feelings | cranksepticeye

8 - are you okay?

"replacing me again are we?" mark asked sarcastically. it was yet another chemistry lesson on ethan's second day at his new school, and mark was seemingly adjusting to his new seat.

"sit in your seat dimwit." seán replied with a small hint of frustration in his voice. he wasn't quite sure why, but that entire morning, ethan had gotten a vibe off of seán: an angry one. he seemed irritated but he couldn't really put a finger on it. the others had noticed as well, but had decided not to say anything, because they didn't want to upset him further. plus, seán could get really moody and really pissed off if people started questioning him and his behaviour.

mark shot ethan a look as if to say ,what's up with him?, before sitting down in his temporary seat. ethan was kind of scared to sit down next to seán. he really didn't know what was wrong, and he was tempted to ask. but he was terrified of what seán's reaction would be. and he didn't want to make one of the seemingly only nice people in the school, angry.

for the first half of the lesson the two didn't speak to each other, mainly because they were listening to the teacher go on and on about the practical they were supposed to be doing. when he stopped, and actually let everybody get on with what they needed to do, seán spoke to ethan.

"i'm gonna go get the equipment." he said. the sparkle in his eye that was there the day before was gone.

"ok.." ethan replied, not wanting to say much more. then seán left to go and fetch the stuff they needed. pretty much as soon as he was gone, mark came over and stood right in front of ethan, leaning on his desk to speak to him.

"is it just me or is there something wrong with him?" he asked, pointing at the irritated boy. ethan nodded in agreement.

"he seems pretty moody." the smaller boy agreed.

"do you think we should ask him if he's alright?" mark inquired. ethan shrugged his shoulders, feeling like he didn't know seán
well enough to act like his best friend and ask him about his problems.

"i doubt he'd say anything to me but he probably would to you." mark shook his head straight away.

"oh no. he doesn't really tell me anything. whenever something's wrong he either bottles it up or tells felix. he won't ever tell the rest of us what's wrong. felix gets special privileges." ethan was confused, and raised an eyebrow.

"special privileges?" he asked.

"yup. you know, seeing as they're dating and all." he wasn't really sure why, but when ethan heard mark say that, he felt his heart begin to shatter. he felt himself becoming genuinely more and more upset over what he had just found out. seán and felix were a couple? why did he dislike that so much?

"they're dating? i didn't know that..." ethan said with disappointment in his voice.

"yeah. have been for a few months. did he not tell you?" ethan shook his head.

"oh...maybe i wasn't supposed to tell you that then...don't bring it up with him, just in case." ethan nodded slowly, a small wave of sadness heavily weighing down on him. why was he this down after learning this new information? it shouldn't have bothered him that much, but for whatever reason, it did.

"he's coming back." mark said, making ethan turn his head. he was correct. seán was walking over with the apparatus and placed it on the desk when he got there. he noticed mark and stared at him, flashing him a small smile.

"hi." he greeted him.

"hey. you alright?" mark asked cheerily. seán nodded and continued to set up the experiment whilst ethan stood and watched nervously.

"ok...well, i'm gonna be over there if either of you need me." mark said. seán gave him a thumbs up, but said nothing in return. mark returned to his own desk to do the work.

"so...you know what you gotta do?" seán asked once the apparatus was completely set up. ethan nodded, not really wanting to speak. seán smiled to the best of his ability and the two of them got to work.