INDIGO

PART THIRTEEN

"It's okay, you can hold my hand," I reassured Indigo as we walked to lunch together. "How were your classes?" I asked, leading him to the cafeteria a few minutes after the bell had rung to avoid the crowd. "Okay..." he sighed, "Everyone's super loud, but your dad was right, a lot of people thought my name is cool." "Was cool," I corrected, nudging him a little, "Thought is past-tense, so is has to be too." He sneered at me a bit, but I could see him relaxing, so I didn't mind. "We can sit at a corner table; nobody's ever at those," I pulled him closer to my side as we entered the cafeteria. I didn't want anyone seeing us holding hands. "Do you wanna come with me to get lunch or wait here?" I asked, sitting him down at an empty table located in the far left corner of the room.

"I'll wait..." he laid his head on the table against his arms, with a tone as if he didn't really have a choice. I placed my hand on his head for a moment, before taking off towards the line by the sign "Hot Lunch', where they usually served macaroni, Indigo's favorite. As I stood behind the bustling kids, I felt a frown grow upon me. I really thought he'd love it here. I couldn't feel happy being back at school, even though I reunited with my friends, because Indigo wasn't. I kept trying to think of a way to fix it, and help him to see how fun it could really be.

"Hey! Dan!," I slapped the back of a friend. "Mistah E?" He spun around, a smile larger than life on his face. "Wha-ha-ha-hat's up?" He snorted, reaching over and smacking my back too. "I've got a buddy I wantcha to meet," I laughed with him, "It's his first day of school, like, ever, cuz he was homeschooled, and he needs friends," I tried to speak casually, but I was too happy to see him that a child-like excitement could be heard in my voice. "Can you gather up our friend group in the courtyard? A grand-scale game of tag is in the works!" I grinned, as he shot finger guns at me before rushing off.

I continued my walk back to Indigo and I's table with both our lunches in either hand. "Indie, up, we're going outside!" I called out, passing his tray to him. He looked up to me with a sarcastic grimace, "Stop using dog commands at me," then grabbed the tray awkwardly. He immediately started scarfing down the macaroni while I led him to the courtyard, where some people went to eat their lunch or mess around. It was a lot less crowded and there was a small field with a few trees in it in the far back. As I set my tray down on a blue picnic table that was out there, taking a bite of my mac too, I saw a small group of boys gathering on the field. Indigo almost sat down, before I grabbed his arm and started yanking him towards them eagerly. "Hey, what the heck-," he spouted, surprised. "Wanna play tag?" I asked, as if I would turn back if he said no. "Uhh, yeah?" he replied hesitantly and with confusion.

"Then you're it!" I shouted, letting him go as I ran into the center of the small mass of kids. Quickly, they all started yelling and dispersed, running in all directions. When I looked back at Indigo, I saw the goofiest smirk on him as he immediately understood and started chasing the nearest boy. I stood behind a tree and watched him as he nearly tackled someone, them both laughing for a bit and probably exchanging a few words, until Indigo started running away. I noticed his hair-tie slowly rolling down his hair, before it fell out completely when he sprinted away from the next person that was it. "Damn, he's friggin' fast!" I heard boys shouting. I snickered as I leisurely walked to the spot I saw his hair-tie fall, squatting down to search the grass. Two hands slammed onto my back and I heard at least three people holler, "You're it!"

"One sec!," I pushed the hands off me playfully, looking back down and spotting the black band. "Where's Indie?" I glanced up behind me, holding the hair-tie in my hand. "Boo~," I heard a familiar voice hum, and I shot my head back forwards to Indigo who was probably only a few inches from me now. Instantaneously I rose to my feet, a hard blush attacking my face. He stood up too, staring at me, before I shoved my hands into his chest, dropping the hair tie, and blurting out, "Y—you're it!"

We all spent the rest of lunch chasing each other about, and never actually being able to catch Indigo without him letting us. When the final bell rang after eighth period, I pushed my way through the halls to meet him at his class. He was talking to someone outside the door when I got there, and she had his hair in her hands. "Indigo," I patted his shoulder to get his attention, "Who's this?" I smiled at the girl. She was short and cute, with long light brown hair and gold-rimmed round glasses. "Eas- E, uh, this is Emma," he spun his head towards me, already reaching to grab my arm. Embarrassed that the girl was right in front of us, I shook him off and took a slight step away from him. I saw his smile shrink a little in my peripheral vision.

"What were you guys talking about?" I asked, glancing between the two of them. "Oh, I was gonna ask what shampoo she uses," the girl smiled. I was about to speak out and correct her, when Indigo did first. "I'm a boy," he giggled. Her face quickly flushed, and her arms shot up and waved frantically, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I didn't- I just-," she stammered. "Pfft, it's okay! I know, I'm just too pretty to be a boy, right?" he snickered, and she shot a quick glance at me before joining in his small laugh. "Haha, I totally thought you were his girlfriend," she started to laugh less tensely. "Good eye," Indigo started, "But actually, he's my girlfriend." "Hahaha!" she cackled, a hand landing on his arm. "I gotta go find some friends, but it was nice meeting you-," she paused, "Er, what were your names?" We replied and waved her off.

"Dumbass," I deadpanned, pushing him while he continued to laugh. We walked down the hall, which was dying out in numbers as everyone left through the school entrance. We stayed silent for a bit after Indigo stopped laughing, when he suddenly let out, "Do you hate me?" I stopped walking. "Are you serious?" I genuinely asked. "Well, yeah. Do you hate me, because... I like you?" "What? Indigo, it's not-," I glanced around, lowering my voice, "--It's not like that, of course I don't hate you. I like you too, but," I thought for a moment, "I think you're just confused. We're friends." "No, we're not!" He suddenly snapped.

"What do you-," I began to question, but he stormed off ahead of me towards the entrance. I remember thinking, 'He's so stupid,' though I was the real moron, not to mention a jerk. Eventually I caught up to him, but we didn't talk for a bit while we waited. After a moment of tension, I decided to speak again, "Didn't we decide that we didn't wanna be brothers because we wanted to be friends??" "No. At least, I didn't. And you know it," he glared at me, before continuing, "Don't you remember the talk we had, East?" "Don't call me-"," "Shut up!" I saw his fists clench, and when my eyes drifted up to his face, I saw it was red and could easily tell he was fighting back tears. "Indie..." I let my hand reach for his, despite the fact we were surrounded by other kids.

He reacted, clasping my hand tight, before pulling away for a second, and adjusting his grip so our fingers were interlocking. "...I'm sorry," I felt myself choking up too, "I just don't get it, and- and it scares me." I couldn't bring myself to admit everything I'd been thinking, and that was about the extent of my transparency. "It's okay," Indigo muttered, "Whenever you're scared, you can just hold on to me," he met my eyes with a faint smile. I didn't respond, just snickered, remembering the fact I'd said that exact thing to him years ago, the first time he'd gotten into a car.