Wednesday 7:55 am.

The Second Exit.

Kurin: did Aay ever get his $50?

Magnus: What are you talking about?

Kurin: the $50 Riot offered him if he broke a bone so it'd grow back stronger

Magnus: Oh, I thought that was a joke.

Riot: well it kinda was a joke but also I can give him his $50 if he wants because he did actually break a bone

Kurin: the question you should ask before you decide if you're giving it to him or not, is would it encourage Aay to break more bones

Magnus: It absolutely would encourage him.

Riot: damn

Riot: probably still gonna give it to him though

Magnus: How much money do you even have?

Riot: idfk my parents are rich and they send me money weekly

Riot: but they also spend a shit ton of time in other countries for work and vacations so I barely see them

Riot: it's bittersweet

Kurin: it has to suck, not knowing your parents

Magnus: I wish I didn't know mine.

Kurin: actually, fair. I wish I was actually my mom's biological child so I didn't have to know my birth givers

Riot: oh god yeah

Riot: you guys have horrible bio families

Kurin: literally so glad I'm a Kravitz now

Magnus: Living on the streets was shit but it was so much better than living with him.

Riot: you don't live on the streets anymore though?? because you mentioned you have a room last week

Magnus: Yeah, I have a small place now.

Kurin: none of us have normal families huh

Magnus: Doesn't Aay have a normal family?

Aay: I prolly hsve the most normal family here but its still not normal

Aay: parents treat trey as like the golden child and r always like "why cant you be more like ur brother!!" to me

Aay: both me and trey hate it fr but can't do anything abt it

Kurin: Trey has actually vented to me about that before

Kurin: we had a nice talk

Magnus: That's pretty fucked up comparing you both.

Aay: yea but you guys have had it worse :(

Aay: like my parents may always compare me and my brother but I cant even imageine what it would be liek to have abusive parents

Riot: same here, my parents are absent like.. all the time and I hate that but you guys have definitely had it a lot worse

Kurin: okay I'm going to be sentimental rq so if someone wants to prepare a topic change for after I'm done, that would be nice

Kurin: you know there's no point in comparing situations right?

Kurin: no matter how differently our parents/birth givers showed it, they're still shitty in some way and that hurt/hurts us. I think we all understand that

Kurin: and we all know we're here for each other (even if we don't act like it sometimes) so if something's upsetting you then you can always talk about it, don't just keep it to yourself because you think others have had it worse, ok?

Magnus: Yeah, agreed.

Aay: got it, thanks :)

Riot: thanks

Riot: you know what, you were right about the sentimental stuff, let's change the subject

Kurin: ...and of course no one else thought it a topic change, so it's up to me I guess!

Kurin: so Aay, do you claim your $50 for breaking a bone?

Aay: wait wait wait that was fr??

Riot: yes, if you want it then you can have it

Aay: like fr?? are you sure????

Riot: yes

Aay: ok then!! I will take it, thank you!! :]]]

Riot: I'll give it to you later then, should I meet you somewhere or do you wanna just show up at mine.

Aay: we should all meet up later so u can give me it and so I can buy everyone ice-cream with it!!!

Aay: everyone being all of us + trey, emily, bee, cee, dee and e btw

Kurin: sounds great actually

Riot: that would be nice

Aay: what do u think magnus?

Magnus: Sure, it sounds alright.

Aay: let's gooo

Aay: kurin how quickly can you get to pinpoint park from the school??

Kurin: it takes around 12-18 minutes

Aay: ok so meet up at 3:25 then at the park???

Riot: how are the others finding out about this?

Aay: i can tell trey in a minute when he stops hogging the bathroom and I can also text the gc with the others, if any of u guys could tell emily that would b great tho. idk her number :(

Magnus: I'll tell her in a minute.

Aay: woo!!! thank u

Riot: wait Kurin do you have Emily's number then?

Kurin: no but I go to school with her so I could've told her at lunch or something

Magnus: Okay, I just told Emily, she's pretty excited.

Aay: lol that's great

Riot: so like.. other than this ice-cream meet up, what's everyone doing today?

Kurin: well I have school but I'm going to get started on winning the bet against Athena today.

