The borrower's crush

The cat's outta the bag

-Lea POV-

I feel shuffling from my front pocket, but Mason remains inside. "Mason, you there?" Abdulah inquires, sensing tension. "I'm fine" he mutters, staying hidden. "Something's off" I whisper to Abdulah. "Yeah of course there is!" he whispers back. "YOU are suspected of killing him, and he had to endure that for the whole homeroom!"

"Ex-cueeeese me" Aria says, pushing me and Abdulah away from each other. "Mind telling your BEST friend what's going on?" Me and Abdulah both shake our heads. "Well, that's not nice is it? Science is starting soon, so me and Lea will be on our way." With that, Aria pulls me away, glaring. "What the heck was that about huh?" she says through gritted teeth. "Why are you talking to him, and WHY are you talking about MASON, a person who's NOT here!" Instead or responding, I cover my pocket in instinct. It must be hard for him to endure all this without being able to respond. "Relax, we were talking about a past date, you don't need to be so concerned." I roll my eyes and walk off.

- 9:50 AM-

Halfway through science class I hear a whisper. "Lea? I'm hungry" Mason says. Since I'm next to Aria and in a room filled with students, I simply reach into my pocket and stroke Mason's hair so he knows I hear him. "You're hiding something, but I can't figure out what" Aria says, catching me off guard. "What?! What do you possibly mean??" I say, trying to regain my cool. "You're hanging out with Abdulah, you're being secretive,  and you're panicking to top it off. Not to mention your clothes." I freeze. I never knew Aria was such a good detective, and now she was about to uncover my secret.

"Are you... on your period?!" she whisper-shouts. I process what she says, wondering if I should play along. Y-yes... yes that's it" I say, trying to act embarrassed. "I just... haven't been myself...lately."

Aria backs off giggling that "she knew it" and I let out a sigh of relief. "I never thought that would be my excuse" I mutter. Science passes rather quickly and I scout out Abdulah, something I'd never thought would happen. "Bitch there you are" I say, running up to him. Abdullah rolls his eyes as we head to the courtyard for lunch, one of the few places with student privacy. And if I was there, everyone would leave out of disgust. So we'd be the only ones there. How convenient.

-No one POV-
Abdullah rests his back against a tree as Mason is set on the ground. Lea lays in the grass near them, proceeding to rant about how they nearly were busted. "And like-I had to make an embarrassing lie, so that way she wouldn't continue, and- is my outfit really that awful?!" At the same time, both Mason and Abdulah responded with a plain "yes."  The three chat, barley eating,  and for a moment, it feels like this relationship wasn't forced or necessary.

"What the fuck happened?!" a voice calls out, a few feet away from the 'trio'. Lea looks up first, and stares directly at her best friend, struggling to comprehend what she just saw. What's she's currently seeing.

"Lea, as my best friend, please, explain what is happening" Aria says, Mason backing away towards Abdulah. "Uhh....well...." Lea stammered. She didn't know how to explain why her ex-crush who she was obsessed with, is tiny, and with her of all people. Abdullah however, wastes no time. "So apparently he was poisoned by a stranger and became like this, and Lea by some fate happened to be the first person to notice, and took him home like the creep she is and then I found out and then you found out and no one has a reasonable explanation to how this happened."

"I'm not a creep!" Lea shouted, annoyed. "So.. you're telling me, all this happened, and you didn't tell me?!" Aria said. Mason backed entirely behind Abdulah, who cupped his hands around him. "Aria you're too fucking loud" Abdullah said, a deadpan expression on his face. Mason stayed silent for the entire interaction, overwhelmed by Aria's expressive nature. Aria sat down on the grass next to Lea, intrigued. "Mason, just curious, but what was your initial reaction to seeing Lea?" she said, moving Abdulah's hand out of the way. "I uh.... well.." Mason muttered. "I kinda need space, if that's okay." Aria nodded and backed away slightly. "Well uh, when I first saw her, I was naturally petrified, but in all honestly-" Mason wanted to continue his sentence, but fell backwards as he suddenly lost consciousness.

"MASON!"