Ruins of Everywhere

I'm Only Joking!

He walked up and down the hallway of his school, quickly pacing. Waiting eagerly for their next class to begin. You see, Atlas had a bad class, a bad day in general. Being antagonized by his classmates. He decided to step out, but he doesn't have the courage to go back. Lunch is coming soon, why not just stay out here? That won't hurt at all, right? He sits, sliding down the wall, hitting the ground as he covers his eyes with his hands. He hears running footsteps approaching him.

"Hey, Atlas!"
He looks over to see his his blue haired friend sprinting at him.
"Hi Felix." He waves, with no emotion in his voice.
Felix comes to a stop and stands in front of him, looking down to greet his eyes. He raises an eyebrow at his friend's tone of voice.
"Everything alright? You seem stressed. Do you need anything?" Felix questions him with concern.
In response, Atlas shrugs. Sighing after the motion, he didn't want to talk about it right now, he just wasn't in the mood.
"Eh. What are you even doing out here?" "That's not important right now. Are they making fun of you again? I swear to god."

He slowly slides down the wall, his shirt getting stuck slightly as he does, to sit down next to them.
"Sooo... Wanna hang out with everyone after school?" He glances over to them with an inviting smile. "Like we do literally every day? Of course." Atlas chuckles. Felix always found a way to cheer him up, he could always make Atlas laugh.
The bell goes off, the both of them get off the ground and rush to lunch. The halls crowd fast, they had to get there faster if they didn't want to be run over.

Felix opens the door for Atlas, motioning to go in before him. They hide their smile, nod in response and walk in, heading towards their usual spot in the cafeteria. They sit down as Felix joins them. Atlas glances at Felix, he looks back and they look away quickly.
"Bet you 5, Reese's gonna be late." Atlas teased, smiling smugly. He looks back and sighs.
"Fine."

The lunch room quickly fills with their peers, two people approach the table and sit down next to each other.
"Hey!"
Rowan greets both of them, putting down her lunch box carefully.
"Hi Row, Hey Ethan!" Atlas welcomes them to the table. Ethan takes off one of his headphones to listen, and smiles softly acknowledging what he had said.
"Aria is almost here, probably having trouble with the crowded hall." Rowan explains.
Reese walks in a tired manor.
"Hey guys." They sit down.
Atlas looks over to Felix and smiles at him, starting to giggle over the fact that Felix had lost the bet.
"Pay up dude!" Atlas cheered.
Felix hands them a wrinkled up 5 dollar bill and sighs.
"You guys betted on me being late to lunch?" They say, slightly annoyed.
Felix and Atlas laugh, synchronized.
"It's just a joke man, don't worry." Felix responds.

Aria walks in the café after a bit. She sits down and sets her crutches to the side of the table. One of them almost falls, but she catches it just in time.
"Sorry I got here late, crowded hallway again." They apologize, and laugh at what had happened.
"It's okay, Ari!" Rowan smiles acceptingly.
They take their lunch box back out and hand each one of them a gummy snack. Everyone thanks them.
"Okay, so after school, where do you guys wanna go this time?" Felix asks excitedly.

"Anywhere's fine with me," Reese replies.
"On the way to school I saw a really cool cave where we could look around! It looked scary though. It had a small entrance but I bet we could fit through. " Rowan says, chomping on their food.
"That sounds cool!" Atlas exclaims in excitement.
They all hang out together after school, usually going around their town finding abandoned houses and buildings. They had never been to a cave before, so it was exciting to all of them to find a new place that they hadn't been to before. The mystery of what might or might not be there was the best part. If they found something cool or terrifying, that was the point in doing this.

"So, how has everyone's day been so far?" Ethan asks, opening his bag of gummies and popping one into his mouth.
"It's been okay." Reese and Aria say, synchronized.
"Could be better." Atlas replies. "People in class were making fun of me so I had to step out."
Rowan looks over to Atlas in empathy.
"I'm sorry man, what were they saying if you're comfortable with sharing."
Atlas sighs quietly.
"They're just being transphobic. As usual." He looks down at his empty bag of gummies, as he's already devoured them all, fidgeting with the bag.
The rest of the table apologizes in their own way.

For the remainder of their lunch period, they converse about all sorts of things. They never have nothing to talk about, there's always something. Most of them have all been friends for most of school. Atlas was the newest addition of the friend group, being a freshman. He started going to the school the year before. He was friends with Felix first, he then introduced Atlas to the friend group. They all grew closer with him.