Riot: oh befriending that guy

Kurin: yeah kinda

Riot: what was his name again, it was something weird sounding right?

Kurin: I think it was Chet

Riot: definitely weird sounding.

Magnus: Wasn't there a Chet at the Bakugan Academy?

Riot: oh yeah omg he was so annoying

Riot: the asshole would not stop making fun of me at first

Riot: he did end up apologising later on though + his friend seemed nice

Kurin: oh really? what was his friend's name?

Riot: I think it was Callie???

Kurin: holy shit

Kurin: it's the same Chet

Riot: OH MY GODS LOL

Riot: you're so losing this bet against Athena

Kurin: I probably am, aren't I?

Magnus: Quit whilst you're ahead Kurin.

Kurin: I would but I'm ridiculously too stubborn for that

Magnus: Your loss.

Riot: wait though istg he was friends with Chad for a while?? because they were hanging out together for some reason before I had a double battle against them with Lia

Kurin: wait for real, Chad?

Riot: yeah

Riot: I really don't think you're gonna win this bet anymore but like maybe there's a chance since you're both friends with Chad also ig he did apologize so if he's all that bad he wouldn't have done that idk

Riot: I honestly just want you to win however unlikely it is that you will because it'd be funny

Aay: yesss team kurin!!!!

Kurin: thanks

Kurin: I feel slightly less like I'm doomed to fail now

Kurin: Magnus I see you typing and yes I know I probably still am doomed to fail

Magnus: I was only going to say good luck.

Kurin: doubtful but thanks anyway

Kurin: what's everyone else doing today?

Riot: homeschool :(

Magnus: No idea. I'll probably find something to do.

Aay: gonna make some design ideas for the future cafe

Aay: and some name ideas

Kurin: sounds fun

Riot: Aay's got the best day out of all of us

Kurin: tbh Magnus's day sounds good too

Magnus: No it doesn't because at some point Dan Kouzo will text me to annoy me and that's never good.

Kurin: ok send 🤨 if you think that Magnus is lying about finding Dan annoying

Riot: 🤨

Aay: 🤨

Kurin: 🤨

Magnus: You're all the worst.

Riot: lol he's offline

Aay: see you at 3:25 magnus!!!

Kurin: I should go too actually, I'll text later to update on the bet progress

Riot: omg please

Aay: wooo! see you guys then!!!

Riot: byee

Kurin: goodbye

Wednesday 10:16 am

Private messages: Dan - Magnus

Dan: hello!!! I am bored

Magnus: And your solution to boredom is messaging me?

Dan: well you're not boring so.. yeah!

Dan: what are you doing rn?? bet it's more interesting than math class whatever it is

Magnus: Watching paint dry.

Dan: oh

Magnus: No, not really.

Magnus: I'm reading a book.

Dan: oooh that sounds fun

Dan: what type of book is it?

Magnus: It's a mystery book.

Dan: ooh nice!!

Magnus: Yeah, it's alright. I'm only at the beginning though so it's not too interesting yet.

Dan: right! makes sense :)

Magnus: How likely do you think it is that Kurin will win their bet with Athena?

Dan: they have a bet???

Magnus: That's what Kurin's been calling it.

Magnus: Kurin wanted to prove her wrong and prove that Chet isn't a bad person, I think.

Dan: omg I'd forgotten about that

Dan: is Kurin fr gonna try and win that debate then??

Magnus: According to the group chat this morning, they're going to start trying to win today.

Dan: oh well honestly idk, I think there's a pretty decent chance that Kurin could win actually

Dan: Chet can be ok sometimes. he acts like an asshole but I think a lot of it is literally just an act tbh

Dan: hoping Kurin wins because I'd love to see Athena get proved wrong

Magnus: I don't even need to ask to know that you still argue with her over everything.

Dan: you know me so well Magnus ;)

Dan: yeah I still argue w her a lot but she's a great friend

Dan: except for when she's trying to convince the others to kill me off in a story

Magnus: A biography?

Dan: idk what that is so no

Dan: one of those fill in the prompts with random shit stories lol

Magnus: Oh, Kurin started one of those in our group chat the other week.

