Well...This is new <Mullette>

~<19>~

The next day, I found Jefferson and Alex arguing with each other.

Wonderful.

"What's going on?" I asked James.

"Your boyfriend said that Thomas had to tame his mane." He replied. "Which obviously offended Thomas, and now he won't listen to me because I took your boyfriends side."

"Why aren't Laf and Herc stopping this?" I asked.

"We're making sure no one gets killed." Laf said, nonchalantly.

I sighed as I went over and separated the two boys. "You two are acting like children!" I scolded. "Especially since you both want to get into politics. Do you think this is how adults act!?"

"Uh, have you ever seen Judge Judy?" Herc butted in. I ignored him.

"Point is; you two know better." I looked at Jefferson. "Jefferson, just brush your hair. It'd look better brushed, trust me." I looked at Alex. "And Alex, don't bug people you just met by telling them what to do in their personal life! That's gonna get you a black eye, or worse, killed, one day, ya know!"

Alex scoffed, clearly annoyed. "Okay, dad." He said in a mocking tone.

I scowled at him. "Well, I wouldn't have to act like your dad if you two behaved like adults rather than children!" I didn't realize how loud I was yelling until a teacher came over to see why I was yelling. I then noticed that the cafeteria was completely silent, which was incredibly rare.

I looked over to Laf, Herc, and James to find them staring at me in disbelief. Hell, everyone in the cafeteria was staring, not that I blame them. As soon as the quiet kid starts yelling, everyone wants to know why.

Almost as if on queue, the bell rang to head to class. But no one moved, no one blinked, no one breathed. I sighed as I walked off to class, the noise and life returning to the cafeteria as soon as I stepped out of there.

What was wrong with me?

~<•>~

~<Alexander's POV-One week later>~

I walked in my usual diner, laptop in hand, prepared to continue writing. I prefer writing here, in a cafe or diner. It's livelier than my monochromatic bedroom, that's for sure. I noticed John at a booth, drinking a milkshake while doing what I assume to be homework. I walked over to his booth and sat down.

"Hey." I said, setting my laptop up. "Haven't heard from you in a while. You okay?"

John nodded. "Yeah, just focused on studies and shit."

I looked at him, not buying his bullshit. "We both know that's a lie." I said, grabbing his milkshake. "What's really going on?"

John sighed, grabbing the milkshake back. "I kinda exploded on you and Jefferson last week, and I felt so bad that I didn't want to see y'all's faces." He explained. "I thought that y'all hated me then."

"Why would I hate you?" I asked. John shrugged, focusing on his homework. I sighed, bring up my novel. "Do you know why I like writing here?" John looked up and shrugged. "Because it's warm here, and i dont mean temperature wise. It's lively, full of color, people, music, and such. My house, well, the only person living there is me. It kinda looks like a hospital or insane asylum, because it's all white and cream. There's a few posters and figurines and such here and there, but it's not much. It's monochromatic, dull, dead, cold. I may prefer to be alone, but I adore the warm environment. The noise helps me focus, because I'm not so alone, and I'm not jumpy at random noises I hear."

"Huh," John started. "Never thought of it that way. I just thought you liked it here because you have an endless supply of coffee."

I laughed. "Well, that too."

634 words

I think I put myself as Alex there, simply because that sounds exactly like me. I hate writing/reading without background noise.

Also, the cafeteria scene is also loosely based on a real encounter. I was in 7th grade, and lunch just let out. As I was walking the the doors to go to my next class, everything just seemed to.....stop....as I watched two girls and a boy bump into each other. The thing is, is that I was walking in the crowd of kids, and they kinda just disappeared? It all got scarily quiet, and it was just weird. When I finally snapped out of it, it seemed like time started moving again? And no one was giving me glares, as why this random kid just stood in the doorway. And my friends were still in the same position they were in.

That was the only time I encountered anything like that, but it was stil weird as fuck.

Also, that's the last chapter! I don't want to continue on any old books I have, simply bc I don't wanna ruin them, and just see the drastic change in writing styles.

And past me did start chapter 20, but literally all that's on there is [One year later (they're seniors)], sooooo