Trapped (egobang trans)

Chapter 55 - Different

< Danny's POV >

A Monday morning like any other, Danny had taken up his usual spot next to Brian's locker. Brian himself was face deep in its contents, apparently having lost something. Danny snickered watching him, hearing him swear softly under his breath as a textbook fell out to land at his feet. Bending down to pick it up, Danny passed it to him.

"Here man. Why don't you let me take a look?" he offered.

Brian took the book from him and stepped aside, gesturing to the chaos inside his locker.

"Good luck."

"Geez, Brian. How do you have so many fucking notes?!" Danny exclaimed as he started to sift through the locker, "And what am I looking for exactly?"

"There's this booklet for maths that I need. It's red," Brian told him.

"Helpful."

Danny looked through Brian's ridiculous amounts of detailed notes for the best part of ten minutes, with little more luck. He growled to himself as he saw the same equations sheet for about the twentieth time and promptly shoved it aside. At long last, however, a speck of red caught his eye in the back of the locker and he all but lunged for it. Sure enough, the maths booklet in question had finally revealed itself. Danny wasn't sure if all the effort had been worth it, but he was glad that it was over now. He was about to tell Brian he'd found it when he felt a soft nudge to his shoulder.

"You won't believe this," said Brian slowly.

Confused Danny turned his head around, and saw Brian gazing in astonishment down the corridor. He followed his eyes, and felt his own widen in surprise. Forgetting that he was still inside Brian's locker, Danny tried to stand up straight, and hit his head on the roof of the locker with the loud clang of metal. He hissed in pain, holding his head with one hand as he looked down the corridor again.

Three girls were walking towards them.

One of them had a gothic colour scheme, dark makeup and clothes. Her teeth were very white and she had a light streak in her dark hair which was pulled up into a high bun. Suzy.

The second had a brighter outfit, hues of blue and yellow that complimented her flowing blonde hair and large shining eyes. Ashley.

Then, the third girl. A black and white striped sweater that fell nicely around her curved figure, while not completely suffocating her. Below that, a knee length white skirt, followed by high black boots. Her hair was shoulder length, soft looking and had a blonde streak. She had a white hairband with a little bow on it, too.

Arin.

Danny's eyes followed her as she came closer, and he didn't realise he was staring so much until Arin caught sight of him and her cheeks went a bright red. She smiled bashfully, looking away slightly and playing with the end of her sweater sleeve. Brian gave him another nudge, and Danny looked to see him smirking.

"Close your mouth, dude."

Now it was Danny's turn to blush, and it didn't help when Suzy, Ashley and Arin finally reached them.

"H-H-Hey guys," stammered Danny, feeling suddenly hot and shaky.

"You got ants in your shirt or something, Danny?" giggled Suzy with an amused smile.

"N-No, I'm fine! J-J-Just... um, Arin, y-you..." You look beautiful.

"Do you like it? I didn't want to overdo it," Arin muttered, self-consciously holding onto the edge of her sweater.

"Aw, no, you look pretty Arin!" encouraged Ashley.

"Thanks..."

Danny felt the back of his neck burn as Arin once again looked up at him expectantly, probably waiting for some input. What could he say? He rubbed his neck and took a deep breath.

"You look nice."

"Yeah, the bow is a nice touch," added Brian, and Danny was so thankful that he'd spoken up to distract from his weak compliment.

"Oh, it's actually Ashley's. She let me borrow it," Arin explained.

"You can keep it if you like. It looks really good on you," Ashley said, but Arin shook her head.

"No, I couldn't do that! It's yours!"

"If you insist. But they definitely suit you, you should get some of your own at some point."

"I guess I could, yeah."

"OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO ARIN?!"

They all jumped as someone screamed that suddenly. Following the sound they caught sight of Meouch running at full speed down the corridor towards them, and Danny had to hold back laughter at Arin's fearful expression.

The lion slid to a halt, staring in shock at Arin with his mouth hanging open in an exaggerated gasp.

"I barely recognised you! What did you dooooo?!"

Arin's entire face was a deep red at this point, and Danny saw her shuffling her feet awkwardly.

"I-Is it bad?" she muttered.

"Bad?" Meouch cried, "You look awesome!"

"O-Oh, thanks," breathed Arin, looking incredibly relieved.

Danny nodded to himself, unable to stop smiling as Meouch started gushing over Arin's outfit. He was right: Arin was awesome.

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

< Arin's POV >

With her friends' support, Arin felt surprisingly comfortable in her new clothes. Her dysphoria washed away gradually that week as she would actually look at herself in the morning and smile, excited to share her true self with the world.

The only thing that really brought Arin down that week were Danny's compliments, or lack thereof. He seemed as happy for her as anyone else, but there was something reserved about him as of late. Like he was holding back something. An opinion on her new clothes? Arin couldn't help but think.

As clueless as ever about social cues, Arin decided to confide in her other friends. Other friends. That was a weird phrase, the fact that she had multiple. She decided on Suzy and Ashley, since she felt awkward about asking the guys about stuff like this. So, one lunch time she decided to sit with them, and since the weather was okay they sat outside.

"Can I ask you two something?" Arin asked eventually when there was a lull in conversation.

"Sure, what is it?" invited Ashley with a smile.

"Have you noticed anything different about Danny? I feel like he's acting different around me, and I don't know why. Is it... Is it my clothes?"

Ashley and Suzy looked at each other, exchanging some kind of knowing expression that only worried Arin more. Did they know something she didn't?

"I haven't noticed anything," shrugged Suzy.

"And he said your clothes looked nice. Danny wouldn't lie about that, he's not that kind of person," Ashley added.

"I guess so... I just wish he'd-"

Arin stopped herself.

"You wish he'd what?" urged Suzy.

I just wish he'd say more. I wanted to impress him.

"N-Nothing. I'm probably just overthinking, as always."

She clasped her hands in her lap, trying not to think about it anymore. A futile attempt. Her mind was spinning so much with worrying that she didn't see Ashley cast her a thoughtful look. Or the idea that sparked behind her eyes suddenly.

"Hey, Arin, you know that Danny's birthday is coming up?"

Arin looked up again in surprise.

"W-What?! When?"

"It's in a few weeks. Reason I'm asking is because, I was actually thinking of doing something special for it, and wondered if you'd help."

"Like a party?"

"Exactly like a party."

A/N: these chapters are all over the place, sorry! I have a bunch of ideas, it's just fitting them all together that's the hard part, but I promise the next one will be better!