Dan: lol yeah I know

Dan: you took me on a romantic walk through the town of dead bodies <33

Dan: and then we both died trying to fight Pikachu hahah

Dan: Kurin sent screenshots to haha cheeseburger

Wednesday 10:24 am

The second exit.

Magnus: Kurin, you're dead to me.

Aay: ayo what happened??

Aay: ok just leave me on read then :((

Wednesday 10:25 am

Private messages: Dan - Magnus

Dan: speaking of which you should totally join!! or we could add you back to the ab chat, you are technically a member lol

Magnus: I'm fine with not being a part of those group chats. I actually prefer not being in them.

Dan: aw man, why??

Magnus: Let's just say the second exit group chat is boardering on too much for me as it is.

Magnus: Genuinely, I don't think I could deal with another group chat.

Magnus: Not to mention Kurin and Riot would never let me hear the end of it if I joined.

Dan: oh lol that's fair

Magnus: Why do you want me to join anyway?

Dan: well because we're all friends right???

Magnus: Oh.

Dan: hey if you want we could all make a big gc with everyone in the AO + Kurin, Riot, Aay and whoever else

Dan: then there'd just be one gc??

Magnus: That sounds even worse than being in two group chats, no offense.

Dan: ok fair that would be pretty chaotic

Magnus: Yeah. Just a little bit.

Dan: only the tiiiiiniest bit lol :)

Dan: oh shit the teachers coming ajshsjsnks

Magnus: Bye Dan.

Wednesday 11:32 am

The second exit

Kurin: tf did I do this time?

Magnus: You sent screenshots of the conversation the other day to the group chat with Dan Kouzo?

Kurin: oh

Kurin: yes

Kurin: they all loved the story we made

Riot: omg you sent them our story about your mom and the town called deez nuts?????

Riot: yeah y'know I'm not seeing the problem here

Magnus: The romantic walk through the town of dead bodies thing is the problem.

Magnus: He'll probably jump to some dumb conclusion and think that it was an in joke and that I have romantic feelings for him or something.

Magnus: I do not under any circumstances want him assuming that that.

Aay: even w the circomstsnces youre trying to make him think that for a mission??

Magnus: What?

Magnus: When would that even happen?

Aay: idk just a hyperpathetical

Kurin: *hypothetical

Riot: still not seeing the problem Magnus

Riot: if he assumes that you can just tell him he's wrong

Riot: literally no big deal

Kurin: unless of course he actually has got romantic feelings for Dan

Riot: 👀☕

Riot: wait but what if you're right

Kurin: wdym what if? I probably am right.

Magnus: What the fuck?

Aay: lmfaooo

Riot: @Magnus you wanna kiss Dan so bad it makes you look stupid omgggg

Magnus: I do not.

Magnus: What the fuck is wrong with you?

Kurin: well you told me I'm dead to you so that's what's wrong with me rn

Aay: itd be so funny fr if magnus did like dan like that tho

Magnus: In what universe would I possibly have romantic feelings for Dan Kouzo?

Kurin: this one

Riot: lololol you're not even wrong though

Riot: he said possibly and it's possible that in this universe Magnus could like Dan

Kurin: exactly. whether it's true or not, you can't deny it's possible

Aay: caught in 4k loo

Aay: lol

Magnus: Why do I put up with all of you?

Kurin: idk actually

Kurin: anyway I'm going to go

Kurin: it's break and I have a bet to lose

Kurin: well I want to win it

Kurin: but it's unlikely

Magnus: Oh, Dan said he thinks you'll win actually.

Kurin: why were you taking to Dan about my bet?

Magnus: That was before you became dead to me and I thought I'd do something nice by gathering some information for you.

Kurin: oh did you get any

Magnus: A small amount but I'm not sharing it as revenge.

Kurin: damn and I was the one with the nickname revenger smh

Riot: LOLOLOL I FORGOT ABOUT THAT

Kurin: I would forget about it but Chad still calls me that and you'll never guess who I need to text in a minute

Aay: my brother??

Kurin: oh actually I do need to message him too, thanks for reminding me

Aay: np (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

Riot: why do you need to message Trey?

