Trapped (egobang trans)

Chapter 34 - Confidence

< Arin's POV >

It was the next day, Monday. Arin was early to school for once, and waiting nervously outside. Danny hadn't texted her to tell her what had happened with his mum, which was worrying in itself since he'd been so freaked out, and if it went well wouldn't he have wanted to share that with Arin?

Arin's attention snapped to every kid she saw arriving, hoping each time to see her curly haired friend. She didn't know why exactly, but she couldn't stand the thought of anything having happened to him.

To her surprise when she did finally see him, it wasn't from the distance walking down the street towards school, it was right in front of her, stepping out of a car and waving goodbye to the driver. This surprised Arin in two ways. One: Danny had been walking to school by himself for a few weeks now. Two: when he did still get dropped off, he never paid any attention to his parents in the driver's seat, much less wave to them. The car pulled away as Danny spotted Arin and made his way over.

"Yo, Arin!" he waved. "What's with the face? Is it cause I didn't text you yesterday? Oh, dude, I didn't meant to make you worry!"

Arin shook her head.

"N-No, it's not that. I just... didn't expect you to be dropped off after what happened. Does that mean it went okay yesterday?" she asked, unsure if her asking would cross any lines.

But, to her relief, Danny broke into a wide grin and his eyes glistened with excitement.

"Yeah! We're still not on great terms, but I think they understand a bit more now. I think I'll be ready to actually open up more to them soon, not yet but hey, small victories, right?" He winked, making Arin giggle.

"That's great, Danny. I-I'm so proud of you!"

Unexpected tears came to Arin's eyes. She wiped them away quickly, not knowing why it was happening and not wanting to ruin Danny's good mood by making him worry. Of course, never one to overlook any detail of Arin's behaviour, he saw and instantly rushed to Arin's side.

"Whoa, dude, are you okay?" he asked softly, placing a hand on Arin shoulder.

Arin shrugged him away, giving a small smile as she finished drying her eyes. She shook herself slightly, standing up straighter and actually looking Danny in the eye to assure him she was okay.

"Yeah, I don't know what that was. I'm just happy for you, I guess?"

"Aw, no need to cry over me, dude."

The two of them laughed over that before walking inside. They made their way to their now usual meeting place at Brian's locker since it was near the school entrance. As usual Brian was there rifling through his absurd number of textbooks. He was a staple nerd, Arin had quickly learning since properly meeting him.

"Brian!" Danny called as they walked up.

The blue eyed boy turned his head, smiling in greeting before going back to his locker. He took out what he needed before closing it and turning his whole body to look at his approaching friends. Danny took his claimed spot leaning against the adjacent locker, while Arin idled at his side.

"So, I have some bad news guys," Brian said.

"Oh? What happened, man?" Danny asked, looking instantly concerned.

"I won't be able to join you at band practice this week. My dad made the executive decision to ground me because of our 'late night excursion'." He put the last part in air quotes.

"Aw, that sucks ass! Hopefully TWRP can still go, otherwise that's my entire social life out the window this week. No offense Arin."

Arin giggled, "None taken. I'm not very fun to hang out with..."

"Hey, I didn't say that!" Danny protested, "You're awesome levels are like 11 out of 5!"

"Actually, that's not possib-"

"SHUT UP BRIAN I'M BEING UPLIFTING!"

"I'm just saying, mathematically that doesn't wor-"

"Blah blah blah, boring nerd shit, not listening!" Danny closed his eyes and put his fingers in his ears.

Arin doubled over with laughter as Brian kept trying to get a word in, but Danny was persistent. She could tell he was joking by his smirk, and Brian was playing along, but it didn't make it any less funnier.

"What's goin' on here?" asked Sung, which is when Arin realised that TWRP were next to her, watching on in confusion.

"Brian's trying to shut down one of Danny's inspirational quotes with maths," Arin explained, still laughing.

"Ooh, I wanna play!"

Meouch ran forward, plugging up his own ears as he came up beside Danny and joined in going "la la la la" to block Brian out. Arin saw Danny give him a confused side glance and then shrug, just accepting Meouch's weirdness. This continued for a few minutes before Danny and Brian got bored and stopped. Meouch tried to continue, but Sung decided to cover his mouth so that he'd stop. The lion wasn't so easily dissuaded, and soon both Phobos and Havve were also trying to shut him up.

"Let's leave them to it," Brian suggested, starting to comically side step away.

Arin giggled as Danny nodded and followed. The three of them made their way down the corridor, Meouch's muffled cries of protest fading into the distance finally.

As they walked Arin couldn't help but notice a change in Danny's expression. He wasn't smiling anymore, and he was being oddly quiet compared to his usual jokey self. When he flashed a nervous glance over at Brian, it clicked with Arin what he was thinking.

She tapped Danny's shoulder, catching his attention.

"Are you going to tell him?" she mouthed to him.

Danny gave a small smile.

"You never miss a beat, huh?"

Then, he nodded, a serious expression coming over him again. He turned his head towards Brian, who was thankfully oblivious to their silent exchange.

"Hey Brian, I uh, I have something I wanna tell you. I was gonna tell you all at band practice later but, since you're not gonna be there..."

"Oh, sure. What is it, Dani?"

Brian stopped walking, looking up at Danny expectantly. Danny blushed, looking around them at all the people.

"Um, not here. Can we go to like, the bathroom or something?"

"Sure, but you can't exactly go into the boys with me. And I can't go into the girls, so how is this going to work?"

Danny gave a nervous chuckle, "Uh, hehe, it'll be fine..."

He started walking, a little faster than usual Arin noticed, as if he wanted to get it done before he lost his nerve. She followed behind with Brian.

Arin could hardly believe how fast all this was going. It felt like only yesterday that Danny had come out to her - it had only been a few days, just last week. It seemed that that, and the accidental coming out to his mum, had really boosted his confidence. Sure, it still looked like it was a struggle to come out, but Arin was proud of him for pushing through his anxiety to do so. She wondered briefly if she would ever be able to do the same.

They reached the bathrooms finally, and Arin saw Brian's eyes widen in surprise when Danny walked straight into the boys. Arin remembered their first day, when she'd followed Danny into this very bathroom. It all made sense now.

Brian started to follow, but stopped at the door and looked back at Arin.

"Aren't you coming?"

Arin couldn't bring herself to go in there again. She shook her head, trying to think of an excuse.

"Uh, I-I think D-Danny wants to talk to you a-alone. I'll wait out h-here," she said, cringing as her stutter decided to make an appearance.

Brian looked a little worried, probably wondering how serious what Danny wanted to tell him was. He gave one last glance to Arin before walking into the bathroom.