When the Leaves Fall [bxp] ✔

5

School Might Not Be So Bad

Felix officially hated his friends. Somehow all of them had noticed his crush on Jupiter (he only hoped that they hadn't noticed), and had found as many ways as possible to embarrass him. But on the bright side, Jupiter seemed less unsure whenever they sat at the lunch table next to Felix. And they seemed to talk more in conversations instead of just listening. It had been around 8 days since Jupiter and Felix had gone to that coffee shop, and Felix could happily say that now he actually held conversations with them when they walked into Physics.

    "Hey Felix, remember when we were eight and Tarla and you went to the ice-cream truck-" Wren started, before Tarla slapped her hand on his mouth to shut him up. His eyes opened in surprise, turning to look at Tarla.

    "Don't you dare," she said, a deadly look in her eyes. Wren scooted away from her and closer to Quinn as Jupiter and Felix laughed. Quinn shoved at Wren's shoulder when he basically put his head in her lap, and even Aeron looked like they were trying not to smile.

    "Where's Nils by the way," Quinn said, glancing at Aeron. Aeron's face fell a little, and he pursed his lips.

    "He's talking to his friend group," they said softly.

    "Why so glum," Wren asked, tilting his head, now having sat back down in his seat properly.

    They hesitated for a second before saying, "Everytime that he hangs out with his friends, he always comes back looking defeated, and not really saying much. I mean, I don't want to say anything, because I don't want him to think I'm trying to like control his life or something, but I hate seeing him like that." Next to Felix, Jupiter went a little stiff. Felix glanced at them seeing their face simply lined with a concerned frown, but their eyes had a knowing look in them. No one else seemed to have noticed. Felix didn't say anything, but he kept glancing at them. Jupiter opened their mouth but stopped before speaking.

    "Umm, I could talk to him," they said softly. Relief crossed Aeron's face immediately, as they looked eagerly at them.

    "Would you really?" Jupiter only nodded, giving Aeron a small smile.

    "Anyway, how long have you guys known each other?" Jupiter said quickly, changing the topic.

    "Well Tarla and Wren and Felix have known each other since they were like babies. I met them in third grade when Wren was on the swing next to me, and fell off-"

    "You made fun of me for so long!" Wren interrupted Quinn.

    "And I met all of them a year later, in fourth grade," Aeron said, an amused look on their face.

    "You guys have known each other a long time," Jupiter said, their eyes raised.

    "Yeah, haha," Wren said, rubbing the back of his head. "I guess we have."

    "But it feels like we've known you forever as well," Quinn said, smiling at them. Jupiter gave her a grin, but Felix could sense something was off about it. A crash made everyone turn towards where Tarla was on the floor, laughing hysterically while Aeron looked at her, his eyes wide.

    "How the fuck..." they trailed off. Tarla only continued to laugh, using her hand to push herself off of the floor, and picked up her chair. A few people looked at her, while she just shook her head, taking deep breaths to keep from laughing any harder. Aeron only shook their head, muttering to himself under his breath.

"Tarla I-" Wren stopped, laughing with her. "You good?"

"I'm fine-" she said between laughs. Quinn gave her a disbelieving nod, an amused smile on her face. Felix shook his head, as Tarla turned when someone tapped her shoulder handing her a pencil case that had spilled across the floor without her noticing.