Kurin: I want to call a truce on our war of sending people to each other when they ask us about Aay and his statues

Riot: oh lol

Wednesday 11:38 am

Private messages Kurin - Chad

Kurin: hi

Chad: REVENGERRRR WHATS UP

Chad: YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT NEW SPIKY THING ME AND CHESTER FOUND THE OTHER DAY

Chad: SPIKEYYYY ERASERSSSSSSS

Chad: ERASE YOUR MISTAKES WITH SUPER COOL SPIKES

Kurin: I have no idea how that would actually work but that does sound pretty cool

Chad: IT DOES FRFR MY ENBY DUDE

Kurin: best spiky object is still that spiky ball keychain though

Chad: HELL YEAH IT IS

Chad: SO WHAT'S UP

Chad: YOU NEED SOMETHING FROM THE GOD OF SPIKES??

Kurin: honestly I was just gonna ask you what you know about some purple haired guy called Chet and if you know where to find him but now I kinda want to ask where I can buy one of those spiky erasers too

Chad: THAT GUY? YOU CAN USUALLY FIND HIM IN THE LIBRARY. I ALWAYS GET KICKED OUTTA THERE THOUGH

Chad: ALSO WHAT I KNOW ABOUT HIM?? HES ALRIGHT AFTER YOU GET TO KNOW HIM A LITTLE, SEEMED INTERESTED IN THE WAY OF THE SPIKES BEFORE.

Chad: I ALWAYS APPRECIATE ANYONE WHO CAN APPRECIATE SPIKES

Chad: SO I'D SAY HES GOOD IN MY BOOKS

Chad: OH AND YOU CAN GET ONE OF THOSE SPIKEEYYY ERASERSSS ONLINE I'LL SEND YOU A LINK LATER ON ITS OPEN ON MY COMPUTER YEAAAHH

Kurin: awesome, thanks a lot Chad

Kurin: I'll be looking forward to that link

Chad: NO PROBLEM DUDE, YOU MAY HAVE LEFT THE BAND BUT YOU'LL ALWAYS BE ONE OF MY BEST SPIKY FRIENDS

Kurin: you too

Chad: WOOO

Wednesday 11:42 am

Private messages Kurin - Trey

Kurin: truce?

Trey: sure

Kurin: oh thank god

In real life.

Kurin sighed with genuine relief as they placed their phone in their pocket. They had not expected Trey to be so cooperative, which was kind of suspicious now they think of it... but that's besides the point! A truce has been called and they have a screenshot for proof just in case Trey tries to deny it.

And now, onto the next thing Kurin needed to do.
There was still quarter of an hour until break ended and it was time for Kurin's least favourite class; math. So, given the information Chad had given them, they prepared to enter the library.

Man pettiness and bets can really make you change, a week ago Kurin had told the group chat they wouldn't go in the library at break to hang out with Emily because they'd rather be practicing music. Yet here they were, about to enter the library at break, having not even gone to the music rooms to actually play music at all this week, for the sole purpose of winning a dumb bet against the smartest person in the entire school.

So, the plan was simple. Enter the library, pretend to search for a book whilst they locate Chet, hopefully get a seat somewhere near Chet, ask what book Chet was reading and hope it was something Kurin would find interesting so they could talk about it, prove Athena wrong and finally text both group chats about how successful their plan was.

Easy!

Kurin pushed open the library door a little bit too hard and instantly slipped and fell flat on their face into the library.

They groaned, standing up and rubbing their face where they were fairly sure they were going to be horrifically bruised before the meet up tonight. One of the others would definitely ask about it and being the horrible liar they are they wouldn't be able to give an excuse like saying they'd been in a fight and Magnus, Riot and Trey would get a good laugh out of hearing what happened.

Well uh. On with the plan.

They walked over to the nearest bookshelf, picked out a random book and began to flip through it with their back to the shelf, eyes scanning around for a purple head of hair.
Nothing.
Although they were starting to understand why Magnus liked acting the part of a detective so much, they really felt like a secret agent right now and it was actually-

"You do know you're supposed to read that, right? Not just flip through it like it's some kind of picture book."

Well fuck.

