I'm No Prince

The Cycle

"So, Andy," Jason teased, "you figured out the meaning of life, the universe, and everything in between yet? You've been spaced out long enough, mate."

Andrew sighed, Jason was a good person, he just had a little trouble noticing when people were actually being serious. Actually, he had more than a little trouble. Andrew had mentioned things were going to be confusing for a while, but Jason hadn't really paid much attention. He was laid back and carefree, the opposite of Andrew in almost every way.

Not like it really mattered to Andrew, though. Jason was a pretty cool dude to hang with, most of the time. The only trouble with it today was that they were supposed to be taking an exam right now.

"I'd tell you the answer, Jason," Andrew whispered tersely, "but it took the supercomputer millions of years to figure that out, how do you expect me to come up with forty-two any faster?"

With that, Jason stayed quiet for the rest of the test. Andrew had gotten a passing grade for the class. Jason had gotten just enough to not flunk, which was honestly slightly annoying to Andrew, because Jason had the ability to pass with flying colors, he just refused to take anything seriously.

**One hour later**

"So, really Andy," Jason questioned, "how are you doing? You've always been a quiet person, but lately you've been downright antisocial, even with me and the guys, and we're your friends."

"I just," Andrew started, "I just need a while Jason. I'm really confused right now."

Jason adopted a concerned look on his face, which caught Andrew by surprise. It really was a week of surprising interactions for him; first, Kelsey being inadvertently philosophical, and now Jason actually noticing when other people were bothered by something? Maybe Andrew was more confused than he thought he was.

"Okay bud," Jason told him, "I'll give you some space, but just so you know, me and the other guys are going to hang out at Harry's place and play some games on Friday. If you feel up to joining us, you know the tournament rules, right?"

"Yeah, Jace, I do," Andrew assured him, "and," he continued, "thanks for listening to me. That was really helpful."

"What are friends for?" Jason brushed it off, "besides destroying you, and all other Kirby mains, in Smash, of course?"

Andrew grinned at that. Classic Jason, making a joke out of everything. Maybe he'd think about hanging out with his friends again, it could be nice.

Andrew waved as Jason left for his locker, the day drawing to a close. He left for his own locker, which was on the other side of the hall. When he first moved into high school, all of the boys' lockers on the left wing of the locker hall had been taken, and so he was placed on the right wing with Kelsey, whose locker was uncomfortably close to his own. He comforted himself by reminding himself that as Kelsey was his twin sister, it was certainly less awkward than having to share the locker space with a girl he didn't know at all.

As he opened his locker to extract his school books, steps behind him signaled the end to his privacy, and familiar voices, one of them Kelsey, came into hearing range. Of course as they got nearer to him, he became the newest and unwilling member of the conversation.

"So, Drew," Kelsey began, "how'd the test go?"

Andrew sighed in relief, thankfully Kelsey was not going to question his more-quiet-than-normal self at the moment, and was content to stick to pleasantries.

"It went well, Kels," he replied, "I got another ninety-five, so not perfect, but I suppose it will have to do?"

Kelsey's jaw dropped once Andrew finished with his grade. Of course she would, normally Andrew was a straight-A student, and if he ever got less, he would freak and give her a hard time until they got home. She didn't realize that he was putting her advice she inadvertently gave him yesterday to the test, all she saw was her perfectionist brother being okay with missing problems on a test.

"Are you okay?" the girl beside Kelsey asked. It was Chloe Terrace, Andrew's friend Harry's younger sister. She made a confused face at him, which was probably warranted. 

Earlier that day in homeroom, which Andrew, Kelsey, Chloe, and Jason shared, Chloe and Kelsey had each passed him a note asking what the lowest score he would allow on his test. He'd answered with one-hundred percent, and said that anything lower would be unacceptable. So of course, him being okay not getting a perfect score was probably in direct contradiction to what he himself had told her, but he was going to try and ignore those expectations for the moment.

"Yeah," Andrew answered in confidence, "never better."

Chloe gave him an even weirder look as she emptied the contents of her locker, which was just a few rows down from his and Kelsey's.

"Okay then, great for you, I guess," she told him, "Kelly," she turned to Kelsey, "I'm going to head home now, but I'll think about what you said, don't worry about it."

As Chloe walked away, she gave Kelsey and Andrew a wave goodbye. She turned on her heel and walked towards the parking lot of the school, to where she parked on the other side of the building every day.

On the car ride back from school, which Andrew was forced to sit through, because Kelsey had won the rock, paper, scissors match that decided who would drive them home, Andrew was thankfully given some space to himself for thinking. At least, until they pulled into the back roads, he was given space to think by himself. Once Kelsey turned onto the empty streets that would take them home, she immediately started up a conversation.

"Chloe tells me that Harrison is having a guys get together this Friday," she started, "Smash again, or is he finally deciding to have mercy on you?"

Andrew sighed, "I don't know, I haven't decided if I'm going yet, but you know the guys always like playing Smash when they get together, so I'd probably be in for a rough night of losses anyway."

Kelsey turned towards him in confusion, taking advantage of a stop sign to take her eyes off of the road for a moment. She was silent for a while, leaving Andrew to look back at her in confusion, the only thing going through his mind was the strange peppermint smell that seemed to radiate from their shared car.

"You haven't decided," Kelsey finally began once she had turned back towards the road and started driving again, "if you're going to go and hang out with your best friends for a night? What if doing something fun again is what you've been looking for? Are you really just going to skip it?"

"I don't know, Kelsey," Andrew told her in his most serious tone, "I'm just not sure if I want to be around people right now."

"But these aren't just any people, these are your friends, especially Jason and Harry. You should go hang out with them," she told him, shocked.

"Maybe I will," Andrew told her, "but I want to make sure that I'm up to the effort before I commit right now. Don't you understand that?"

"I get the sentiment behind it," Kelsey replied after an awkward five minute pause, "I really do, but I just don't think you should let whatever it is that's been bothering you get in the way of enjoying your junior year, Drew."

Soon enough, they pulled onto Carmine Circle, the location of their house. Andrew mulled over what Kelsey had said, and he really did understand why she was saying the things she was. Kelsey just wanted him to enjoy himself, and for him to be happy again. There wasn't anything wrong with her suggestions and advice, and besides, Andrew had considered going to the hangout after Jason had invited him, so it wasn't like she was pushing him out of his comfort zone. Not too much, at least.

"I think," Andrew said as they finally pulled up into their driveway, "you make good points, Kels. I think I will go hang out on Friday with the other guys. Who knows, maybe it really will help me out."

Kelsey smiled, "I'm glad to hear that for you, Drew. You have no idea how worried I've been for you, these past few weeks."