Dark Places | S. Tendou

YOU KEEP ME UP AT NIGHT

Every Monday morning, Maeko busied herself in her locker until Ayume showed up to walk to their first class together. By now she had memorized every inch of its interior, down to every single scratch left behind by its past tenants, in an effort to keep her eyes fixated on something, anything, until Ayume came to her rescue.

But on that particular Monday morning, Maeko made a drastic change to her routine. She wasn't waiting with her head buried inside her locker, staring at the same scratches that she stared at every other school day.

Instead, she waited beside Tendou's locker, actively scanning the hallways for a sign of his spiky red hair parting through the crowd of students.

She got a couple of interesting looks while she waited, particularly from members of the boys and girls' volleyball teams who knew it was Tendou's locker that she stood in front of, awkwardly clutching her school books to her chest. A couple of Ayume's friends, whom Maeko vaguely recognized from the party she would rather forget, started whispering to each other as they walked by. It made Maeko shift uncomfortably on the spot but, with a few calming breaths, she was able to mostly clear her mind of any anxiety about it.

The bell for their first class rang, but Tendou still hadn't showed up.

Maeko frowned, glancing in either direction once more. As much as she wanted to wait for him, she couldn't rationalize jeopardizing her perfect attendance. With a sigh, Maeko began the walk to class alone, deciding to try again later.

First class went about how Maeko was expecting it to.

Ayume questioned Maeko's whereabouts, confused by her not being at her locker as per usual, to which Maeko responded with a curt shrug of her shoulders.

That did not appease Ayume. If anything, it gave her a vengeance, glaring daggers into Maeko's side profile for the entire period even though the teacher had asked for her attention at the front of the room twice.

Maeko knew she was probably going to regret her coldness later when Ayume caught her alone but, in that moment, she didn't care, and it was an oddly uplifting and powerful feeling that she wasn't used to.

Truthfully, Maeko had been ignoring Ayume's texts ever since her brief, undetailed answer at 2:30AM when she was just getting home from the amusement park. She was feeling annoyed and hurt about Ayume's party and, even though it was a little uncharacteristically petty of Maeko to avoid mending things with her one and only friend, she already knew that Ayume was going to give her an earful about her choice in company that evening. Part of her didn't want to hear it.

Another part was afraid of what would happen when she did.

Thankfully, the teacher asked to speak with Ayume in private after class, undoubtedly regarding her lack of attention, and it gave Maeko the perfect opportunity to slip away unscathed

Maeko checked Tendou's locker between first and second period, but he didn't show up then, either.

At lunchtime, Tendou wasn't sitting with Ushijima like he usually was.

After school, Maeko's last hope was the boys' volleyball practice. She tentatively peeked her head inside the gymnasium, but she was interrupted by an abrupt, unexpected voice behind her before she could get a proper look.

"Do you need something?" Ushijima asked.

Maeko jumped in surprise, probably looking as pale as a ghost when she turned around to see Ushijima looming behind her. This wasn't the first time but, with a hearty sigh, Maeko sincerely hoped it would be the last.

"Oh, it's you." He recognized her from Ayume's party, but his eyes didn't widen in shock or curiosity like she expected them to. "I assume Tendou was helpful the other night?"