Kurin turned to look at who'd spoken to them, but they already knew before their eyes settled on the other that they'd failed to consider one very important detail.
What if Chet wasn't at a table in the library but was actually at the bookshelf next to where they'd decided to pick out a book from at random?
Their blue eyes met sarcastic green as they finally faced Chet Chipman for the first time since making that stupid bet, and suddenly they were certian that even if they lost the first half of the bet, they would win the second half easily. Kurin could see the small smattering of freckles across Chet's nose and the way one of his eyebrows was raised mockingly. His purple hair all neatly sweeped to the sides of his head except for one stubborn strand at the top sticking up in a curl. Then there was his outfit ensemble: A shirt with a white and red collar sticking out from under a purple sweater, grey trousers, brown leather shoes and a necklace with a green gem and a gold chain.

Yeah, now having seen Chet in person properly, Kurin was certian they were validated in having called his appearance cute two days before.

"Oh well, I was just flipping through it to see if it seemed interesting." Kurin finally retorted, probably a couple of seconds too late, to Chet's comment.

The boy wrinkled his nose, "There's a synopsis on the back for a reason, besides it didn't seem like you were even looking at the pages as you flicked through that book." He laughed.

The non-binary felt their face flush red with embarrassment at being caught out like that. "Well, it's because I realised I'd read this book before! But I'd already started flicking through it so I didn't want to stop." They lied. And remember how Kurin said they were a horrible liar? Ah, yeah.

"Sure. In that case, what's the book about?" Chet shot back.

"It's um... About a girl! Yeah, who's... Mom dies, in a freak diving accident, except it wasn't an accident and now her mom is haunting her and trying to get her to solve her murder. Yeah!"

They were so caught lying...

Chet snorted out a laugh, "That's funny, because I've also read this book and that's not what it's about at all." He took the book from Kurin's hands and turned it to the cover page.

One of Us is Lying.

Well shit. Kurin resisted the urge to take the book back from Chet and to smack themself in the face with it. They actually had read that one, if only they'd checked the title beforehand...

"Okay, well. Maybe I wasn't actually looking for a book." Kurin conceded.

Chet rolled his eyes, "Obviously."

They stood in silence for a moment.

Awkward... Okay, maybe they can get things back on track, what were they going to do in their plan again?

Oh, right.

"So, as we've established, I was not looking for a book just now.. But what are you currently reading?"

Kurin was once again met with a raised eyebrow, "Oh, well. Nothing. I would be reading something, or at least choosing a book right now, but someone who's not even looking for a book is standing directly in front of the shelf I want to get to." Chet replied, pointedly staring at Kurin.

Fuck.

"Oh. I'll uh, I'll just go over there, then." The non-binary gestured vaguely over to where the library tables were.

Chet nodded, "You do that." He replied with possibly the most disinterest Kurin had ever heard in someone's voice... And they hang out with Magnus for fucks sake, just how badly had they messed this up?
They turned and began to walk away when Chet called after them. "Oh, by the way!" They turned their head back around to look at the purple haired boy who now had a slightly amused smirk on his face, "Try not to trip over again on your way over there." He snickered
This time Kurin felt their face and their ears burn with embarrassment as they looked away and continued walking over towards the desks where they saw safety from more humiliation in the form of Emily Black, who was watching them walk over, Kurin hastily slid into the seat next to her at her table.

"Hey."

Emily smiled awkwardly, "Hi, what was going on just then?"

The enby laughed, "Oh nothing! Just completely humiliating myself in front of Chet Chipman, is all."

The younger girl blinked in confusion, "Why?"

"Because I'm an absolute mess."

"No," Emily stopped them, "I meant, why does that matter? No offense, but I've heard stories from my brother about you embarrassing yourself worse... Not to mention I saw that video of you falling off your skateboard and I saw you get pushed down the stairs last week."

Wow, shit. Kurin really was falling over a lot lately, huh?

They paused though, unsure how to answer Emily's question, "I'm... Not really sure. I guess I was hoping to make a good impression?" They tried responding, not wanting to explain the whole bet thing in earshot of Chet.

"Oh, so it's like that." Emily giggled, "You have a crush on him?"

What.

The.

Fuck.

Kurin once again flushed bright red at the suggestion, instantly spinning around in their seat to see if Chet had heard Emily's words. Just in time to catch him looking away quickly.

