INCANDESCENCE - (Scyde)

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ 12 - ZEPHYR

ZEPHYR

noun - a soft breeze

☆

The small ledge of roof over the front of the school doesn't do much to stop the rain falling on Clyde, soaking through his jacket, but he doesn't make much effort to move. Instead he watches the bustling people pouring into the school, watching out for one in particular.

"Morning, Clyde!" Scott runs up to him, all glowing smiles. Clyde grins back, taking his empty hand and threading their fingers together.

"Morning Scott." the two of them start walking into school.

Scott scratches his neck, "I took in my painting if you still wanted to see it." he holds up his folder in his other hand.

"Sure I wanna see." he swings their hands between them, "I bet it's great."

"Heh, I wouldn't say it's that good."

They manage to get to their spot under the stairs with a few more minutes to spare until classes start. Scott sits down and opens his folder, pulling out a canvas and pushing it to Clyde.

It's a night sky full of twinkling stars and colours, purples and blues fading to deep indigos. The moon hangs in the centre and illuminates the trees and hills below, casting a glow over the sky behind it.

There are two figures at the bottom of the painting, holding hands. Their careful lines look like they're being swallowed by the dark strokes of the deep blue. Clyde wonders if maybe that's supposed to be the two of them.

"You like it?" Scott leans toward him, head resting on his palm.

He nods, "It's seriously so cool." Scott breaks into a proud smile. It's the cutest thing, and Clyde's face is probably bright red.

"Good, 'cause I spend ages on it." he puts it back in his folder and closes it, before standing up and brushing himself off. He offers a hand to Clyde, "We should probably go to class."

"Yeah, yeah. Right." he coughs, taking his hand and getting up, "See you later."

"See you!" he grins and walks off, though not before looking over his shoulder and waving at Clyde. And, not that Clyde looks stupid or anything, but he's just standing there and not even waving back. Just staring.

Blinking, he shakes his head and begins walking to class.

He feels slightly bad for playing chicken and not kissing Scott like he'd told himself he would. But it's fine, it's not like anyone else will ever know he was planning to.

He kicks a random piece of trash on the floor. Then he picks at a loose string on his mittens - those are probably going to come apart soon - and sighs. He tries his best to think about something else but all that his brain comes up with is Scott and his stupid cute smile. It's not fair, how does one person get to be so cute?!

Bebe's blonde hair bounces towards him, snapping him from his thoughts.

"Hey, Clyde!" she sidles up to him and nudges his elbow, "Where've you been?"

He rolls his eyes, "Nowhere."

She nods solemnly, as if she could possibly understand Clyde's predicament (she can't), "Sure, okay." she says, suspicion written all over her face and seeping into her words.

A pause, both of them silent and looking ahead.

"I don't really know what I'm scared of." Clyde says, catching Bebe off guard. She whips around to face him as he continues, "It's not like we wouldn't be friends anymore if I did ask to kiss him or whatever."

"Aw, c'mon! You gotta."

"I know! But I don't want to. Well, I do, but..." he buries his head in his palms, "Ugh..."

Bebe pats his back, "It's okay. Here, why don't you just ask him to hang out after school, then you can make your move?"

"But his parents might not let him. And I'll probably just chicken out again!" he pulls his face from his hands and stares at Bebe, "Help me!"

She laughs, "It's not that hard. Alright, what about this. The two of you come over to my house after school tomorrow, and we can try and set you up."

"No way! It has to be authentic."

She shrugs, "That's your call. We could've had so much fun though, especially if Wendy came too..."

Clyde, unimpressed, looks at her and her attempt at convincing him to join her girls' night. He sighs, "Fine. I'll actually come, but only if you promise not to lock us in a cupboard or anything."

"We won't, we won't." they walk into their classroom and sit down, finishing discussing their plans. It ultimately doesn't sound that bad, and Clyde makes a mental note to ask Scott about it later.

And who knows, maybe Bebe was onto something. No way Clyde's gonna fall for a trick of hers trying to get the two of them together, but she at least has okay advice for doing it himself.

–

Scott is nowhere to be found later, and neither are any of Clyde's other friends. He's slightly scared at the fact they all seem to have disappeared. All of their usual spots are empty, they really aren't anywhere!

No one by the side of the building, no one in the old janitor's closet and no one under the stairs. How very lonely it feels...

Clyde eventually gives up the search and resigns himself to sitting at the table alone, flopping onto a chair with much melancholy.

However, to his great fortune, he's saved after just ten minutes of moping and wallowing in his own sorrow. Then, his friends all have the audacity to sit down normally as if they haven't just cruelly abandoned him.

Even Scott just pretends with the rest of them, quietly eating and not even sparing Clyde a single glance.

He huffs, "Guys, where were you?! It was so depressing, no one was anywhere."

"We were just catching up on homework." Craig says.

Jimmy nods, "Yeah, h-h-homework."

"You were doing homework without me?!" now he feels even more betrayed, resentment filling his very soul.

"Only so you wouldn't copy us and do it yourself for once." Tolkien remarks.

Clyde does not even justify that with a response. It's not his fault he's not as smart as him!!

He looks at Scott, who hasn't looked back at him the whole time. What were they doing?!

"Everything okay, Scott?" he asks, poking him.

Scott looks at him, nervously muttering a quick, "Don't worry." before turning away again. Clyde frowns.

"Bebe invited us to her house after school tomorrow. Can you come?"

This seems to cheer Scott up. He nods, "Yeah, probably."

"Great!" Clyde smiles. His friends all look between the two of them. Clyde notices, and his smile quickly drops into a scowl. They can all mind their own business, thank you very much.

☆