11:11 // Crankiplier

13.

Ethan's POV

After Delilah and I had our "girls day" to relax and goof off, I felt a lot better about my situation with Mark. We talked a lot about and agreed that for now my best option was to just keep things the way they are.

So when Mark asked me to sit with him and his friends (minus Tyler), I jumped at the chance.

Plus maybe I can gain a couple new friends and work on my social skills (Delilah's request, I might point out).

Unfortunately, language arts took forever. I was starving by the end of class and I was relieved when the bell finally rang after 90 minutes of grammatical lessons.

Mark pointed me in the direction of the their usual lunch table in case I had forgotten and then we went out separate ways. Bob and Wade were already sitting down when I got there.

"Hey guys!" I waved excitedly to them. They both smiled at me and greeted me just as pleasantly as I had them.

"By the way, we're really sorry about Tyler." Wade said. "He's been under a lot of stress lately. His mom got into a car crash last month and she's been a coma. He won't give us a lot of details, but apparently his dad hasn't taken it too well." Bob added. "He's not usually so aggressive."

"Oh. I'm really sorry to hear that." I sighed. "Does Mark know?" I asked. They looked at each other before shaking their heads. "Tyler didn't want it to turn into a huge thing. We only know because one day while Mark wasn't here he was really upset and spilled everything." Bob explained.

"Honestly, we shouldn't even be telling you. But we thought you deserved an explanation since you don't know any of us that well. We didn't want you to get a bad impression of Tyler based on that." Wade said. "Promise us you won't tell anyone?"

I nodded. "I promise."

As if on cue Mark walked up and took the seat next to me. "So," he began, "how was everyone's weekend?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Really?" Delilah asked. I had just finished explaining to her what had happened at lunch today.

I nodded. "And you can't tell anyone." She held out her hand to shake. "Promise." I told her hand firmly in mind and shook it. "Now if you tell anyone I'm going to cut out your spleen with a spoon." I said nonchalantly.

"What?" She squeaked. "I'm just kidding." I laughed.

"Anyways, how did you feel today?" Delilah asked. "Um...okay?" I asked confused, tilting my head. She sighed.

"About Mark you stale piece of bread." She shook her head.

"Oh. I felt fine." I shrugged. "I didn't real feel anything to be honest. I mean I still liked him as a friend, but I didn't feel any sparks or anything." I explain. Delilah stared at me before groaning and smacking her head.

"That's not what we planned Ethan!" She exclaimed. "It's...not?" I shrunk a little in size.

"No. You were supposed to continue liking him so that at some point my OTP could be canon!" She explained. She sighed. "I shouldn't be so upset. I've never been in your situation, so maybe getting over it is your best option." She looked me in the eye.

"You do whatever you feel the need to do, okay? But don't do anything too drastic without consulting me first." She cautioned. I nodded. "I won't."

Mark's POV

I was sitting at my computer playing a game. By some miracle I didn't have any homework, so I decided to relax by playing Prop Hunt with Bob and Wade when my phone lit up with a message from Tyler.

Tyler

Hey Mark

Hey man whats up

You know about me being out of town right?

Yeah Wade told me

Well I was wondering how much I'm gonna miss this week

Uh I know in my math class we have a module test on Wednesday

Shit

Anything else?

Um idk

We don't have any classes together so your class might not be on the schedule as mine.

Right

So anyways where are you guys

We're in Colorado

Aww nice

Yeah it's really pretty out here

Just don't buy any herbal substances from strangers XD

Lol I know

Alright man have fun

Oh and idk if you have your computer but Bob, Wade, and I are playing prop hunt

I don't have it right now sorry :(

Maybe next time

I turned back to my computer to keep playing. I had the house to myself again all day and was enjoying the streak of days without Kristen when I heard the door slam.

Fuck.

I knew my life was over the minute I heard footsteps pounding up the stairs.