Trapped (egobang trans)

Chapter 39 - Worried

Arin taking the lead, the two returned to the cafeteria and made their way back to the others. Danny opened his mouth to explain what happened, but Arin was quicker. His words shocked Danny into silence.

"Sorry about that! I don't know what came over me, but I'm okay now. I didn't mean to scare everyone. You don't need to worry about me."

He sat down into his seat again looking calm, even cheery as if nothing had happened. Everyone assured Arin that it was okay and that they were glad he was okay, but Danny couldn't bring himself to speak. He felt cut-off for a moment, like maybe he was going insane and none of that had actually happened, it was all in his head.

Arin pulling his chair out for him and gesturing for him to sit down startled him back into reality. Shaking his head to collect his thoughts he forced a smile, sitting down too as jovial conversation soon enveloped them. To his disbelief, Arin was the root of most of it. He was suddenly contributing loads, no longer the shy onlooker that Danny had grown to recognise.

This continued the rest of the day, even through classes as Danny didn't fail to notice how much more engaged he was being. Answering questions, and not even looking discouraged if he got the answers wrong. Saying that, once the day was over he couldn't have been more eager to leave, collecting the homework from the teacher with a smile but otherwise practically running from the classroom. Danny tried to follow, but in the end-of-the-day rush that was a lost cause. He went home feeling worried.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Arin: Please don't tell anyone about yesterday. I don't want them to worry about me.

Danny looked at the text the next morning sadly. Something was up with Arin, and he wanted to help. But he still couldn't figure out what was actually going on.

Danny: okay, but please tell us if something is wrong

Arin: There's nothing wrong. I'm fine, Danny.

Danny didn't reply to that, instead turning off his phone and getting ready for school.

He walked downstairs and entered the front room with a yawn; he hadn't slept well, kept up worrying about Arin. He still was.

"Ready to go?" he said, leaning against the doorframe as he looked at Avi, reading a book in his chair.

Debbie was out, so he'd agreed to drive Danny to school that morning. Their relationship was still nowhere near perfect, but they were talking more. Danny was also making more of an effort to keep his anger in check around his parents, whereas before he had just let himself snap.

Avi smiled, placing his book to one side and standing up.

"Eh, have you had breakfast?" he asked.

"Nah, but I got money. They have some stuff in the cafeteria before class starts so I can get something there."

Danny shrugged, going to the front door and holding it open to persuade his father to go, and not force him to have breakfast. Avi rolled his eyes slightly, giving in and picking up his keys and following his son out to the car.

His son. Danny smiled thinking about that - he'd actually heard Avi call him that to Debbie once, from upstairs. It was nice that even when he wasn't with them they continued to use the right name and pronouns. It comforted Danny that they actually accepted him and weren't just pretending.

Danny slipped into the passenger's seat of the car, leaning back comfortably and waiting for his dad to hop in as well.

They pulled out of the drive and onto the road. Danny felt his phone vibrate and pulled it from his pocket eagerly. He hoped that it was Arin, possibly telling him what was wrong, but frowned when he was met with nothing more than a torrent of spam emojis from Meouch. Angrily stuffing his phone into his pocket again he looked out of the window.

"Is everything okay, Danny?" asked Avi warily.

Avi was still careful when talking to him. Danny didn't blame him; in the past he'd been on the receiving end of most of Danny's anger and harsh words, so it was understandable that he didn't want to say the wrong thing.

Danny sighed, leaning on his hand to continue to gaze at the houses that flew by.

"Yeah, just friend stuff..." he mused vaguely.

"Anything I can help with?"

"No, not really. But thanks anyway, Dad."

In the corner of his eye Danny saw Avi give a small smile. He'd started using "Mum" and "Dad" instead of their first names. It was a nice feeling for Danny as well, who had gotten to the point where he didn't even really consider them as parents, how much he despised them. It was good to finally reverse all that.

They arrived at school finally and Danny hopped out of the car, waving goodbye to Avi before walking up to the school. He smiled when he saw Arin waiting, and practically ran up to him in excitement.

"Arin! Hey man, how are you?" he called even though they'd texted each other less than an hour ago.

Arin looked up, surprised. A wide smile appeared on his lips too, a little too enthusiastic Danny thought, but he ignored it.

"Hi, Danny! I'm great, how about you?"

"Good, I guess. Still got the rest of the day for something to go wrong, eh?" Danny replied with a laugh.

"Aw, I'm sure today will be fine!"

"Y-Yeah... Anyway, I was thinking of going to the cafeteria to get something since I didn't have breakfast, wanna come?"

Arin's oddly optimistic behaviour unsettled Danny slightly. He pushed the thought away and tried to continue conversation as normal, but it seemed to have derailed him.

"Sure! Come on."

Arin walked inside, beckoning Danny to follow eagerly.

Danny tagged along more gingerly, desperately scanning all of his features in attempt to decipher this new mood he'd taken on. It was still no use.

The two walked into the cafeteria. Danny was surprised how many people were there - it appeared that he wasn't the only one who skipped breakfast. They lined up together, Arin decided to get something too while they were there. While Danny  was pleased to find some bagels, Arin seemed content with a small cookie.

They were just paying when someone bumped into Danny from behind, almost causing him to drop his bagel. He turned around with a frown.

"Oh, sorry Danny. I didn't see you there!"

Danny's face softened and he smiled. Partially because of hearing the correct name, but also because of who he saw in front of him.

"No worries, Ross, it's cool. If I'd dropped my bagel, though: a whole other story."

Ross laughed at that. His eyes landed on Arin stood beside Danny then, however, and his face fell. He gave the shadow of a frown, so slight that when he said goodbye and walked away Danny wasn't sure if he'd imagined it or not. As he and Arin walked out of the cafeteria finally Danny looked across at him to see his smile looking more forced than ever.

"Arin, are you-"

"I need the bathroom. I'll see you in first period, don't bother waiting for me."

Arin flashed a grin as he did a 180 and hurried away. Danny thought for a moment about following, but that would be creepy, especially since he was going to the bathroom. So he simply headed to his first class, munching slowly on his bagel as he tried in vain not to worry.