My Best friend

Chapter 3

Sorry friends! School started a couple weeks ago so I've been busy but I'm here now! Enjoy!
 
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I wait by my locker after class. I finally see DJ walking down the hall in my direction. His hood is over his head and his hair is still in his face. Everyone seems to move away from him as he walks. He walks over to me and smiles a little. I smile back and tell him we should go now.

The farther away from school we get, the more he starts talking with me. Weird.

We get to my house and I open the door. "Mom! I'm home!". She comes out of the kitchen drying her hands. She smiles, "Hi honey! Did you have a good day? Who's this?". She gestures to DJ and I laugh." Mom it's DJ. Remember? My best friend since like, kindergarten?".

Her eyes widen and she exclaims,"Oh goodness! DJ sweetie it's been too long how are you?". She tackles him in a hug and he stands there shocked for a bit before hugging back slightly. After they catch up a bit I tell mom he's gonna help me unpack my room and we make our way upstairs.

"Since when am I helping you with your stuff?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. I smirk and say, "since now buddy".

He says hi to Matt as we pass his room. Then I open the door to mine and DJ groans at the mess in front of him. There's at least twenty or more boxes surrounding my bed, dresser, and bookcase. "Welp," I say,"let's get unpacking!".

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After about two and a half hours of going through boxes, playing with bubble wrap and building armor out of cardboard, we finally finished unpacking my room. We both flopped on my bed exhausted. My room looks pretty good. Nothing to fancy or anything. Just average. Unlike me.

I'm weird. Weird and proud.

DJ breaks the silence,"I'm really glad you're back Kathy.". I smile and look over at him. His eyes are closed and he has a small smile on his face. He looks so peaceful I almost thought he fell asleep. He continues, "After you left I thought I'd never meet a person as great as you. Never, make a best friend again. Turns out there's a reason I didn't. You came back.".

I smile at him, "Of course dude! If I didn't come back who would take care a ya?". He laughs slightly. I miss his laugh. After the thing with his dad a few years ago, he hardly ever laughed like that. Which reminds me...

"Hey," I ask, "how's your dad been? And your mom? Haven't seen them in a while.". The smile fades from his face for a second before returning quickly, seeming forced. I shrug it off. Probably nothing.

"There OK," he says, "I don't see them much nowadays. They uh...have these business meetings a lot where they work so they're always away. I do visit them sometimes though. We just talk and stuff. It's...nice.". He says all this with a smile but it doesn't reach his eyes. There's no sparkle.

Where did it go?

I wanted to ask more but then mom called us down to dinner. We got up headed downstairs. I reached up on my tiptoes and pulled his hood off his head. Table manners. His shaggy black hair fell slightly more over his eyes. I just laughed and told him to get a hair cut to which he rolled his eyes.

We ate dinner and talked about old times. Turns out our old clubhouse is still there and he fixed it up so that we can still fit inside. Gotta check that out sometime. My family all talked to him about different things and asked different questions.

But I noticed his eyes were still...dark. They were shining a few minutes ago upstairs when we were talking. But now they're not.

What happened?