The following day was Friday, which meant that there was officially only two school weeks left until summer vacation.
Unfortunately, it also meant that Buffy had a basketball team meeting at lunch, which left Cyrus alone at their usual table while Andi, Jonah and Marty went to get food.
He had seen TJ approaching, but he didn't think for a second that the boy was walking towards him. When the athlete stopped right in front of his table with a bright smile, Cyrus very nearly had a heart attack.
"Hey!"
The shorter boy glanced around nervously for a moment, before hesitantly returning the smile. "Uh - hey. What's up?"
"Well...you seem kind of alone here and am I too, so I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me in the library?"
He inhaled sharply at that. "Um..."
TJ's face fell slightly, and Cyrus winced.
Acquaintances hang out sometimes, he assured himself. They still weren't friends.
"Sure! I just have to grab something from my locker real quick - can I meet you there?"
TJ immediately brightened. "Yup! I'll be at the table in the very right corner."
The moment he turned to walk away, Cyrus jumped up and ran towards his friends, who were all waiting in line at the opposite side of the cafeteria.
He realised with a small sigh of relief that they definitely couldn't have seen him talking to TJ amongst the swarms of students.
"Andi!" he called.
The girl turned to him, a surprised smile on her lips. "Cyrus! What's going on?"
"I just remembered that I have a meeting with...Mr Coleman! Like right now."
"...Mr Coleman?" she asked slowly.
"Yeah. For help with Quadratics."
Andi eyed him suspiciously for a moment, before sighing reluctantly and nodding. "Okay then. See you after school?"
"I'll see you then." he confirmed.
As Cyrus headed from the cafeteria to the library, he couldn't help but feel guilty.
He's never had to lie to Andi before - or any of his other friends for that matter. He didn't like the feeling whatsoever.
TJ seemed to sense this as he approached the table, because his face visibly softened with concern.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Cyrus took the seat opposite him, mustering up the most convincing smile he could. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"
TJ's smile was patient as he leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands.
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to - I have Uno cards we can play with - but I won't judge. Whatever it is."
Cyrus sighed and grabbed the Uno cards, shuffling them absent-mindedly as he thought about what to say.
"You probably already know this, but Buffy doesn't like you very much."
In hindsight he probably shouldn't have been so frank, but he really wasn't sure how he could've brought it up gently.
TJ let out a small, humourless laugh. "Yeah. I know."
Cyrus didn't say anything more, so the boy sighed and continued.
"I still feel bad about getting her suspended from the team. I wanted to apologise right after, but my stupid pride got in the way and then time passed and now I feel like it's too late."
YOU ARE READING
chalk ; tyrus {completed}
Fanfiction"He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, very convinced that he was just seeing things, but when he opened them again the scene hadn't changed. He was still in his bedroom, looking at his neighbour's house, and 𝘛𝘑 𝘒𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 was still sitting c...
