my heavy bag.

"Sure I'll go."

"Really? Huh, guess you aren't so bad after all."

"Thanks, I guess."

I glanced at his arm. Vague smudges of marker could still be seen around fresh bandages. Guess they were permanent.

"Well, I'd better go to class. Bye Carrot Top."

"Bye Oliver."

*  *  *

After my final class, I saw Oliver at his locker. I walked up behind him and stood there until he noticed.

"Gah! Jesus Christ Carrot Top, you scared the he-"

"So where are we going?" I interrupted.

"Oh, you'll see when we get there." He paused for a moment, "No, that sounds like I'm going to kill you. I'm not, I just want it to be a surprise."

"Yeah, ok. Sure." I smiled.

We started walking away from the school and beside the road. We didn't say much, just walked in silence. I was beginning to see a lot more lately. Silence that trailed behind me like a dog would follow its owner. I began to grow anxious wondering what we were walking towards.

"So, what did happen to your friend?" He said out of the blue. I looked up at him.

"Zachary?"

"I don't know...I guess. So where is he?"

"I don't know. He hasn't been at school for a while."

"Dang, I'm sorry."

We walked in silence for a while. Then all of a sudden, a thought came to mind.

"Why do you care?"

"Huh?"

"Why do you care where he is?"

He looked down at the dirt, not giving me an answer. Finally, he looked up at me annoyed and spoke.

"...I don't know, I just wanted to know okay?"

"Ok. Jeez, you don't have to get angry about it."

"I'm not!"

I raised one eyebrow at him. He scoffed in return and looked ahead of us.

"Well we're here anyways."

In front of us was a large baseball field. It was empty, almost abandoned looking. Dust blew in the wind across the field. We walked up to the fence surrounding it and stared inside.

"So, uh, why are we here?"

"We're gonna break in." He leaned in close to me.

"What?!" I stepped back. This didn't surprise me, Oliver seemed like the kind of person to do this sort of thing. I just didn't think he would rope me into this.

"Cmon, help me get over it." He started to climb up the tall fence.

"I don't know about this.." I stepped back from it. He looked down at me, three fourths of the way there.

"Don't be a baby Carrot. Heh, that was funny."

I hooked my fingers through the fence and started to climb. I was halfway up by the time he had landed. Once I got all the way up, I sat on top of the fence. It was about as tall as me and him stacked on top of each other, and it was a pretty threatening drop.

"Cmon Carrot Top!" He called up to me. I felt my stomach drop.

"I...I'm scared..."

"Don't be. I'll catch you!"

I waited for a while, staring at his outstretched arms. Finally, I jumped off. I landed on top of him as he grabbed my legs. He didn't really do a good job of catching me, but at least I didn't die. He squeezed my legs.

"Uh, you can let go now."

"Oh. Yeah, right."

He dropped me and I landed beside him. We both dusted ourselves off and looked around.

"So, why are we here?"