Corin's brother was once extremely ill and she was very worried for him, so she spent at least 3 weeks looking for a natural remedy through trial and error. She found one and the family still use it to this day.
I walked into biology with the best poker face I've ever been able to pull off, even if Chandler was sitting at my desk waiting for me. I didn't want to smile because i was glad to see Chandler; I wanted to smile because he did the coursework for me, meaning I was guaranteed an A.
"Chandler," I started, "how long-"
"Three thousand words on why base Biology is crucial to learning, just as you asked." He answered with pride and a small glistening of hopefulness.
"Star, you." I gave him, before shooing him from my desk with a gentle flick of my paint-covered hand, rolling my eyes as i did so. He asked what I'd been painting but i told him I couldn't remember just so he'd finally leave. It's not that I was above him, I just didn't tend to dignify any of the attempts at socialisation at that school with my presence. I was Fern's best friend and she was mine, I couldn't possibly allow anybody a space to disturb that peace, not that Chandler would even be a candidate; he was the reason the ring finger on my right hand had been slightly wonky since nursery.
Sitting through bio that day was probably the most fun lesson I'd had all year, if I'm honest. As a quiet person, I'd spend a lot of my time listening. I'd grown to be used to hearing others' lives through nothing but the careless volume of their own voices. Kirsty Taylor and Ellis Peters were talking about the multiple requests for nudes they'd had in the past 24 hours; who by, whether they sent them, which part of their bodies it was that they photographed and whether the favour was returned. Danny Whittam, Alex Whitehall and Jay Daniels were talking about said nudes; Danny telling tales of Kirsty's bust size, Alex claiming to have sent back a picture from the internet and Jay demanding his friends be more respectful of women and not use them for their own "pathetic, pubescent needs". Jay's always been a good friend to Fern and I for obvious reasons. Back when I was eight and Fern and Jay were almost seven, Fern had been crying because the boys wouldn't let her play their games ("no girls allowed," juvenile, don't know why she was bothered) and Jay noticed. The boy trotted over, kissed her on the cheek, grabbed her hand and lead her to a towered Jenga game. I would've been angry that he took her from me but I couldn't help but be grateful to him for ensuring her happiness.
Since then, Jay had always been a good friend of ours whenever needed. We owed him a lot.
As if he knew my thoughts of him that lesson, he approached me during the journey between bio and german class.
"Rin!" Yeah, Rin isn't my nickname. Purely reserved for Fern, Jay and family (mostly my little brother) "How's things with you two these days?"
"We're good!" Everyone referred to me and Fern as a pairing, since that's what we always had been.
"Fern specifically? How are things?" He asked tenderly. I explained that maybe talking about it wasn't best around this time, as Fern still wasn't fully okay.
..............
"Rin!" Fern.
"Ferny," I smiled as she enveloped me, "how's your day been?"
"Frisky."
"Ah." Frisky does exactly what it says on the tin, though this tin doesn't read as your normal 'frisky' tin would. It meant she'd thought of Frisk a damn lot. Seen things to remind her of him. Possibly. Probably. Damnit, Frisk.
English with Frisk was tolerable at best. I did love Frisk, he was honestly one of my favourite people at school, however we weren't particularly friends as such. Frisk was just everyone's friend. English, that day, was different though.
Now don't get me wrong; I adore English. But something wasn't quite right. The date on the white board held its place in the top left corner; the fans whirred through the air of all-day use; Abbie Temming was still trying to make the teacher, Mr Adams, fall in love with her; a boy I never cared to find out the name of was in his usual seat, tapping at cobwebs the other side of the window pane. Everything was perfectly normal, yet something was very far from.
I asked Frisk if he'd noticed anything. "Yeah, I get that. Feels like the air has been snowed-in in my lungs and it's getting trapped as they fill with water from the melting; Pressure on my ribs." Honestly, that's why I loved frisk. Everything he spoke was of value. Poetry. Little did I know, he only showed such depth to me. Like I said, Frisk was everyone's friend; the most hilarious class clown known to man.
The thing about Frisk is that he knew entirely well what was wrong that day.
Frisk took an overdose a few hours after his last "see you in hell, Rinno." Which had always been a tradition but, until then, had never been meant literally despite being true.