Whilst Emily looked on confused, Kurin thumped their head down on the table. Suddenly they understood what Magnus had meant earlier in the group chat when he'd said how he didn't want Dan to assume he had romantic feelings for him that he didn't actually have. They owed Magnus an apology for joking about that concern with Riot. This was literally their karma.

Their bet had suddenly gotten a whole lot more complicated.

Wednesday 11:55 am.

Private Messages: Dan - Athena

Dan: hey Athenaaaa did you know you've got a bet going with Kurin??

Athena: I've what now?

Athena: Also, didn't you get your phone confiscated last lesson, how do you have it back already?

Dan: I'm very persuasive

Dan: but yeah so remember that thing where you said Kurin wouldn't think Chet was cute anymore if they got to know him and Kurin was all like ok challenge accepted

Athena: Oh my god, they were serious about that?

Dan: according to Magnus they were

Dan: I was texting Magnus in class earlier and he asked me what I thought Kurin's chances were of winning the bet against you

Athena: I could not care less about this bet actually, I'm not betting anything and I'd rather stay out of it.

Athena: How would it even make sense as a bet anyway?

Athena: Would they be trying to prove Chet isn't an asshole or when he turns out to be an asshole is the challenge to not eat their words about his appearance being cute?

Dan: idk I think Magnus said Kurin wanted to prove Chet wasn't a bad person but it could also be the second one too

Dan: idk you'd have to ask Kurin lol

Athena: Maybe I will but I probably won't, I don't want to be involved.

Dan: how can you not be involved when Kurin is literally in a bet against you lol

Athena: They're in a bet against themself. I didn't challenge them to do this, they just thought I did.

Dan: ok ok but don't tell them that, I HAVE to see them try to win this bet now

Athena: Alright, that's fine by me.

Dan: YES thank you so much

Wednesday 12:08 am

Private messages: Kurin - Aay

Kurin: so

Kurin: did you know

Kurin: that jellyfish don't have brains?

Aay: i did not know

Aay: shouldnt u be in class rn tho

Kurin: yeah I'm not going

Kurin: I've humiliated myself enough today

Kurin: so math class is an absolute no

Aay: oh no

Aay: was it trey?

Kurin: no we called that truce

Aay: oh good bc he was planning revenge on u

Aay: if youve got a truce tho he shouldnt go through with it

Kurin: that's terrifying to hear actually

Aay: so what happened??

Kurin: my plan didn't go as planned and now I'm considering throwing myself off the school's roof

Kurin: can I tell you about it later? I think I need to scream about this irl because genuinely what the fuck

Aay: sure :)

Kurin: thank you

Kurin: how are you doing with those designs btw?

Aay: im doing alright with them but theyre missing color because half my colored pens have run out and I can't find any of treys pens to borrow

Kurin: oh

Kurin: I might have some you can borrow at home if you can't convince Trey to find his ones for you.

Aay: really?? your the best fr

Kurin: I'm not but thanks anyway

Aay: so where are you if ur not in class?

Kurin: hiding in the toilets, the best class skipping trick except for the fact that it smells like shit in here, literally

Aay: oh lol

Aay: is it worse than the volcano?

Kurin: I'd say they're equally bad

Aay: ewww so nkthings changed from when I was at the school

Kurin: it's pretty much still all the same

Aay: L school

Kurin: literally

Aay: well anyway

Aay: what flavour ice cream r u gonna get later

Aay: ill probably get mint chocolate unless they've got a cool looking special flavour.

Kurin: same

Aay: woooo!! mint chocolate ftwww

Kurin: always

Aay: oh e is calling me brb

Kurin: see you

Wednesday 2:12 pm

The second exit

Riot: not my french tutor making me watch miraculous in french

Riot: she was like yes, this will help you learn, watch a cartoon

Riot: I kinda love this method of learning but also I can't stop thinking about how the characters just need to get their shit together

Aay: omg i love miraculous

Aay: in the daytime im maronett just a normal girl with a normal life but theres something about me that no one knows yet bc I have a secret

Riot: crying but like how do people not know

Riot: she just transforms behind a fucking park bench and somehow no one sees her????

Aay: idk her power IS luck ig

Magnus: What are you talking about?

