Later that same day in school you sat behind your desk and tapped the tip of your pen against the wood below your hand.

Miss Janeth was talking about some equation by the board but the numbers went into one of your ears and left right through the other again. Your brain was too preoccupied with going over different trollish words and letters to pick up the voice of anyone else around you.
Impatient for the class to end, your pen kept tapping on the table, making a faint, rhythmic clicking sound.
Nearly everyone around you either seemed annoyed by the noise or tried to ignore it but you, once again, didn't notice.

Only when someone nudged their foot into yours did you glance up and see Thomas throwing you a motherly 'pay attention' look, which drew a light sigh from your lips before you complied. All nonhuman topics were banned out of your mind, the pen was held still and you focused on the blackboard.

Math wasn't exactly your strength. All these formulas and parameters were hard to understand when you always spaced out for half of the time. But then again, that's what you had Thomas for. He could just bring you back up to speed after school.

Growing bored rather quickly, you allowed your (e/c) gaze to wander the other students' faces. No one really paid you any mind since you sat at the edge of the classroom near a spot where nobody usually looked, which meant that you had all the time to watch their expressions.

Jim looked concentrated but also tired. He must've stayed up to study again. Or maybe to eat dinner with Barbara?
Remembering the joined dinner from a few weeks ago, you wondered about if you'd be invited anytime soon again. Wanting to spend time with your friends was always a good excuse to get to eat Jim's cooking. Alone the thought of it made your mouth water.
So delicious…

Once snapping out of dreamland again, your eyes wandered over to Toby, who was more or less just visually drilling holes into the sky with an empty look of absolute disinterest. Looked like he was daydreaming about food -just like you had a second ago-, videogames or magic tricks again. You thought back even further and recalled the night you stayed at his place, playing that co-op game until you fell asleep. That had been fun.
You wouldn't be against doing that again as well.

After a short chuckle, your eyes settled themselves on Claire, the girl with the colorful barrettes and the blue streak in her dark brunette hair. You didn't talk much with her anymore but she wasn't that bad in your book. Although there was something about the way she was just so abnormally perfect that upset you. I mean, what kind of being is this beautiful, smart, funny and nice at the same time? Aside from androids, of course. It really made her appear like some kinda supernatural humanoid goddess.

Sometimes, that lack of mistakes was a bit annoying to you but at least she didn't act like a stick in the mud because of it. 
The best thing about her though was probably how easily she had Jim drooling all over the place. It was just too amusing to watch him act like a lovesick fool each time she entered the room.
Although you had noticed that he sometimes needed more time to settle with his eyes on her than before. Usually he'd be all heart-eyed the moment Claire as much as stuck her pinky into the room but now the lanky boy appeared to have grown a bit more reluctant regarding that.
One time, he even missed her nearly bumping into him by the lockers. A few weeks ago, he would've squeaked like a guinea pig and fainted on the spot.
You wondered why that was? Was he beginning to lose his crush on her? That would suck. They'd make a pretty cute couple.
But more importantly, a great source of entertainment for you.

Scratching your cheek as you glanced back to the front to make sure that it looked like you were paying attention, you thought back to how yours and Claire's parents used to work together and spend time with each other a lot. From what you remembered, they had been some kinda colleagues or friends from work which also led to you spending a lot of time with the Latina girl herself.
Those meetings stopped at a certain point though and since then you had rarely ever talked to her.

Kinda sad. But then again, you had gotten closer with Jim and Toby after years of nothing so who said you couldn't with her? 
That is, if she also wanted to. 

Perhaps you could try talking with her after class?
Rubbing your chin as if you had a beard, which you obviously didn't have, you realized that Claire had turned her head and was looking at you with a questioning look in her pretty hazel eyes.
You quickly put your hand down, not wanting to appear weird -probably too late for that now- and stared at her for a moment before you then ever so slightly pulled up the corners of your mouth into an awkward smile.

To your embarrassment, Claire visibly held back a chuckle as an amused glint entered her eyes. It didn't feel as if she was mocking you but rather as if she found it cute how uncertain you were about something so simple like a little smile.
The shorter girl returned your smile in a much more relaxed manner after finishing her small laugh, seeming quite happy.

Well, that was easy.
You had expected her to be a bit more in the sulks but it looked like that, once again, your worries were without reason.
Perhaps it was because Claire knew more about your parents than Jim and Toby.

Claire had went back to listening to Miss Janeth but you did see her sneak glances at you from time to time throughout the lesson. She kept on shifting in her seat like a child that needed to use the bathroom, making you ponder a bit. 

Did she want to talk with you too? She did look rather impatient with how she kept looking between the blackboard, the clock and you.

Honestly, it made you a bit nervous. You hadn't thought she'd immediately respond to your attempted social interaction in such a positive way.

