Mischievous Function

Climax

Several minutes later, on the roof...

"OH, GOLLY, WHAT HAVE I DONE?!"

At this point, Test Tube had been pacing back and forth on the roof screaming to herself and clutching her head for several minutes. "I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid..." she muttered repeatedly—before screaming it anyway. "I'M SO STUPID!"

She looked around rapidly at the snowy landscape and gulped nervously, trying somehow to calm her nerves down and not have a heart attack on the spot. Desperate, she took a long, deep breath of the chilly air and let it out softly. She then took about ten more of these deep breaths, and soon, she was feeling...about two percent calmer.

"What if he thinks it's stupid?" she thought to herself worriedly. "What if he doesn't like it? What if he doesn't think it's clever enough? WHAT IF HE SAYS NO?!"

She shook her head and hurried over to the edge of the roof, looking down at the snow-covered ground below. "How many stories up is this roof?" she thought to herself. "Maybe it's tall enough that it'll kill me if I jump off. Yeah. Oh, golly, I WANNA FRICKIN' DIE. WHAT HAVE I DONE."

Moaning in despair, she dragged herself to a sizable air vent nearby and plopped herself down on it. She planted her face in her hands and let out a loud, wailing groan. Almost every word of the story she'd written with the help of the B.F.D. High Literature Club had been burned into her mind, if only because of the sheer humiliation she was now suffering because of it.

They were like two peas in an apple orchard. Two halves, surrounded by wholes. Two circles in a puzzle made for squares—and just as pointless, or so they felt. They'd known each other practically forever. So why now, out of all the times in the world, did she feel like she couldn't even say a word to him?

Her name was Green. A natural-born nerd and proud of it, she'd always been pushed around at school. She never was the coolest, or most popular, or best-looking in her class. She was always ignored, always left to her own devices with very few, if any, real friends. But she had never really minded—so long as she had one.

His name was Red. He was a natural-born mess as well, socially awkward and introverted. He didn't understand why, but every time he tried to make friends, he was always pushed away and forgotten. He turned to the Interweb for validation—and he got it, more than he was expecting. Compared to Green, Red certainly had his life together; why he befriended Green in the first place had always been a mystery to her.

She had an idea, though: they were both socially awkward and had very few friends. In addition, they were both nerdy geeks in their own way, and they both especially loved anime. Once they had met, it was like a spark lit in both of them, and they fanned each other's flame for years to come.

Ever since childhood, they'd been the closest of friends. There was really no one like either of them, which was probably part of the reason why they appreciated each other so much. And as the years dragged on, through elementary school, through middle school, and even into high school, Red continued to maintain and uphold his unbreakable friendship with Green. Nothing, he figured, could ever separate him from his best friend, except maybe Green herself if she so desired.

Yet Green worried that that was exactly what was about to happen. Whereas Red had maintained a friendly outlook toward Green throughout the years, Green's feelings had developed into something...deeper. Something strange, almost surreal. Something that, for once in her life, she couldn't explain.

Every time she looked at Red, butterflies would rise in her stomach. Every time she thought of him, she felt tingly and giddy and couldn't resist the urge to smile just a bit. Every time they held hands, she felt like she was on top of the world, even if they only did so as friends.