Gacha Story (Mature Readers Only)

Shadow's Friend

Unfortunately for Shadow and Arya, they had to go back to school. Their school was called Gacha High and it was insane how quickly time went by, as they remembered when they first went to Gacha Primary together, as if it was only yesterday, but she was four years old and he was five years old then. Now she was eleven and he was twelve.

Arya sighed and Shadow seemed to notice something was bothering her. He frowned and look at her with concerned purple eyes. "Are you okay?"

She nodded quickly. "It's just that... time goes so quickly. Can you believe that I was four and you were five when we met? Now look at us.  You're twelve and I'm nearly twelve... Time goes so quickly and I wish we could go back. Maybe I could have enjoyed time a bit more. Now we're only getting older and life only changes, and not really in a good way."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Shadow told her. "It just shows how long we've been together for. We've also spent some rough years with my dad and -"

"Vann Melon is no better," Arya grumbled. "He's worse, in fact. Why can't your mum just be with someone who is nice?"

"I actually have no idea. I guess she's unlucky at finding good people."

"She really is," she agreed. "She doesn't seem to see the bad in people." She looked around, noticing that almost everyone had left the school, and it was only the two of them still lingering there. "Should we head back now?"

"Yeah, I guess I'll see you later!" He grinned, so she decided to match his.

"Yup!" Before she could go, another boy was coming out from the building with dark hair, dark eyes and dark skin. His sleeves were rolled up and his shirt was tucked in messily under his dark trousers.

"Come on, Shadow!" The guy called out, smiling widely as he approached them.

Who's that? Arya wondered as she stared at him. He was clearly from their school but she did not recognise him. Shadow seemed to know him but she had never seen them together before. Perhaps they were friends from a different class.

Shadow looked happy. "Arya meet Colt! Colt meet Arya!"

Colt was getting uncomfortably close, closer to Arya than Shadow was. "Hey Arya," he said, smiling.

"Hi..." she replied quietly, and then Colt closed his eyes, leaning in and kissed her. Her eyes widened as she stared at him, seeing Shadow shocked behind him.

"That's my girlfriend, Colt!" Shadow practically screamed and Colt quickly backed away, embarrassed and his face turning red.

She watched them, her eyes still wide as Colt looked shock and humiliated. "I did not know that..." he said quickly. "Sorry!!!" But he was not apologising to Arya, but to Shadow.

Awkwardly looking between them, Arya turned around, quickly saying, "I'm going - bye -" And then she disappeared quickly, in order to escape this embarrassing and awkward situation.

***

"Hey," said Colt, shyly and awkwardly. "Listen, I'm sorry about before. I hope we can still be friends."

"Sure," Arya told him, smiling back. "If you're Shadow's best friend, then you're my best friend too!"

"Huh, so like how Vann Melon is Shadow's father and he's also your father too?" Colt asked savagely.

She froze and decided to laugh. "Yeah! Haha!"

Colt looked away from her nervously. "I heard Lucas broke up with Lexi."

She frowned at that. "What? Are you best friends with Lucas too?"

"No!" He laughed, then his smile faded. "You're best friends with Lexi aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"So, aren't you worried that she's upset?"

She sighed. "She'll get over it. I can assure you of that."

"You want to know something?" He asked and Arya nodded. "Well, I've been watching you for a while, can I just say?"

"Uh... what do you mean by that?"

"Well," he explained a little nervously. "You know how we're in the same class?"

She stared at him incredulously. "We are?! Since when?!"

He laughed at that. "I joined a year ago, Arya. You never noticed me?"

"Our class is huge. I don't notice everyone..."

"Haha, well I never knew you and Shadow were together. He told me he had a girlfriend but I never thought it was you. I never asked his girlfriend's name and he had never told me. I always liked you, you know. And yet, you don't even know who I am!" He laughed again. "That is very embarrassing!"

Arya looked at him with a guilty look on her face. "Sorry," she said shortly. "I do now, though. But did Shadow really not tell you?"

He shook his head. "Nope. And I never see you with him. Except from that time he introduced you..."

Arya sighed, wondering why Shadow had not told him. Is it because he's ashamed of me or something? Because Arya had told her friends about him, so why hadn't he with her? "And you kissed me? That took a lot of courage I'm guessing, but you couldn't come and talk to me before?"

He looked away from her and at the ground instead, still embarrassed by what happened. "I didn't know how to talk to you. It just seemed easier when Shadow was there."

"Oh look how wrong you were!" Arya barked out a laugh. "And I don't really spend that much time with Shadow in school because we spend a lot of time together out. And yeah, in school we meet other people."

"Well, back to the point that I like you and it's been bothering me for ages. And now it's bothering me more that I kissed you. Urgh, I really know how to wreck things, you know and this is really incredibly embarrassing. And yeah, I feel bad for Shadow because he's my friend so I should be happy you two are together... but I like you more than a friend. I wish I didn't."

"How long have we been friends for, Colt?" She challenged him. "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to be friends before we become a thing anyway, and I love Shadow."

"Haha," he said, pretending she could not see the pained expression on his face. "I'm gonna die from embarrassment now." He feigned a dead expression, sticking his tongue out.

"You're not dead," she smiled at him. "You're talking to me."

He laughed. "Uh, about that, Shadow is gonna get mad. So don't tell him."

She raised an eyebrow. "Then why did you tell me?" She asked. "You know that I love Shadow and will not accept your request."

"Because it's been bothering me for ages," he replied.

"Okay, I won't tell Shadow," Arya confirmed. "So, will I see you later?"

"Yeah," he smiled at her. "We're friends, right?"

"Of course!"