Aay: miraculous

Riot: yeah

Riot: oh my tutor's back from the bathroom gtg

Aay: bye!! see you later

Magnus: Bye?

Wednesday 3:25 pm

Kurin: I'm here

Kurin: so are Trey and Emily, we walked together from school

Kurin: where are you all?

Riot: in the car

Riot: I'm almost there though

Magnus: Aay, Bee, Cee, Dee and E are all outside the park cafe. I am too but I'm standing far enough away from them that they don't think to drag me into their discussion about cafe designs.

Riot: what's so bad about a cafe design conversation??

Magnus: They're considering putting one of their monstrosities inside the cafe.

Riot: oh god

In real life.

Trey elbowed Kurin in the side, "So, where are they?" The short boy demanded.

"Riot's still on her way but everyone else is outside the cafe." Kurin replied, resisting the urge to glare at Trey because damn that kid had sharp elbows.

Without another word, Trey began walking down the path towards the park's cafe, Emily and Kurin shared a look and then followed.
From what Trey had mentioned on the walk to the park, apparently Kurin wasn't the only one of the trio who hadn't had the best day.

Since the Library Incident earlier, as Kurin had taken to calling it in their head, they'd had some good news and some bad news.

Good news! Their face hadn't gotten bruised, they'd somehow managed not to run into Chet again and they'd managed to not humiliate themself further in front of anyone else.

Bad news! Their knees had gotten obviously bruised from the fall earlier. Of all the days to wear shorts.... The Awesome Brawlers had noticed it immediately when they'd joined the group at lunch and both Trey and Emily had commented on it when they'd met them outside the school.
So it was safe to say the others would notice too, meaning the non-binary would have to explain the Library Incident sooner rather than later.
Which they really didn't want to do for obvious reasons such as not being a fan of getting made fun of.

The small group rounded the corner to where the cafe was and instantly caught sight of Magnus hiding behind a tree, as for the others, they heard them before they saw them...

Emily quickly ran over to say hi to her brother, Kurin was about to follow her over but Trey stopped in his tracks.

"So, it's occurring to me that I've never actually met Magnus before." Trey spoke quietly, and was that nervousness Kurin detected in his voice? "Is there anything I shouldn't do or mention around him?"
They looked over at Magnus and suddenly the non-binary was tempted to burst out laughing, apparently Magnus was still terrible at first impressions. At least his outfit was relatively normal today, just a purple hoodie and black ripped trousers, Kurin would never forget how weirded out they were when they'd met Magnus for the first time and thought he looked like some kind of weird emo cyborg with that strange half mask he insisted on wearing.
Then again, maybe this had nothing to do with Trey's first impressions of Magnus, he was Aay's brother and Kurin's friend/younger brother figure, he had definitely heard stories about Magnus before...

Kurin gave Trey a smile, "I wouldn't worry too much. Just don't mention anything to do with getting posessed or anything to do with romantic walks through towns of dead bodies and you'll get along perfectly." They tried to reassure the younger boy, then another thought hit them and they couldn't help but add, "Besides, you'll both probably be partaking in your favourite hobby, making fun of me, shortly. So you can bond over that."

The green haired boy looked at them weirdly and then laughed. "Alright."

Finally the two made their way over to where Emily and Magnus were standing. Deciding it would be best to talk before Magnus noticed the damage from the Library Incident, Kurin waved at the older boy, "Hey Magnus, am I still dead to you?" They asked, grinning slightly.

Magnus rolled his eyes and then, because of course he did, noticed the bruises forming on Kurin's legs, "No, you're not. But what the fuck happened to you?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at the bruises.

Well, great.

"Funny story!" The non-binary forced a laugh, "You're going to laugh at me when I tell it. Emily was there, she can confirm you're all going to laugh at me. But because of that I'd rather only tell the story once, so can we wait until Riot gets here? We know how much she loves laughing at my misfortune!" They rushed through their words, trying way too hard to convince the others.

They knew damn well they were definitely going to have to tell the story at somepoint, so all they could do is attempt to put it off until later to spare them the embarrassment of telling it twice.
They'd still have to tell it twice actually, their Mom would absolutely ask and Kurin would have to tell her.

