Knee deep, at this point.

The people i swore werent real

"...and though underexposed i could see from the quality..."

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"please excuse me for a second." i cut off whatever conversation my bandmates were having.

"something really important just came up.. i need to adress this right now so i know im not actually insane." i said, in that jokey tone i used when i didnt want them to worry about anything.

but i was serious. dead. serious.

i sat myself in the bathroom stall, wondering whether or not i should accept the friend request. ultimately, i decided i should, and immidiately messaged him.

me: "hello? who is this?"

but i knew who he was.

aiden: "you know who i am :)"

and he knew too. *and god, was he creepy about it.*

aiden: "whats ur number? we want to talk to you :)"

me: "stop using smileys im gonna have a panic attack."

aiden: "awh. okay. :("

me: "frowny faces are the same!"

aiden: "fiine. whats ur number by the way?"

i sent him my number, and immidiately, my phone started ringing. full volume. in a public restroom.

thankfully, i was in the family restroom, so there werent any stalls where other people could hear me.

"dude. what do you want from me? are you stalking me?" i immediately asked.

"wow! not even a hello? how rude! also, why is your voice like that? its all raspy." he asked right back. i hate him already.

"i just screamed at the top of my lungs for two minutes and thirty-four seconds." i kept my serious tone. i didnt like how easily this guy steps over boundaries.

"wow. i really scared you that much?"

"no. i had band practice."

"YOURE IN A-" i then cut him off.

"im gonna have to let you go." and i hung up the call.

i returned to my bandmates, only to be met with a violent buzzing from my phone, which i promptly put on do not disturb for the remainder of lunch. after which, i returned to the studio, all by myself.

"hello?" the group chat that used to be flooding my messages with 1k+ notifications had gone completely silent.

"OH HI! UHHH"
"WHATS UR NAME AGAIN?"

"its valentine, aiden." an unknown number wrote.

"oh thx logan 😋"
"HI VALENTINE! COME TO HERE PLS PLZ. PELAESE!"

the aiden kid then sent an address. it would take me eight hours to get there by car, and it was noon by now.

"now?"

the gc went silent for a good three minutes. long enough for me to prep my bike and start biking back to my house.

"yes." a new number i didnt recognize texted.

good enough for me.

looks like ill need to steal my aunt's van and pray i dont get caught.

i couldnt go anywhere far without kass. i just couldnt. she never came with me to band/cello practice or school. that was too close to home.

but all those eight hours away? i could never! it was fine. my aunt told me to stay at a friend's house anyways. she has a date, and she doesnt want me around that often anyways.

i wish she did, though...

i drove the eight hours, and was relieved to say i wasnt pulled over! if i got pulled over, i would be in jail. i dont have my license, i have a permit.

but now i was at the specified address. eight at night. it was dark and cold. and i think it was gonna rain.

i texted the group chat as soon as i pulled up to this... graveyard.. place.

to me it just a glorified junkyard with a disproportionate amount of school buses. thats all it was, by definition.

the little group was there. the little group i swore wasnt real. that i thought didnt exist. but there they were. staring at me and my van and my dog.

"did you guys know val's in a band?" i think the kid who said that was aiden.

the tall mute one who patched me up the other night looked interested. i simply sighed.

"thats a story for another time." as i let kassie out of the passenger seat of the car, i turned around to a pair or red eyes being horrifyingly close to mine.

"what color are your eyes? theyre like..." i knew my eyes were weird. i had centeral heterochromia, but that was kind of unnoticeable most of the time. i didnt even realize it growing up since i didnt notice.

"someone, come get your... wild animal. too close." after i said that, the ginger haired girl...

wait.

her hair was long here. super long. it wasnt always that long, was it? i certainly would have noticed it was that insanely long beforehand.

it didnt matter. i was going crazy.

i might be a little sleep deprived, is all.

"so.. uhm..." the glasses kid, logan, had tried talking to me, with an approach i appreciated MUCH more than the other kid.

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