I don't have time

-23-

"Let's go telling stupid jokes!! Let's play hide and seek with ghosts!!!"

-there must be a glitch, because I can't feel a thing-

~~~

As Venti, Scara and I walked up to the school, we saw Xiao and Hu Tao talking to one another.

"Hi y/n!! Hi Venti!! Hi Scara!!" Hu Tao waved to us and then gave me a hug. "Hi besties!!" Venti smiles while Scara continues to walk. "Hi Xiao!" I wave to him with a smile as I part from Hu Tao's hug. "Why are you stalking Venti in the first place?" Xiao tilts his head to the side looking at the three of us.

"Soooo... uhhh..." Venti looks away shyly. "Sooo basically Venti and I made a deal where he's going to ask his crush out in exchange for telling him my crush! He's that eager..." I sigh with a smile. "Ah okay, best of luck Venti." "Thank you" Venti smiled shyly, which was rather cute.

"Oh! Hu Tao and I have to run ahead!! You two go ahead and chat!" I grab Hu Tao's hand and run off with her, leaving Xiao and Venti alone. We both giggled as we ran ahead.

When we got into the school, we headed over to the lockers. "Girlie! Hu Tao!" Childe pops in from behind us. "Hi Childe!" Hu Tao and I say in sync. "You two seem very excited" Kazuha softly laughs from Childe's side. "Yay Kazuha!" I smile and go over to him, holding my arms out for a hug and he gladly accepts. After we part, we see Childe's pouting face, "Meanie! I wanted a hug!" I sigh and give him a hug too, "You're silly Childe, I'll make sure to hug you when I see you next" "Yayyy! Oh, right! When's the stalking part?" He whispers to us... rather loudly.

"Whenever Venti says so!" Hu Tao hops up and down. "Or we'll follow Venti." I shrug

"Y/n?" Keqing calls out to me, "You're a dumbass." "Huh?" I turn to face her with confusion. "You seriously think this'll work? Seems like you're toying with poor Xiao." She glares at me. "But I'm not... I don't like Xiao like that." I then see Ganyu hiding behind her... Ganyu looked worried.

"You're a horrible friend if you think you're not hurting Xiao." She walks up to me, "You're toying with him and that is NOT okay. I'd rather you NOT hurt Ganyu's brother like that. Fucking prick..." She mutters the last 2 words before leaving with Ganyu in hand.

"What." Hu Tao tilts her head to the side, "In my view, you've shown that you like somebody else infront of Xiao. I'm so confused. Xiao isn't that dense either..."

Childe pats my head, "Y/n, don't stress it. If something did happen, then we can figure it out." "Y/n, please breathe, you're not breathing." Kazuha pats my shoulder gently.

Unconsciously I was holding my breath but I let go thanks to Kazuha. I took shallow breaths as I thought of the worst case scenarios.

"Snap out of it y/n!! Get your brain together!" She grabs me by the shoulders and shakes me. "O-okay... I'm just scared is all" I sigh. "Come on, let's get into the classroom, class is about to start. See you Childe and Kazuha!" She holds my hand and waves goodbye to the two.

She then puts me in my seat and grabs my face, "Snap out of it, it's okay! Keqing is just being a meanie pants!" "You good?" Scara moves to Hu Tao's side. "Y/n's just struggling is all. Keqing said that Xiao is hurt that y/n doesn't like him. Yet she's put it out there that her crush isn't him when we've talked with him!! It's annoying!" Hu Tao sighs and rolls her eyes. "I don't get it... but we've got your back. Don't stress about it." He pats my shoulder and walks off.

I take a deep breath in and out and softly smile at Hu Tao, "Thanks Hu. I love you lots" "I love you too! If you need anything, message me!!" Hu Tao then gets up and sits at her seat.

The bell then rings for class to begin.

.

.

.

"Y/n?" I peek over to see Xiao next to me as I pack my stuff away for the day.

"What's up?" I nervously smile. "Can we talk?" "O-oh sure!" I grab my stuff and follow him.

It seemed like Hu Tao didn't talk to me due to him being there.

We eventually stopped near the gate of the school.

"Y/n... I just wanted to say..." He looks at me with a soft smile. "I'm glad we can be friends. I know you liked me a few months ago but I was too scared to say anything... I then started to get feelings for you a bit before you moved on from me. I so badly wanted to tell you that I loved you." He sighs, "You've been giving me hints here and there that you like somebody else. I decided to not notice that... but I see now. I see that I missed my shot, but the good news is that you'll have somebody one day and I'll have somebody too... I'm grateful for you." Xiao smiles

I start to cry, "H-huh?? Please don't die!!!" I hug him tightly. "What? No? Dumbass..." He softly laughs, "I don't know how to speak... but long story short, I'm going to date Venti. Plus, you're more of a sister to me than anything." He pats my head as I part from the hug. "Yet weren't you blushing that one time with the maid dress?" "I was uhh maybe... I was maybe thinking of Venti wearing it." "Gay." I snicker at his words. "Oh shut up!" He softly laughs. "I've been over you for a while now, so... sucks to be you I guess!"

"I'm glad we cleared this up!" I wipe my tears away. "But whoever you want to date, I need to make sure he's good enough for you. Got that?" He ruffles my hair as he smiles. "Okay! I love you silly! I won't stalk you guys, but I will ask you guys what you did!" I giggle softly, "Fine fine whatever. I love you too." He fixes my hair and walks off.

I sigh softly and then out of nowhere, Childe pops in front of me, "Yayyy!! It's all cleared up!! But it's a shame we couldn't see the confession..." He sighs. "Sucks to be you." Scara says as he drags Childe away. "It's okay though!" I walk next to Scara.

"Turns out Keqing is a loser! I think Ganyu needs to break up with her!" Childe gets up and walks next to me. I nod my head in agreement.

After we reach the outside of the gates, Childe says goodbye to us as Hu Tao runs up to us, "Hey sorry! I saw things worked out!! Sorry I couldn't be there for you! I'll message you later, I have to go home asap!! I love you Y/n! Bye Scara!" She then runs off. I softly laugh as she runs off.

I then look at Scara, "Let's go, shall we?" I smile softly. "Sure." He starts to walk to our house. "Did Lyney approach you at all?" He asks, "Yeah, he just messaged me saying that he's out sick and that he wanted to see me. I'm glad I didn't see him today... last night was not fun." I sigh as I keep up with his pace.

"He's a pain in the ass... but it's good that you know you don't like him." Scara sighs "Huh? What do you mean?" I question his last sentence. "Nevermind. Don't mind it." He looks away. "If you're sure" I softly laugh

~~~