Now you'd definitely be unable to focus on class, knowing that the first thing after Miss Janeth announced the end of the lesson would be interacting with another old friend and possibly further embarrassing yourself even more while stammering out non-comprehensible words and letters.
 
Great.

You should probably come up with something to say for later so that you wouldn't make a fool out of yourself. But what could you say? 
Maybe something like-

"-and that's it for this lesson, class!"

Oh fuck. Oh no. 
You didn't even get to think of one word! 
Cursing under your breath, you nervously peeked toward the golden skinned girl and saw her already coming your way.

A word did pop into your head but it wasn't exactly what you had hoped for.

"... Shit."

---

Thomas had just been packing up when he suddenly heard (Y/n) curse next to him. 

Was she ok?
Looking up, he found her looking rather uncomfortable while staring past his head at something behind him.
With a worried look, the dark-skinned boy turned around and also spotted Claire -the pretty, popular girl- coming their way with a large smile.
Turning back to his (s/c)-skinned friend, the shy boy was at a loss for words.

Did (Y/n) do something illegal while he wasn't looking? But Claire didn't seem mad at all…
What was going on here?

He anxiously shoved a book into his bag and just a moment later, Claire had arrived.

"Hey, Thomas," the brunette greeted him, drawing a reluctantly muttered greeting from the thin boy, before she turned to the (h/c)-haired girl next to him, "(Y/n)."

For a pretty long second, the addressed girl only stared back at Claire, expression having frozen in an unreadable pokerface.
"… Hey."
Her voice sounded bored but Thomas could feel the awkwardness practically seeping from her body. 
She was really bad at this. Like, really really bad. Not even he was this bad and that said a lot already.

Wanting to save the shorter girl from her own lack of social skills, he coughed to gain both girls' attention and then smiled up at Claire, who was now standing before (Y/n)'s desk.
"Is something up? You seem excited, Claire," said Thomas with his usual motherly tone in order to soften the situation.
The Latin girl returned his friendly smile and nodded before reaching into her pocket to pull out some kind of paper, which she then held so that both he and (Y/n) could see it.

It was a flyer for the school's play 'Romeo and Juliet', showing an elegant girl on a balcony that looked down to a boy in old fashioned clothes on the ground. There were a few fancy golden linings and some extra info about time and location for auditions and rehearsals.

"Actually," Claire began, looking between him and his gloomy friend, "I was thinking you two would make a great addition to the play so if you're interested, please give it a try. We really need more people on this." 

"Ah, a play? Didn't know we had one," said (Y/n) with a slightly surprised expression on her cute, I mean, totally regular face.

Claire gave a small but dramatic sigh and then handed the flyer to the (e/c)-eyed girl who took it and looked over it.
"Yeah, it's only been announced recently and I'm trying to get the word out more. This is really important to me personally as well."

Blinking at the standing girl, Thomas titled his head. Why'd she add that? Wasn't that a bit too much to tell two of her classmates that she barely knew?

But to his own shock, (Y/n) didn't seem to be thrown off by it at all. If anything, it was the opposite.
She suddenly grew a tad more serious -he could tell by how she made this adorable little pout that others always appeared to miss- and then looked up to Claire to meet her eyes.

"I'll definitely think about it, Claire."

"Thank you so much, (Y/n)."

The two girls kept looking into each others eyes in the following silence.

…

Was it just him or did these two have some kind of unsolved tension? 

It nearly made him jealous.

They must know each other from before he transferred to this class. How come (Y/n) never told him anything about that? Although she barely ever told him anything about her past so that was that. It still peeved him though.

"Uhm, I'll- .. I'll also think about it!" Thomas jumped in, feeling himself grow more nervous the longer these two were gazing at the other and wanting to break the tension between them. 
Claire blinked as if she had forgotten he was also there and then smiled awkwardly, probably to cover up that weird staring contest they just had.
"Haha, that's great, thanks. I'll, well, I'll see you two tomorrow. Bye!"

Speed-walking out of the classroom after grabbing her backpack, the hazel-eyed girl soon disappeared. Thomas could've sworn he saw her ears go bright red the moment she turned around.

Glancing over to (Y/n), the black-eyed boy saw that his older friend also had more color on her cheeks than usual. Not much but he immediately noticed the difference.

Yep, these two certainly had a lot of unsolved tension.

And now it did actually make him jealous too.

---

What the hell had that been?

One moment you were listening to Claire talk about that play, the next you were lost in her dark brown eyes that just seemed to melt into a brighter golden hue around her black, pearl like pupils.
Damn. 
Had they always been this mesmerizing? 

You could understand Jim a lot better now.

