Cypress walked out of his math class feeling very stupid, he was not a genius when it came to that subject. His teacher made him stay after class for a little to talk about tutoring, which Cypress turned down, instead he said his aunt would help him (she would not).

He hugged himself while walking down the hallway, it was a strange habit of his he couldn't shake off. Whenever Cypress was in the halls of his school, he walked fast, to avoid anyone and anything that wanted to interact with him. Unless it was Ethan, or Abigail, or Jesse.

Those were his friends, they were a tight knit group that had been together since 6th grade. Cypress practically lived with them, after school they would go around town and mess about, he tried to stay as far away from his house as possible. It wasn't that he was being abused, he just hated his guardians because they weren't his parents.

"Cypress get to class!"

Cypress turned around and saw Abigail down the hall smiling, he smiled back and waved.

"Hi...!" He waved his hand frantically and then walked up to his friend, who was giggling. Abigail was one of the sweetest people on the planet, and probably one of the most beautiful as well. She had dark brown skin, dreadlocks that were always put up in a bun, and almond shaped eyes that were brown.

"What are you doing? You're supposed to be in class Cy." She smirked, and Cypress gave her a confused look.

"You're not in class, wh- where are you supposed to be? Class!" He cocked his head to the side and she rolled her eyes before showing him a stack of papers.

"This is my student aid class, I'm making copies for Ms. Armstrong. You wanna come with?" She smiled and Cypress nodded. They walked to the printer room and Abigail unlocked it with the key her teacher gave her.

Cypress immediately noted the blandness of the room, no color, just grey. There were two giant printers (also grey) that sat at the back of the room, and a desk that was... also grey.

"This room sucks!" Cypress yelled, and Abigail nodded. She was used to him bluntly yelling out his opinions, no matter how negative they were.

"Yeah, but look, no cameras! You can do whatever you want in here." She smiled, and Cypress immediately got out his vape. "Ugh, nasty."

"It's Ethan's fault!" He sat down on the desk and kicked his feet back and fourth, then hit his pen and blew out the smoke. "Ethan's fault, fuck Ethan!" He laughed, "I actually don't mean that."

Abigail smiled back at him while setting up the printer, "I know Cy, it's very clear you don't hate him. In fact, I think you love him!" She laughed and Cypress went wide eyed.

"No! No I don't love him, I mean- I like him as a friend. But- but I'm not in love with him. I'm not gay!" Cypress got off the table and instead sat on the chair, which he spun around in.

"Sure, whatever you say Cy." Abigail smirked and pressed START on the printer, and it started to print out the 200 copies she put in. "This is going to take a while, it's gotta do front and back and staple. God I hate doing copies!" She groaned and sat on the desk while Cypress continued to spin in the chair.

"Are you going to the pool tonight Cy?" Abigail took off her jacket and rubbed the tattoos on her arm, which her parents despised.

"I think, who else is going besides you and Ethan? Jesse said he couldn't go right? He has uh... that thing tonight." Cypress looked up at Abigail as he took another drag on his vape.

"Nope! Jesse is going! And so is my other friend Evelyn, you'll like her!" She smiled, "she's so pretty, she has this beautiful head of blond hair, and she has the sweetest face... and she's just a nice person in general."

"Sounds like you love her." Cypress teased and leaned back in the chair. Abigail shrugged.

"Maybe I do, I'm not sure. She has a boyfriend though, I hate him. He's a douche, he plays lacrosse, lacrosse!" Abigail threw her hands up into the sky, "that's the sport all the bratty frat boys play!"

"Fuck lacrosse! Piece of shit sport!" Cypress yelled and kicked his feet, "I hate lacrosse!" Abigail laughed.

Suddenly the printer started beeping, and Abigail groaned, "ugh it's jammed." She got up and started opening the panels to reveal the inner workings of the printer, searching for the paper that decided to be stubborn. "Where are you? You little shit..." she sighed.

Cypress stared up at the ceiling and squinted at the lights, he was trying to figure out if they were white or yellow. He turned his head and squinted some more until he realized his eyes were closed, and he opened them. After deciding they were yellow he got up and stretched.

"Do you need help Abby?" He cracked his shoulder, and Abigail shook her head.

"Naw, I found it-" she ripped the paper out and slammed the panel shut, and the printer started to work again, "piece of shit..." she grumbled, then sat down on the floor next to the machine. "You cut your hair? Just realized it." She smiled.

Cypress ruffled his hair and nodded, "I didn't like how long it was getting, it made my neck feel... w- weird." He scratched the back of his neck and shook his head, he always had sensory issues when it came to his neck. If something were to touch his neck out of nowhere, it would mess with him for the next hour.

"Well I like it, it kind of reminds me of Edward scissor hands, you know, the fluffy black hair." She giggled and Cypress nodded, then shook his head again out of impulse. "Your neck bothering you?"

"Yeah, lanyard." He sighed and took it off, he'd been given many warnings about not wearing his lanyard and ID, but the fabric scratched his neck and it made him very uncomfortable. Instead of wearing it around his neck, he tied it around the belt loop of his jeans. Sometimes he could get away with that.

"They should really give you a note so you can just do that instead, it's so stupid that they force you to wear that around your neck when it fucks with you." Abigail sighed, then rested her head against the wall, "this school doesn't care about special needs."

Cypress nodded, then walked over to the chair, but decided he didn't want to sit in it, so he walked to the corner and sat down there instead.

They sat in silence for a bit until the printer finished, then they left the room.

"30 minutes left of class, where you off to Cy?" Abigail looked at Cypress who shrugged.

"I guess to the bathroom, see ya." Cypress waved goodbye at her and quickly walked away, Abigail was used to this, he always left immediately after saying he was going to leave. He never spent too much time on goodbyes.

When Cypress reached the mens restroom he noticed that the handicap stall had two people in it, they were talking about something.

"She looks like a fucking hog in that photo!" One of them laughed and the other agreed.

"Dude that's your girlfriend though! You cant say that!"

"I can say whatever the hell I want, she's my girlfriend!" The other man shuffled his feet, probably to face the other man. "Shes a fucking cheerleader!"

"Aw c'mon man she's not that fat, she's just got a big ass and big tits, isn't that a good thing?"

"No, you don't get it, all that fat is gonna wind up on her stomach, it doesn't stay there. Trust me my mom and dad are plastic surgeons." They both walked out and stopped when they saw Cypress by the sink biting his nails, "were you spying on us you creep?"

"Huh?" Cypress tilted his head, "No I- I was waiting for you to leave sorry..." he started to walk past them but the taller boy grabbed him and pinned him to the wall. Cypress was used to this and he just stared at him.

"Next time I walk out of that stall and see your gay ass staring at us, I'm gonna beat the shit out of you, got it, fag?"

"C'mon Terrance he was just waiting-"

"No! No he was spying, probably waiting for one of us to get on our knees huh? That's what you wanted right?" Terrance shoved Cypress against the wall again and Cypress winced, then shook his head.

"Terrance let's just go seriously, you're being paranoid." The other one sighed and pulled Terrance away from Cypress. They both left and Cypress just stood and watched them leave, then he went into the handicap stall.

Wonder who they were talking about- whoever it was I hope she's ok. He thought, and then pulled out his phone and vape and waited till the bell rang. When it did, he left the bathroom and walked to lunch.