*:･ﾟYou Bet I Stare ･ﾟ:*

CHAPTER 31 - anchor

DC !!

SOUSUKE
—❁—

A prolonged exhale left my lungs as I stepped foot in the school building, mentally preparing myself for a new week by telling myself in my brain that I just have to make it to Friday. I already had a long list of duties for myself that I was hoping to have completed by the end of the day, like getting those photos of Kou developed in the photography classroom, taking pictures of the gardening club after school, getting my classwork from last week finished up so that my teacher didn't think I was a total slacker, and most importantly; avoiding those stupid upperclassmen that completely ruined everything from the other day.

I was already scanning the place for Kou, hoping that I would see him around the next corner that I was turning. Hopefully he actually did decide to come to school today.. there was no way I could brace these hallways by myself after what happened last Friday. I eventually made it to the photography classroom and began to quickly develop the photos, that way I could already have the first task on my to-do list finished up before being held up by the massive line that usually forms to use this place when class is actually in. So far I had counted that I only needed to develop 12 photos, and they should easily be finished by the time I make it here later on. When I made it to the step where you clipped the photos up to dry, I made sure to keep all of the front sides of them facing away from the front of the clothes line. That way my classmates wouldn't be able to see the photos and ask questions, even though my teacher is pretty consistent in making sure that personal photos being developed are kept personal and private.

It was eventually time to start heading to class, but there was no sign of Kou anywhere. I had no notifications from him, which was weird because he typically would've sent thousands of messages already. Did he end up deciding to skip out on school today? I wasn't sure. I couldn't help but feel an awful feeling in my gut though. It was like my weird boyfriend instincts were finally starting to kick in and I had a horrible feeling that something terrible was going to happen today.

I'll definitely be watching my back just in case.

As soon as I arrived to class, I saw Kou sitting in his desk with some weird expression on his face. It looked like he was pissed off, but sad at the same time. I got a smile on my face in hopes of cheering him up as I walked over to my desk, but he didn't even look at me. It was like I wasn't even there. "What's with the depressed look on your face lame-o?" My smile turned into a small frown as I went to grab his arm so I could comfort him in case he needed it, but he immediately pulled it away and glared up at me. "Just sit down in your desk, I want to be left alone." I felt my chest begin to grow heavier as he just looked up at me with that scary cold expression he gets when he's angry. Did I do something wrong that I wasn't aware of? "Oh.. um, okay—yeah okay.. just.." I watched his face get a look of annoyance, and I felt my heart sink as I nodded in response. I couldn't find it in myself to finish my sentence, so I cut myself short and sat down in my desk like he demanded me to.

"Alright class.." Sensei walked in as the school bell rang, straightening his tie. "Today we're going to be finishing up the rest of our class prompt, so please get your workbooks out and get ready to participate in volunteer reading." My heart felt heavy the entire time I sat there in my desk. I couldn't help but feel a sense of anxiousness pulsating throughout my nerves, and my heartbeat could be felt in my head. Why was Kou being so rude to me just then? It was like we weren't even together, or even friends. He was wearing his earring, so it wasn't another one of those weird possession fits that he had a while back in the courtyard. I was trying to play through the moments of yesterday in my brain, analyzing for some instance where I fucked up bad enough for him to be this upset with me—but there was nothing that I could vividly remember. I sat there with my eyebrows narrowed, not even paying attention to the prompt as Sensei called my named.