A cough that sounded from somewhere next to you made you blink and return to reality, suddenly aware of the nearly empty classroom that now surrounded you.
Only four students aside from you were still here.
Thomas, Jim, Toby and Mary.

Turning to your taller but thinner friend, you saw that Thomas was staring at you with a very strange expression. You'd never seen him look like that before.

"Oh, uh, sorry, let's go," mumbling, you placed the flyer in your pocket, stuffed your book into your bag and got up from your chair hurriedly.

This was already awkward enough. You didn't need some kind of new drama from Thomas. Especially not from Thomas, who had never before caused any trouble for you.

Luckily enough, he didn't say anything and just followed suit like usual.

Joining up with Toby and Jim to get your bikes and drive home, you soon waved your dark-skinned friend goodbye since he was headed in the opposite direction on foot.

Jim sped his bike up to fall in line besides you, looking over to your still slightly tense expression.
"What are you doing today?" he asked you casually, ignoring Toby who was already panting and having trouble to keep up with how short his short legs were.

You threw him a quick look before turning a corner at the next street and pedaling down the asphalt.
"Got study session in the evening. Why?" answering with a simple little half-truth -you couldn't really say you were expecting a troll to visit you so he could teach you a mythical language while swinging a sword around in your backyard, although you were curious to see his face should you do so-, you looked over your shoulder to make sure that Toby was still there.

Jim glanced to the side, his pedaling stopping momentarily as he used the light drop of the street to gain speed without any effort.
"Well, Toby and I wanted to meet up at the arcade and hang out a little. I was thinking maybe you'd like to come too?"

"Oh," a light sound of surprise slipped from your lips before you could stop it, "sure, yeah. I'd like to."
Nodding, you then proceeded to follow Jim down a different street with Toby still lagging behind like usual, feeling quite content with the current situation.

---

While you were on your way to your house, enjoying the day, Thomas wandered down an empty street on the other side of Arcadia.

His steps were slow and sluggish, his head drooped.
He didn't really feel well today.
In the morning one of his younger sisters got sick and made him be late for school because he had to take care of her first, then his bike literally just lost a wheel after he locked it up in the schoolyard -hence why he was now walking back home-, which Steve of course used to tease him all morning and to top it all off, that staring thing with Claire and (Y/n) in the classroom threw him out of his game the most.

Today really didn't seem to be his day at all.
Letting out a sigh, the usually calm and collected boy ruffled through his short curly hair and looked to the ground with another tired sigh.

What was it about Claire that made (Y/n) act so weirdly? Why couldn't she just be cold to her like she was to everyone else? 
His (h/c)-haired friend had only opened up to him after about a whole year of him practically sticking to her side like glue and then this popular girl walked up and had (Y/n) flustered within the span of ten seconds.
Not only that but she also seemed to have totally forgotten about him altogether! 
Did she care more about Claire than about him? Even though he was the one who always helped her out with school and kept her company?

"… so unfair…" he quietly mumbled to himself, pouting while fiddling with the straps of his heavy backpack. 
It felt heavier than usual and it exhausted him more to carry it.

Couldn't he just teleport straight into his bed and forget about today?

As lost in his brooding thoughts as he was, he didn't notice the faint rustle in a bush nearby.

His black eyes kept skipping from pebble to pebble on the sideway in a sad manner when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right elbow as if something pointy was piercing his skin.
The boy yelped and flung his left arm out to slap away whoever had just pinched him but all he hit was air.
Confused and a bit afraid, the thin boy took a look around him, seeing that he was all by himself in the empty street. He calmed his breathing, which had sped up with the sudden fear before he lifted the sleeve of his orange T-shirt to inspect what caused him that pain.

"Huh? A bite mark?" 
Questioning his sanity upon seeing the uncanny little marks of canine or feline fangs on his skin, Thomas grew confused and unsure. He gently touched the lightly bleeding spot and winced, pulling back his fingers again.
It was there for sure since he could feel the pain increase when he touched it and some of his still warm blood trickle down his skin.

Once more looking around, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Although there did seem to be a slight chill in the air.
With a small, uncertain whimper, Thomas covered the shallow injury with his sleeve again and hurried on his way toward his home. He didn't want to spend one moment too long in this eerily empty street.

But…

How did he get bitten just now?

Maybe a cat jumped out of a bush, attacked him and then immediately dashed off again?

Probably?
Some cats were pretty easy to anger with their aggressive and moody behavior after all.

What other explanation could there be anyways?

The boy told himself that that must be it since he couldn't think of anything else that didn't sound like crazy gibberish.

While he jogged down the street, a pair of pale blue eyes followed his retreating form from the shadows of a bush. The sickening glee shimmering in the icy hues faded along with the eyes themselves as they fused with the shadows around them, leaving nothing but darkness behind.