"You'd better tell us." Trey butted in, "I just know it's going to be good when you're trying to put off telling it for later."

Fuck everyone and everything, why were all their friends so smart.

Suddenly there was a loud and overdramatic gasp, "Man, when did you all get here? You never came over to say hi or anything!" Aay fake frowned whilst waving at them from the outdoor cafe table he was standing at.

Ok, not all their friends were smart, some were Aay. Awesome, caring, funny and like the older brother Kurin never had, but not smart.

Wait, 'you all'? Weren't they still waiting for Riot?

Kurin turned around and saw Riot grinning at them, "I can't wait to hear your embarrassing story, Kurin!"

Well fuck.

"But y'know what, let's get ice-cream first." Riot continued, waltzing over to Aay and handing over some money. "I'd much rather have something to eat whilst listening to your story."

They weren't being spared, that makes sense, it was just ice cream would be the popcorn and his story would be the film at the cinema and you can't watch a movie at the cinema without popcorn.

This was going to be a long afternoon.

At least there would be ice cream.

Wednesday 18:06 pm.

The second exit

Riot: I can't stop laughing about Kurin's story lol

Aay: it was very embarrassing

Magnus: I'd love to say I can't believe that happened, but unfortunately I can one hundred percent believe that happened.

Kurin: you can all stop laughing at me now, you know?

Kurin: you're not obliged to keep making fun of me

Riot: yeah but as your friends we kinda are obliged to make fun of you?

Riot: sorry lol

Kurin: but you don't have to?

Riot: but I want to???

Aay: tbf it is kinda funny

Aay: like everything that could go wrong did go wrong

Aay: PLUS it was right after u and riot made fun ot magnus for not wanting what was about to happen to you to him

Magnus: Karma.

Kurin: yeah I understand why that would be so horrific now.

Kurin: BUT A LITTLE SYMPATHY PLEASE SINCE ITS ACTUALLY HAPPENING TO ME?

Magnus: I'll consider being sympathetic.

Magnus: Just not today.

Riot: I'll never be sympathetic, I prefer to be annoying

Aay: u do a great job of that!! :))

Riot: EXCUSE ME?

Aay: ?

Aay: i meant it in a nice way

Riot: oh

Riot: thank you then

Kurin: even Chad would have more sympathy about this than you all

Magnus: Would he?

Kurin: no

Kurin: he probably wouldn't make fun of me for it though?

Riot: damn well you're stuck with us so deal with it

Aay: were all gonna have to deal w each other forever!!

Magnus: What a joy.

Kurin: very true except right now I can just go offline to avoid you all

Kurin: bye

Riot: suffer Kurin

Aay: good luck explaining what happened in the library to your mom!!!

Magnus: Or change into trousers instead of shorts so no one can see the bruises on your knees so you don't have to explain them to anyone.

Kurin: that'll be useful for tomorrow actually but I think I'm gonna have to tell my mom about them

Riot: she'll love the gossip

Kurin: maybe I'll only tell her the part where I fell flat on my face

Riot: alright coward

Kurin: I'm not a coward for not wanting to tell my mom the full story about my public humiliation today

Aay: she would absolutely think emily was right

Magnus: Why would she think that without any reason?

Kurin: She's a big fan of romance and if she hears any rumor that people like each other she'll believe it.

Magnus: Oh.

Riot: lol you're doomed if you tell her

Riot: which you probably will since you can't keep your own secrets for shit

Kurin: thanks, I know

Kurin: I will probably die if I tell her, she would not stop talking about it

Magnus: Well, good luck I suppose?

Aay: u can do it!

Riot: what color headstone do you want for your grave?

Kurin: grey

Riot: ok and the type of flowers on your coffin?

Kurin: idm the type of flowers but I want them to be purple

Riot: type of wood of the coffin?

Magnus: Why are we planning Kurin's funeral?

Kurin: oak

Aay: what music do you want

Kurin: I'll send you my playlist

Riot: can I get your opinion on the writing for the headstone?

Kurin: sure

Magnus: I'm going offline.

Riot: here lies Kurin Kravitz. cause of death was their mom finding out about their friend thinking they had a crush on someone. rip.

Kurin: not approved

Riot: fuck you