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It's been a week since that night. Days have seemed duller since I've only been able to switch between mindlessly doing schoolwork and thinking endlessly about what happened. Another perfect time where volleyball would've done wonders to ease my mind. I haven't talked to either of them since then, and I've felt too ashamed to even think about messaging Asahi.
"Okay," the sound of Mom's voice from behind startles me. "You've been completely off for the past few days."
I don't meet her gaze, but she doesn't force me to look at her.
"You can tell?" I ask though the answer is clear.
"Of course. I'm your mom." She says, sitting on the couch behind me. She starts to pat my shoulder and I try to let it make me feel a bit better. "You also haven't touched any of the apple drinks, and you love those."
"I just brought that one can home one time," I respond exasperatedly, sitting with my knees close to me and resting my chin on my arms. I lean back, using the front of the couch as support.
"Is it one of your friends?" Mom asks tentatively. Of course, I wanted to say yes, but I didn't want her to accidentally get the wrong idea about either one of the two boys.
"If it's them, I'd rather you say something out loud. You don't have to tell me. You can especially tell Anika. But bottling something up that's affecting you like this isn't good for you." She continues.
I take her words to heart and finally meet her gaze. She gives me a sympathetic smile, and to ease her mind I find it in myself to say, "You're right. Thank you."
"You forget I was a kid too," she says, getting up from the couch. Before leaving the area, she gives me a shoulder pat, saying, "I know that, whatever the matter is, it'll be solved soon."
